The Fedora Chronicles: "The Apperntice 5"

Introductions -
First, nobody’s really reading this because they want me to recap of what went on during last nights episode… it’s what I have to say about last night’s episode that you’re here for. (Besides… you can get the recap on the NBC site, or the special Yahoo is running…)

Second: Why a rant about “The Apprentice” on The Fedora Chronicles? It’s for no other reason, because it’s the only show that I follow and this is a test to see if other members of The FC staff would like to follow another Reality Show and write a weekly rant about it. (And, let’s be blunt… Trump needs to get a Phantom Blue fedora to go with those suits of his. His Hair needs to get trimmed and he needs to get with the Retro-Centric style of yesteryear.)

Why is this the only show I watch regularly? It’s one of the few shows that are entertaining and informative, and it’s fun to see someone else get fired for a change. (Not that I’ve been fire a lot…) The show is also a bit of commentary on traditional values or the lack of them, as personified by the individual candidates. But more on that later…

For the folks here who watch "The Apprentice" on NBC (and repeats on CNBC) will know that during the show, Donald Trump hands out the best advice that money could buy. And… for the price of having to watch a few ads during the show (unless you TIVO the show) he’s freaking GIVING IT AWAY.

Same thing goes with Jim Cramer's “Mad Money” show on CNBC’s… but that’s a different story…

Donald Trump’s advice is a variation on the theme of how to be successful, the advice is easy to take, and did I mention that doesn’t cost anything? If you listen to what he has to say each week while the show airs, he pretty much gives away half of his last book "Think Like a Billionaire : Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life..."in three minute segments at a time.

As I wrote earlier, his advice is a variation on the same theme: How to be successful in like and in business. It’s called having a positive mental attitude. You can pretty much talk yourself into being a success; that and not giving up on working hard towards the right thing. If you know for sure that what you’re doing is the right thing to do and you’ve made an unemotional and rational evaluation with a private inventory about who you are and why you’re passionate about doing what you do… then you can’t help but be a success.

There are some exceptions of course, but if you find something that’s interesting to you and fills a need that other people have, and you’re passionate (and rational) about filling that need and being the best at it, you can’t help but become a success.

As hinted at the beginning of this rant, another great thing about this show is how you see people succeed or fail based on how they work together and how hard they’re willing to work on their own. It’s also amusing to see people who are high level executives be brought down to the level of the working class and do things that might seem menial to them… like working the front door of a “Sam’s Club” trying to silicate members to upgrade their accounts…

Week 1: “Sam’s Club/Goodyear.”
This first episode of every new season of “The Apprentice…” it’s starts with a 15 minute ad for Donald Trump and his image. It’s always the same… “See what hard work and success can buy.” Whether for good or bad, Donald Trump is one of the symbols of success in this country and due to his showmanship he has become a household word synonymous with being rich and famous. Take that however you want, it’s a commentary of what’s possible in this country if you work hard enough. Some might comment on Trump’s strong-arm business tactics, others might comment that his success has more to do with luck or shenanigans… which you’re welcome to discuss in the forum.

As with the other season premiere episodes, the teams are chosen and Trump sends them off on the task. This season, Mr. Trump had two members pick the teams as if this was gym class. (Notice how the fat kid… I mean executive got picked last!) And there task was to use Goodyear blimps and other resources to encourage people to join “Sam’s Club,” or to Upgrade current memberships.

The two teams went to work: “Synergy” used pampering the customers with massages and pedicures to pamper customers into biting the bullet for memberships to the Wal-Mart warehouse monolith, while “Gold Rush” failed narrowly by not putting in the same effort the other team did.

Perfect example of what not to do in the business world is personified in the behavior of one of the candidates, Summer. She was given the task to call local restaurants and alert them to the special deal that was running at the local “Sam’s Club” and to offer them a special invitation while at the same time tell them the prizes that were being offered. Problem was, she didn’t know WHAT they were offering. Second, as a restaurant owner herself, she knew that calling restaurant owners during the dinner rush was a stupid idea.

… If you know that what the boss is telling you to do is a bad idea, and you have good reasons why, don’t wait till AFTER you failed to tell the boss. Get his attention first and explain it to him. After you’ve explained your possession to the boss, and you still fail… you’ve covered yourself.

Also, having the attitude that says “This sucks, we’re going to lose” is setting yourself up for failure. This gets back to what I wrote earlier. Success isn’t an accident. Hardly anyone succeeds with a negative attitude, and when it does happen it’s only because the other team or your competitor is a greater abject failure then you are. To win, you have to have a positive attitude while staying focused on the task at hand.

Summer also provided a perfect example of another lesson everyone needs to learn, including me. Know when to shut up. It’s like the old adage says, it’s best to remain quiet and have everyone think you’re a fool then it is to say something that will prove them right. Here’s what happened…

In the boardroom*, “Gold Rush” was given the 3rd Degree by Mr. Trump to get to the bottom of why the team failed. Who’s the weakest team member, who’s responsible for the loss? Trump called the Team Leader, Tarek, on the carpet. Trump asked for names of those responsible for the loss, Tarek gave three other names, then Trump excused everyone else. Then, Mr. Trump talked with George and Carolyn… (*For those who don’t know, at the end of the show the losing team goes into the room where someone will get the ax. First the whole team, then those who Donald calls back after conferring with his two executives, George and Carolyn. Most of the time it’s one person who gets fired, other times it’s two… the worst was last season there were 4 people fired all at once.)

Once back in the Boardroom, Carolyn asked the toughest questions to Summer: “What did you really do on this task?” (Carolyn’s tougher then Trump in most cases. She asks the toughest questions, she’s humorless and when she goes after a contestant, they’re almost always fired. That’s not to say that she actually wields the most power, it’s that Trump uses her tenacity and her taste and desire for blood to get to the root of the problems with particular contestants.) Summer did only one thing right, she didn’t say anything. It’s better to stare off into space and not say nothing and look like a retard then to say “I didn’t do anything.”

Trump when after the project leader and was setting up Tarek for the kill. Rather then just let it ride, Summer jumped on the bandwagon and wanted to add more fuel to the fire and interrupted. Donald then went on to say: "I'm getting ready to almost fire this guy for being a horrible leader and you interrupt me? And you were no great shakes yourself... You know what Summer, you're fired." Then Trump quipped to Tarek: "She saved your ass with her own stupidity."

What lesson can be learned here, in a competitive environment like this, it’s best to know when to take accountability for your actions and own up to your mistakes and then when to shut up and move out of your own way when someone else is going to get the ax.

Summer getting fired was inevitable… it was going to happen this week or in one of the next few weeks to come. For her, sooner is better then later.

As for the rest of the show? At this point nobody stands out as a shining star or a clear winner. Nobody really grabs me as someone who can possibly win this like Randal Pinkett and Rebecca Jarvis did last season, or Kelly Perdew of Season 2. There are no true stars in this group of contestants and as of yet there’s nobody to cheer for. Personally… I would like for just once during one season for Trump to fire everyone by the end of the show and not hire a new Apprentice if the whole group is a bunch of duds.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 2: “Gillette”/ Trump’s Fires the wrong Candidate for the First Time This Season…

Teaser
I usually don’t disagree with Donald Trump on who he fires. But there are times that I think he keeps some people on longer for pure entertainment values. (Same holds true for Martha Stewart's failed version last year…) Last night’s episode was a perfect example…

The Challenge
The challenge last night was to have each team encourage people in New York city to send a “Text Message” to Gillette as a part of their promotion for the new “Fusion” razor. It’s not clear to me what was in it for the people who would send a text message; do they get a free razor for doing so? That one vital piece of information was given only once, and I missed it…

The two teams went to work at the first part of the task: Spending time on their marketing schemes, working on signs and trying to figure out what the text message should be for people to Gillette.

Synergy’s efforts were hampered on two fronts: the Project Manager Pepe couldn’t manage his people and the heavy set loud-mouth Brent was taking issue with Stacy always cutting him off when ever he tried to speak. Later on, Brent was confrontational with Stacy, yelling at her with his face inches from hers and pointing a finger at her. His yelling was incoherent; my three-year-old makes more sense then Brent did during his temper-tantrum.

Right there is when I knew that Brent should have been fired. I’m a traditional guy, and I believe that regardless of what year or century it is, men shouldn’t get confrontational and intimidating when talking with a woman. If Stacy slapped Brent in the face for his behavior, not only would it have been appropriate, but also it would have made for better drama. The only violence I condone is when a woman is being physically or verbally assaulted… but more on this later.

