The first contestant fired in last night's double firing on
The Apprentice: LA, was
Heidi Androl, an early favorite to win the whole thing. Heidi had impressed audiences and Trump alike throughout the season with her assertiveness and leadership abilities, but nothing could save her from a disastrous advertising presentation on last night's show. Heidi, who sells helicopter filtration systems by day, took time out her schedule to speak with us about her time on the show.
Both the written transcript and the full mp3 audio can be found below.
Can you tell us how you found yourself on The Apprentice? Was it something you'd always wanted to do? Were you a fan of the show?
As a matter of fact, I was a fan of the show. I watched it the first season and we used to have Apprentice parties to get together and watch it, and I sort of have not watched it as often in the most recent years, but I was always a fan. I have a great girlfriend and we were at her house one day and we were talking about work and things and she said "Do you want to go and try to be on The Apprentice," and I really wasn't interested in putting my entire life on TV. But then they were having auditions here in LA and I thought "Well, if I don't get on the show I can at least sell Trump a helicopter filter." So, I went to the casting here in LA armed with my business cards and went to sell Trump a filtration system for the '76. At casting, I had, by chance, the opportunity to sit at Trump's table and the rest is history.
Last night, you and Frank had one of the more heated arguments that we've seen this season. How difficult is that to watch from home?
It was horrible to watch! You know, I've watched every episode and I think I've grown a gray hair per episode (or ten). It's really stressful and you basically relive it when you watch it on TV. So, yeah, it was really tough.
We know that there's a lot of editing in the boardroom scenes. How much more was there to the argument? You seemed really flustered, which is not something we're used to seeing from you.
Well, I guess...to be completely honest, it was pretty accurate. I was really flustered. There were a few key scenes they left out. Frank forgot the video camera in Las Vegas. There were a lot of things that I was really frustrated with and I was frustrated with myself and that was what went wrong. I was just more angry with myself for not taking a few minutes to take a nap because I had been up for 36 hours without even taking 15 minutes to just collect myself and it was totally my fault. I learned a lot. I learned that you need to take a few minutes before you present. The number one rule of presenting should be get some sleep, get some rest.
You've been portrayed as one of the front-runners all season. Do you think Trump should take past performances into account before firing people?
Well, that was the part that you didn't see. I was fighting for that and what I said at the end was "If you are going to be firing me solely on this task, then I would fire me too. If that's all you're taking into account." We did go back and talk about previous boardrooms and I sat in on a lot of them. We did go back to the history and, so, he didn't take into account that I had the best record and that I had been put in the hot seat many times. I was Project Manager four times and some of the people in that room, (Stefani, for example) hadn't even been Project Manager once. So, I was a little disappointed, but I understand. Hey, I blew it. So, it was my fault.
What do you have coming up in the future?
I'm still working in the helicopter industry and since the show I have been working on a book with a colleague and it's called "In the Men's Room". It's a girl's guide to succeeding in a male-dominated business. Basically, all the qualities that I have learned about myself and the things I have learned from men, I have put that into a format that will help women. I'm working on that and still truckin' away selling filtration systems in the helicopter industry.
(Interview Conducted by Oscar Dahl)