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April 9, 2004
The Apprentice
The Donald - Episode 13
Posted by Nadine Heintz at 8:42 AM
Last night's episode was a great break from the usual routine. Those job interviews were so brutal. Trump's execs were down-to-earth, tough, and honest. I'm glad they didn't like Amy. And the Stepford wife analogy was so true! As one interviewer pointed out, she was almost too perfect, with the pearly teeth and the hair curled just so. Her whole routine would get annoying after a while. But I must say I felt a little bad for the apprentice wanna-bes during the interviews. Especially since I think everybody has used some variation on Bill's line about how his biggest fault is never being satisfied. That's the oldest, and lamest, interview trick in the book! Hooray for team Trump for calling him on it! I won't be using that in the future...
I did not, however, agree with Trump's decision to fire Nick and keep Kwame. How does Kwame do it? He flies under the radar on every episode, demonstrates lukewarm leadership skills, and somehow has managed to make it to the final two. As he pointed out during one of his interviews, he's low energy. At least he was actually honest about his faults. But he's basically admitting that he's better suited for a desk job at Goldman Sachs than a leadership role at Trump! Nick was rough around the edges, but he seemed more simpatico with the Trump execs than Kwame. Go figure. I was glad that Nick was so gracious when he got fired. Unlike Amy, who barely said anything. Not a very good exit.
OK. Nick being fired was my biggest gripe about last night. Otherwise, I loved it. It was nice to break from the usual formula and have two firings in the first half hour. How exciting! And adding Jessica Simpson into the mix is pure genius. I can't wait to see her and Omarosa in the same room together. Speaking of Omarosa, I was totally surprised and happy that she and the other top cast members came back. It would have been boring if it was just Kwame versus Bill in the finale. But, more than ever, I'm thinking that Omarosa is a plant. I can't believe that she would tell a boldface lie on national television like that! That could really ruin her career. Oh, but I forgot she's in politics, so maybe that would actually be a plus. Hmmm. I wonder if we'll ever find out if she's just acting. At any rate, Kwame should have demanded to know who called during dinner. Just another example of his blase leadership style. But it was unfair of Omarosa to screw up all the logistics, then blame Kwame for being too hands off. A big part of leadership is delegating to trusted employees, dear! Get a clue!
Right there, Kwame's team may have blown it. The Taj CEO said his idea of a successful event is that the star is happy. That in itself was bizarre. I thought he would have cited good ticket sales or pleased fans, but I guess I learned something new! If that's the case, this whole transportation debacle could spell disaster for Kwame. That said, I know from watching Newlyweds that Jessica's usually pretty lowkey about hotel accomodations, etc. I think her husband Nick has to bear the brunt of her complaints. But overall, she seems like a pretty low maintenance, good natured person.
As for Bill's event, I'm not exactly sure what it's going to turn out like. I didn't think the storage problem was a big deal...that seemed exaggerated. He seemed kind of tense, but I'm not worried. And he definitely has a stronger team than Kwame. Too bad Heidi and Omarosa couldn't have been split up...they create such a bad vibe when they're together! And one other thing I was wondering about: what is the motivation for the former castmembers to do a good job? They could be bitter about losing and not try very hard, or, even worse, try to sabotage Kwame and Bill. There must be some monetary award in it for them.
Oh...and did anyone see the picture of Kristi, Katrina, Amy and Ereka in the May issue of FHM? There was a shot of it in the New York Post today. I'm no prude, but these girls should be embarrassed! They're all wearing just bras and panties! What would Caroline think?
Next week's two hour finale should be great. I'm supposedly going to some NBC party that night. So you'll get a full report on that next Friday morning!
Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!
What a great episode. Omarosa is a LIAR, or maybe the conversation with Diane was a trick camera angle and voice over. She flat out lied, but even beyond that, she should have accepted that the logistics are more important than her dinner. You would have to be an idiot to hire her. I also don't understand why Kwame didn't just sack her and ask Mark or Diane for help. As embarrassing as that may be, it would at least show that he is taking responsibility for making sure the job get done. Also, when Jessica ended up missing, why didn't they just ask her dad for a cell number. I am sure as here agent he would understand.
As for the applicants incentive to do a good job as an employee, it should be enough that they have a sense of personal pride, and if that is not enough, they should be sufficiently concerned with the fact that the cameras are rolling. I guess that doesn't concern Omarosa and Nick.
I also think it is odd that Bill would try to steamroll over Carolyn's staff (Leslie). I bet that does not go unnoticed in the boardroom.
I was really upset about Amy. How can they fault her for her good looks when that's obviously a large part of why she was chosen for the show? And why can't she talk to someone at a construction site? Because she's a woman?
Nick defended himself well in the boardroom, but he's not been a good leader or a good employee. I think he's a little too cocky for his own good.
I'm a little disappointed that its down to Bill (who brags about his integrity, even after he was playing sleezy mind games with everyone last week) and Kwame (who I like, but is totally Mr. Corporate America). It just goes to show, as someone pointed out last week when T-Roy was fired, the entrepreneurial tasks they were asked to perform are ill-suited to the final reward.
I must say that, I too, was happy to see so many of the past competitors come back. And Omarosa's lies about the phone call were so, so sad and hilarious. I'm amazed she would burn the only person who gave her the benefit of the doubt. Good luck, Kwame!
nadine I would have to disagree about nick and the choice of kwame. The reason being that most people wants a leader that is calm and collected and not constantly on the edge. If things are going rough, a calm leader gets you through the rough waters. Good riddance to Nick but i will say this if i have a sales team I would hire him in that arena where he is better suited to sell the products of my company and I will definitely place a quota on him.
Also this is not a game about being the best entreprenuer, Donald already did that. This is a game about someone leading a company that is already established not a new ideas company sourcing for funding.
So far so good, I will place my bets on Bill.
General comments:
First, the only firing I disagreed with was Troy. Have no idea why Kwame skated. Troy is a much better leader, risk taker, and negotiator. Kwame would do well as an actual Apprentice, not as a leader of a company. I feel that Kwame could do great after some mentoring.
Having said that, Kwame is right with the 'never let them see you sweat' comment. When Omerosa dropped the ball with transport, he should have met with Jessica Simpson's father, gotten commo up with JS, and straightened the issue out. I'm guessing that she was waiting for a limo @ her home, and when Omerosa failed to schedule one, that's where she stayed. Now Jessica gets to have a private jet pick her up!
Omerosa should have her tasks taken away and marginalized, if possible. Doubt that that will happen with Kwame at the helm, but the team is better off without her.
But the point is, Kwame is too passive to be a leader. Troy tried to find out what was going on when Omerosa dropped the ball with the initial dinnertime phone call, but he had no power to follow it up. Watch Troy actually manage the project from here on out, and Kwame get the credit, or, perhaps, Trump will hire Troy on the last episode. Won't that be a nice plot twist.
However, if Bill relaxes, and takes care of business, then he wins. Next week, if the focus is on Kwame/Troy's team, that means that Bill is taking care of business, and there is nothing interesting to show. The camera will focus on the problems, which are more interesting.
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Not a Performance-based Firing of Amy
Maybe the renting out of the property in the last episode at last minute was really a bail out: Both people from the team which won the last task were fired? Getting rid of Nick I understand. But Amy?!?
To be fair, Amy does bear some responsibility. This entire process was an interview after all and she knew that Trump is primarily in real estate. She should have been ready for whatever hard ball questions his lieutenants threw at her.
I think this episode was less about the potential interview candidates and more about the type of people that work in Trump's organization and their prejudices:
Complaining about Amy's perfect teeth?!?
"She would get on my nerves after a while."
"She reminded me of a Stepford Wife."
If anything, George & Carolyn should have had much more input in the decision. After all, these two have seen the candidates in action for the past months. As an employer, who would you hire? Amy's teams won every single contest except for one. And her team _barely_ lost the casino challenge. Kwame's team lost at least ten tasks.
Furthermore, all the other contestant recognized what an outstanding person Amy was to work with by picking twice! The only reason she wasn't picked a third time was Trump's admonition after her second time being cherry-picked to the other contestants: maybe they were trying tell Trump to hire her Amy then and there.
At the end of the day, Amy may have given the most relevant critique herself when she said, it depends on the position that Trump is hiring for. With the subtle sexist, bordering on misogynist sniping of Trump's lieutenants, why would Amy want to work in Trump's organization?
She can and will do much better.
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Enjoyable episode. The two quick firings were a fun switcheroo, and while they both had shown they were gifted and capable, Nick and Amy were, I think, the best choices to go. Nick's energy was good, but not accompanied by enough mass. Amy shouldn't be faulted for doing her hair or looking sharp-- Troy, Kwame, and Nick (and Bill too) are handsome gents, and Kwame especially dresses carefully, but I don't think they've taken heat for it-- but while she is a smart and creative businesswoman, she doesn't have anything on the level of the leadership force required to run a big company.
Bobbie (above) wondered if the reason Amy's ability to talk at a construction site was being doubted was because she was a woman. Come on, folks, playing those kind of cards is unhelpful. It's nothing to do with her gender or appearance: Caroline (sp?), Trump's associate, is a very attractive woman (especially since she's updated the coif) but I don't think anyone would find it hard to imagine her throwing her weight around at a construction site. It's a question of mass, again: does this individual have the combination of personal force, credibility, seriousness, charisma, and expertise to create a gravity well, to propel other massive bodies to trajectories it wants? I just don't think Amy does, and her performances throughout demonstrated this.
Troy had (I think) the highest mass, but to pursue the astronomical analogy ad nauseum, he was a rogue planet, not sufficiently tied into a predictable, steady orbit around a given star to elicit trust. He was more of an entrepreneur than a CEO of a huge company, too. While I've been a Troy fan from the beginning, when it came down to it, if I were doing business at that huge level, the education issue would cause me to pause. As clever as Troy is, I'd find myself wondering if he'd ever even heard of some of the more involved issues in compliance, taxation, regulations, acquisitions, etc etc. I'd feel that for all his passivity, Kwame would at least have taken some kind of course which would have at least exposed him to the concepts. When put against Kwame's Harvard MBA, I would give Troy's lack of education a small negative score. Only in comparison, though, as his overall abilities are so high.
Bill? Strong. No weaknesses. He's got the best overall score. Not as high in any one area as someone else might be, but probably a close second or third in almost every area. He's got enough charisma to certainly do well in Trump's organization, if the 5-min view we had of the 'advisors' was fair. They were all smart capable people, but not extraordinarily magnetic. Bill's education is sound, and as discussed last night he could have done more, but chose a different path. His experience is solid for an apprentice, more complete I think than anyone elses-- or at least equal. And I think his leadership style is more aligned with the Trump organization, whereas Kwame is just wired a little differently. Kwame is solid but so far uninspiring.
Ok, Omarosa. I wouldn't be able to defend her in court against the charge of being THE DEVIL! What a bloodbath! Carnage, lies, catastrophe! How could she possibly justify herself? She's like one of Lear's older daughters, but there she is, real-life. A plant? I see where the doubt comes from, but I don't think so. I think she's the real thing. The delusion, the veneer or elegance over the rot, the shortsightedness, the lust for instant gratification and trappings without any thought for consequence or substance. The terrifying truth that this person is probably a 'perfect' politician: outwardly stunning, articulate, intelligent, pseudo-mature, yet all these things are turned into means to the flakiest ends. She's the anti-Midas: whatever she touches turns to lead and becomes worthless. And as with Midas, who ended up destroying everything of true worth in his greed, so here, except that you don't even have gold artifacts as cold comfort.
If I were Kwame, as soon as I heard about Omarosa lying to me and shirking her duties, I would have removed her from her position. She had the most important task of anyone in Kwame's organization--especially if one of the main goals is to keep the artist happy. Also: why didn't anyone go to the airport to meet the band and Jessica Simpson? Why didn't Kwame get her cell phone number from the lady in Trump's organization.
Again, like in the original Trump casino episode, we see Kwame taking a breather while having dinner with Simpson's father. Unfortunately, you cannot be hands off in those kinds of situations. You have only 4 people there doing the task. I was cringeing watching everyone sit there, "acting calm" as Kwame termed it. Hands-off management is not going to work. Omarosa was right on one point--Kwame needed to be freaking out (not overreacting, but getting things done) when these issues came up. He needed more of a reaction--whether it be following up or sending Troy to the airport to go find these people personally.
Bill seemed to be doing OK, but at the same time, I saw some cockiness leaking in to his mannerisms. In many of the older episodes, we saw Bill as an aide-de-camp, usually complaining about not getting his ideas heard, and then competently performing his work. But now we hear him saying, "Don't give me that bullshit. I've run businesses for however-many years, and I know what I'm doing." I almost expected him to tear off his skin and reveal Nick underneath.
When the golf club incident happened, I think Bill should have taken the lead and asked the people who run the course what places people have stored things in past tournaments. I have a feeling that Katrina was a loose cannon who didn't ask the woman who was put off for permission before telling the men to deposit all those articles in her building--common courtesy. You have to be able to pay respect to the people who you are working with.
You can let your employees go ahead and do their tasks, but I think the job of a leader is to react to the bugaboos that will happen day in and day out. In Kwame's case, this would mean removing Omarosa from her duties and putting someone more competent like Troy in charge of logistics. For Bill, it would mean investigating where a better place would be to store the materials or patching up the situation with the woman who Katrina irritated so they could store the materials there, rather than saying, "Don't get all huffy with me. I know what I'm doing!"
I concur with George above. Amy WILL do better elsewhere than working with the 4 brown-nosing pricks she interviewed with (notice that all of them agree with each other). The final grade for a class should be decided by the classwork, midterms and final exam, not by the final exam alone. If Don decided Amy's fate by just 1 day of interviews, then forget about it. The whole thing feels like a set-up to get rid of the cute couple. I also believe that Amy had come to her senses that Trump's org is not a place for her, and she just let things go. That's why she bounced the question back to Don and gave up fighting for her life. She knows better.
There's absolutely no way that anyone can convince me Kwame is a better leader than Amy. Amy led her teams to victory at least 3 times (ricksaw advertising, celebrity negotiations, selling water with Omi) and Kwame picked a risky artist against the team's will and created the worst loss. I can't recall a single game that Kwame contributed much to a victory. Look at the concert task. He picked Omi (while Nick/Heidi were still in the pool) to do logistics and it's another disaster so far.
There is no doubt in my mind that Omarosa is doing exactly what she was instructed to do to see how Kwame acts/reacts to it. I suspect there will be a similar "upset" on the other team, if the storage facility incident wasn't it. I don't like Omarosa, would NEVER hire her, and would become illiterate to avoid buying her book and putting ka-ching in her pocket, but she isn't wholly brainless.
I think the decision was right. Although Amy has been a favorite of mine from the beginning, she was flying under the radar for the majority of the competition. She did not have to face boardroom confrontation or direct attacks upon her performance. Every single incident which did require her to defend/discuss her performance, she failed badly. She looked stricken in the boardroom, and her interviews were a disaster. I think her failing (at least as we have seen it), is she performs brilliantly as a member of a group, but cannot stand up to the face to face when it surrounds her own performance and qualifications.
I think Kwame has blown it already by his lackadaisical approach to the transportation disaster, and absent some bigger management gaffe by Bill, he is the new Trump prez...
Love the show, and will continue to watch Apprentice 2!
To answer the enigma with Kwame, Donald and his advisors went with the strategy of "playing not to lose" instead of "playing to win" as with Troy. If you think about the combinations for the final 2, anyone of them would be more exciting to watch than with a combination with Kwame in it. For instance, Bill and Amy (I thought for sure would be it...its got a Men vs Women feel to it), Nick vs Amy that would be hot, Troy vs Bill...seeing exact opposite styles of leadership in action. In anycase, the only way Bill will lose is if he really messes up which I doubt. And its not really Kwame, its his the team he chose.
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Ouch! (Sound of my wife slapping me.)
The pix from the FHM layout are hot!
I cannot believe that they did not get paid for it. They *really* are apprentices. Even models for Macy-type weekend sales get paid a couple thousand per shoot to putz around in khakis and polos.
Waiting with abated breath for the Jessie, Tammy, Heidi, Omoraso layout...
Uh... Maybe not...
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News Clip-Video:
http://www.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=352352
Blog/Image:
http://www.oliverwillis.com/apprentice/archives/002269.html
I really do think Omarosa is a plant. How were the cameras in Diane's office at just the right time when the emergency arose?
By the way, what's FHM?
When you remember it's a show, it all seems to boil down to "so what"? Trump has just demanded $100,000 per episode to say "You're Fired". That's what this is about... showmanship and cash.
The Donald's new book is interesting. Good timing Donald.
Jack M: FHM (For Him Magazine, I believe), is a lads' publication that competes with Maxim and the like.
I hear that Trump's World Bar concocted a new drink called "You're Hired" that costs $1,000. There's also a $10 version called "You're Fired." Maybe Trump can use the proceeds to save his casinos!
I'm on the guest list for the Apprentice finale after party at Trump Tower tomorrow night. Stay tuned for the details!
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