Meanwhile, “Gold Rush” was working on signs and scouting for locations the night before the second phase of the task was to begin. They picked one particular location where they would have a “Captive Audience,” where people would be waiting in line at specific location in Times Square.

“Gold Rush” also began early on getting numbers in because Lenny -“The Russian” - took two other members and started the night before with the campaign, but did so with out the permission of Lee, the project manager for this episode. If they had failed, Lenny would have been called out by his other team members and might have been fired for his boldness.

On the day of the second phase of the task, “Gold Rush” was dressed, fed and out the door long before the other team woke up. Also, as Trump noted later in the show, “Gold Rush” already acquired 100 text messages before “Synergy” showed up at their own location. “Gold Rush” was a fright train of success that couldn’t be stopped and was able to break through any barricades that got in their way. The team overcame every minor obstacle and differences…

With that said, let me tell you something that Bill Rancic won’t tell you on his Yahoo Blog… “Gold Rush’s” signs were pretty bad… the vital information such as the phone number and the text the people needed to send was too small to read easily. It was almost microscopic compared to the other garbage that they had on their signs. Couple that with the signs themselves being too small, I was astounded at this blunder. But as I said before, the reason why “Gold Rush” won the task was their approach: Time Management and Location.

Synergy also picked Time Square, but in a different location where people were rushing around trying to get to where they were going and didn’t have time to stop. Synergy was also at a disadvantage because of their embarrassing campaign - working in bathrobes and underwear. (As Trump said… some people don’t want to see other people in this state of undress. And he’s right… I also think that there are laws against indecent exposure for that reason.)

Later in The Boardroom, through Bill Rancic and Trump’s daughter Ivanka (both who were filling in for George and Carolyn…) it was revealed that “Gold Rush” defeated “Synergy” by getting 225 more text messages.

Brent's Close Shave
With all that said, while Team Gold Rush went to enjoy their reward of helping down-and-out business people get back on their feet by giving them new wardrobes and pep-talks, “Synergy” talked among themselves about how to set Brent up for the fall for when they would return to the boardroom where “Somebody will be fired…”

Brent’s behavior in his confrontation with Stacy wasn’t the reason why they lost, but it was the beginning of the end for them. It’s not that the team couldn’t recover from that incident, it’s that they wouldn’t. It’s as if the team made a conscious decision to skate through the rest of the task since they had a goat or a fall guy to blame when the inevitable failure occurred.

In the boardroom, Trump eventually fired the Team’s project manager for his failure to lead the team and take control, and fired Stacy for not being able to stick up for herself. As I said in the teaser, I don’t always agree with Donald Trump. I think he was wrong, Stacy should have been told she has another week to prove that she can stand up and then fired Brent for his inappropriate behavior.

Failure Of Values
Getting back to Stacy’s reaction to Brent’s confrontation with her… which I guarantee this will cause controversy. It’s not ok for a man to hit a woman (unless she’s in the uniform of your enemy while you’re in a combat situation, she’s trying to kill someone else, or makes a really bad cup of coffee… I’m kidding on one of those three points, obviously.) But if a woman feels threatened and is confronted in a physical manner the way she was on screen last night (and again Wednesday night on CNBC) then she has every reason and right to rap that man in the mouth or kick him in the junk.

I know that I’m advocating violence in this particular circumstance and I know I’m perpetuating a Double Standard. What do you want? I’m a traditional guy. Don’t give me this “It’s the Twenty-First Century” crap… some things should never change. How men treat women and how women should defend themselves is one of them.

Brent’s behavior is why Brent should have been fired, not because he was a disruption to the rest of the team. Getting in a woman’s face and telling her she’s going to “pay dearly” (maybe not his exact words, but to the effect) for not letting him participate. That’s not the behavior of a professional. This is the first time I didn’t agree with Donald Trump so far this season when it comes to who should be fired, and I don’t think it would be the last.

What do I think is in store for the rest of the season? Again, since this was the second episode and as of yet there are no standout players or anyone who I think stands a chance to make it to the Final Four. The exception is Lenny “The Russian” who’s brash and abrasive attitude may alienate other candidates, but I think he’ll be kept on longer then the rest of the weaker players just for his pure entertainment value.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 3: Chevy Tahoe/”Plan B”/Swimming With Sharks…

Teaser
Donald Trump’s “Words Of Wisdom” this week was about being flexible, having a “Plan B” in the event that “Plan A” or some of its aspects fails. But part of having a good “Plan A” means listening to what your customer or boss actually says and putting those words to good use and making them the focus of what you’re doing.

What does the client need? What does the boss want done? Ignore those questions and go your own direction will lead to failure.

Aftermath
Before I go any further, you might want to read my post from last week and read about how Brent should have been fired for his behavior and attitude. The aftermath of last week’s episode spilled into this week and will continue to do so for at least another week.

At the beginning of this weeks show we saw the recap of the last week's episode, then like always we saw the reaction of the other contestants when those who escape the Wrath of Trump return to the suite. This week, one of the women, Andrea, fled to one of the bathrooms to have herself a good cry when she saw Brent’s return.

… That’s always professional, run in the other direction of an adversary and have a good balling when you don’t have your way. After the second viewing (on CNBC) of the second episode, I warmed up to Andréa… is she the next “Rebecca” from Season 4? Who knows. But after seeing this… I highly doubt it.

Like I said earlier, the confrontation with Brent spilled into this episode and into the next one as an indicated by the “Next Episode Preview.” The Dye has been cast and he’s made for the roll of the villain for this season so far. It's just a matter of time before he’s gone. When people are angry that you didn't get fired, that's never a good sign.

The Challenge
This weeks challenge was to take the best GM Dealers in the region, give them an afternoon of fun, games and drinking at a retreat out in the country while bringing them up to speed on next year’s Chevy Tahoe SUV.

Synergy was right out of the gate with some great ideas. The Theme of there event was “Tahoe – Nature Refined,” and they built on that with events that were catered for Outdoors man, Rock Climbing, fly-fishing, and they would have had skeet shooting if it hadn’t been forbidden by the Park Ranger.
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Team Synergy were already the clear winners early because their event catered to the group they were to inform and entertain: No nonsense and rugged Truck dealers who sell to no nonsense and rugged individuals who drive off the beaten path and are usually outdoors people. These are the types of trucks that are used to haul hunters, off-road bikers, and snowmobiles or ice fishermen. You can also image these trucks being sold to upwardly mobile skiers and snow-boarders. Team Synergy won the challenge and buried “Gold Rush.”

Synergy's PM deserves a lot of credit: While I lost something for Andrea when she ran into the bathroom for her melt down earlier in this episode, she went on to do a great job as the project manager and kept Brent busy with busy work. Andrea actually LISTENED to the ideas presented to her by her team mates. She knew if she was going to win this task as Product Manager, she was going to actually LISTEN to those with ideas. It takes real maturity to be in a leadership roll and listened to what other people have to say and actually take their suggestions and put them to work.

And speaking about Brent again… this might not be a fair criticism because he may be a victim of bad editing, but seeing every camera shot of him eating or getting more food didn’t help his image of being the fat and obnoxious lawyer of the group. He’s not heavy because of genetics or his metabolism, he’s fat because he wouldn’t stop eating according to this episode. The only time he wasn’t eating was when was too busy voicing his ideas that proved he was out of touch and didn’t know who or what he was talking about…

Brent had a lot in common with The PM on the other team, Theresa – who didn’t know the client, their product or what her goals should be. She also failed to listen to the men who knew what they were talking about…

Noodles embedded in my carpet put up more of a fight to survive...
It was as if “Gold Rush” was a team of adolescent jihadists with toy guns playing "War" against real United States Army Rangers, Marines and Navy Seals with real firearms and were pasted with in the first 5 minutes. “Gold Rush” didn’t even try to stay in the game.

“Gold Rush” would have been better off waking into the boardroom and calling it quits after the second day. Granted, this team had two members take the first day of the challenge off for the Jewish Holiday. That’s not the reason why they lost, they lost because of the management led by Theresa and because of reasons I wrote about already, she didn't listen to anyone and was stubborn with her "vision" of an "Elegant Retreat." Their theme was “Elegance?” Elegance isn’t a word that I would associate with big trucks, no mater how luxurious they are or how many bells and whistles that are standard.

Not only was the theme of "Elegance" ill-suited, but it was also missing from this event. Many of the things needed for this event was missing or incomplete. Other aspects were inappropriate.

“Sexy Spokes models?” The reason why these Chevy Dealers were there at a Retreat was to get them jazzed for next year’s Tahoe truck and get to know the product. The models didn’t know the product and did little more then distract the dealers from what they were there for. What were the models there for besides titillation?

