NEW YORK —  Although the second season of "The Apprentice" (search) is far from over — 12 candidates remain — Donald Trump has confirmed the third installment is now filming. "It's going very well," Trump told The Associated Press. "It's a great group."

Trump also said that John Willenborg (search), the latest "Apprentice" to be fired from the second season of the NBC reality show, deserved to get the boot.

"He's a great guy, a terrific man in many respects. But it was not a good week for John," said Trump, who had joined "Apprentice" fans and fired contestants of past and present at a downtown Manhattan pool-hall lounge to view Thursday night's episode.

Willenborg, 24, was fired for making too many bad decisions, such as not being involved in the pricing of the clothing line that his team designed and failing to bring teammate Wes Moss, who overpriced the clothes, back into the boardroom.

In a phone interview, Willenborg described the show, where participants compete for a job with Trump, as a mixture of highs and lows. "You're winning and losing. You're not sleeping at all. The tasks go on for days. The experience is both exciting and very stressful," he said.

"It was a tough night, the evening of my demise," Willenborg told the AP on Friday. "I received the all-popular cobra from Donald Trump," referring to the real estate mogul's hand signal, which is accompanied by the words, "You're fired," at the end of each boardroom session.