“There is no paparazzi and most people are very positive about it,” he said.

His father, Steven M. Litinsky, said he was “very proud” of his son’s behavior on the show.

“He kept his cool, which is what an executive should do,” Litinsky said. “Donald Trump should be fired because he didn’t maintain order.”

From Andy Litinsky’s father, who holds a degree in business, to his three elder brothers—each of whom have chosen business careers—Litinsky’s family has always displayed an entrepreneurial streak.

“He represented his family well and he represented Harvard well,” Steven Litinsky said.

Andy’s first business venture came at the ripe old age of 13, when he co-founded a business with two of his older brothers to sell entertainment packages in several states.

Andy’s brother, Jim H. Litinsky, said Andy had been a strong thinker, writer and communicator since a young age.

“Each week, if you watch the episodes closely, a lot of the good ideas the team ended up choosing were his,” Jim Litinsky said.

Harvard friends were disappointed at Litinsky’s loss.

Jess L. Maki ’04, a Harvard Medical School student and a freshman proctor, said she and her family followed Litinsky, and her freshmen “thought it was wonderful that someone I knew was on TV.”

“I was impressed with how long Andy stayed on the show,” Maki said. “In the end, I think in the back of Donald’s mind, what it came down to was experience. Andy didn’t have it and the other candidates did.”

Litinsky said his behavior in the boardroom, which he likened to playing poker, was similar to his attitude towards life: he works well under pressure and he doesn’t mind having the odds stacked against him.

“Long shots do sometimes pay off,” Litinsky said, “and in this case, they did.”

Using his new-found star power to launch his business career, Litinsky has already signed a deal to appear in Pepsi commercials.

—Staff writer Elena P. Sorokin can be reached at sorokin@fas.harvard.edu.