This was the first season of the show not to place in the Top 20 Nielsen Ratings; it averaged #38 with 11.01 million viewers.
In addition to candidate handpicking, Trump decided to go back to the premise of men versus women (there was eventually corporate restructuring).
Recalling how some of the contestants in season 3 such as Michael Tarshi and Tana Goertz abused their exemptions from getting fired by choosing to be lazy instead of continuing to work hard on the tasks they were given, Trump made a new rule for exemptions in this season.
The winning project manager, throughout the season, may be exempt from firing for the following week only if the majority of the other members in their team believed he/she did a satisfactory job.
In an interview with Larry King, Randal defended his decision and said he had no objection to Trump hiring Rebecca at a later date.