“Buggy Rides?” I could have been there in the room when this idea was brought up and those who brought this idea up could have spent an extra day trying to explain to me why this was a good idea, and I still wouldn’t get it. I’m not saying that I know that I’m dense, I’m saying that the Horse and Buggy idea was simply stupid and made no sense. I wouldn’t want to go on a buggy ride with some of my fellow male co-workers or owners of other dealerships. I’m a straight married guy who’s deeply in love with my wife… THAT’S the person I want to go on a horse and buggy ride with! When I think Horse and Buggy rides, I’m thinking about one of those things that you do during a romantic vacation or weekend… on a business retreat where I’m supposed to be learning about a product? That’s more funny then the comedian they had.

“Comedian” What’s worse then being a comedian that isn’t’ funny? Having to watch a comedian who doesn’t know she’s not funny. We only had a few minuets of watching the comedian, and while the storm on that night raged outside, I actually hoped our Satellite dish would lose the signal or the power went out.

Clearly, as the PM Theresa had no idea who or what type of people GM Truck dealers are, she had no idea what the Pick-up truck or SUV market is, and the woman doesn’t come off as someone who understands the “Outdoors” type people the same way Synergy’s Project Manager Andréa did after she listened to other members of her team. It just seemed to me that Theresa was trying to pull off an Event/Retreat for a group of Ivy League Graduates turned Executives, as if this event were for effeminate men who drink tea with their finger sticking out, or for a reunion for the guests of a Bravo TV-Reality show.

...How is swimming with Sharks a reward?
After the painful results came in, Trump sent “Team Synergy” on a reward to a Long Island's Atlantis Marine World. Part of the reward was to be in a cage in the shark tank and feed them. Everyone on the team wished out loud that the sharks would eat Brent, and they were merciless. That’s the darker side of human nature; trashing someone you don’t like and making jokes in poor taste about how you would like to see someone you dislike or hate dead. These are supposed to be professions, and Brent’s teammates are acting like they’re still in Junior High.

To be fair, though, Brent brings this on himself with a lethal dose of ignorant and arrogant comments. How many different ways could I say last week that he’s incompetent and ineffective last week and still have fresh things to say about him this week? As you can tell, I’m worn out and there’s nothing more to say, other then state again that previews for next week will show the melt-down that will get Brent fire.

In The Boardroom...
The rhythm of the end of every episode is this: Trump has everyone on the failing team report to him and two of his associates in the boardroom. Everyone has their say, and Trump even makes an issue to target and question the quiet ones. Nobody can fly under the radar in the boardroom.

Trump then asks the PM to pick two or three people to bring back, then sends those remaining people up stairs and then asks the PM and those the PM chooses to wait out in the Boardroom’s lobby. While they wait, Trump as a brief conversation with his associates (Usually George and Carolyn, but either of those two have fill-ins on occasion) Then Trump calls the PM and the others in to what I call “The Final Board Room” where someone is eventually fired.

I’m not sure what the statistics are, but I’m guessing now that 75% of the time when a team fails, the Project Manager gets fired. Often the Project Manager will be fired along with someone else who did a horrible job. Then there are the episodes when one really bad performer will get fired while the Project Manager goes back to the suite.
There’s no rhyme or reason why someone gets fired other then their own performance on the task AND how they act in the boardroom. I have no way to predict whom Trump will fire before the final boardroom, and I don’t think he does, either. But if you listen carefully to what Trump says when the whole team is brought in and deconstructs what happened during the task, he will give clues and hints to who the Project Manager should bring in to “The Final Boardroom.”

In this episode, Theresa was asked to bring back two or three people back into the boardroom, and she picked “The Mensa Genius” Tarek and “The Russian” Lenny. If she listened to Trump and took those hints from his reactions, Theresa would have known to bring in a third person. Trump gave clues as to who he wanted to fire…

Lenny’s not going to be fired for a little while longer since he’s entertaining to us... but most importantly he’s entertaining to Mr. Trump. Lenny’s going to continue to skate for as long as he doesn’t under-perform too badly and for as long as Trump puts up with his shtick. Right now it’s a great act and very entertaining and could be a ratings booster. But all of that’s going to end with one joke taken too far that will annoy Mr. Trump. Like a cobra, Trump will turn on him, call him a “Smart Ass” and tell him he’s fired. (Remember Erin Elmore from Season 3?”) But that's not going to happen for a few more episodes to come...

Trump also dropped a clue that he’s not going to fire “The Mensa Genius” Tarek in this episode

Besides the Project Manager, Carmine was the member of the team that was the most responsible for the team’s failure, most notably the unfunny comedian (Reminded me of a cross between Paula Poundstone and Chastity Bono…) Trump made it clear that if Carmine was brought back into the board room, Trump would have fired her. That was Theresa’s final mistake and led to her downfall.

Can’t make it any clearer… this whole episode was about listening. You’re either going to win or lose based in part by how much you pay attention, a lesson one hopes Theresa’s learned by now. Business Schools should have this episode in their vault as an example of how being ignorant of what's expected of you can cost you…

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 4: Post Grape Nuts Trail Mix/Canadian Lawyer Self Destructs

Teaser
As I’m pecking away at this, I’m well aware that this is literally a week late… I’m writing this the afternoon before Week 5’s episode. How easy would it be for me to just skip this week and just wait till after tonight’s episode to post both updates?

For one simple reason: Quitters never win…

How you tackle adversity and face problems says a lot about your character and who you are as a person. It’s also a great measure of how or if you’ll be successful.

This past week was the perfect example of why a Positive Attitude is essential to getting ahead. I had a lot of things to do on my schedule and had a short time to do them. At one point it was overwhelming and there were moments when all I wanted to do was just lay down and take a nap.

Rather then whining about how much I had to do or avoid the problems, I made a pot of coffee and hunkered down and got the vast majority of the work done then explained to the other people why what I had yet to get done will be accomplished with in the next few days. All the while I forced myself into a positive mindset and went to work when the rest of the house (and the world) went to sleep or after everyone went to bed or before everyone woke up.

I also owned the fact that this past week (and the entire month) I took on too much. The worst thing I could do is blame the situation or other people. Made a mistake? Own up, take responsibility and push forward. Communication with people is also essential, explaining the situation and putting the blame where it lies instead of making excuses.

Having too much to do and a short amount of time to get everything done somehow translated into getting more done then if I had just the right amount of things to do and enough time to do these things. It’s illogical and might make no sense… but that’s the way things were and are heading into the new week. Because of the situation, I managed time better and got more done. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I can see a clearing through the trees.

How does my situation relate to this week’s episode of “The Apprentice?” It’s all about attitude…

The Challenge
By now you should know that the challenge this week was to create a banner/billboard for Post Grape Nuts Trail mix. Both teams came up with great ideas but their finished results were what separated the two teams from the “Almost Won” to The winners…

Both teams came up with great ideas. But “Synergy” came up with an idea and a banner that was better suited for a magazine ad. That’s not a slam against that team… if the goal was to come up with the perfect ad for “People,” “Newsweek” or “Prevention…” Synergy would have won the task.

But the task wasn’t to make an ad for a magazine… it was for a roadside billboard. For that, “Synergy’s” ad was too complicated and had too much going on. “Gold Rush” came up with a powerful image that was quick and easy to comprehend. Obviously, that’s why “Gold Rush” won.

That’s the only meat of the episode before the boardroom that’s worthy of reheating and serving up on The Fedora Chronicles… everything else (including the reward) is just fluff before the reason why we tune in each week… the boardroom debates and the arguments that lead up to the final boardroom of that episode.

Before the boardroom, everyone on the team (besides Brent) agreed that because they didn’t give Brent anything to do, he wasn’t going to be fired. Brent essentially took the week off because the project manager (Tammy) didn’t trust him with anything substantial… and they still lost.

That’s not taking account for his behavior during the other hours not spent on the task. Brent may have been a victim of bad editing, but we see the man picking fights with some of his team-mates, making inappropriate suggestions, and being the reason why everyone’s late by waking up after everyone else and taking his time to get dressed. I don’t care who you are or how you’re treated, being late and dragging your heals isn’t a good way to prove to people you can be a valuable member of the team.

Broken Rhythm Of The Boardroom
Once in the boardroom, we go through the usual “What happened, Why did you fail” from Mr. Trump and he managed to ask everyone in his own way what happened and what did they think of Tammy as the Project Manager. When Trump came to Brent, Brent was a shaken bottle of champagne with the cork removed – he was a torrent of unbridled emotions and unrestrained comments. Trump didn’t fire Brent… Brent fired himself and gave Trump no choice.

