Q: Can an Apprentice contestant acting as project manager fire or bench a team member during a task if they are being difficult and not following directions? —Mary, New York
A: The answer to this fabulous question is ... we don't know. But from a couple of incidents, it would seem that this is entirely possible.
On the Levi's challenge, Maria to use Wes's totally apt description, and bossed everyone around, including project manager Wes. Things should have come to a head when she nastily ordered Wes to "back off!", but instead he actually obeyed her. Maria's attitude only got worse, and her lame campaign ended up losing the challenge for Mosaic.
In the boardroom, when the infamous "Back off!" incident was mentioned, Trump henchwoman Carolyn Kepcher pointed out that if one of her employees had told her to back off, that employee would have been fired. Wes said something about how he didn't want to lose a quarter of his team. But it also seemed clear that he didn't really believe he could have fired Maria.
It's not the first time the issue of firing a team member has come up. In , Kwame Jackson struggled to keep returned contestant Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth working for him instead of against him. But he kept giving her assignments, resulting in much confusion and a period of time during which Kwame had no idea where singer Jessica Simpson was. Donald Trump had said early in that episode that once betrayed, you shouldn't give your betrayer a second chance. It seemed clear that if Kwame had somehow benched Omarosa fairly early on, he might have had a chance to beat Bill Rancic.
How could this be done? The project manager in question would just have to play it by ear, maybe giving the obnoxious employee a clear warning, delivered privately. And when the employee crossed the line once again, the PM would just have to say, firmly, "I'm benching you for this task. Go back to the suite."
Would the fired employee be beyond angry? Probably. These are not the most stable team members to begin with. Would they obey? Probably. It's hard to imagine someone who's been ordered to leave sticking around and trying to continue to run things. Would the decision hurt an already short-staffed team? Not as much as losing would. And taking that kind of risk is exactly what Trump keeps claiming he wants to see. Now the only question is: Who'll be the first guinea pig to try it? —G.F.C.
Q: Who won “The Benefactor” contest with Mark Cuban? The show was abruptly halted after about six episodes. The ratings never climbed. —Ariana, Michigan
A: ABC's "The Benefactor" was the first of the "Apprentice" clones, or at least, that's the way it played out in the media. In truth, The Benefactor's only similarity to Mark Burnett's NBC show was that it had a billionaire at the helm. Mark Cuban's series of occasionally eccentric and unusual tests and challenges (such as a Jenga competition) were far from the formula-driven, corporate America-inspired "Apprentice."
ABC battered the series by placing it on Monday nights, where it tended to air before Monday Night Football on the East coast and after the game on the West coast. The show was also preempted for a "20/20" episode after Christopher Reeve died. Relatively low ratings led ABC to have producers compress the final three episodes into a single finale, which aired Oct. 25. Still, Mark Cuban , "I have nothing but great things to say about ABC."
On that finale episode, Dominic, Femia, and Linda competed for the $1 million. Linda was let go first after showing Mark Cuban her house, which didn't quite match the image she'd constructed. Cuban was blunt: "I can't believe that pretty much everything she said was a complete lie," he said. After the finale aired, Linda , "I wish I never would have been on the show. I wish I had never met Mark Cuban. He's just raunchy. He just ruined my name that I helped to build up for 31 years."
With Linda gone, Femia and Dominic each gave one-minute speeches about why they should win. On the strength of her speech, Femia earned Mark Cuban's (and ABC's) million dollars, although not before both she and Dominic were told that they'd lost — just so Cuban could see how they'd handle failure. Although his show wasn't a complete failure, that's certainly a test Mark Cuban would himself pass. —A.D.
Q: Who pays for the makeovers on Queer Eye for a Straight Guy? —JF, Fort Worth
A: Actually, we do, as viewers. Here's how: When the series began, stores and companies opened their doors and donated their products for free, because that product placement was so valuable to them. We see the stuff on TV and then rush out to buy it. Don't believe it? Remember the piece of furniture that Thom nicknamed the Chofa? It's manufacturer, Domain, expects to sell $1 million worth of them in 2004, and its CEO told Fortune, "It's the most amazing marketing vehicle that Domain has ever been able to do. And it wasn't even our idea." Sales of a sconce at Illuminations sconce increased 365 percent after it appeared on the show.
The companies were getting such a good deal that producers finally started to ask for cash in exchange for placement. While producers insist that the Fab Five (and soon the Gal Pals, the three gay men and one woman who will make over females on ) pick every product that becomes a part of the straight guy's new life, Fortune reported earlier this year that "some mentions come with a price tag — Oral-B says it was quoted $20,000" to be featured on the series. Because of this, the show's been the target of criticism; , "It's an infomercial, people!" —A.D.
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Television Editor. is a writer and teacher who publishes , a daily summary of reality TV news.