We introduced Toral to mutineers with a gentle reminder to her that “all glory is fleeting” and my oh my how true it was. On Thursday, October 13, her Apprentice star was extinguished in dramatic fashion after a run of just 4 episodes. While probably not an ideal role model, we can answer Desi media critics and say that this week at least 1 TV show was truly led by a desi characterThis week at least 1 TV show was truly led by a desi character.

The episode’s story arc traced Toral’s fall starting with her perilous escape from last week’s boardroom – something Trump pointed out was her high point in words almost fitting a Greek Oracle – “Enjoy the view, Toral“.

The subsequent verdict from the flock of Cassandras was immediate and fierce –

“Not bringing Toral into the boardroom isn’t loyalty, it’s stupidity”

And in Waiting to Exhale fashion, a caucus was called where her teammates admonished her to step up the plate and run like she hadn’t run before. The die was cast as her teammate’s demands were diametrically opposed to Toral’s master plan –

“…Toral is a friggin goober”“My strategy was really to take an extremely passive approach that would allow each person to implode because I just didn’t think these people would be able to perform in any manner… I’m not completely wrong about that”

But, as they say in war, no plan survives contact with the enemy. And ironically, her teammates employed precisely this strategy against her. Toral’s constant passivity and shirking of responsibility created the essential conflict and thus one of the more entertaining hours of TV in a long time –

“I’m happy to step up … I know you guys are expecting that from me… BUT… “

And so we see her problem stripped to it’s bare, naked, essential glory. With Toral, there’s always a BUT. Always an out. Always some wiggle room. She appears to live in that precious gap between “try” and “do”. At some level, we suppose she was willing to don the ridiculous mascot costume her team had adopted to complete their assigned task. BUT she was rather adamant that The Toral –

“can’t embarrass myself or my family or my employers”

Apparently The Toral has never seen a single episode of RealtyTV before. Or read the fine print on her contract. One of her teammates aptly summarized Toral’s attitude as only the MTV generation could –

“Toral is a friggin goober”

As fate would have it, the girls lost (again), Toral was a focus point for their anger (again), and their camaraderie (again), and she assumed that the real problem lay collectively with everyone else (again) –

“again, my judgement was 100% on target”

“they’re so stupid, they have no intelligence, they have no backbone…. they’re going to get a fight”

Watching this delusion in practice vaguely reminded me of a famous quote from Star Trek: TNG — “If there’s nothing wrong with me, maybe there’s something wrong with the Universe”. Of course Trek is, uh, Science Fiction, while Toral presumably lives in NYC. As the space/time continuum continued to warp around itself, Toral played the Religion card –

“I said that I had a personal and spiritual belief about that stuff”

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on Hinduism in any way (my family is Christian) BUT, a few min of Googling didn’t really turn anything up. Maybe it’s more like one of those family traditions rather than a sect . Most likely, it was a feeble attempt to introduce a third rail into the dialog.“…these are not people I’d even hire as my administrative assistant”

Nevertheless, the central issue in the boardroom became whether or not she’d really mentioned this concern to her team. The video record was clear that she hadn’t and the verbal sparing in the boardroom gave very little support to Toral’s version of events.

The Donald did a marvelous job of translating ToralSpeak into English –

Trump: Did you say religion [to your teammates]? Remember you have to tell the truth, we’re talking about religion.

Toral: I believe I did

Trump: …’I *believe* i did’ means ‘I didn’t do it’

In possibly the harshest boardroom of the 4 seasons of the Apprentice, Trump bypassed getting the PM’s opinion, avoided frivolous formality and preserved precious commercial airtime by firing Toral directly –

You know why they wanted you to wear the costume? Because they didn’t want you to contribute. They felt you were the weakest person on the team.

…I am so disappointed with you Toral, you have the great Wharton education, but you are totally ineffective, you’ve done a terrible job. And Toral, you’re fired.

Go. Out.

Of course, Toral couldn’t go into the night without her Parthian Shot in her taxicab monologue –

“Some people take their personal dignity very seriously. I’m a person of stature and respect. In every day life I don’t think I’d even speak to somebody like Christi or Felecia; these are not people I’d even hire as my administrative assistant.”

Perhaps. Although something tells me that the resumes and applicants aren’t exactly lining up at Toral’s door. On the other hand, maybe Toral will join other ex-Apprentice mates who have turned ignominy on the show into fame outside. As Manish pointed out, the modern world, particularly it’s Desi corner, celebrates those consumed by hubris almost as much as our victors.