Trump, obviously tired and exhausted from the nonsense didn’t bother with the final boardroom where he asks everyone to leave, discusses the situation with his people (This time George and Ivanka,) and invites the PM back in with the members the PM believes were reasons why the team lost the task. He didn’t’ bother and instead just went for Brent’s throat: "How come you can't get along with anybody?"

In the boardroom, Brent not only would have dodged the bullet and not have been in the cab at the end of the episode, but he wasn’t even a target and wasn’t going to take any flack for this week’s project. The man was literally flying under the radar and would have walked out of that boardroom and headed to the elevator with the rest of the group as they went back to the suite. Instead, his emotions and his thirst for revenge on those who “marginalized him” took control His negative and angry attitude were the cause of his own downfall. (If this sounds familiar, it should… Brent missed clues given by Trump on who else he was looking to fire...)

It was as if he saw that he wasn’t getting any attention in that boardroom and felt a powerful need to get some, negative or otherwise, his rage against his team overwhelmed the need to survive to see one more task. It was as if he felt that negative attention was better then no attention at all and couldn’t see the possible long-term consequences of possibly being fired in the end.

His rage against his team for being marginalized wasn’t cooled by being fired or the long elevator down and then the walk by the cab. This just fueled his rage and the man made a foolish spectacle of himself as he gave his final camera during his ride to whatever purgatory they have waiting for those who are fired by Trump.

Again… like in other episodes, it’s how you approach the problem. How you face adversity, how you react, over-react or your inaction will dictate the final outcome: Success or Failure. The Dye was already cast for Brent who just couldn’t control his emotions and couldn’t find ways to perform well enough to put his money where his mouth was when he said he was a “performer.”

On this episodes and the three that came before it… he performed well as the sacrificial goat. Brent couldn’t save himself in my eyes, even if he put on his own fedora and started taking charge and quoting Bogart. Brent turned out to be Peter Lorre’s “Ugarte” or The Maltese Falcon’s “Joel Cairo,” an over-emotional and effeminate coward who turns on everyone for no other reason then his own self importance and survival.

“Synergy” could now be an unstoppable force now that Brent’s gone… but they won’t. Even before Brent was fired, there have been other fractures in the team’s foundation. In any situation where you have too many strong personalities and lack one contestant strong leader you have power-struggles and in fighting.

This Season So Far…
The week goes by too long for “Apprentice” watchers since they moved it to Monday, For so long I’ve been used to the show being on Thursday and a great way to lead into the weekend…

It’s also harder since CNBC doesn’t show the repeats through out the week, if you played your cards right you could see the show 4 times again if you wanted to… Friday at 8 and 11PM and then again on Tuesdays at the same time. And if you were watching Martha’s version last season, we’re talking 8 additional hours of viewing if you could stomach it.

Now, as far as I know… you can only catch the show two more times on Wednesday… then you’re done.

This season is also missing something else so far besides the repeated viewing… a standout player. By now I’m guessing that Allie and Tarek are going to go further then I expected, since the producers always seem to give the viewers clues as to makes it to the final four by showing more side-interviews of the eventual winners through out the season. They just seem to get extra air time... there's something to that.

It’s pure pain and aggravation to try and warm up to some of the other characters… first on that list is Andrea who reminds me too much of other members of my extended family. I love strong women with reserved personalities who show glimmers of venerability when appropriate, but I just can’t get that image out of my head from the beginning of Week 3 when Brent wasn’t fired and she ran to the bathroom crying. Sad to say… that image has been burned into my memory and I’m sure that will come out in some future boardroom.

I also thought that Tammy was going to become the “Rebecca” of this season… remembering that it was when Rebecca Jarvis broke her ankle during the reward of skating with the New York Islanders Hockey Team after her team’s win… I had this vibe that Tammy was going come out of obscurity this week and start performing. My vibe was wrong.

Sadly… I have yet to see Tammy pull out of obscurity and I think it’s going to take something like her breaking some bones or being dismembered and soldering on like Miss Jarvis did last season before Tammy stands out.

Bryce has my attention because he reminds me of some super-cool, smoldering, dangerous looking guy with a fedora who runs one of the best sites on the net dedicated to the style and substance of a by-gone era. He reminds me of myself when I was 26… which I’ll deny if he gets fired by doing something really stupid like stepping back from his own ideas again. Other then not being afraid to get in people’s faces and sing his own praises… what does he bring to the boardroom table? He’s no Randal…

Lenny is the next Time-Bomb to go off. He’s also a drain on the rest of the “Gold Rush” team, being a Maverick. Being a Maverick is great, I wish more men were like that. But being a Maverick only works when you’re always right and you’re always the hero.

So, by the end of Week 4 I still don’t see any new Stand-Out players… nobody to really cheer for… besides the ones the editors and the shows executives are pushing us towards with extra side interviews and choice editing.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 5 – Norwegian Cruise/
“Who’s The Freaking Boss Around Here?”

For folks who have seen the episode and want a refresher, check out the Yahoo and NBC pages…

Teaser
In my head I have this black and white scene in my mind: It’s night, it’s foggy and the action takes place on a bridge over a river that passes a major city, reminiscent of the "Gangster Films" of the 1930's. James Cagey and Humphrey Bogart are pulling a body out of the trunk of a thirties era taxi. The body isn’t dead yet, as you can tell by the kicking and the muffled noises from under the rope and sack cloth. They throw the body over the rail, and the two of them watch as it falls and strikes the water. They remain watching till the body in the sack sinks below the surface of the water.

After the deed is done, they go back to the city and when they return to the suite, not much has changed… back at the Trump Tower the party is still raging out of control. The two men tip their fedoras back and look at each other to say “who’s next?”

Over the noise and the chaos, they see their next victim. Like in almost every Gangster film of the 1930’s, you can’t feel too bad for the guy who goes swimming with the fishes because he's usually a weasel who’s asking for it. It’s not till the end where the gangsters go too far as they themselves start a downward spiral into their own despair and downfall. As with all the other seasons, you can't feel bad for the people who get fired until you know them better. At this point, it's just about seeing the weaker members languish and frail about as a means of getting to know the stronger cast members...

The image in my mind fades to color, and Robert Osborne from Turner Classic movies is there alone as he always is in his own suite while giving his in-depth yet brief commentary about we just saw and then what’s next… “Hijinx on the High Seas!”

The Actual Episode…
Metaphorically, Brent has been thrown over the bridge, and when we return with the candidates back to the suite there are some who are jubilant that Brent didn’t’ return while others are stunned. Why are others stunned? Because when you’re on one team and the other has a member that’s dead weight, that’s good for you. Now that Synergy lost Brent, they could (or should) be a force to reckon with. Whether that’s true or not, you saw as the episode progresses.

As I said in the rant for Week 4, Synergy may have thrown Brent over the side of the bridge (not that he didn’t deserve it) for the good of the team but the team failed to coalesce into a unified force. This also gets back to what I wrote earlier in the weeks before about Andrea: She’s gone from being a strong willed Red-headed Amazon with huge potential, to a venerable and easily offended and annoying whiner.

After the boardroom from last week, Andrea cornered Roxanne and asked how come she said that Tammy was a better PM then Andrea was … Andrea reminds me of how girls behave in Junior High… in a clique, everyone in it are close friends until someone does something minor that’s “so offensive” to another member of the clique and then that girl is out to get that other girl who committed that offense. It’s always something so incredibly minor and stupid, it’s as if the one offended just need someone else to be angry at to take the focus off their own inadequacies.

The Challenge…
Cut to the chase: this time the candidates are making an ad for The Norwegian Cruise Line. And what’s the best ad of all for this Cruise Line this week?

The one made by Gold Rush, No…

The one made by Synergy? No…

The One where the product is featured predominately on an Episode of “The Apprentice?” Yea… that’s it. Because like all the other episodes, these are ads. Hour long ads.

These episodes are also ads for Donald Trump and to get even more name recognition for him. And it worked, because at this point I can’t imagine Television being as entertaining in the inevitable future when this show is no longer on the air. Donald Trump can be harsh, rude and critical, but he’s entertaining. I digress.

