Ordinary Gweilo

The fourth series of The Apprentice has been notable for the number of times that Donald Trump has broken the rules, so it was not really a surprise that he considered hiring two people. It had been obvious for a long time that he was going to choose Randal unless he did something really stupid, and so perhaps the only way to inject some tension into the proceedings was to have the possibility of two winners.

The second hour of the finale was shown on Saturday on TVB Pearl, and at least we were spared the nonsense of the series two finale when there was an obvious winner but Trump tried to create tension by pretending that he hadn’t made his mind up, and (worse still) NBC spread this over 3 hours. This time around was a bit different – Rebecca was a stronger candidate than Jennifer M, but Randal was better than Kelly (in fact probably the most impressive candidate from any of the series).  It would have been a travesty if Randall hadn’t won, but Rebecca was probably as good the winners in series two and three.

What struck me was that Randal appeared to have doubts about the result that no-one else had. He had a 3-0 record as a PM and the respect of all the other contestants apart from poor mad old Toral. He had done a good job in the final task.  So how could he lose? Yet he felt that he had to keep talking himself up (fair enough) and knocking Rebecca (which seemed unneccessary).

Then after Trump had surprised no-one by hiring Randal, he asked him what he thought of Rebecca and whether he should hire her as well. Randal was quite clear in his answer – the show is called "The Apprentice", and there can be only one winner. He didn’t say that Rebecca was a weak candidate or unsuitable to work for Trump, just that he was the winner and he didn’t want to share that honour. In terms of the game he was 100% correct, but if this is really about Trump finding the best person for his organization then Randal’s answer wasn’t helpful. If I were Trump, I would be disappointed with Randal for being so insecure as to deny Rebecca this opportunity.

Of course, Trump had a way out of this, but he chose not to take it. All he had to say was that Randal was "The Apprentice" but that he would also hire Rebecca (or at least offer her a job the next day). Instead the show ended with Trump saying he would respect Randal’s decision and not hire Rebecca (and as far as I know that was his final decision). Perhaps Rebecca had it coming to her after she criticized Randal in one of the boardrooms – her gamesmanship was repaid with interest!

These moments where reality collides with "reality" are always tricky for the show. We may never know whether Trump really wanted to hire Rebecca, or just wanted to make things more interesting.

What I wonder is whether it’s in these people’s best interests to go and work for Trump. If Randal’s consulting business is so successful, does he really want to give that up and join the Trump Organization? Well, yes there is the small matter of the $1m annual salary, but if Trump doesn’t want to renew his employment contract after one year, where does that leave him?

Amusingly, Rebecca turned up for the finale without her broken ankle and with much longer hair, so it was obvious that several weeks had passed since the final task. Yet Trump (and the contestants) still talked about the 15-week (or 13-week) job interview, when it was totally obvious that it is filmed over a much shorter period. Not so real, really.

Series Five has already started in the States, and they are auditioning for Series Six (to be set in Southern California), so Trump will be on our screens for some time to come breaking the rules whenever he feels like it.