The Apprentice, Donald Trump's business themed reality show hasn't had the best track record with gay candidates over the years. There were high hopes that this season would be different, what with two openly gay contestants vying for the job. However, after the second episode on Sunday night, things aren't looking quite so hopeful. Carey Sherrell, the 25-year-old marketing and promotions guru from Atlanta, Georgia, heard the dreaded words "You're fired" — amidst what some have felt were slightly homophobic circumstances.

The episode's task was to create a swimwear line for edgy designer Trina Turk. Carey designed (and ultimately modeled) a pink, trunk-style suit that didn't go over well with the buyers — or in the boardroom. Trump ridiculed the design and, in particular, the color choice, even going so far as to refuse to touch the suit.

AfterElton spoke with Carey about his experiences on the show, being a gay businessman, and the Rosie and Trump feud.

AfterElton: Sunday night's episode really seemed to focus on the gay aspects: you're being gay, the suit being gay, the market for gay swimsuits. We're you surprised when Trump came right out and asked if you were gay?
Carey Sherrell: Yeah, I was completely surprised. I didn't know what that had to do with the task or what it had to do with business. What does it have to do with anything? It's like asking somebody, Are you a smoker? Why is that relevant to what we're doing right now?

AE: Would you ever ask an employee that, especially when their job was on the line? Do you think that's an appropriate question in a business discussion?
CS: No, I don't think it's an appropriate question at all. We make a conscious decision here [at Carey's company] to try and reach out to gay guys to work for our company, because I'm gay. But that's not something that I sit down in an interview process and ask right away. If they choose to share that information, that's their choice. The fact of the matter is their qualification is what you should be looking at, not their sexuality.

AE: There was a lot of boardroom discussion about the decision to make the suit you modeled, wonderfully, I might add, pink. Trump wouldn't even touch the swimsuit, instead picking it up with a pen and looking disgusted. Did you feel there was any homophobia involved in your firing?
CS: It's hard to say. My problem with the show at this point is that they neglected to give you a lot of information. They needed to let you guys see who Trina Turk really is, the fact that she has this crazy, high-end boutique with a unique style. Trina Turk's stuff is wild, but it's fresh and it's cool. There's this section [of the show] that you just don't see where we're talking to her, and we ask her assistant who are your buyers, what are they like, where are your stores located? And they indicate that they have a store in Palm Springs , and at the Palm Springs store, 50 percent of their main consumers were gay. So it made perfect sense to us to design a bathing suit that would sell in her store that would be inclusive of all the consumers that would shop at her store.

AE: So you felt the episode was edited badly?
CS: There was way too much left out. There was stuff left out where I was like, "Oh, I don't want to try this bathing suit on," and the team's like, "Try it on. We just want to see it." I told Aaron to try it on and he said no. We had models from Ford Modeling Management that were going to wear the suits. The team, in this persuasive way, was like "It looks really good on a black guy. I don't think a white guy can pull it off. You should really wear it." I said, "No, no, no. I don't want to wear it." They thought I should wear it. We're there to win, so if there's anything I can do to help the team win, I'm going to do it.

I hate to be that guy who goes on a reality show then says, "Oh, they edited me to look really bad," but tell the truth. Give everybody the facts.

AE: How did you feel about Derek's (the other openly gay contestant this season) comments after your runway walk? Derek said: “I'm gay but what a shock it was… he's got nipples erect, his fiercest runway walk and, granted, the guy looked good but literally, they needed to get a fire extinguisher on that runway because he flamed it up. I mean on fire!”
CS: I've talked to him. I think in the moment, he thought it was funny, but I think he knows better. The thing is, and what I tried to tell Derek, for the good of the gay community, we try not to say anything on the show that you'd say at a club or a bar.

I said to him, you thought I was flaming it up, but it was just sheer confidence. If you're going to sell something, you gotta sell it. That's the whole purpose of the task. We're friends. Although, I didn't know he said that until I saw it [on TV]. I was like, are you kidding me?

I've also talked to Aaron about his comments about the bathing suit being gay. I told him he was misinformed. There are many people that wear these bathing suits. European males wear these suits. South American males wear these suits. Did you see the last Bond movie? He was wearing a square-cut bathing suit, and I'm pretty sure Bond's not gay.

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