Both teams were let loose on this ship to make their ads and they had a limited time to get the action in the can before the ship sailed. Soon after they began, I’m thinking that this was an episode that Mark Burnett took off to allow James Cameron to produce, sans Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The two teams had similar problems and their finished products were almost identical with some small differences. “Gold Rush” had a castaway in the opener, “Synergy” had vintage-looking sepia-tone footage of a couple looking board on what was supposed to be another regimented cruise. The commercials then featured the relaxed atmosphere of the Norwegian Cruise Line…

Synergy got off to a lousy lame start after Roxanne became the Project Manager. For the most part, she was only the PM in name only. Andrea worked her way into a position of power and created chaos. They won the task eventually because they simply did the job and the other team didn't. Nothing spectacular, nothing daring or original. If their commercial was ice cream, it would be “Vanilla.” Not “French Vanilla” or some version of it made by Ben And Jerry’s… it’s generic store brand vanilla.

Gold Rush had an idea that was really little more then a distraction from what they were trying to do... Lenny came up with the idea of trying to sell the cruises by telling a story from the view of the boat from the perspective of the rescued castaway. Eventually, Trump would trash this idea… but let’s face facts, Lenny was the only one who came up with an original idea but with this current group and PM at the helm, not even Tom Hanks could make that idea work.

Dan came out of the woodwork and from total obscurity to be the project manager. Who was this guy? Do you know who he was before this episode? Was he even a contestant?

What a way to really get a good first look at Dan, running around in the beginning of the task laying down his plan and giving people things to do as if the ship was on fire. The guy’s a bigger hysterical mess then I was the day my second son was born via Emergency C-Section.

Tarek, trying to establish himself as the permanent Team Leader (Like Randal last season) because he saw some weakness in his friend Dan’s leadership. To his credit, he didn’t want the team to lose… because he knew Trump already had him in his periscope's cross hairs. Lee and Lenny with the rest of the team took that to the boardroom later...

Why Gold Rush lost and why “Vanilla/Synergy” could have failed had a lot to do with this weeks “Words Of Wisdom” from Trump: There’s a reason why there are more then one person on a team. It’s pretty obvious, so that everyone on that team can contribute something. People have different abilities and different weaknesses. A good leader will not try to do everything themselves, but put people in positions that are suited for their skills.

Trump also said you have to listen to the people working for you. “Surround yourself with smart people…” and put those people and their skills to good use. Neither PM did this. Neither used the individual members or maximized their potential.

A perfect transition to The Boardroom…

The Boardroom – A Night To Remember
"A Night To Remember" is also the name of a movie about the Titanic and the night it sank... keeping with the sinking cruise ship theme...

The boardroom was a disaster, once everyone was seated and the first questions asking why they failed the room erupted into fighting and arguing. Trump, Bill and Carolyn just let everything go for a few minutes, taking inventory of the team and the individuals. These are supposed to be professionals? Carolyn was wrong about them acting like 10 year olds... it was Kindergarten the hour before Christmas break begins with all the 5-year-olds jacked up on cookies and candy-canes.

One of the things we learn in the Boardroom is that Dan’s other mistake besides not managing his time was not managing his team but worse; not even knowing all of their abilities... He had a member who’s work was in media before she became a contestant – Leslie who “graduated in 1999 with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism.” It’s easy to over look Leslie because she’s a stone-cold look-alike of Stacy who was fired a while ago in Week 2.

Trump tried to get to what was Dan’s biggest mistake. Which was it? Not putting Leslie’s talents to good use? Using Lenny’s idea of telling the story through “The Castaway?” or bringing not Lenny back into the boardroom?

Was Dan’s biggest mistake just not taking control then yielding power to Terak? Trump took a moment to flog Terak and the fact that he’s a member of Mensa: “I’ve never seen a genius make so many mistakes, …I think the Mensa people should change the test, because there's something wrong." Brilliantly, Trump used that as an opportunity to set Terak up for the kill, and gave Dan some room to breath and relax to the point where he could talk freely and not be in “Defense/Don’t fire me, please don’t fire me, Mr. Trump!” mode. From there, the loyalty between Tarek and Dan was strained.

Another mistake Dan made? Pointing at Lee who didn’t do much besides greet Trump Over-seers Bill and Carolyn? Lee might be dead weight, but he didn’t do anything that cost the team the win. As Trump also said, he didn’t do anything to help win, either.

No, there isn’t ONE single fatal mistake Dan made, just a series of small ones. But it was clear to me from the moment he became the Project Manager and lost control and didn’t act the part of someone who was in charge… I knew with out a doubt he wasn’t going to last throughout the episode.

But his final mistake though was not listening to Trump who made the suggestion to bring Lenny into the Final Boardroom of the Episode. As I said in the end of the review for last week’s episode, Everyone loves a Maverick when you win, everyone hates a Maverick when you lose. Now they’ve lost, Lenny has a target on his back. Trump even passed the message along to Tarek and Lee – “Tell Lenny he doesn't have long to go.”

This just in from SETI… still no signs of life in any of these candidates as front-runners.
What can be said about those that remain? Who could take this to The Final Four? The way they cut the episodes and give Allie and Tarek a lot of time in the side interviews makes me believe those two do...

Allie - Didn't move ahead in this episode - but didn't move back, either. At this point I just can't see her getting fired anytime soon.

Tarek has been marked for death for a future boardroom. He’s going to have to work extra hard to pull ahead if he’s going to make it out of the next episode, much less the final four. Being flogged and personally insulted by Trump might give him the kick in the pants he needs to get back in The Game…

Lenny is in the same lifeboat with Tarek... marked for death in a future boardroom. If he's going to make it through the next few episodes and see this through to the end, he has to stop acting like a wise talking albatross and start rowing with the team.

Lee – His problem is that he’s soft and doesn’t have an eye of the Tiger. I get the vibe that he’s a flipper and a pushover. There isn’t anything about him that strikes me as a leader or has charisma. Did I say soft? He just seems to me that he can’t speak up, he mumbles. He comes off as a frail elderly man, too tired before his time.

Roxanne – She complained a bit too much about not being respected by the group. That’s because she made the same mistake Dan made, she yielded her power to Andrea. That doesn't earn respect and she showed weakness. I don't know if she can recover.

Andrea – I wrote enough about her this week. She’s strong and she’s bitchy and she might make it to the end if she doesn’t lose control of her temper. It will come out in a future boardroom that she cornered Roxanne about why Roxanne said Tammy was the best Project Manager they had so far… whinny “Junior High” school girl crap that will be used against her. But Andrea strikes me as just an angry and humorless woman, and that can be in her favor with in Trump’s organization if she can learn to work better with people…

Tammy – I’m going to pull for her for no other reason why she comes from the same state as my wife. No other reason then that, I’ll be blunt. Tammy seems like she could be the next “Rebecca…”

Bryce flies under the radar this episode. Anyone see this guy anywhere? Give him a funky Red and White Cap and scarf, he’s “Where’s Waldo” this time around.

Michael – Who is this guy? Is he even a contestant? Remember Kendra from Season 3 who was on the side of a Milk Carton for the first half of the season, and how she eventually won? This guy could do the same… if he starts playing soon.

Sean – MIA, still hurting from Week 4 and his painful presentation for the Post Corp? Who knows?

This isn’t anything like Season 4… I’m not as pumped about this season as I was before. At the end of Episode 5 I still don’t have any favorites.

Side Note...
Anyone see the yahoo page? They’re now calling Bill Rancic’s “Blog” his “Rant.” Is it safe to assume that the folks at Yahoo are reading this, and they’re trying to find out why we’re so successful? When Bill starts making references to period films, classic film actors and other old movie references… then we’ll know for sure.

Bill, just get it done, grow a goatee, get an Adventurebilt Fedora…

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

TheApprentice5

"Week 6 - Arby's"

Teaser – One For The Road
Last week I compared the past few episodes of The Apprentice to a gangster film from The Golden Era, and where you don’t care too much for the goons that get whacked (Or my favorite: “Greased”) in the beginning because that’s just the nature of the show. You simply can’t get too emotional about someone “Greased” if you don’t know much about them.

The nature of "The Apprentice beast" is that you see the weaker members get fired earlier on as you get to know who the stronger players are. While getting to know the “Final Four,” you get to find out who they actually are during this process of elimination. It’s a strange thing to an extent, that sometimes you see someone fired just as you get to like them. This was one of those episodes.

If the last few episodes were like Gangster movies, then this episode was a Bing Crosby and Bob Hope “Road” picture, where you know the “Destination” which is almost always sidetracked with comedy and drama but in the end the results are essentially the same. You know where they’re going, it’s how Bing and Bob get there that's the show. During The Apprentice, you know someone gets fired… the fun is watching who and why. And sometimes how many…

This is one of those road trips where you get in the car with your family, pick the destination at random and just follow the signs. Imagine you just choose to drive to any city, take Boston. You’re driving, see the sites that you’ll see along the route to Boston, you read the signs: “200 Miles To Boston” “150 Miles To Boston” “100 Miles To Boston” “50 Miles To Boston” and finally “Welcome To Boston..” Sometimes, if you really enjoyed the time you spent with your traveling companions and the journey, it’s somehow anti-climatic that you finally made it. You know logically that it’s inevitable: you’re in the state of Massachusetts, you continue to drive East on The Mass Turnpike… eventually you’re going to reach Boston.

