Aimee Trottier became the sixth casualty from The Apprentice this season, a result of her team's inability to win a task involving a Priceline prize giveaway at an LA area mall.  Aimee was the Project Manager and she just couldn't seem to get the rest of her teammates to work hard.   Aimee took time out of her busy schedule earlier today to speak with us here at BuddyTV about her time in the mansion, how her teammates gave up on her, and what you don't get to see in the boardroom.

Can you tell me how you got involved with The Apprentice?  How were you cast?

Since Season 1 it was just something that I really wanted to do, and I held out for a while just because I was very busy in my professional as well as personal life and the timing was finally right last year.  So, I showed up to NBC Tower in Chicago and went through the very long and arduous six-step process to be on The Apprentice and here I am. 

Being on Team Kinetic, you spent a lot of time in the mansion.  How was that experience? 

The mansion was very cool and there was some of me sitting outside by the pool.  I think I was in a bikini 4 out of the 6 episodes.  But besides that, really that’s all that went on in the mansion, unfortunately, was laying by the pool.  Marissa [DeMato] and I tried to plan a fiesta one night with everyone on Kinetic and yes, we cooked and that was about it.  Sad to say, as much as being in the tents really sucked and was miserable, I would have preferred to have been on the other side because at least that team was having fun.  I mean, you could hear them partying it up, having fun, telling stories, telling jokes and I think that group really bonded a lot more than Team Kinetic did.


Do you think that had an effect on your performance during the tasks, the seriousness of it all?

I think that the ability to bond and form close relationships with the people on the team, it had to do with how the team functioned. From a cultural standpoint, our team (Team Kinetic) just didn’t have the closeness that Team Arrow had.  They were passionate, and although they lost, they would just get up and fight another day.  When Team Kinetic was losing they would kind of sit around the campsite and bitch and moan and complain.  And it’s like, “Hey guys, yes we have to sleep in tents and yes it sucks that we lost but you know let’s just get the hell out of here and get our house back!”  You know, everyone was just kind of bitching and moaning all the time.  So I think that just the fact that we were not as close, one, it forced us to be less passionate and two, it really forced the people on Kinetic to have a lot less respect for each other and I don’t know if that’s indicative of being in the mansion or indicative of just personalities.  I think it’s probably a combination of both.


One of the new twists this year was that you could be a Project Manager and stay on if your team won.  How stressful was that?  Was it difficult?

It’s extremely stressful to be the Project Manager.  Not only are you responsible for leading the task and delegating responsibilities but there is also a lot of coordination and communication that has to take place with production so you’re not in the room, the main war room, or out on the task a good portion of the time because you are off working with production or with legal, trying to get ideas and things cleared in order to be able to execute them for the task.  So, you’re really kind of working both sides of the fence as Project Manager and you are also the liaison for whatever company that you’re representing, like Priceline.  So I was constantly calling Chris Soder and Priceline, discussing new ideas with him, making sure that it was acceptable to Priceline to be able to do that, asking them if we could use certain resources that they had.  You’re kind of in three places at once as the Project Manager, which is why you really have to rely on your team.  One, that they should be doing the job that you delegated them and two, rely that they are going to make decisions in your absence and not sit there and do nothing which unfortunately again, Team Kinetic didn’t do a very good job of.  When Heidi was Project Manager, she had great decision makers on her team, Marissa, Surya, myself, all three of us were always like, “Okay, let’s just get it done, whatever it takes.”  And we would make the decisions and we would do it.  Surya was obviously on the other side, Marisa was gone, and I was the Project Manager and unfortunately no one else filled that role for me.


In the Mall Task, is there anything you wish you had done differently if you were able to do it all over again?

What could I have done differently?  I would have honestly done exactly what I said and left my team at home and I would have gone and hired completely different people.  Those individuals did not work hard; they gave up.  Very simple things: Kristine, I gave her almost an hour to write a one-page paragraph that needed to go to legal and get cleared.  After seventy-five minutes I asked her if it was done and she still didn’t have it done and all she was doing was watching Derek videotape Muna for the screens all over the mall.  You know, Heidi was doing next to nothing.  Everybody just gave up.  Angela had one responsibility and that was to make sure that the signs were completed and that they were proofread.  And then we got the signs back and the biggest sign had a spelling error on it.  It was just the biggest comedy of errors and I am like, “Is everyone just over-tired, is everyone giving up or are they all trying to just sabotage the task?”  You know, Derek, Kristine, Heidi all live in LA.  So they were very aware of what the demographic was at that mall.  You know, me looking around, yes, did I see that there was a Hispanic population? Absolutely I did, but does that mean they’re not English speaking?  Not necessarily.  This was information that three people on the team had because they live in that area so they know the people that live near the mall.  Secondly, Jenn and Derek received this information from the mall contact and I specifically told them to go out and get it and when Jenn came back she told me the demographic was family.  So I said, “There’s no cultural demographic that we’re working here with whatsoever?”  Jenn said “Absolutely not, it’s just family.”  And I said “Okay, let’s market this task towards families.  We’ll get clowns and balloon makers and people to entertain children while their parents sign-up.”  So that’s what we did.


In the Boardroom there a lot of stuff happens that we don’t get to see on TV.  Was there anything significant that happened that they didn’t air?

Let me think about that for second.  There wasn’t a lot of me defending myself and explaining exactly what went on in the task, I think, in the Boardroom. Here’s something: I actually said that I was going to take Angela back in the Boardroom with me.  That was the original statement, that I was taking back Angela and Jenn.  And Trump said to me, “Do you really think I am going to fire an Olympic athlete?” And I said, “Mr. Trump, Angela was in charge of marketing, it was her responsibility, ultimately, to find out what the demographic was.  I didn’t ask her in, I asked Jenn specifically.  Derek and Jenn were responsible for reporting in to her.  So I believe that she shares in the responsibility, not to mention she misprinted the sign.  And that was very stressful, to try to find a printer at 2 o’clock in the morning to get the signs redone and have them ready by 8am.  But, you know, thankfully we were able to get that accomplished.  So, she failed in every aspect of her responsibilities and she wanted to be the Director of Marketing, she asked for this.  For that reason I am taking her back with me.” And he flat out said, “Do you really think I am going to fire an Olympic athlete?”  And I said, “I believe you should if she holds the responsibility for losing the task.”  He looked at me and said, “Aimee, I am not firing Angela, pick someone else.”  And I about died, and that of course, was edited out, which I find extremely interesting because we’re all supposed to have equal opportunity considering it is a game show.


Can you give a rundown of your future plans, what you are up to right now?

Right now I am living back here in Chicago.  I am working for a fast-growing medical device company. I get the opportunity to work with trauma patients as well as cancer patients who are undergoing a bilateral mastectomy and have breast reconstruction.  And I am also very actively involved in promoting a brand-new charity that has been off the ground for twelve months and we’re just ready to take it national and it is called Imerman Angels and it provides one-on-one cancer support for cancer fighters, survivors and caregivers.  It’s a completely free service.  So we’re just taking that national starting this month.

(Photo courtesy of NBC)