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Fly Guy Trump and the Old College Try
Mr. Trump coptered in to Rutgers Stadium to
meet his eager applicants. With the corporations unbalanced after the
double firings of
Tarek and
Charmaine, Trump gave Synergy the option to
shed a colleague.
Sean swiftly volunteered, having
needed earplugs to block
Allie and
Roxanne's complaints about how he had
backed Andrea two weeks previous. Sean admitted, "I had a rough week...I
feel like I'm adrift in a sea of estrogen."
With the corporations evenly divided by gender, Trump assigned their
task: To make the most revenue running a
tailgate party sales event at Rutgers University, featuring selected Outback
Steakhouse menu items. Roxanne stepped up as PM of Synergy and, along with
Tammy and Allie, danced for joy at
Sean's defection. For Gold Rush,
Lee leaped into the
leadership role, brimming with confidence
stoked by both his recent college experience and his previous PM success.
A Rare Opportunity with Everything at
Steak
A ball of testosterone-fueled enthusiasm, Gold Rush barreled into their
task.
Lee secured an exclusive agreement with the
Rutgers' cheerleaders to help promote their event (though
Michael later almost let the
cheerleaders wriggle out of the deal).
Energetic Gold Rush got their flyers done pronto for a homecoming rally and
soon had frat boys chanting for their Blue Lot Tent event. Lee
confidently crowed that "It's gonna be a
blood bath" and sure enough, on the day of the event Gold Rush drew a huge
throng with cheap prices, cheerleaders and a steak-eating contest.
The boys weren't the only ones catching the rah-rah spirit, however. "I feel
like I'm back in college," said former cheerleader
Allie. But when she tried to bond with the
Rutgers cheer squad she couldn't break Gold Rush's exclusive agreement.
Stymied again when Gold Rush beat them to the homecoming rally, Synergy
worried that the game was lost before it had begun. Bucking up,
Roxanne and Synergy marshaled their sales
energy. Donning Rutgers cheerleader outfits, they were full of pep and
rallied during the event, realizing they could make big volume sales if they
delivered food to tailgaters. But would
their marketing savvy be enough to offset Gold Rush's big-time sales
spectacle?
Synergy Shows Their Grape Potential
Gold Rush expected to win big, so
Lee,
Sean and
Michael seemed doubly crushed when Synergy
outsold them at the Outback Steakhouse tailgate event by $2,750 to $1,750.
For their reward, Synergy won a trip to Long Island's Rafael Vineyard winery
where they got to pick their own grapes, stomp them and
bottle their own micro vintage.
Roxanne,
Tammy and
Allie really got into
wine-making—literally—when they
mashed the vino barefoot in wooden tubs.
Synergy even engaged in a three-way girl-power group hug in Allie's bucket
of grape mash.
Of course it wasn't just the grapes that got stomped by the ladies of
Synergy. Gold Rush knew the feeling well as they
prepared for a trip to the boardroom.
Michael's (Cheer) Leadership Problem
Right off the bat,
Mr. Trump bluntly asked
Lee what went wrong with Gold Rush's
Outback Steakhouse tailgate event. "We had a great strategy," the PM
maintained, "we just didn't sell as well as the other team."
Michael
disputed Lee's claim, saying Gold Rush's
strategy was flawed by having multiple promotions—including cheerleaders, a
food-eating contest and a money pit.
Carolyn concurred, pointing out that Gold
Rush had too many events to draw people but "didn't convert those people
into sales." Lee and
Sean blamed Michael for not selling, while
Michael defended himself by saying he'd been assigned a non-sales role as
MC.
Yet when Gold Rush returned for the final boardroom, it wasn't Lee's low
price-point or over-reliance on spectacle that most troubled Trump and his
advisors. It was Michael's decision to consider lending Synergy a couple of
cheerleaders just to create the illusion of fairness. Worried about
Michael's lack of competitive edge, Carolyn
asked him point-blank how he could consider giving up his corporation's
exclusive advantage. Michael hemmed and hawed a bit until Trump stepped in
and said, "You're giving up beautiful cheerleaders. I learned a long time
ago when you have a cheerleader, you never give her up." Michael's gaffe
obviously revealed a weakness Trump simply could not tolerate: "The other
side is beating you to a pulp and you're willing to give up the prime asset?
Michael,
you're fired."
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