Have there ever been road trips that you’ve been on that you enjoyed so much that you didn’t want to end? Or after you arrived and the anticipation was so intense that you just couldn’t believe that you were there? This was that episode to some extent.

In this episode, you saw Bryce volunteered to be the PM (He pretty much said he was going to be the Project Manager, and didn’t take any objections…). First thing he did was lay everything out – letting everyone on the team vent about who they were angry and why. While the rest of the Gold Rush team sat there in the suite, Bryce asked everyone to lay bare their thoughts, concerns and worries. Everyone had their say and Tarek took a cheap shot at the team saying that it was pretty much an honor to be brought back into the board room because he “knows” everyone thinks he’s the biggest threat.

I’ll repeat what Trump said last week; Mensa must have a problem with the test because for a Genius, Tarek makes a lot of mistakes. Playing your “They must be jealous of me” hand reeks of arrogant and contempt for others, and it echoes what Bryce said after he was fired which made him look even more ridiculous… if that were even possible.

Early on, you knew Bryce was going to get fired, and you saw all the signs that told you that was the final destination. When we finally got there, I couldn’t believe that it was over and it actually happened. Once there, if you agree with me, then you'll also believe that you arrived at the wrong place...

The Task
The task was to write a jingle for Arby’s, one of Donald Trump’s favorite brands other then his own. I’ll be honest, I don’t know enough about Arby’s, and I can’t remember ever eating at one. But here’s a great example of good marketing… Trump says it’s his favorite fast-food joints and now I’m thinking about where I can find one and try one of anything on Arby's menu...

Trump could eat anywhere, and that’s what he goes for lunch sometimes? Now… is that for real? Who knows. But it does get me to try Arby’s… and that’s the trick, isn’t it? These are hour long ads, aren’t they?

It’s tasks like these where the premise of The Apprentice falls apart – Tasks that these people are asked to things that they wouldn’t do in their real jobs if they won this contest and were hired as real employee’s and executives of The Trump Organization. Do you really think that Bill Rancic, Kelly Perdew, Kendra Todd and Randal Pinkett have worked on jingles for anything for the Trump Organization? I doubt it.

I'm going to hire some new writers and artists for The Fedora Chronicles... and part of the interview process I'm going to have them fix the clog in the sink in my up-stairs bathroom tub. Does that make any sense? How would that relate to Current Events and Pop Culture from a historical perspective or the style and substance of the first half of The Twentieth Century? It doesn't. With that said... What does writing a jingle for Arby's have anything to do with being an executive in Trumps Real Estate Empire?

So, someone is going to get eliminated from this competition for a job that deals in construction because their team couldn't win a task that involves writing a song for a fast food restaurant? Now that I've flogged this dead horse into McDonalds Hamburger patties, you get my point... this is an aspect of the show that doesn't pass the "Reality Check." For a "Reality Show" that's struggling for ratings, that's bad!

The Results...

Shoot me if I don't care about the results of this task, and you're free to skip ahead to the end where I break down why Bryce was fired and how it was avoidable. It's just painful to write about what I thought about this task and comment on what happened because it's just beyond the realm of reality.

While I've admitted earlier, and written to death... the task was flawed. But that doesn't mean that Synergy didn't do a good job. They won because they had a better jingle that covered all the points in it's lyrics...

It's Chicken, it's all Natural, you can only get it at Arby's.

The song also sounded like something you might actually want to hear on the radio if you're a 20-Something fast-food junky. Synergy also got into the studio faster and essentially finished with time to spare. It was too easy for them; the task either wasn't hard enough or they had someone with some natural music abilities and should quit what ever they're doing, join The Fedora Chronicles forum and discuss writing the score for motion pictures that some of our Indie Movie makers are working on.

Gold Rush was pushing Boulders up hill the whole time. Despite the fact that Bryce was able to get everyone together on the same page and work together, they just failed everywhere they went. Starting off with meeting with the client late. They set up an appointment, and didn't bother to leave the suite early enough to get there.

Deja `Vu, all over again. Anyone remember last season? The "Revenge Of The Sith/Best Buy" task where the teams had to come up with a display for the Episode III/Battlefront II combo? And Brian was fired because they left too late and missed the meeting with Lucas film executives? Remember how pissed off Trump was in the boardroom when that aspect of why they failed the task, and he fired Marshawn for dropping the ball and not doing the presentation?

This scene looked pretty failure, when the same thing happened during this episode... Like I might have said earlier, if the team fails a task badly it's almost always the PM who gets fired. Bryce made it worse when he made up an elaborate excuse and coupled his failure with lying about not even being late. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for Bryce when the Arby’s president and chief executive officer Doug Benham scolded him for being late and how in other situations they wouldn't have let them through the door. While I can't help but feel badly for Bryce, I can't feel too bad knowing that it was now just a matter of time before he was going to hear the words "Your Fired" from Trump.

Sticking to my analogy before, you could just read the sign that read: "BOSTON: 100 Miles" or "FIRED - 6 Hours."

Moving forward, Gold Rush struggled with the words, the jingle... neither of which worked. The only thing that seemed to go smoothly is how they actually cooperated together and became a close nit group. They actually seemed to enjoy each other's company and banned together.

The Results

When both songs were played in front of a large audience in a camped space, it was pretty clear who was going to win. Although I've already given it away and you know now, it was just as obvious then. The crowd obviously reacted to Synergy's song, and Gold Rush just fell flat. Keep in mind, also, that somehow Gold Rush had a "Country/Western" sound to it, that wouldn't play well to Manhattan Cosmopolitan 20-Somethings. Synergy's performance just rocked. It had that Seattle "Grunge" vibe. I'm not saying that I liked it, but I understood why Synergy's won.

Synergy's reward was a Truffle dinner, one that Trump said would be the most expensive they would ever eat. This is where I take the rest stop on the Highway to Bryce's firing and just trash Sean for a few minutes. They guy's just so easy to like and some of us men just can't help admiring the guy. He's successful, he well groomed, he always has the right thing to say, except for that one time during the Post Grape Nuts Presentation when he was stammering... and maybe his profile reads like something out of an Ian Fleming novel. The guy's so perfect and successful, it's past the point of envy and jealousy. All the lady's want him, all the other guys want to be him... now I can't wait to see him fired so he'll be knocked down a peg or two and be brought down to the level of we mere mortals.

All that will change, of course if I read that the man sports a perfectly blocked Herbert Johnson fedora (he's English, so what else would he wear?) and has a vast collection of 1930's and 1940's mystery and suspense motion pictures at home. Until then... fail, Sean, FAIL!

Gold Rush Pit-Stop...

I'm not going to go after Lee for taking the day off for this holiday. It would be easy to do, but to some people it would be anti-Semitic. I'm not anti-Jew, in fact I'm pro-Israel. But the facts are the facts, Lee skated during two different tasks and didn't have to dodge bullets that weren't even targeted at him... Lee gets to borrow some time and master the rhythms of the boardroom with out worried that he'll be fired.

Lee gets a pass because he's a faithful to his faith and gets to take days off that others don't? Trump has a point that in the real world, that happens and it happens often. It's not fair, and in his words, "life sucks" sometimes. How about people who are Christians who are on call during Christmas or Easter? Or those who are devoted Christians who actually work on those holidays? How about Tarek who attends mass everyday according to this website...

What I am going after Lee for is signing up for this in the first place. Before I do that, let me dispel the myth here that these episodes take place over the course of a week each. Obviously, they don't. I don't even know if these guys get breaks over the weekend. These tasks seem to take place day after day after day; Tasks 1 through 6 weren't done in six weeks, rather two or three. According to my calendar, there are 8 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In that time they had tasks for Week 3 (Chevy Tahoe) through Week 6, do the math.

If Lee is wasn't going to be competing during these tasks on those holidays, then maybe he shouldn't have agreed to be a contestant in the first place. In all fairness, if you're Donald Trump and Mark Bennet and you know that some executives are going to take different holidays off, then maybe you shouldn't schedule these high profile tasks on those days? Because for two different weeks, Lee was carried by the rest of his team. Sure, life is unfair, but it's made more so by inappropriate or inadequate planning on managements part.

With the exception of Lee taking off the day for Yom Kippur, the Gold Rush Team was a united front. Before the Boardroom (this pit-stop on the highway to Bryce's firing) the team met in one of the bedrooms, some sat and some laid down while Bryce spoke to them about having unified face. Bryce spoke about how he was brought up and how you don't throw other people under the bus. He was going to go into that boardroom and make his parents proud by applying what they taught him.

Carmine was obviously upset, asked while she was crying that maybe Trump wouldn't fire anyone because there wasn't a single person who contributed to their loss. Bryce said to the effect that that's a nice by naive thought. And he's right... as viewers we watch the show for the pound of flesh and blood each week... to see someone fight and struggle for their lives! And wouldn't it be a total rip-off if we didn't get what we came for?

The group went to the board room as a united team, which is how they remained almost to the bitter end.

The Boardroom...

The part of this show might get pretty tedious, it's the same scene, sometimes with the same group of people... but I'll admit that the way they film and edit this show, I almost feel like I'm there. I'll cop to being a bit fluttered when I watch the people get grilled and finally fired.

Through out the Boardroom, Bryce remained strong. Being blunt, he was defiant and sarcastic sometimes. There were times I thought he was going to reach across the table and slap around Trump and Bill Rancic for just not "getting it." Bill made the point that I agree with as far as Lenny's comments about not knowing what a jingle is after being in The United States for 14 years. He's over-used that excuse too much. But to that, there wasn't anything else Bill said that I agree with.

I'll skip to the Final Boardroom, to where Bryce brought in the two people who did the least on this task, Lenny and Lee, and this gets back to the aspect of the show that's flawed and another one I hadn't thought of: How can you fire two people who contributed the most (Tarek or Carmine who wrote the lyrics and the melody) and not fire the people who did the least? (Lenny who said he just didn't know what a jingle was or the concept behind it, or Lee who took another week off for a holiday.)

Bryce was intense and adamant about this, and he had a good point. He was correct to the point that in this week Trump was totally wrong in this instance. To that extent, Bryce did a pretty good job fighting to get a word in edge wise, not letting Trump interrupt him while he was trying to make a point. Trump has the reputation of being over-powering and overbearing, something that was harder to do while Bryce continued to fight to make his point.

The longer this went on, the more it was clear the Bryce was ready to just scream, "Know what? Screw this... this is a stupid game and now I'm sure now I don't want to work for someone like you, Trump." Bryce wasn't going to quit because he's a loser, and he wasn't going to go down sheepishly. There was going to be a moment soon where he was about to say: "I quit" before Trump said "You're Fired." Not because he would give up, but because he was out to prove that he was in control and not Trump.

So, there we were, at our final destination. Despite knowing at ever stage of the game Bryce was going to be fired; from trying to take over and unite a team with weak players, to being late to the meetings with the Arby's executives, to coming up with a jingle that fell flat and missed important points the lyrics were supposed to cover, to not listening to Trump's clues on who should be brought back into the final boardroom, to challenging the idea of why people should be fired who contributed while the weaker players that did less remain, to his forceful struggle to stay in the game till his temper flared and it was clear that Bryce couldn't be bothered with winning anymore because of his contempt and disgust over the flawed premise of this task... I still couldn't believe that it was over and his eventual fired really happened.

I'm not even going to say "I think Trump made a mistake this week." I'm just going to say Trump made a mistake because of how certain I am. I don't think, I know. Bryce was the best leader Gold Rush had so far, even for a task they lost. He brought the fractured team together, and when he was in the boardroom he didn't pass the buck while showing true leadership against adversity.

Candidate Breakdown - Who are the stand-out players so far?

Allie - I was pretty annoyed at her gushing at how handsome Sean is and how sexy his voice is. If those two remain in the final four and they have to compete against each other, I sense there will be at least one broken heart. (I would also hate to be the boyfriend or husband she left behind...) Bios: NBC and Yahoo. Website

Andrea: "Where's Waldo" for the week. If Jessica Alba ever gets tired of being The Invisible Girl in The Fantastic Four movies, Andrea available and after this episode, you don't need Special effects. Bios: NBC and Yahoo. Website

Carmine: Can't help but feel bad for her this week, because this was another week where she revealed herself to be more of a human being and vulnerable then the other women on this show. That's going to be detrimental later on... Bios: NBC and Yahoo - Website

Lee: What did I say last week and the weeks before? He's soft and lacks the eye of the tiger. I doubt he'll make it further. Next week NBC is going to air TWO episodes. One of them should have him fired... my guess but don't hold me to it. NBC and Yahoo - Website

Lenny - Word from LucasFilm is that over a conversation between George Lucas and Donald Trump, they both agreed that since Lenny has been such a great performer, Trump fires him in the next episode so he'll star in the next Indiana Jones picture as a Russian Archeologist competing against Harrison Ford's character. OK, so it's too late for April Fools... but I don't see him lasting much longer then Lee. I hope he stays through to the bitter end because he's a riot to watch. NBC and Yahoo.

(Come on, look at his profile picture on the NBC page! Doesn't he look like he belongs in a long black leather coat, black turtleneck sweater, black pants and boots with a short crown and narrow brim fedora saying: "I am Lenny of KGB... I have come to break you capitalist pig in the name of Mother Russia!" Think I'm kidding... Check out his Website.)

Leslie - Shares the same characteristics of Carmine, shows great emotion and vulnerability. But what has she done? What does she do for her team? Bios: NBC and Yahoo - Website

Michael: Who? Bios: NBC and Yahoo

Roxanne: What did she do this week? Oh, yea... she came up with the winning jingle. Bios: NBC and Yahoo Website

Sean - Just as Lenny should give up the ghost on his career and go into acting, so should Sean. I understand Daniel Craig might be looking for a new gig if Casino Royale does poorly... leaving the door open for this guy. As I wrote before, I really want to hate this guy cause right now he seems to have it so easy. But it's hard to hate someone who looks like he's now the front runner for the Final Four. Bios: NBC and Yahoo

Tammy - When did Kelly Monaco join the list of candidates on The Apprentice. This isn't "Dancing With The Stars" or General Hospital, is it? All kidding aside, I have nothing bad to say about her and I wish her well (because she and my wife are both from New Jersey, and those girls know how to stick together. I'm cheering for her because I don't want my wife to kick my butt. Again...) Bios: NBC and Yahoo - Personal Webpage

Tarek - Can't knock a guy down after he turns his crappy attitude down and starts acting like a team mate and not as the permanent Project Manager. He still has Trump's "Kick Me" sign on his back. My guess is that he gets fired in one of the next three episodes. Bios: NBC and Yahoo Website

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 7 - "Boys And Girls Club" When Loyalty Hurts, and Nobody Else Is Laughing...

Teaser

I have to try to keep this short for this week’s review, because they aired two episodes this week and I really want to get this in before usual.

This episode gets back to what I wrote earlier, you can only be a smart mouth when you’re winning and you’re on your way up. There’s no room for smirks or funny remarks when you’re a loser. Making light of your situation time after time, ALL THE TIME, means only one thing, you don’t take this seriously.

The Challenge

Pretty easy this time... create a common room at a local branch of the Boys And Girls Club that would have mass appeal for every child who would spend time there. Easy enough, you would think. If you're a parent, you could have done this task in your sleep. Well, I could. Anyone who's spent time with kids would know how to keep them occupied or engaged for long stretches of time. An even better parent could have done this task with out a TV or fancy electronic nonsense. (Ever see kids play for hours with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap? I rest my case.) I'll be the first to say this on line, both teams over complicated this task, and the reason for that is pretty simple... none of these people were parents. If any of the candidates are, they did a good job hiding it.

Two Bad Leaders - One Dreadful Loss

There can be no doubt in anyone's mind while watching that episode that in the end, Lenny was going to be fired, much like you saw in last weeks episode that Bryce was going to be taking the Cab ride to the secluded spot where fired contestants are held until after the show was over.

After they were given the tasks, "Gold Rush" met with the executives from "The Boys And Girls Club," making this 5 minutes of the most dreadful and gut wrenching of television this season. Besides watching people getting killed in nasty and grisly ways during the second part of Hallmark's "The Ten Commandments" on ABC the night after, seeing Lenny and Company languish on screen was pretty hard to stomach. Call a meeting, show up unprepared and with no good questions to ask, no engaging dialog... nothing. And there's Lenny, sitting at the table... not taking the task seriously. Can't even be bothered during this meeting, can't even seem to remain awake.

