Is Apprentice's Danny Bitter?

Even though Verna Felton quit on last week's Apprentice, Donald Trump still fired off-beat Bostonian Danny Kastner for failing as project manager of the Taster's Choice ad campaign task. Instead of playing his team, the 39-year-old guitarist got played: Michael, who was exempt, slacked off. Stephanie wouldn't make a decision, then called Danny wishy-washy. And Bren set Danny up for a fall by volunteering him for PM in the first place. While it all could've left a bad taste in his mouth, Danny tells TV Guide Online he's not bitter — much.

TV Guide Online: Still think it was a good idea bringing your guitar on the show?
Danny Kastner: Great idea! Of course, you've got to be yourself and communicate in the way that is your signature, and my signature is being creative and interesting and getting people's attention. I don't mind being the court jester when the people are having a good time and I'm building rapport.

TVGO: You seem a lot younger than 39.
Danny: Young is in the heart. I'm just a young person.

TVGO: Was it harder to compete against your more youthful Magna Corp. teammates?
Danny: Not at all, give me a break. The fact is that I outlasted every one of these people on the tasks I was on, in terms of endurance and stuff. I am an active, high-strung energetic person. Somebody called me a camp counselor on acid.

TVGO: Do you stand by the decision to bring Michael and Stephanie into the boardroom?
Danny: I took my chances with bringing Michael into the boardroom. Trump didn't give me a clear directive, like, "No, you shouldn't do that." Look, Trump fired Bradford [last season].

TVGO: He did, but Bradford gave up his exemption.
Danny: Well, whatever. Trump breaks rules. I had to use that as one of my ways to stay on the show. The fact remains that project managers are going to get axed in the beginning. There are not a lot of standouts or weaknesses yet, but I believe, in Stephanie's case, she was really hard to work with and made it a pain in my a--.

TVGO: Why?
Danny: Look at the one who was really complaining about the whole decision-making thing — which was total BS. It was Stephanie. It was her project, but we had to sign a contract that didn't even have everything filled in. That is why there was trepidation. You want to move ahead with an event [that's] going to be fabulous. [When] I wanted a consensus that everybody believed we were making the right move, the principal person who was focusing on that vendor and bragged about it in the boardroom was Stephanie — and she was the one who wouldn't vote yes. It was unbelievable. In reality, I think she could have gotten fired.

TVGO: Do you think you deserved to be fired?
Danny: No. The team did a great job. We were beat, but I was certainly not the weakest person at all.

TVGO: Why didn't you take Bren into the boardroom? It seemed he set you up to fail by volunteering you for project manager.
Danny: Yeah, but would that have been a good excuse? It was his iPod idea that people didn't like. But he did a lot of good things as well; he wasn't the worst. But he was gunning for me. He knew that I was strong. I strongly believe that, had we won that task, I would have made it very far on that show.

TVGO: It looked like you might've gotten teary-eyed after you sang in the taxi.
Danny: No, not at all. Are you kidding? I was happy. There was a certain sarcastic tone in the song.

TVGO: If American Idol didn't have an age limit of 28, would you audition?
Danny: Should I? American Idol is not my style, but mark my words, I will be very successful in my career in music.

TVGO: Lastly, are you hoping those leisure suits of yours make a big comeback?
Danny: The fact is that the leisure suits I've been wearing on the show were all my designs. I couldn't find them, so I just designed them. I call that [style] neo-nerd.