Apprentice Blog

Last night’s episode was, in the words of Donald J. Trump, “The biggest slaughter in the history of The Apprentice.”

In my mind, this episode set an Apprentice record for something else too - and I’ve been writing about the show for four seasons. It set the record for discriminatory, unprofessional behavior on the part of one of the contestants.

I am referring to the fact that Omarosa tried to smear Piers by “accusing” him of being gay. It only took Mr. Trump and Ivanka about half a second to expose her attempt at character assassination. But the real question is, isn’t it pretty late in history to try to destroy a colleague by making innuendoes about his or her sexual orientation? You bet it is.  There was a time when our gay and lesbian colleagues had to hide their sexual orientations from view, living in fear that exposure would end their professional lives. Isn’t it wonderful that those medieval days are now over? And what did Omarosa hope to accomplish by "proving" that Piers was gay? Did she actually think that Mr. Trump would fire Piers because of his sexual orientation? And the fact that Piers is a married man with children made her failed vendetta all the more riducolous.

But when you look back at this terrific season, some pretty curious events have stood out. Early on, Gene Simmons declared himself to be “King of all the women!” And he directed belittling, sexist comments at Ivanka Trump. If you engaged in behavior like that in just about any company today, you’d be tossed out the door in minutes. And no other company would let you inside its doors.

Then a few episodes later, Piers and others were poking fun at Vinny Pastore because he is an Italian-American and therefore, a gangster. Vinny seems like such a fine gentleman to me, and what a commanding actor he is. Imagine what would happen if such stereotypes were thrown in the face of people in your company, based on their heritage. Such thinking diminishes everyone.

There was also the time that Omarosa accused Piers of being a lousy father. If somebody at work leveled a charge like that against you, how would you react?

Then last night, Piers threatened to hit Stephen Baldwin when he thought that Stephen was spying on his team. I’d invite you to threaten someone at work with physical violence - and see how long you keep your job.

Finally, last night we had Omarosa try to “out” Piers for being gay.  

These events stand out glaringly because most of the contestants have usually exhibited such positive, professional behavior throughout the season. Piers has been wise and organized. Marilu was a great, empathetic colleague. Omarosa has been focused and assertive. Lennox has been a solid foundation that has kept his teammates grounded. Tito and Trace, complete gentlemen. Nely, resourcesful and energetic. I know you could join me in loading praise on every single one of the candidates for the fine things they achieved.

But there’s another lesson to be learned this season. It’s that to succeed in your career today, you have to learn to work with everyone around you. Do you have to love everyone? No, and they don’t have to love you. It might be business and it might be tough. But face facts. Aren't we all in it together?