Right there, it would have been a slam-dunk for Synergy to take another win (is it just me, or did the team become unbeatable since Brent was fired?) That's not to say that Michael didn't give Lenny a run for his money in the contest to see who was the worst Project Manager. In the first episode where we actually get to see some action from Michael, he sets up the stage for Trump's weekly "Words Of Wisdom," - Be decisive - by being an example of what being decisive isn't...

Michael's performance was the exact opposite of what Trump was talking about, don't flounder, don't wait till the very last minute to make a decision. Michael just wasn't a leader this week, starting from the meeting and went in the absolute opposite direction of Lenny - asking too many questions and taking too long in the meeting (Or, to be honest, that's how it was edited.) Also shown in this episode, waiting until the last minute to choose what do with the room, waiting till the last minute to go to the hardware store and get everything that was needed, waiting till the last minute to actually get to work, which meant that they would be working through the night and into the morning before the presentation...

... Michael's team-mates were also laughing at him. In the side interviews, his team-mates voiced what a total disaster he was, and Sean made the point that the only way they could win would be if Gold Rush's effort was a disaster. Michael didn't have the respect of his team, and why should they? He's been flying under the radar since day one and it's not clear to me (an avid viewer) what he's ever done until this episode. What leadership skills did he display? Speaking of "Under The Radar," be sure to check out this pearl of wisdom by Donald Trump himself in his own "Blog" via Trump University.

"The Russian's" face on the side of a milk Carton during The Task

Anyone remember a few years ago when Missing Children were featured on the side of Milk Cartons? That's where Lenny belonged through out much of this task... most notably when he went missing while some of his team-mates were working on fixing up the room just before the presentation. I don't care what country you're from, I don't care what level of management you have, if there's a task that's coming down to the wire and there are a lot of things that need to get done... you get involved and show some character. There are times when leaders need to work just as hard as everyone else; sometimes even harder. In my experience, a bad leader is someone who takes things too leisurely while those under his or her authority are working over-time.

With Lenny disappearing for a long stretch during the task, it was even more obvious that they were going to lose the task. From there, and the horrible presentation... at any minute I though Lenny was going to take about spies and hunting for "Squirrel And Moose" (obscure Rocky And Bullwinkle "Boris" reference...)

Can we skip The Winners and go Right To The Boardroom?

There's no point in writing about how Michael's bacon was saved by the efforts of the rest of the team, and there's no point in blabbing on and on about how they won because "Gold Rush" did a worse job. Synergy didn't "knock it out of the park..." They were both should have been better, but one was a clear "Looser."

The real meat of this episode was before the boardroom, where the Gold Rush team went into Cybeq (Cover Your Back End Quickly) territory. Besides Lenny and Lee, the rest of the team were working on their strategy on how to set Lenny up for the kill in the boardroom - which wasn't going to be hard. Meanwhile, Lenny was making pasta for himself and Lee while Lee put some serious work into coming up with an outline into saving his friend.

Call me crazy, but that's the most work I've seen from Lee this season! And it seemed that he was more troubled with Lenny getting fired then Lenny himself. Lee had everything handwritten on several sheets of paper - I think he called it a cheat sheet... a battle plan for keeping his ally from getting fired. But Lee failed to notice from what we were shown, that at this point Lenny didn't care. He wasn't taking the threat of getting fired seriously.

And that was the pattern we saw all season, wasn't it? Lenny never took anything seriously enough. To him it was all a game, maybe a joke to him. Lenny played everything for laughs, and went to the extreme of calling out other members of the team for taking the tasks too seriously. He never seemed to capture the essence or the concept of this competition - you're there to win and to prove to Donald Trump that you're good enough to be a member of his organization. Trump even said in the board room in "Chevy Tahoe" task, that they would have been better off making Lenny the comedian during the entertainment.

Because, with out looking at what I already wrote during the weeks passed, what did Lenny do? He came up with some cleaver (and maybe even funny) ideas once in a while. But it boils down to the same thing every time, did he ever take this competition seriously? Lenny's roll was always the one of "Comedian..."

Granted, Lenny had been egged on by “The Donald” many times before. When there were other members who were in the hot seat on his team, Trump would look to Lenny for a brief laugh…

Trump: “Lenny, what should I do with these people?”
Lenny: “I say fire them, fire them all!”

Yea… real funny. For a guy who has all the answers and can tell everyone how he could do things differently, he didn’t have any of the “right answers” when he became Project Manager. It’s not so funny now when it’s his turn, is it?

… Well, yea! It was. It was all a funny joke to Lenny when he wasn’t too busy pointing the finger to Carmine as if to blame her for the teams loss. When in doubt and in trouble, deflect blame and diminish your own failings. I guess that's something "The Russian" mastered here in the United States... in 14 years here he got that down pat, but still doesn't know what a jingle is. Or maybe "Deflect And Diminish" is universal. Who knows...

The only thing he took seriously this week was to deflect the blame onto someone who actually worked hard. Everyone worked hard under the poor leadership under Lenny, and Carmine was one of them. And like I wrote earlier, you can't fire someone who contributed and keep someone who didn't do earlier. I've also said that in most cases, if a team fails then the PM should almost always be fired.

Trump's patience were worn down by Lenny's antics... and you can't keep being the funny man when you keep losing. Keeping with what I wrote about Lenny last week... he's now free to be that funny Russian villain if he chooses to get out of business.

With that said, about Lee's loyalty to Lenny: this is the first time we really got to see him hard at work... that leads into our next episode...

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

TheApprentice5

Week 8 - 7-11: "Price Check On Sandwich Gimmick..."

Teaser

Those who don't watch Saturday Night Live wouldn't know about the commercial parody's they have early on in the show. There are these clever, well produced and made versions of well known ads you see on TV. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out that they aren't the real deal, they're that well made. After the first commercial break of this episode of The Apprentice, I thought that's what we were watching. I really did. I thought that somehow we were watching a self parody of "The Apprentice."

I thought the 7-11 product was a joke, I thought the challenge was a joke... (and I thought that they way Andrea managed the team was a joke.) Somewhere well into the first segment after the first commercial break I started to realize that this wasn't a joke... this wasn't Donald Trump calling in a favor from Lorne Michaels after Mr. Trump appeared on the show and made fun of himself. This was the real deal... and became increasingly funny for inappropriate reasons.

Boardroom Aftermath...

As with every episode, before the Show opener we see the last minutes of the board-room and then the aftermath in the suite. , As I wrote in the review of "Last Week's" episode (NBC aired both of them back to back on April 10th,) and as one of said, this is the first time we actually saw Lee acting like an adult or an executive. But that caused some strife with some of his members who were working on getting rid of Lenny. Carmine took the time to talk to him in his bedroom... which brings me to a point: If a lady is in the room and you're having a conversation with her, it's best not to remain lying down. It sends off weird vibes and sends the wrong messages. I digress...

Lee was crushed, and he felt like he lost an ally. But then, did he? Like I just wrote (after all, I'm doing these back-to-back...) Lenny didn't take much of anything seriously.

Meanwhile, Synergy had a meeting in the living room. They took Michael to task for not being enough of a leader in this task, pretty much covering what he did wrong in a minute or two which took me a paragraph or more. The members of his team agree with me (or I agree with them... after all this happened a few months ago just as we were watching the events of Season 4 unfold.) They're setting Michael up for the kill next time their team loses. Which isn't likely with the way things were going...

The Challenge

According to the weekly summery on Yahoo: "To create a customized promotional item campaign incorporating the 7-Eleven Indy racing team, then use that item to boost sales of the new P'EatZZa sandwich."

Pretty simple - High School Fast Food 101: Sell more product then the other team. The product was two slices of Pizza with lunch-stuff sandwiched between them called "The P'EatZZa." Couldn't be a simpler task. Don't know why... this product just seemed juvenile, is if it were made up by a 7 year old boy related to one of the marketing genius's. Don't ask me why, but the product just seemed to me to be a bit contrived.

After Trump invited a member of Synergy to join "Gold Rush," Michael jumped ship. After the bitterness and bad blood after their win made it inevitable, and maybe this is a flashback to the Chevy Tahoe challenge reward: Michael might have thought that the other sharks on his team may have smelt his blood in the tank and it was time to get out.

"People Say I'm A Dictator"

Remember Andrea saying that in "Week 7's" Challenge? When she was taking charge behind Michael's back, she was doing things on her own, and set the example for other team mates to do the same? "People say I'm a dictator" or something to that effect... well, they have a reason to say that now more then ever.

Fast forward to after Trump issues them the challenge and the two teams are in the their mee