Whilst Supplies Last

What's one cheerleader between friends? Apparently a lot, since that's what got Michael fired on this week's episode of The Apprentice.

Lee and Michael returned from the boardroom after both Tarek and Charmaine were fired, but the women of Synergy were still obsessed with what had happened in the boardroom the week before.

Roxanne and Allie were upset that Sean hadn't yet apologized to Allie for saying that she should have been fired instead of Andrea. The women discussed the topic at such volume that Sean had to wear earplugs just to get some sleep.

The following morning, the remaining six contestants headed to Rutgers University for this week's task. Because Gold Rush had only two remaining members, Trump asked one member of Synergy to join Lee and Michael on Gold Rush. Sean wasted no time in volunteering himself.

Working with Outback Steakhouse, the teams had to throw tailgate parties at the Rutgers homecoming football game against Navy. Sean embraced the idea of selling steak with his new teammates: "I feel like a man again!"

Lee took the helm for Gold Rush and decided to focus on events to drive traffic to their assigned parking lot. This included an eating contest, a money booth, and an exclusive appearance by the Rutgers cheerleaders.

Synergy was also interested in working with the cheerleaders, and Allie negotiated with their coach to split the squad in two. When the coach informed Michael of the new deal, he saw no problem with it -- he thought it wouldn't be fair to have such an advantage over Synergy -- but he wanted to confirm it was okay with his Project Manager.

Lee and Sean laughed at the idea of giving Synergy even one cheerleader for their event. They instructed Michael to remind the coach that their deal was for an "exclusive" appearance. Of Michael's plan to breach his own team's exclusivity deal, Sean exclaimed, "No, wanker, no!"

Synergy, led by Roxanne, abandoned the idea of special events and opted just to promote their party at the pep rally the night before. But by the time Roxanne and Tammy finished making their flyers, the pep rally was over.

Gold Rush, on the other hand, had blanketed the rally with flyers -- after making some adjustments to Sean's copywriting. Lee and Michael made fun of Sean's British vernacular when he'd written that food would be for sale "whilst supplies last."

On Homecoming day, Gold Rush's events brought out huge crowds. Lee priced the chicken and steak for $4 and the onion appetizer and soup for $2, reasoning that college kids wouldn't have much cash on hand for food. Sean and Lee tried to drive people toward the sales tent whilst Michael ran the eating contest, watched the money booth, and basically spent the day talking into a microphone.

Roxanne decided that if Synergy wasn't going to have the official cheerleaders at their party, her team would dress like cheerleaders themselves. They priced every item at $5 and delivered food to smaller parties in every parking lot. Allie sold $200 worth of food to the baseball team alone, after she agreed to learn the Rutgers school cheer.

The delivery strategy paid off big time, and Synergy outsold Gold Rush by $1000. For their reward, Roxanne, Tammy, and Allie were flown by helicopter to a vineyard on Long Island, where they stomped grapes to make their own wine. Allie's was a perky Cabernet, which I believe she called "Blood Everywhere!"

In the suite, Sean and Lee faulted Michael for being tethered to his mocrophone, and not selling enough food. Michael felt that Lee had spent too much time planning a spectacle, and not enough time on sales strategy.

Everyone stuck with their positions in the boardroom, and Viceroy George was upset with Lee for dropping the ball on pricing. College students bring plenty of money to football games to buy beer, George said, so they would've willingly spent a few extra dollars for steak.

The biggest laughs came at Michael's expense, after Lee brought up the proposed deal for sharing the cheerleaders. Michael protested that he was merely trying to be fair to his competition and put the cheerleading coach at ease, but Trump and his viceroys thought willfully giving away assets was just stupid.

Trump fired Michael to teach him a lesson: "When you have a cheerleader, you never give her up."

In the cab, Michael was upset with himself for losing over such a small thing at this late stage in the game. But he still couldn't believe that what he did was worse than actually losing the task -- considering his cheerleader-sharing plan ultimately never came to fruition, anyway.

Next week, the show moves one hour later to 10e/9c, and teams work to promote the Xbox 360.