The Apprentice

I agree. But it seems the Trump people really like Sandy for some reason. Of course, I like to guess who is going to win... I figure the winner will be painted in as positive light as possible via the editing.

I have noticed a lot of irritating inconsistencies in the judgements handed down, but I've seen this in 'real life' too - one employee is praised for a behavior while another is chastised for doing the same.

Cash incentives can be a motivator and is appropriate under certain circumstances, however as Andy handed it out it was unprofessional and tacky. It was basically the equivalent as perhaps tipping a mover. These people were professional designers - you don't tip them, it is insulting. I work in the professional world and I certainly would have been insulted if some one gave me money in a similar fashion. It is quite different than say a bonus. You only need to look at the faces of the designers to see how they felt about the "cash incentive."

By not giving these professionals the pizza when they are hungry you are treating them like children. These are professionals and this situation would only make them more hesitant to do 110%.

I also agree, that Sandy yelling is not professional at all. I wonder if Trump likes her too as she has her own business and I believe without a college degree. He seems to like self starters.

Face it George was kissing up to Trump. Notice how anyone in the boardroom with Trump always agrees with his decisions. I also think that Trump respects Andy, but Trump has stated before that he thinks Andy a bit young or at least gives the impressive he is a bit green.

"I have noticed a lot of irritating inconsistencies in the judgements handed down, but I've seen this in 'real life' too - one employee is praised for a behavior while another is chastised for doing the same."

And talk about "real life;" who here hasn't had a co-worker or boss steal their own ideas, taking credit as his/her own?

Yup.

I once gave a boss the green light to do just that. I knew his career needed a boost, and what I needed most from him was a good letter of reference, so I got what I needed out of the deal.

Did someone tell Trump that pink looks the best on him? Him and those pink ties...

I don't like Sandy. She's a "yeah, what you said..." type of girl. Not the strongest. More of Jen's shadow.

Ivana the Stripper
Ivana was fired! Yipee. Carolyn was right. Ivana didn't sell a candy bar for $20 -- she sold a strip show -- and for that reason alone, Ivana is not someone anyone would want running their companies (unless it was a strip show company).

Of the final four, I like Sandy and Kevin the most and would be happy if either one of them won. But I suppose the final two will be Jennifer and Kelly. In that case, I don't care who wins.

That was a pretty easy call last night. I feel about Ivana the same way she feels about Jennifer... "How the heck did she make it this far?"

I think the total crop this year were duds. I would take just about anybody from last year over the whole group this year. Donald must be disappointed.

Hello Fellow Apprentice-philes! I just joined this Board and have enjoyed skimming through your commentary. For what it's worth, I did think that Ivana, while deserving to be fired (perhaps long ago), she was one of the few contestants this year who actually seemed to get better as the show progressed (i.e., her idea for the size-wheel for the Levi catalogue task). Since about episode 2, though, I predicted the final 2 would be Kelly and Jennifer, with Kelly winning in a near landslide. I also predicted Sandy for the final 3, but had Maria in, as well (which, particularly after viewing Wednesday nights re-cap show, seemed totally near-sighted on my part when presented with her 2 obvious instances of deception in the ice cream and bridal store contests and her over the top performance during the Levi ad task).

Welcome to the boards!

*hugs*

IVANA


Hi AllanSwann.

I agree that Ivana made significant contributions to her team as a team member, but she should have been fired long ago.

Ivana had overwhelming negatives in her "leadership" abilities and personality that far outweighed any positive contributions that she made to her team.

Ivana's jealousy, animosity and hostility toward Jennifer (even if warranted on occasion) was repeatedly demonstrated in catty, unprofessional, malicious, self-destructive ways.

Ivana was fuming that that Jennifer and Sandy appeared to be using sex appeal to sell candy bars -- Ivana fumed and claimed that Jennifer and Sandy looked like street hookers. And this jealous fury and animosity ironically led Ivana to become the street hooker. Instead of using sex appeal to sell candy on the street -- Ivana is the one who actually sold sex on the street. She didn't sell a candy bar, she sold a $20 strip show.

In the boardroom, Ivana couldn't resist that one last opportunity to try and get Jennifer fired. Ivana claimed that she, Kevin, and Kelly were far better than JENNIFER. JENNIFER should be the one who is fired. But, Jennifer was not there. Ivana's jealous obsession with trying to prove she was better than blonde, fembot, boob-a-tized Jennifer was Ivana's downfall.

Ivana's ideas were almost always sexually related. In the toy task, she suggested a drag-queen doll for boys in the 6-8 year old range. In the Pepsi task, she suggested that they could put a piece of a boob in the hole in the pop bottle. She suggested that they make the bottle in the shape of an award because women and gay men watch those awards. ????? Ivana has some deeply troubling personality issues concerning her jealousy of Jennifer and her fixation with sexuality. She might have some good ideas on occasion -- like the jeans fit wheel -- but she's got some weird personality defects that make her undesireable to work with let alone act as CEO of a company.

Ivana ought to get some professional help to overcome her "I'm better than Jennifer" complex so that she can function better in the professional world.

I can't disagree with any of Debra Law's remarks about Ivana. Her annoying cattiness persisted throughout her "run" and there was absolutely no doubt in my mind from early on that there was NO way she was going to be the next Apprentice. For what it's worth, I sort of broke down the contestants after the first couple of weeks or so in the following cateogories:

Final 4: Kelly, Jennifer, Sandy & Maria

The "Maybe" 4 (could move up or down as the season went on): Kevin, Wes, Chris & Raj

The "No Way" 4: Ivana, Andy, Elizabeth & Stacy C

I thought Andy had some great ideas but I thought in the end he wouldn't make it because of his young age. Raj was entertaining and a dark horse but was WAY too full of himself and was downright distracting on several tasks.

I was obviously way off on Maria but I did think she performed superbly in the women's fashion line contest.

I'll look forward to everyone's thoughts about the final round of interviews next week. My only thought now is that Kevin's too "so-so" and Sandy, for all her spunk, won't make it for the same reason Troy didn't make it in year 1: lack of higher education.

Being that The Apprentice is supposedly a "reality" show but we all know that there's a certain amount of tweaking going on in order to make it dramatic for TV...

Here's a ponderance:

Do you think that there is any pressure or perceived pressure to make certain that the next Apprentice will not[\i] be 1) White, and/or 2) male?

Surprise, Surprise. Pink tie. At least this week's pink tie looks better than Trump's hot pink one from last week. Doesn't he have other ties?

I am so glad the world will hate Trump if Kelly doesn't win. I liked him from day 1. The other people can't compare to the first season folks.

I disliked Sandy. Not because those who interviewed her did, but at the beginning of the show she begged Trump to give her another chance. IMO, if you know you deserve a spot in the final 2, there's no need to beg (as a confident leader).

Kinda figured (at the start of this episode) it would be a girl/guy at the end.

Kelly: (Begins talking)

Jen interrupts: bla, bla, bla

Kelly: Can I have an opinion?

Jen: bla, bla, bla

Sandy vs. Jennifer
I like Sandy. She's "real people." She's motivated, hard working, and pleasant. She's not afraid to step up to the plate and take the leadership role and the responsibility that goes with the role. Sandy would have made an excellent apprentice and Trump was an idiot for choosing Jennifer over Sandy.

Ironically, since the only task that she led was the dog grooming task, Jennifer was chosen for her "pedigree" and nothing else. She shows well, but lacks substance.

You can tell by Jennifer's actions that she was groomed for "business" in a law firm where every lawyer knows the first priority of business (win or lose) is cover your own a$$.

In every task, Jennifer strategically placed herself in a situation where she could place the blame on someone else if the team lost -- or take the credit if the team won.

After the last task, Sandy explained to Kelly when Trump asked who was going to be the PM, Sandy and Jennifer huddled together and Jennifer said, "If you don't want to do it, I guess I'll have to."

NOW, Jennifer is in the final two and must lead her team to flawlessly administer a fundraiser centered on a basketball event. Jennifer said her "leadership style" was to "delegate and oversee." Jennifer then proceeded to delegate the most important task to Pamela and Chris -- the discussions with the NBA to secure an MC for the event.

She met with the client for the fundraising event -- and the client was NOT impressed. They had questions about how certain seating matters were going to be handled. When a client has questions, you provide the answers. You don't turn around and suggest that the client to answer his/her own questions, e.g., "Well, how do you want it to be handled?"

The client was right: If the client wanted to manage all the details of the event, the client wouldn't have hired someone else to do it.

At the end of tonight's show -- we finally see Jennifer doing something -- she's on the phone chewing someone's butt because the MC is backing out of the gig. Hmmmmm. This was a task where Jennifer should have stepped up to the plate rather than delegate such an important task because, this time, it won't matter if she can place the blame on Pamela and Chris. She's the one who wins or loses on HER ability to manage this fundfaiser event -- and so far, things don't look good for Jennifer.

The fact that Jenn M. went to Princeton and Harvard doesn't impress me as much as it does Trump. Having parents with the kind of money needed to send her to those schools only makes her the fortunate daughter, not a risk taker as she stated.

Shirking responsibility is Jenn M.'s failing as was pointed out by Kelly and Sandy in the boardroom and even in the intro to the show by Trump himself. She wants the credit but doesn't want to earn it. I'm willing to bet that she has way more paralegals working for her than the other lawyers at her firm. Although she has a team to blame if she loses this task, she is the one being scrutinized. She's not going to be able to fly under the radar this time.

I was grimacing during the shrieking in the boardroom once again and was deeply disappointed not to see Trump beat on the table.

Trump: "Sandy, the problem that I see is I didn't like the way you defended yourself and I loved the attack and defense of Jennifer."

Jenn M. knew how many employees work for Trump. That impressed Trump but only impresses me if I were hiring someone for a position in the payroll department. Moving to San Francisco was a risk? Not when your parents/husband are footing the bill. Sandy doesn't have the intellectual horsepower to manage? Being the youngest person in the country to own a bridal salon at 21 and by 23 being exceptional enough to be hired for big budget weddings by D.C. politicians takes some intellect I should think.

Jenn M. came off real condescending towards Sandy in the boardroom and if a screaming banshee defense impresses Trump then it's no wonder that Trump's casinos are in debt 1.8 billion and his companies were carrying was 8.8 billion in losses at one point. His saving grace was that by chance his name became glamorous and it has paid his way out of debt.

I'm not anti-Trump as it seems he has a good heart. I read a story of an unemployed auto mechanic who once helped Trump get his limo running again after it stalled on the freeway. The man had no money, yet he didn't accept any payment for his services. Trump was duly impressed by his generosity, so the next day he sent flowers to the mechanic's wife, and a letter certifying that the man's mortgage had been paid off in full. It's hard to not like a guy who would do something like that.

I think you hit the nail on the head. From the beginning of the episode last night this was Kelly vs Kevin and Jen vs Sandy. It was going to be one guy and one girl. I wasn't overly impressed by Kevin during the whole thing, but I don't see how he got fired over Jen.

Unless Kelly does something really dumb... he has this job wrapped up.

Actually after re-thinking it, I really think Trump picked who he wanted to pick (meaning the top 2 in his eyes).

I don't think there was any pressure. I think he went off what was said by those who interviewed the final 4. Kevin was said to be too aggressive and I can definitely agree with that (previous episode/incident), and would end up being too much of liability due to how he tackled things. I think if the 4 interviewers were to pick their favorites individually, they'd all pick the same 2.

jmho.

I think Jennifer is an excellent presenter and that is probably what has gotten her so far. She knows how to handle herself in front of others and acts and looks professional.

Debra - from your description of Jennifer and from working in the business world, myself, Jennifer seems a shoo-in for the apprentice job. It is very typical of the business world. So she should be the apprentice.

I wonder if the final tasks are always planted with some sort of issue, like having the MC cancel at last minute to see how the players will handle the stress and whether they have another option in mind, like any good organizer should. Could Trump have actually chosen the polo match after hearing that it was a high probability to rain?

Last night's prelim to the big showdown next Thursday was fairly predictable (as in, you could see that train coming down the tracks 6 weeks ago). It was a bit surprising that they changed the format for the so-called fired helpers brought in to help each finalist. Last season, they brought the last 6 people fired prior to the final round. This year, they brought in people (I forgot Trump's exact explanation) who were "interesting", but clearly not the best 6 of the rest. So instead of Sandy, Kevin, Ivana, Andy, Maria and Wes, we get dithering Elizabeth, whiney Stacy, ho-hum John, hound-dog Raj, quitter Chris & fem-Nazi Pamela. Given Raj's statement about not giving a damn whether Kelly won and Pamela's and Chris's (albeit well-founded) second-guessing of Jenn's delegation to them the task of reaching the critical deal with the NBA, it seems obvious that some thought was given to picking people who might be flies in the ointment. If that's the case, they wouldda done better with Maria and Ivana.

Even though Jenn seemed to be destined from way back to be one of the finalists, I do believe Sandy was the superior business woman and would have been selected but for her lack of formal higher education. Jenn clearly took the lawyer's route in the boardroom, but as a lawyer myself, she would have been shut down in the Courtroom by a judge, given her hectoring fillibustering. I admit I was impressed with Jenn earlier in the series and still give her kudos for her teflon poise, but it did become increasingly apparent towards the end that she minefield hopping her way through each task. I give her credit for making it to the finals, however.

I'm not sure why they two-parted the final tasks because so far, the tasks themselves seem pretty ho-hum and both seem destined to be at best, only partially successful. So at the end of the day, unless Kelly just unbelievably bungles things, the Apprenticeship will be his to lose.


PS....Did anyone read the blurbs on MSN quoting Chris, Raj and Andy basically dissing Kelly? Apparently, they all think he's an inhuman robot.

Jen also took full credit for an earlier task to which she didn't contribute.

If I were Trump, I'd have fired both Jen and Sandy when they had that arguement that ended up getting Andy fired. And I sure as heck would have fired them at this last Boardroom performance.

I'd have called the cab company and told them to bring Kevin back and pick up the two women instead.

There is no way I'd have two people in my company who yell and scream and repeat themselves over and over instead of discussing issues in a civilized manner.

I'll take intellectual argument over "the loudest, most insistent person wins."

I think it sucks that Kelly's team members, sans Elizabeth, were not on his team from the first moment. They are employees. It is their job to support their company!

I also see nothing wrong with delegation. The best leaders delegate tasks to people who can do them. Do you see Trump doing the physical work, or does he delegate duties?

Kelly is not loud enough to out-argue Jen. If Trump judges the winner on that item alone, she wins.

Kelly is very smart. However, he's quiet. He seems to observe and think before acting. And when he does act, he generally knows where he's headed and how he's getting there.

But he doesn't argue like the women did. I mean, he said, "Do I have an opinion?" That's a quiet-type statement like what got Andy fired.