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October 13, 2005

The Apprentice

Martha Stewart Apprentice - Week 4

Posted by Nadine Heintz at 10:15 AM

It's about time Dawn got the boot. I couldn't stand another second of her whining and complaining. Has she not watched previous episodes of the Apprentice? If she couldn't handle pulling an all-nighter, she shouldn't have wasted everyone's time by applying for the show. Thank goodness she's gone.

If it wasn't for Dawn's outrageous behavior, I think Leslie would have gotten fired last night. She had gumption for volunteering to lead Team Loser, but she was crazy to waste six hours coming up with a theme.I liked the idea of a zen-type suite where business travelers can recharge, but, in the end, it just looked like a nicely designed space. There didn't seem to be any accessories related to the idea of flow and water. They could have easily picked up a little water fountain and one of those desk-top sandbox things to drive the theme home. For that reason, even if the couches had arrived, I still don't think they would have won, even though the FLOW concept was much classier and Martha-like than Primarius's entertainment theme. (Martha and Alexis clearly thought the popcorn maker was a bit low-brow.)

I'm not a huge Amanda fan, and that inspirational pencil thing was pretty cheesy, but I have to give her credit for being a good leader. When the decor turned out to be a disaster (that moldy-looking wallpaper in the bathroom was disgusting), she kept the team focused on the big-picture. She was right...once the furniture and accessories were in place, the gray walls weren't as dreary. I also loved when Ryan pointed out that no matter how badly Primarius screwed up, Matchstick would always be worse. That was particularly true last night.

Speaking of screw-ups, I'm not quite sure how much blame to place on Bethenny for last night's loss. As Martha pointed out, she did a great job picking out the furniture, especially since she had only eight minutes to make up her mind. Yes, she was responsible for making sure the furniture was delivered on time, but Leslie made that nearly impossible to pull off by wasting so much time in the beginning.

Matchstick did show some potential last night. When the contractor asked them to start painting at midnight, they pulled together (except for Dawn, of course). For once, Jim shut his mouth and focused on getting the job done. I was also impressed by Leslie's brave presentation to the Westin execs. Talk about faking it!

I was hoping Matchstick would rally now that Dawn is gone, but it looks like Jim's going to go off the rails during next week's challenge. Maybe the team is just destined to fail. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

4 Comments

Posted by: Monica at October 13, 2005 1:01 PM

Well, last week Martha said Dawn hadn't proven herself one way or the other. Last night she proved herself big time and despite the overall failure, I finally agreed - she needed to go. She was the epitome of lazy last night. All the whining and complaining was more than I could bear! And frankly, though Leslie let the meeting go on too long, the point is you first need a vision and the rest will flow from that. If they had rushed out with a half-baked idea I think it would have been even more of a disaster - if that's possible - and Leslie may have indeed gotten fired. But again brava to Martha for recognizing that she at least was willing to try and she should be given another chance. I'm not so sure Donald would have done the same.

Ultimately, I don't think there was really one person to blame for Matchstick's failure. It's not their fault the furniture was in limbo. If it couldn't be delivered in time, the sales guy should have said so last night. So I assume that was not the issue. I'm curious to know where that furniture ended up. And since they lost, what will happend with it now?

Primarius had a cute idea. I don't know about building a whole suite around it in NY. That was more Vegas or AC style. Still the theme was evident whereas Matchstick's wasn't so they had to be the winner, even if it wasn't something Westin would go for.

Bethany is a contender. She's showing herself more and more. And who was the designer on Primarius team? Why didn't they even try to listen to her? Her colors weren't necessarily entertainment - probably more FLOW - but the colors are current. They just blew her off like she had no clue. I even thought the wallpaper she picked was more interesting though there was no library in the mix. I think there may be something to her worth listening to but they didn't. That may be a mistake one day.

I wonder if I can write to Martha and tell her how much I love her show but her rewards are, well, unrewarding, and Alexis? Please. She looks soooooo bored!

In the end, good firing on Martha's part.

Posted by: Travis Miller at October 14, 2005 12:18 PM

I agree...good firing. The question is whether or not she'll keep it up.

Posted by: Roger Darnell at October 17, 2005 3:52 PM

This episode was my first exposure to Martha's version of The Apprentice. After witnessing the past two seasons of the original, several things stood out to me.

First, as this episode wore on, I was feeling like the folks on Donald's version are **superstars** compared with most of these folks. By the end, I felt a strong case could be made for firing the entire Matchstick team. Altogether, the poor attitudes of almost everyone except the project manager of the Primarius team combined with the overall worthlessness of Team M to make the show fairly painful for me to watch. As a result, I am not surprised at all that the ratings for the show are so low.

I do agree with others here that Dawn certainly had to go, and that, while the tedium of the six-hour brainstorming session made for a nauseating segment, Matchstick had to do whatever was necessary to have a vision they could believe in (and, based on what I saw, I'm surprised it didn't take them longer). For stepping in to be their leader, and then for "selling" the suite with no furniture in it (!), I think Leslie wins major points. And again on her teammates -- how could they just lay around and moan and find NOTHING useful to do while they waited and waited on furniture?

The biggest thing that struck me about the show, based on my exposure to versions Trump, are the differences between Ms. Stewart and The Donald. Obviously, they run different types of organizations and stand apart in roughly a million ways. I just loved seeing Martha interacting with the apprentices, showing herself to be real person. The way she "sends them home" instead of "firing" them, the facts that she shakes their hands before they're sent off and writes a letter (by hand!) to the person just sent packing... those are the saving graces of this show, for me. In other words, where Trump is brash but undeniably powerful, she is a bit aloof but also quite warm and endearing, and the show reflected those important traits to this viewer.

No doubt, it'll be a different type of character who makes the cut in Martha's empire, but here's hoping that in future episodes of her show, the players will look more professional, and that the producers and editors will find and package some stories that are more engaging and inspirational, before the show's canceled.

Posted by: Martha at October 20, 2005 7:59 PM

I think that Martha Stewart made a huge mistake in keeping Jim and sending Jennifer home. Jim is the rudest, most obnoxious person I have ever seen! He totally lied in the boardroom about his selling behavior. The comments he was making were very rude, disrespectful, and just plain horrible!! When a store owner is upset and ready to shut down the experiment/project...... its time for Jim to go HOME!

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