Quitting and Making Excuses: Verna Felton from ‘The Apprentice 3’

Over time, the Reality TV Hall of Shame has inducted several people who quit from their respective TV shows, such as Osten Taylor of Survivor: Pearl Islands, Sherry St. Germain of Canadian Idol, and Jill from Tough Enough 3. There have also been a few quitters who did not get inducted, such as Jenna Morasca and Sue Hawk from Survivor: All-Stars. Basically, those who got inducted did so because their reasons for leaving were found to be particularly shameful. Those who did not get inducted had better – perhaps even understandable – reasons.

The newest quitter to come up for debate in these hallowed Halls is Verna Felton from The Apprentice 3. And as you can tell by the fact that you are reading this article, it has been decided that she deserves induction into the Reality TV Hall of Shame for it.

Verna was one of tens or hundreds of thousands of people who applied to be on The Apprentice 3. She was one of only 18 who got the opportunity. And she threw it away. In several interviews after her quitting episode aired, Verna talked about how she “earned” her spot. On the Today show, Matt Lauer asked her if she felt she let anybody down because she took somebody else’s spot. She replied, “I didn’t take anyone’s spot, I earned that spot! I have business skills, I have the intelligence, the marketing and communications savvy to have earned that spot on the show. Similarly, she told TV Guide Online, “I went through a million rounds of interviews and tests and I earned my spot on the show.”

What Verna seemed to be so cavalierly missing was that, in fact, she did take a spot away from somebody else who wanted to be on the show, somebody else who went through a million rounds of interviews and who deserved it, but perhaps was #19 when there were only 18 spots. And that person likely would not have quit after only two challenges. Maybe they would have even won. But we’ll never know, because Verna took their spot and then threw it away.

Why did she throw it away? Unfortunately, Verna has been less than forthcoming with an answer. On the show, she claimed she was not feeling well and we were left with the idea that the stress got to her. Afterwards, she claimed that wasn’t it at all, but that she was using that as a cover. Why? Well, Verna gave us several possible answers – I guess we’re supposed to pick the one we like best and go from there. However, none of them actually stacks up.

On her website (dated February 4, 2005), she said she came to a crossroads and for her, “the decision was an easy one.” Why? She didn’t say. She hinted that “everything is not necessarily as it seems.” She went on to add, “Read between the lines and think for yourself. I would not have gotten as far in my life or even made it onto the show if I were simply a quitter who couldn't handle the pressure and stressful work environment. This is absurd. There must have been a reason for me to have quit. Something which made me feel the reward was not worth it. I will leave it at that.”

So rather than just telling us that there actually was a reason, she hinted that there “must have been a reason.” Why? Yes, she is bound by a contract that forbids her from giving details, but saying there was a definite reason is not a detail. When Osten left Survivor, he gave reasons – bad ones, but reasons. Verna didn’t even do that. Instead she hinted at possibilities, and it seems that viewers were just supposed to think of the worst thing we could imagine and then make the decision, "Well, that's not so bad then, if that's really what happened." Verna apparently wants us to convince ourselves that she’s right without even knowing anything. Nice try, but the Reality TV Hall of Shame will not be duped by such attempts.

In that same website posting, Verna tried to turn the tables on anybody who would criticize her by saying if they think they can do better, they should get on the show and realize that there would be millions of people thinking the same thing about them. This is a specious line of rationalization that is often used by those who want to distract attention from the actual situation. If it were true, no sports fan or commentator would ever be able to criticize a bad play, a poor coaching decision, or a missed call by an official. There would be no debate about whether a politician is correct in his or her views, because obviously they made it that far so they must be right. Newspapers and other media outlets would just lock their doors or become like Fox News and just report what somebody tells them – after all, who are they to judge? In short, it’s a horrible way to try to deflect criticism.

What other excuses did she give? She told the Clarion-Ledger: “Something happened that questioned my integrity, and I said I don't want to be a part of this. When it comes to what you have to put up with on the show, you can keep it: the backstabbing, the bickering, the fighting for camera time.” She made a similar comment to TV Guide Online about something happening that night that questioned her integrity, but she once again claimed she couldn’t discuss it further without violating her non-disclosure agreement. In a word: baloney. Contestants on many reality shows have talked about behind-the-scenes things like that without suffering any non-disclosure problems. We already mentioned Osten, above, but what about Omarosa, who claimed racism and made various other accusations? What about the many contestants who have been interviewed and said that things were edited a certain way but didn’t necessarily happen that way? Once again, Verna tried to use vague references to escape actually explaining anything.

So what if there were an opportunity to do the show without having to worry about the alleged backstabbing, bickering, etc. that she complained about? Matt Lauer asked her that very question, and she came up with yet another excuse: “It's not just about circumstances. In any situation when you're in an interview, you're doing two things. Not only is that prospective employer interviewing you and seeing if you're a fit for the job, you're also interviewing that employer as well. And it's just not the right fit.”

OK, let’s address this one now. First, she is correct that in a normal job interview process, the applicant needs to find out about the job just as the company needs to find out about the applicant. But this is Donald Trump’s organization we’re talking about here – it’s not some little-known company. She should have known if she wanted to work there long before she went through that “million rounds of interviews and tests” she talked about.

This claim also raises several more questions. What exactly did Verna learn about the actual job or Trump organization in the short time she was on the show? Nothing, of course. How does learning something about the job translate to walking the street aimlessly, as she did during the motel refurbishing task? Not at all. And if the job were the real reason, why did she make all the other claims and also tell viewers to read between the lines? There would be no reason to be secretive about it!

So how many reasons are there? Was it stress? Was it backstabbing and gamesmanship? Was it some super-secret incident that happened? Was it because her integrity was questioned? Was it that she didn’t like the Trump organization? Verna has given us a buffet of answers, but all of them are fillers and we are still in search of the meat of the matter for the main course.

It is unlikely we will ever find out the true reason, though perhaps we can surmise that Verna simply was not up to the challenge and now does not want to admit it. It seems to be the most logical explanation given the way she has tap-danced around the issues and tried to deflect all questions with a variety of nonsensical answers.

Verna was the first person to ever quit The Apprentice. We have been given no good reason for doing so, and she took the spot of somebody who could have fought through the pressure and perhaps gone all the way. For the way she walked away, and the way she has acted since then, Verna deserves this induction into the Reality TV Hall of Shame.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Shame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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