EPISODE FOURTEEN

HAUTE COUTURE

In the ever-emptying suite, Tana, Kendra and Craig waited to see who would return from the boardroom as the only surviving member of Net Worth. Alex came through the front door to a warm welcome, complete with hugs. Later, Tana and Kendra had a conversation in hushed tones about the fact that the next day, Alex would get to draft someone from Magna to even out the teams. Tana seemed to enjoy raising the specter of Alex choosing her, which would leave Kendra alone with Craig. It was no secret that the two had been battling each other for weeks, with the hostility boiling over during the last task. Kendra dreaded the possibility of working with just Craig.

The next day, the Final Four met to learn about their upcoming task. But first, as predicted, Alex got the chance to steal a member from the opposing team. And just as predicted, Alex chose Tana. Although Kendra didn't say anything, she did not look happy. The two teams now each had exactly one Book Smart and one Street Smart candidate. Trump told the group that for their next task they would work with Hanes, the apparel company that has sold more than 1 billion T-shirts. The teams would be charged with designing a brand-new T-shirt to commemorate 50 years of T-shirt culture. Each team would get help in the design department from their very own pop culture artist. Then the teams would sell their creations at Scoop, a shop that offers the latest casual fashions all under one roof. The team that made the most money in sales would be the winner. The losers would meet back in the boardroom where someone would be fired. George and Carolyn would be along to observe and report back to The Donald.

Tana, who had a T-shirt business of her own, was the obvious choice to be Net Worth's Project Manager. She and her lone teammate, Alex, worked at the Hanes offices and sketched out ideas for their commemorative T-shirt. Alex suggested "Rock Star Couture" as the logo and Tana loved it. While they were working, their artist, Burton Morris, who has had his artwork showcased on the TV series Friends and on The Academy Awards, arrived. Burton worked with some of the ideas that Alex and Tana had been sketching out to create their final design: an American flag pattern inside a star with wings - along with the words "Rock Star Couture."

Kendra, Project Manager of Magna, and Craig wasted no time getting to work with their artist, Romero Britto, whose work is displayed on consumer products and in the Smithsonian Institute. The three began brainstorming in a cab ride to Hanes. Kendra and Craig also wasted no time in butting heads. Later, Kendra got the idea to leverage Romero's built-in fan base. She asked Romero's assistant to email the 3,000 collectors of Romero's art and invite them to Scoop for their chance to buy his new limited edition T-Shirt design. When Romero presented two options for the shirt design, Kendra and Craig of course disagreed on which was best. But Kendra used her power as Project Manager to pick the design she liked, which only helped to further drive a wedge in her working relationship with Craig. For his part, Craig said that since so many of the team's decisions where Kendra's, he wouldn't have to worry if the two ended up in the boardroom. Craig said it would simply be, "bye-bye" for Kendra.

Alex and Tana both liked their artist's design, but felt that they could enhance their shirts by offering an option to add rhinestones. This would allow them to increase their price at a minimal cost. Tana was giddy with excitement about the idea. She said that she had done this same thing before with a product called the BeDazzler that affixed stones and studs to clothing. So, Tana got on the phone to track down exactly what they needed. But try as she might, Tana couldn't find her old friend, the BeDazzler. After making many calls, she finally found a store that had the rhinestones she was looking for, but it was about an hour away. Alex thought the trip might take too much time, but Tana was intent on getting her stones. On the cab ride over, Alex asked about their marketing, but Tana said they'd talk about it later. In an interview, Alex claimed that Tana was too focused on her rhinestones to deal with other important issues. Then Alex revealed that he was keeping a list of the decisions that Tana was making - and if he had to, he would use the list against her in the boardroom.

On Magna, Kendra and Craig continued to do what they do best: argue. They argued at the Hanes building over the price of their shirts. They argued in the elevator on the way out of the building. And they even argued on the cab ride back to the suite. Craig called the debate tiring and said that they lost hours because of it. In an interview, Kendra summed up her feelings: "Is it just me, or is Craig just a butthole?"

The next day at their Scoop location, Kendra let customers know that they were selling not just T-shirts, but limited edition collector's art with only 288 shirts in existence. The team certainly hoped to get Romero fans through their email campaign, but they were also ready to educate other customers about their artist. To that end, they had a large poster describing Romero and his unique work. Even though sales were going well, Craig and Kendra found another issue on which to clash. Craig was giving discounts for multiple shirts, but Kendra told Craig in no uncertain terms that they were not to offer discounts. Kendra said that the team could lose because Craig decided, on his own, to start giving price breaks.

At their Scoop location, Alex and Tana set up shop. For their effort marketing, Alex was on the street trying to stir up interest. Inside the store, Tana offered to add rhinestones for an additional charge. George said Net Worth was selling their T-shirts at basically twice the price at which Magna was selling theirs. He said that it was a classic battle between higher volume versus higher prices.

At the end of the day, the teams entered the boardroom wearing their T-shirt creations in lieu of business suits. Trump asked how each team had done. George said that Net Worth had sold their men's shirts for $42.99 and their women's shirts for $54.99. The team had sold 33 shirts for a total of $1,147.95 in sales. Carolyn said that Magna had approached the task differently. They had priced their short-sleeve shirts for $25 and long-sleeve shirts for $35. But they had tapped into their artist's fan base and sold 101 shirts for $2,705.00. Magna was the winner! Trump then announced that starting the following week, there would be no more teams. The Final Three would compete as individuals. However, Trump said, Kendra and Craig would start their individual competition a bit early because, for their reward, they would get into fighter planes and go head-to-head in an aerial dogfight! As the losers, Alex and Tana would fight it out in the boardroom where one of them would be fired.

Craig and Kendra put on flight suits at Air Combat USA, a company that allows anyone to take the stick of a state-of-the-art military trainer aircraft. With great confidence, Craig said he could take Kendra in the dogfight without a problem. Each candidate - along with an instructor - climbed into a fighter and took off. Once airborne, Kendra and Craig took the controls. But it was Kendra who out-maneuvered Craig, getting him in her sites as she squeezed the trigger for a direct hit! But that would only be the beginning, according to Kendra. She promised that over the next two weeks she would defeat two more opponents in "dogfights" and become The Apprentice.

That night, Alex got advice from Kendra on how to handle himself in the boardroom while Tana and Craig discussed Tana's strategy for the big meeting. Later, Alex and Tana hugged, grabbed their suitcases and headed down to face Trump.