I gave some thought to the Toral/Rebecca situation. I am disgusted by the holier-than-thou attitude displayed in E3 but am considering how much the ER all-nighter came into play on several levels.

When Rebecca was injured at the end of E2, only Toral came away from the ice to stay with her and I didn't see any members of the women's team even check to see how Rebecca was faring.

I have heard that lack of sleep is the biggest complaint among Apprentice candidates - one average was 4 hours a night, at most, throughout the entire series. It appeared that Rebecca was in the ER all night and that Toral was with her the entire time. I've been both the ER patient and the ER waiter and both are extremely tiring. When they returned to the suite, I saw the women's team wondering what the news was but not really offering any type of support.

As an aside, an ankle injury is nothing to play around with - it's very serious and extremely painful. I am really surprised Rebecca continued.

Rebecca did not need to be PM this task. She should have avoided it at all costs. While I can appreciate the 'I can still do anything attitude and I'm going to prove it' she should have been a team member in a capacity that would have gone further. Market research using the Internet, interviewing the target audience, demonstrating a product. All of this could have been done from a sitting/foot prop position and probably would have gained sympathy points from the senior's. And, if the women's team had lost and she was brought to the BR, chances are she would not have been fired. If the PM felt that her injury limited her ability to contribute, she could have said - I offered to do this, this, and this which would have helped the team but instead the PM put me on the sidelines.

Toral's attitude may have started with seeds of envy and self-importance, but after witnessing the lack of empathy by any of the women's team to Rebecca's situation that attitude bloomed to complete disdain. Given the exhaustion factor combined with frustration, it was a train-wreck waiting to happen. Additionally, when sleep-deprived the simplest tasks become huge obstacles. I don't know how many days this task extended, but if Toral had given up the night of sleep to stay with Rebecca in the ER while the rest of the team slept, she was a night down from the outset. Again, I do not approve of her comments but do wonder how much sleep and observance of team attitudes played into the role.

As said before, Rebecca should never have PM'ed this task (getting used to the crutches and ankle; sleep deprivation to name two reasons). But she did so I took a closer look. Going back to the ankle and being on crutches, I really am wondering how much support she received from her team. Yes this is business, but there's an element of humanness that has to come into play. I don't know if she asked for help from the others or whether help was offered by the others. But a plausible reason why she did not bring Toral into the BR is that Toral was the only one helping her with the personal aspects of daily living. Yes Jen M wheeled back her suitcase but did she really have a choice? When injured, I suspect in any fashion but I know in this fashion - bathing becomes a chore - other than a sponge bath, you really can't do it safely unless you have another person standing outside the door. Getting a glass of water requires help. Laundry is an absolute obstacle (and Rebecca may now be limited in her fashion selections). Etc.

If Toral was the only one helping her, bringing Toral into the BR knowing she would be fired was lose-lose for Rebecca. I can't say definitively that the other women did not step in, but if Rebecca saw Toral as her only source of help/support losing Toral would have really put Rebecca in a bad position as Toral may be the only one Rebecca see's as helping her through her injury. Yes, this is personal but not on the level of 'she's my friend.' If Rebecca was fired, no doubt production assistants would have helped her at the Ponderosa. But if Toral was fired, who would help Rebecca with these tasks? Also, strategy-wise, Rebecca knows that Trump is gunning for Toral. If both get called into a BR, most likely Toral would be fired, thus advancing Rebecca in the game. By that point, Rebecca may have figured out alternatives to her situation and can then just keep going on without Toral.

In the BR, the other women brought up the friendship between Rebecca/Toral but didn't give any specifics. This leads me to believe that they were referring to the ER hand-holding and whatever Toral was doing to help Rebecca on the injury level but this was also something they couldn't overtly say. The natural response from Trump and the Viceroy's might have been negative, especially if they turned the tables to 'well what did you do?' Also, Rebecca went back at them using Toral's education (same university as Trump - points) and while she insulted them, they already were making Toral less-worthy. Rebecca never strayed and kept bringing up Toral's qualifications on a business-level while ignoring poor performance on a task level. The rest of the team kept bringing up protection based on friendship but provided no basis on how that friendship affected Rebecca's decision. They also did not try to bolster Jen W from a business sense and could also be accused of protecting her based on friendship. All-in-all, I see this whole thing as being about Rebecca's survival - personally and professionally and she took a calculated risk, played her cards well, and won the gamble.

Edited because I lost the last paragraph between preview and post

Awesome analysis, Keupi. I happen to agree with all of it, especially this: