On Friday, September 17, we spoke with Nicole Chiu, the first contestant fired by Donald Trump on the latest season of NBC's hit series, The Apprentice. She was team leader of the women's team, Fortitude, who lost out on the first task to the men's team, Octane. The task was to design and furnish a thoroughly modern workspace in the SoHo district of Manhattan. Here are the facts about Ms. Chiu from her NBC Apprentice bio:
Nicole Chiu, 27 (Palos Verdes, Calif.), graduated cum laude from the University of California, Irvine. She received her J.D. from Loyola Law School while holding the title of "Miss Los Angeles" and placing 4th Runner Up at the Miss California USA 2008 Pageant (part of the Miss USA Pageant). Determined to use her brains and beauty, Chiu left her law firm job, where she was miserable as an attorney, to prove that the recession can't stop her from pursuing her dreams.
USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO NICOLE CHIU OF THE APPRENTICE 10:
USTH: When you went into the boardroom, did you have any inkling that the rest of your teammates were unhappy with you, or did you feel that you had the complete support of your team?
NICOLE CHIU: I thought that I had the support of my team when we went in, and I was very surprised because I hadn't been a part – I was so focused on the task that my one mistake was I wasn't trying to hear what people were saying in terms of anything negative.
I was focused on being positive and bonding as a team. I think we did bond as a team. We accomplished, I mean, we had an empty space and in less than two days I thought we'd pulled together something amazing given our resources and the time.
But I thought we'd really bonded and I felt that I had established good relationships with all the women. So I was very surprised that before we were even announced as the loser the women – some of the women – came off that strong.
USTH: Looking at both offices your office and you got to see the guys' offices, who do you really think had the better final product in all honesty?
NICOLE CHIU: You know, honestly I think there was one factor that on which to base that and that would be the fact that if you have a liability and it's dangerous office condition like a rug that multiple people slipped on, I think that therefore you are unsuccessful. I mean, maybe the project was to design a modern workspace and not a safe workspace but I think inherently in designing any workspace it needs to be safe.
USTH: Now that you know you're not going to go on to be the Apprentice, do you have any regrets about leaving your prior job at the law firm?
NICOLE CHIU: I have no regrets because I feel that it would not have been in integrity to stay at the firm while they saw me interview for a job on national TV. And I wasn't able to disclose any of that to them at the time, so I have no regrets that I left.
I'm positive that better things lie ahead of me as a result of being on the show and hopefully you'll be able to see some of what lies ahead for me if you stay tuned.
USTH: When you watched the show back – I assume you watched the premiere last night – do you agree with the final television edit in that it portrayed everything accurately, or do you think the show was sort of edited to over-emphasize the negative or portray you in a negative light?
NICOLE CHIU: No, I think that the television broadcast really garnered the essence of what happened. Obviously a lot of material was cut and perhaps people were screaming with a scream going, "You should say this..."
And I probably did say that or, you know, defend myself in some way that other people wanted me to. But the essence of I feel who I was and what happened came out, and so I'm very happy with how the television broadcast happened.
USTH: Okay, with that I'll say thank you very much for your time Nicole. Good luck in the future.
NICOLE CHIU: Thank you so much.
The Apprentice airs each Thursday night at 10:00pm Eastern & Pacific / 9:00pm Central on NBC.
Use the image gallery below to read the other interviews in this series
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