On Thursday, December 2, we spoke to Gene Folkes, the fifth contestant to be fired by Donald Trump, on the October 14 episode of the television series, The Apprentice.  The task for that episode involved doing a quickie fashion show – apparantly each team only had four hours to prepare – for the Rockport shoe company, one of the sponsors of this season.  The women's team, Fortitude, gave a bravura performance, which was anchored by Brandy's turn as emcee of her team's show. The men, however, had a much more difficult time and looked ill-prepared and under-rehearsed on stage, much to the consternation of Donald Trump.  The project manager on the task was Wade Hanson, and the emcee for the men's team was Gene.  By the time the episode had finished, both were fired.  The boardroom sequence where Gene and Wade were fired was particularly memorable because Donald Trump was not simply disappointed in the men's team, he was visibly angry and was shouting at both Wade and Gene for what he perceived to be a lackluster effort from them.

Here are the facts about Gene Folkes from his NBC Apprentice bio: Gene Folkes, 46 (Wylie, Texas), has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Morris Brown College and served in the US Air Force. Folkes previously worked at several high profile financial companies as a financial advisor. After being laid off, Folkes has been trying to get his own assisted living facility off the ground while living off of his savings and retirement. Folkes was born in Jamaica, grew up in the Midwest, and currently resides in Wylie, Texas. He is an avid motorcycle enthusiast and cigar aficionado.

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO GENE FOLKES OF THE APPRENTICE 10:

USTH: I'm just trying to get a sense of the overall task. There seemed to be so much editing of the performance of the task in that particular episode because the boardroom seemed to be extended. So when you guys say that it was four hours for the task, did that mean you had four hours to write the speech, or did it mean when you got the task to when you performed it live, it was four hours in between?

GENE FOLKES: Right, that's correct. In other words, when we got task delivery – when we met that morning, and Mr. Trump had actually delivered a task, it was go-time. So the minute we all left we were going to go back to the war room and start strategizing. When we got back, there were shoes from Rockport. And so, between the time that we had to initially pick out wardrobe, come up with a theme, assign different pieces of the task to team members, and then from go-time, which means we're actually going to do the fashion show, that was four hours.

USTH: Okay. Because normally the tasks take place over two days, right? You do part of it one day and then you present the next day?

GENE FOLKES: That is correct.

USTH: Okay, but for this particular task, it was just all in one day.

GENE FOLKES: All in one day, yes.

USTH: From the edit, I didn't get a clear sense of what exactly were Wade and Clint doing for this task. I understand that Anand and Steuart went shopping and you and David were writing your speeches. What did Clint and Wade do for those four hours?

GENE FOLKES: You know, that's a good question. I mean...

USTH: Because I didn't see it.

GENE FOLKES: No, no, that was a good question and I think that's ultimately why Mr. Trump made the decision that he did regarding Wade. I think Wade – and I know Wade and I have talked but I think Wade has a different leadership style. And I think Wade's strategy was to assign tasks to people, have them do it, and he has the overall oversight of the task. Clint – I'm not really sure what he was doing during the task. I know he eventually ended up helping out with matching the shoes with the models and some of the cleanup work, if you will. And I know he put together an Excel spreadsheet that was actually on that laptop. Mine was just note cards. We were just supposed to do note cards, write that down, but they wanted something very specific. Name the shoe, name the woman, and the whole thing. So I'm not really sure what Clint's task was – what his job was during that task. And I think maybe Wade was in charge of logistics.

USTH: How many shoe styles were there that you had to talk about exactly?

GENE FOLKES: Well, there was – how many models did we have? Did we have eight? And each model had two pairs. So it was like 16 pairs of shoes.

USTH: And you had to write all 16 speeches yourself?

GENE FOLKES: Yes, yes.

USTH: So that's what I'm asking: why did it fall on you to write all 16 speeches and to perform them live instead of maybe dividing up the speech writing? Then you could perform all 16 but have three people, four people write them – each of you take four shoe styles and divide it up that way so you'd have more time to rehearse. You didn't have any time to rehearse, it seems.

GENE FOLKES: No, that's correct. No, we didn't because we had to run around, and there were other things that we needed to do other than that. What the women did – which I thought from a strategic standpoint was smart – was they had come up with a theme first. Everything was, "A Day in the Life of Tristan." I thought that was something that we should have done, but I think that was a project manager decision as far as the logistics and how that worked. So, you know, I mean your guess is as good as mine.

USTH: The tone of the boardroom in your particular case was very different from most of the others. It wasn't just Mr. Trump telling you why you lost and what you did wrong. He was certainly visibly upset with you guys – really kind of yelling at both you and Wade and pretty much all the guys. What did you feel about his reaction? Did you expect that severe of a reaction, and did you think it was justified?

GENE FOLKES: You know what? – did not expect that severe of a reaction. That was really shocking that he was really that upset. Do I think it was justified? No, not at all – not that severe. You know, to be called illiterate, to be called, you know, certain things, yes, to me that was crossing the line and that's why he got the response from me that he did.

However, I would say this: that during the course of this show, and I have no reason to defend people, people kept teasing Mr. Trump about having a bromance – that he really liked David or seemed to have bonded with him in some kind of way. I'm kind of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy.

And so initially, I believe, that that emotion [from Mr. Trump] – it's like being disappointed in a child and sometimes parents just kind of fly off the handle, if you will. He and I had a one-on-one, and initially I took it like, he's just really disappointed in the performance because he had expected me to be at the end of this program. And, he came down later – and I know this is maybe going to blow your socks off – and put his arm around me and shook my hand and said, "Man, why? You really gave me no choice." Just a different side of him that I don't think a lot of people saw.

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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