by David McAlpine

Last night on The Apprentice, it was the return of the pointless task: selling ice cream on the streets of New York. Now, I'm sure that it was a great chance for some people to showcase their skills or whatever, but running around selling as many ice cream bars for $5 in New York just doesn't seem so…substantive.

Poppy and David stepped up this week for their respective teams as Project Managers. David has years of sales experience, while Poppy has none. Great choice, Fortitude!

The first day, both teams end up downtown in Union Square, where the traffic is slow going. The men are out there first and start roping in customers, but the New Yorkers aren't having it, even fighting back. The women experience the same problem, as no one in their right mind (even tourists) want to buy ice cream for $5.

So the solution for both teams is clear: costume time! Liza and Poppy head aim for the more feminine angle and buy everyone pink tank tops and sparkly headbands. The guys, on the other hand, opt for barbershop-like vests and orange wigs. Not going to lie, I didn't think clowns were an effective way to see ice cream, but the added attention starts drawing customers to both teams' carts.

At this point, Alex and Stephanie are beginning to stand out in a negative way. Stephanie is the saleswoman on Fortitude and she's putting the kabash on being nice to anyone--for her, it's all about the sale. Alex, on the other hand, is a "puppy dog" according to David, not a valuable member of the team.

The women start to fall more behind as Don Jr. observes them missing hundreds of people flooding out of the Union Square subway stop. Meanwhile, the men move into SoHo are Steuart starts doing pushups for cash. One generous man later and the guys are rallying to finish the day strong.

Day 2 dawns on the teams and each know that this is make it or break it time. Stephanie is coming down with an iron fist leading all the girls in Hard Sales 101. Both the guys and the girls go back to Union Square and it's an all out battle for customers. It actually gets to the point where guys are wrestling children away from Mahsa, and she's not happy about it.

After the challenge is over, both teams are confident they won. Poppy says Liza is the weakest link while David mentions James, fueling the fire on both teams before he even announces who wins. He even jokingly fires Liza, making everyone jump (including myself). Liza has nothing to worry about because the women win, but there's still sore feelings between her and Poppy.

Back in the boardroom, Trump rides Gene for saying the men "absolutely" won, even though he didn't know the results yet and, well, they obviously didn't. David doesn't see any choice but to bring James and Alex back into the boardroom with him, as he thought they did the worst. According to David, it was just like being at home with his children with those two.

Alex's defense to that: he doesn't like manhandling people. I thought David's "puppy dog" reference was a little rough, but the more I see Alex in the boardroom, the more I start to see it. Trump even insinuates that Alex might not be in the rest of the guys' league, and Alex's rebuttal is less than convincing. Trump sees it as a lack of passion and fires Alex on the spot.

After the show, though, Alex found his way out of the recession--now he works in construction management at a major company.

Find out who's the next casualty in the boardroom on the next episode of The Apprentice, next Thursday at 10/9c on NBC!

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

Follow David on Twitter: twitter.com/davidmcalpine

For more Apprentice links, visit SirLinksALot.net.