Hall of Shame Moment: Ryan’s Disastrous Drunken Debacle on ‘The Apprentice: Martha Stewart’

On The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Ryan had been doing well despite his team’s repeated losses. He had a good record as a project manager, was well-liked, and many viewers thought he had a good shot at the final two. All of that disappeared in a single task, though, when he gave a disastrous performance as project manager that involved doing so many things wrong, it meant his firing was a foregone conclusion.

It was down to the final five. Ryan was on a team that had only one other player, Marcela. Everybody was certain that if that team lost again, Marcela would be sent home because of her record in the game compared to Ryan’s. It’s not clear if Ryan, who was the project manager, was more laid back about the task that faced them because he was certain Marcela would go, but it certainly looked that way.

The challenge was to create an in-flight commercial for Song airlines. Ryan began on a bad note by creating the idea before ever doing any research on the company or talking to the executives. Anybody who has ever watched The Apprentice knows that doing both of these is imperative. Marcela knew, and she called the execs. Ryan made it worse by specifically saying he would keep his idea no matter what they said, and then following through on it.

Ryan’s main idea was to have fun with the commercial. Fun is great, but it doesn’t excuse a poor performance. Ryan had actors available but chose to do it himself – and Ryan is no actor. He also directed and produced. The whole thing came out as unprofessional and off the mark.

But it got worse – much worse. During the editing, Ryan helped himself to some beer. Actually, it was lots of beer. It’s not clear exactly how much he had, but we see him at the point of slurring his words and mentioning that he’s had nine beers and wouldn’t be okay to drive. Yes, Ryan got drunk during a task.

What’s worse is that it affected his performance. He decided to add a tagline for the commercial of “Need We Play More?” The idea was for it to be a play on “Need We Say More?” but it really made no sense. Marcela tried to tell him that, but there was no reasoning with a drunken Ryan.

But wait, there’s more! Ryan also decided to add in a “subliminal message” with a quick cut to some text for a few frames in the middle of the commercial. There are so many things wrong with this idea that it’s hard to know where to start. First, subliminal messages don’t work. Second, if they did work, the whole point is that they are subliminal, meaning the person watching doesn’t notice them. Third, those who believe they work also tend to believe it is immoral to use them because of their supposed power. This was noticeable and confusing. And it was just plain dumb and unprofessional. But hey, it apparently made sense to a drunk man.

And we’re still not done! After they lost by a wide margin, Ryan and Marcela went to the Conference Room. Martha Stewart was not happy. She wanted to know why Ryan drank during the task. Ryan’s response? “The beer was free.” Oh, well, that makes it okay then!

Ryan finally hit rock bottom when Martha asked him what he’d do for the company and he replied that this process is a unique opportunity to get an executive job without working his way up. Ouch. I don’t think he could have thought up a worse answer if he tried!

Ryan’s performance was so bad that Martha Stewart didn’t just fire one member of the team – she fired them both. There was no way she could have kept Ryan around after he ignored the executives. There was no way she could have kept him after he got drunk on a task and it affected his performance and choices.

Ryan might have ended up being recognized in the Hall of Shame for any one of these actions – but putting them all together guaranteed him a spot here. Ryan seems like a nice guy who just wanted to have some fun after weeks of stressful situations. But fun does not outweigh doing the job, and getting drunk on the job is definitely not the way to get rid of some stress.

Therefore, for his overall behavior in the eleventh episode of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Ryan must be recognized with a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment.

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

Be sure to sign up for the RealityNewsOnline/Reality TV Hall of Shame e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on these sites! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of the shows in the Hall of Shame listed here, all of the people who have been inducted can be found here, and click here for the Hall of Shame Moments.

For more news about reality TV, be sure to check out RealityNewsOnline and SirLinksALot: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart!