Who would have thought that I would ever be so glad to see Donald Trump? But after the debacle that was Skating With Celebrities, if I could have jumped through the screen and hugged him I would have. Thank you, Donald Trump, for The Apprentice.

This looks to be a great season. As the contestants introduced themselves, they seem to be the most qualified yet. In classic Mark Burnett fashion, we have another schoolyard “pick ‘em” to decide the teams. And just as I love it on Survivor, I loved it on The Apprentice. The teams seem to be evenly matched, and each has its own share of characters.

Oh characters. There’s Brent, the large and loud attorney who created his own diet and lost 100 pounds. (did he really suggest getting a karaoke machine??) Then there’s Lenny, “the Russian” (I love that Trump called him that) who doesn’t seem to have any real talent other than laughing at others. And who can forget Summer. Oh Summer.

How could she not make the phone calls that she said she would? While she might have had a valid point that calling during the dinner rush isn’t the best time, that’s no reason to not make the calls. And my personal pet peeve, why didn’t she pull her hair back? I just don’t think it’s professional to have you hair all over the place like that – it’s business, not a date.

Anyways, the task itself was incidental – you could tell it was going to be close. Both teams had reasonable sales plans, even if Tariq kept calling his giveaways “gift bags” (it would have helped a lot if he had called them duffel bags, so no one was thinking they were getting a bag full of stuff). And while I kind of thought that Allie’s team would win, it was no surprise how close it was.

My favorite part of the show is always the boardroom, and tonight’s was great. I loved that Carolyn looked at Summer and asked her flat-out what she contributed to the task. And I think that she said knowledge of the product, which would have made me a great part of the team. And Lenny & Lee lost a lot of my respect when they were laughing at Tariq – I think that speaks a lot less of them than of Tariq. And at the end, even though Summer ended up getting herself fired, it spoke highly of her that she tried to explain (at least it looked like she was trying to explain) the whole empty gift bags vs. duffel bags thing. Honesty will always get you far in the game of life.

So, it’s goodbye to Summer. And next week we get the battle of the wackos.