The Apprentice

Yup. But I think Trump likes the fact that she seemed aware of which way the wind was blowing. That's my only guess as to why she's still there.

Last year, I actually liked some of the contestants (Troy, Kwame, Heidi). This year I don't think I like any of them. Maybe I'd like Andy, if not for the resemblance to my evil ex.

Last night was the first time I've seen the show and I was glad to see Raj get fired. What was he thinking changing a 4 bedroom house into a 3 bedroom? That shows his lack of understanding of real estate. More bedrooms always trump (excuse the pun) a larger master bedroom.

It was also no surprise to me that the bathroom wasn't finished on time. When Raj, the contractor and the Asian lady were outside talking about the job Raj walks off right in the middle of a conversation between he and the contractor. That's no way to build a rapport between him and the guy whom his success or failure is riding on. No wonder the contractor took his sweet time sitting on his ass eating tacos.

The Apprentic "cast"
I've enjoyed reading the comments made by A2K members.

Aside from watching the two teams stuggle to create a winning strategy each week the program really proves that entrepreneurs, by their very nature of being singular successes in their chosen fields just do NOT work as well when they are forced to be a "team member".

Each week I groan at the utter confusion, the bickering, the lack of team effort to get the job done and win the prize. I have never been a CEO but I've observed from the side lines and here is what happens in real life:
The leader sits queitly until the hubbub has subsisided. Then
he looks at each of member ofhis team and SPEAKS :

(1) He has previously sized up the strengths of each member
so his first words are to carefully enunciate the task ahead.

(2) He may mention things like time frame, step by step
reporting, general strategy, emergency measures and then

(3) He names each person for their special duties as team leader
allowing THEM to choose one assistant. This gives them a
sense of authority and power.

He then says " I have faith that each one of you is capable
of doing your job. My job will be to coalesce each division
and present your efforts when successful. I know we will win."


Instead on Apprentice all I hear is a bunch of smart young lions
(and lionesses) yakking away with stupid things like:

" The main thing is location. The shopping is heavier on the
East side so lets avoid the malls"

" We can't get restaurants to buy our product unless we price
it within reach of their clientele."

" I am best to go to the wholesaler. I know all about them"

" I hope Stacey keeps her mouth shut. She sidruspts everything"


ETC ETC.


But how can anyone argue with success. The show has skyrocketed
to first place and has earned the Donald millions, even though we all
know the real genius behind it all is BARNET the inventor of
Survivor and other great projects.

Da Da Da another PM bites the dust.

If my memory serves me correct that is three PMs in a row (Elizabeth, raj, chris).

Of course Chris had it coming... what a dumba$$. He quit as soon as he found out it was a wedding theme. He knew the other team had a pro on their side and he just gave up... it wasn't even close.

I have to say that the wedding girl (I forget her name) really did everything. The biggest move was the e-mail from The Knot... I don't think I would have thought of that. I say that move right there, even without the phone number, made all of the difference.

Chris
Team Mosaic: Kelly insisted upon being PM. He was arrogant and condescending toward Andy. Sandy orchestrated the win, and Kelly received immunity. This is two times in a row that Sandy did an excellent job.

Team Apex: Chris allowed Jennifer to escape the boardroom. Trump and Carolyn seemed upset that Jennifer flies under the radar every week.

Kelly totally does not deserve the immunity. That whole task was Sandy.

Maria is caught in a boldfaced lie once again. She ALWAYS messes up marketing, then blame it on the company. Remember when she went over budget like 5000 dollars in the toothpaste task??

Ivana is just so useless. Why is she still here? And I thought Jennifer DID do the best job out of the four of them and there was nothing wrong with Chris not bringing her into the boardroom. Without her they wouldnt even have dresses to sell.

I agree with rapsuhdee - Jennifer did the best job of that team. She was the one that suggested going out and approaching the bridal shops rather than get on the phone. She was the one to make the first move and she was the best at dealing face to face at the dress shops. She also won previously as a PM. She worked hard during the dog project and came up with lots of different selling ideas. I don't think she flies under the radar as she definitely pulls her own weight.

Maria is an idiot. She is supposed to be a marketing executive too. It was bad enough that she made that error, but the minute she found out she should have been on the phone that email service. Kelly also should have been helping out with marketing. As Sandy was more than capable of approaching the bridal shops, Kelly should have been where his help was needed most - they needed a stronger person on the marketing and should have had one of the weaker players go along with Sandy.

By the way what the heck was up with that guys driving?

This (Bridal Shoppe) episode cemented some suspicions in my mind. My opinion means really nothing of course, because I enjoy this show very much in spite of all its frustrations.

I found it marvelous (as in, causing wonder or astonishment) that the task for this week was to run a Bridal Shoppe when it was known that one contestant was experienced in this pretty unique field...AND that that weighted the odds heavily to the team that was already winning a lot.

This caused me to think back on another task that was totally rigged to allow one team to win: the fashion show. Clearly, the men's team knew nothing about fashion, nor had any interest in it (except the one who sketched the dress when their designer left the room--which was a real knee-slapper).

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Re: Maria
I think she's very bright, very hardworking. However, she is totally self-absorbed. Look at the dog-washing task--she never lifted a finger. Most tasks, she doesn't want to get her hands dirty.

And the deal with the telephone number left off the email blast, well, did she forget the number, or did the ad agency drop it off?

DOES IT MATTER, Maria? DOES IT MATTER?

Here's my take, having written many ads for my own company over the years.

First of all, it's surprisingly easy to forget to put the phone number in, or to have it wrong. I have almost done that probably a dozen times on my own ads for my own company! The rule is to always proofread your copy numerous times.

Learn to check the phone number over and over (phone numbers and addresses don't get picked up by "spell check").

The odds of someone removing the phone number from Maria's email ad are very, very slim.

Print ads, where someone else takes your copy, then typesets it, the errors are usually pretty high (this discovery led me to start sending all my own ads "camera ready").

But in an online ad, that you probably type yourself on the internet, using forms and boxes? No, I don't think anyone but Maria screwed that up.

BTW, did you see how the Material Girl Maria lit up when she heard the word "diamond"? LOL She would make one high-maintenance girlfriend or wife!
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I think Chis was rightfully fired. However, I do think that their team gelled as never before, though they still were very quick to begin throwing blame around instead of being encouraging to one another.

I was startled by Ivana's attempt of encouragement; weak, and insincere, but a real leap for her.

The team needs to learn that, as a team, they need to work together. When Chris was having a hard time with ideas, they needed to sit down and talk new strategy, not just thumb through catalogs while waiting for Chris to figure out something else.
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Why didn't any of Apex' team dress up when making their sales calls?

Why didn't any of Apex' team dress up when their store opened?

Talk about common sense! What was with these people? You're selling FORMALS! Dress up!

Who on Earth thought distributing handbills at random was a good idea? Why didn't we see that discussion on the show? I would have loved to hear Team Apex discussing their marketing ideas.

Why didn't they at least hire some kids to pass out their fliers so they could focus on something else?

The whole team was really bad. They lacked ingenuity, cohesiveness, good attitude and work ethic.

Does Maria have an eye twitch problem?

Even though I think Ivana did an EXCELLENT job this time around and she did nothing wrong...

I still don't think she should be president of anything. I don't like her.

And like I've been saying the past several weeks, Jen is who I dislike the most. She comes off more professional though.

First of all if Trump wanted to fire multiple people because they were so so obviously horrible (or just for "another boardroom first!") then he shoulda just fired the whole Apex team last task.

My prediction for final 4: Andy, Kelly, Sandy, and Kevin. Ivana did a great job this task but she had been to the boardroom way too many times. Her track record is horrible. Jen M. on the other hand really just doesnt offer anything. She has no creative idea and she is still here only because she only lead one task and was never put in the hot seat.

I hope Andy be PM next week and kick butt, and show Trump that he is a strong contender.

Double Firing
TEAM MOSAIC:

Maria was uncontrollable in her relentless drive to control every aspect of this task. Bill was right on the money. Wes was project manager and he should have put Maria on the bench.

Blinkin' Maria was so rude to the models it was embarrassing to watch. Did she really shout at them, "Give me bitchy or give me death." She was a tyrant. Maria thought she knew best how to put together an in-store catalog and she wouldn't allow the others to have any input. She lost the task for the whole team. But that was Wes's fault as much as it was Maria's fault. Wes should have given her the boot in the behind and sent her back to the penthouse.

Both Wes and Maria deserved to be fired this week.

I think Sandy is a solid performer, but she's not at all like tough-as-nails Carolyn. I would actually like to see Carolyn and George lead a team on one of these tasks just to see if they could do any better.

I like Andy best of all. (That surprises me -- I would never have thought he would turn out to be my favorite earlier in the season.) For his young age, he acts far more mature and professional than the rest of them. He just doesn't get he credit he deserves.

TEAM APEX:

I truly dislike Ivana. She is a good worker, she comes up with good ideas, but she is catty. Her malicious comments and criticisms of others are totally unprofessional. She's not CEO material. She lacks the respect quality. When she was talking about Jennifer becoming more "blonde" with each task, "blonde" Carolyn was standing right there.

Kevin is an admirable person. I think he handles himself well in most situations.

Jennifer M. presents herself well, but she has a "blah" personality. She truly didn't understand Ivana's concept of the jeans fit wheel until she saw it, but that didn't stop her from stealing Ivana's thunder at the presentation. Ivana was seething! LOL Ivana actually did the majority of the creative work on this task, but Jennifer came across as the most valuable player. Go figure! LOL

Kelly is another control freak. He is so full of himself that he can't stand to give credit to anyone else.

FINAL FOUR:

My picks (hopefully):

Andy, Sandy, Kevin, and Kelly

I hope Ivana and Jennifer are FIRED.

Your summary had me rollin' Debra! hahaha

Though I agree about the cockiness, etc ...I think Kelly and maybe Kevin are the only ones I can see as President of anything.

Jen would make a good boss, imo ...just not president.

You've got to be kidding, in my head, if you trust your company to any of the other guys. Andy is just too young "right now."

I have nothing bad to say about Sandy.

The only thing I didn't like about Kevin was, I hope that in a real life situation, he could have someone else fire someone or confront someone's behavior (since as President ....I'm sure he will have people who do this for him anyways) because when he exploded on the midget girl ....I thought it was inappropriate (telling her, who was the leader, to SHUUUUT UP!).

The idea of Carolyn and George running a task is brilliant!

I was driving myself nuts trying to decide which of the two who so obviously deserved being fired should get the axe. I never gave a thought to the obvious solution finally administered by Trump.

Maria was so awful... I wonder if she'll ever get another job. I think I said before, she scares me way more than Stacy J.!

I thought it was great when Trump fired them both.

I hope Andy wins.

Andy
Team Apex:

Kevin, Kelly, and Ivana developed a good presentation for Pepsi Edge.

Kelly was full of himself--as usual.

Ivana spouted off her malicious mouth--as usual.

Kevin was professional--as usual.


Team Mosaic:

The bottle was UGLY. Their concept wasn't "edgy."

Sandy came up with the idea for putting country game pieces underneath the cap and she was in charge of designing the label.

What did Jennifer do except take all the credit again this week for being th creative one? (Trump knows that Jennifer hijacked Ivana's idea from last week . . . I don't think Jennifer is stacking up so good in his book.)

For all the pop Andy was drinking, he must have been on a sugar high. Throwing cash at the designers was demeaning. Putting the pizza in the hallway and refusing to let them eat it until they got their work done was demeaning. They were tired and obviously hungry -- a few slices of pizza was probably what they needed to recharge their batteries and become more productive. Why not let people eat? I found Andy's actions this week to be disgusting.

I couldn't believe that Andy went into the boardroom and claimed that between Jennifer and Sandy, Jennifer was the smarter, more creative one.

Trump, Carolyn, and George saw through that bologne and they respected Sandy for sticking up for herself.

Poor Andy. Although I didn't respect his performance this week, I felt sorry for him at the end. He was sitting between two women who were arguing loudly and nonstop with each other--he could hardly get a word in because the women were out of control--and Trump basically fired him apparently because he didn't outshout them. This was not an organized debate--it was a free-for-all.

NEXT WEEK:

Jennifer and Sandy use their sex appeal to sell chocolate on the street?

IVANA gets $20 for a candy bar by agreeing to expose herself by dropping her skirt?

Please Trump. FIRE IVANA! and then fire Jennifer. PLEASE.

