Apprentice” has lasted another week without millionaire entrepreneur Donald Trump firing her from the show; Mahsa Saeidi-Azcuy is now one of only nine remaining contestants competing for a job with Trump Industries.
The task assigned to both teams this past week was to create a pedicab tour of New York. Both the men’s and the women’s teams had to pass pedicab license tests, design the tour and then make the most money selling rides.
Kelly was the project manager of the women’s team, while Anand was the project manager of the men’s team.
The first thing both teams had to do was to get licensed to drive pedicabs around New York City.
“Learning to pedicab is nothing like riding a bike,” said Mahsa, who stepped down from her job as an assistant district attorney when her employers realized she had taken a leave of absence to compete on “The Apprentice.” “You start to go and it’s going to crash to the floor. It’s very terrifying.”
It was no surprise then that Mahsa, 29, was one of two of the contestants who didn’t get licensed.
“Most of you seem to be getting it, but there are two I need to single out with some concerns about safety,” the pedicab instructor said. “So that would be Kelly and Mahsa…. I‘m really concerned about just being able to carry people in traffic.”
Since Mahsa and Kelly didn’t pass the license test, they were tasked with sales.
The women’s strategy was to target wealthy men on Wall Street, and their operation was called Babes on Bikes. “I think this location is ideal because we‘re targeting men with money and we‘re selling sex,” Mahsa said.
The men, on the other hand, targeted tourists near Trump Towers, and their operation was called Regal Roman Chariot Tours.
When Eric Trump, the son of Donald Trump, asked Kelly who was the best sales person on the women’s team, she singled out Poppy. Mahsa, who was standing nearby, heard Kelly’s comment and said, “I just sold four people right there!” She later said, “Poppy is a joke. She’s 23, she has no experience, she has absolutely no leadership ability. I couldn’t shut up, I actually had to say something…. I’m pissed.”
Mahsa and Stephanie expressed frustration for not getting recognized as the leaders in sales, while Poppy got credit as the best sales person.
But Brandy, another member of the women’s team, saw Mahsa’s attitude as sign of insecurity.
“Mahsa is extremely overbearing,” Brandy said. “I think that it’s just a lot of insecurities. You know people who are really truly confident in themselves don‘t need to tell people why they‘re so wonderful.”
Back in the boardroom, Trump asked Eric and Ivanka, his daughter, to read off the sales numbers for the two teams. Eric read that the women’s team had made $320, and Ivanka read that the men’s team had made $950—almost three times as much.
Project Manager Kelly told Trump that Liza was the weakest member of her team. Trump then asked Mahsa who the team’s weakest link was. Mahsa agreed with Kelly that Liza was the weakest link. Trump then asked Mahsa whom she would fire. “I would fire Liza … because Liza did not sell one thing.”
The men’s team was then excused and Kelly, the project manager for the women’s team, had to chose two teammates to come back to the boardroom with her; one of which would be fired. Kelly chose Liza and Stephanie to join her in the boardroom.
Finally, Trump faulted Kelly for being a bad project manager, and fired her from the show. There now remain nine contestants competing for a job with Trump Industries.
The Iranian-born contestant remains safe until next week, when, again, another contestant will be fired.
The show airs Thursday nights on the NBC network at 9/8 Central. The program website is at: http://www.nbc.com/the-apprentice.