‘You’re Fired,’ Again, Ms. Crisafulli

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The most recent reject from “The Apprentice” could be about to hear those fateful words “You’re fired!” once more. After Jennifer Crisafulli made a cranky comment on national television about “Jewish women,” she may find her days at Douglas Elliman are numbered, well-placed sources at the realty firm said yesterday.


“This is the worst day of my life,” the 31-year-old broker told The New York Sun. “On top of being fired by Donald Trump, now I may lose my job.”


The woman botched her job as project manager of this week’s assignment on the program featuring Donald Trump. The competing teams of male and female would-be Trump apprentices were to open a restaurant and receive a higher Zagat Survey rating than the competing team.


On the segment of the NBC program broadcast Wednesday, Ms. Crisafulli blamed her team’s failure on two elderly diners who didn’t like the food, referring to them as “those two Jewish women.” The comment roused the ire of her teammates and, ultimately, some colleagues at the realty firm.


“It was bad, bad, bad judgment, and people are not happy about her performance at all,” the senior executive vice president at the firm, Steven James, said. “Personally, I hope she is no longer with Douglas Elliman.”


A picture of Ms. Crisafulli had been splashed across the Douglas Elliman home page since the current season of “The Apprentice” started, but the picture was removed yesterday, although she is still listed as a broker on the Douglas Elliman system. A decision about her future at the firm was expected today.


Ms. Crisafulli defended herself yesterday.


In regard to her comment on the elderly diners, she said: “Let’s just ask ourselves, if these women were Irish, I would have said ‘those two Irish women,’ and no one would have blinked.”


Her working partners at Douglas Elliman, she said, are Ilan Bracha and Gilad Azaria, two Israelis, and her half-brother is a Jew, who keeps kosher.


“My brother and I are very close, and he’s more Jewish than most New Yorkers,” she said. “Still, I realize it was a mistake because I’m not in the company of my family, these people are pretty much strangers, and I shouldn’t have said that.”


Interviewed by the Sun, the senior television writer for MediaWeek, Marc Berman, made the same point.


“I was speechless, I thought it was terrible,” he said of Ms. Crisafulli’s comment. “You are on camera – Hello!”


Ms. Crisafulli, who spent all of yesterday in back-to-back interviews with the press about her experience on the reality show, seemed unaware of the drama unfolding at her firm.


“I’ve been doing interviews all day, and I had no idea,” she said. “I’ve come back to reality – real reality – only to find my life is falling apart.”


Sources at Douglas Elliman said that regardless of Ms. Crisafulli’s intent in making the reference to “Jewish women,” it was unacceptable.


“I was personally offended and I found it revolting,” Mr. James, who is not Jewish, said. “We are talking about values, and she does not share the same values as me.”


Not everyone at Douglas Elliman reacted that way.


“She’d be perfect for Corcoran!” a top earner at Elliman, Leonard Steinberg, joked about the rival firm. Mr. Steinberg said: “It is just TV, not real life.”


Ms. Crisafulli said she didn’t doubt some Douglas Elliman brokers were rooting for her ouster. “Ever since the ‘Apprentice’ season began and they celebrated me on the Web site, the brokers have hated me,” she said.


The lesson to be learned by those contemplating going on a reality show is to not stir up controversy, MediaWeek’s Mr. Berman said.


“You have to watch what you say because the way they edit is to show as much controversy as they can,” he said.


Ms. Crisafulli said her notorious comment regarding the diners, and her portrayal as a weak leader who delegated responsibility rather than leading by example, resulted from the program’s editing.


“Regardless of editing, she did behave that way and she did make that comment,” Mr. James said.


This second season of “The Apprentice” was taped in May.


The New York Sun

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