My question is why did Andy support Jen? And say that Jen had more creative thoughts? Is it in the editing and Jen really did give lots of creative support? Watching the show, it looked as if Jen was just sitting there either say "Yes, great idea." Or "No". Maybe she kisses up to the PM and that is why she always get their support. I do have to agree that she appears to be the best presenter. Perhaps her lawyer experience helps her with that. The only thing I saw Sandy make a mistake in was her presentation. It was not clear and she did not present well. However, that is not what lost the competition.

I was horrified when Andy gave the creative team $100 bills. And to top it off, put the pizza in the hallway and refusing to give them food when they were clearly hungry! That is not the way things are done in the professional world. This is one case where is age definitely worked against him. Had he worked in the professional world he would have seen had this was treating these professionals as children. How many times in the professional world have I been stumped and working straight for hours. Then deciding to take a 15 minute break, go for a walk or have something to eat. Then return to my desk and BAM - instantly the solution is there. Taking a short break and recharging your batteries is much more conducive to work than continuing to plod through.

Yup, Andy was certainly disappointing this week. Oh well.

I thought the ad with Raj as a cab driver was funny.

I agree with Trump on the Andy firing but not with his reason for doing so.

That reward and punishment affair was truly bizarre. He gives them a $100 bonus and then denies them food? Juvenile and unprofessional to say the least.

Jenn M.: "Can you smell the anxiety in the room?"

Design team dude: "I can smell the pizza in the hallway"

Andy: "We'll get to it. You guys are all a hundred dollars richer!"

Design team dude: "wow"

I literally cringed when Andy said that.

Accepting the globe bottle idea doomed Andy. Impractical bottle designed in the shape of a barbell that wouldn't fit into a pop machine and big enough to hold perhaps 4 - 6oz. more product than intended not to mention it looked at least a foot tall. As PM he is solely responsible for accepting the design regardless of whose idea it was.

I think it was a good concept just poorly executed.

That was the most emphatic "You're fired" I've ever heard from The Don.

Although I share Ivana's disdain for Jennifer I lost all respect for her after the Porsche comment. What kind of reward is that anyway? Big deal, drive around a racetrack in a Lamborghini. Whoopdee doo. Did anyone else find it dangerous to let these people race around at high speed with no helmet on?

Trump pounding on the boardroom table was gold.

The game is Kelly's to lose.



I didn't see the preview for next week but if Ivana is exposing herself to sell a candy bar we may see another double firing by the Don. How sweet would that be?

For the record I think geography is cool.

Trump et al. seem to really like Sandy, so don't count her out.

I think a cash incentive is not a bad thing--especially when on a deadline. Money does talk, and no, it's not a bribe.

However, I think the way it was presented was wrong. I also think that denying the pizza sent a mixed message; "Hey, you're doing a great job and we appreciate it so much, here's $100 bonus! But you're going so slowly, you don't get supper!"

I think it would have been more effective to say, "Hey, I know you're staying late for us and everything, so how 'bout if I buy everyone some pizza?"

It really does not take much to show appreciation or motivate most professional people.

I think Andy was fired for the wrong reason. All through this show, Andy has had excellent manners, excellent behavior, he's been courteous to everyone.

Thus, I think he stayed out of the little girls' arguement in the boardroom 'til they dragged him into it.

When he tried to respond to Sandy's accusations, she talked (yelled) right over him.

He showed excellent decorum in not yelling at them to shut up! Arguments are not settled by who has the loudest voice. Arguments are settled by civilized discourse.

Both Jen and Sandy fail this test.

George's comment about Sandy's spunk seems odd to me given that someone else (weeks ago) got admonished for talking too much when she was defending herself.

I see a lot of inconsistencies during the course of this TV adventure, and it makes me wonder what goes on behind the scenes that we don't see (I really enjoyed the Saturday extended versions but I can't seem to find them any more).

One final point. Andy was the only person who was fired who took the time to thank Mr. Trump for the opportunity. He's a class act, even at his young age. I expect great things of him.

General Tsao
Many things became clear this episode regarding Ivana. She wrecked the Porsche her father GAVE her? Her comments about sex were, um, interesting.

Makes it apparent why she's been a little spoiled bitch this whole show, doesn't it?