"Week 1: Introductions Sam's Club/Goodyear"

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.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

...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.

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.

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.

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?

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…

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.

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…

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?”

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.

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.

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 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...

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...

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15

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.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

"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.

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 meeting rooms and devising a plan. The first time during this episode when I thought Synergy could lose was when Andrea, the PM for this task, started dictating to the team what they were going to do and she set herself apart from the group in an adversarial manner.

What's wrong with this picture? It's pretty easy. She's at one end of the table, the rest of her team is at the other end by the door. There's symbolism there, there's a real heavy handed message that her team sent to her, one of which I don't think other people got. That was just the beginning...

Her group came up with ideas, she shot them down. She came up with an idea that the group didn't think was a good idea, she laid down the law and said something to the effect: "Just so you know, we're going with hats."

Personally, for me... the hats were really a bad idea. I'm not just saying that because this is the "Fedora" Chronicles (I choose "Fedora" because it's become the symbol of Rugged individualism and adventure from a by-gone era. And in a way I'm trying to rekindle the style and substance of those decades...) but because that give-away wasn't about getting people to buy more of the product here.

There's a subtlety that I might be unable to convey: If you're trying to give people something for free in an effort to buy a product, that freebee should be something "more." Buy a "P'EatZZa," get a free fountain soda or a bag of chips. Buy A P'EatZZa and a can of soft-drink, get a free "Cool-zee" (Those foam cylinders you put the can's in to keep it cold...) Something to entice someone to buy something more to do with "Lunch." Because people like "more." A hat isn't really associated with consuming food. A hat, in my opinion, wouldn't get me to buy a sandwich. But throw in something else I can eat or drink with that sandwich... now we're talking.

I'm also aware that part of the challenge was to "incorporate the 7-Eleven Indy racing team," which the hats really didn't do. Both teams could and should have incorporated the 7-Eleven Indy racing team by putting the car and the driver on every sandwich label, every fountain drink cup... the "Cool-zee" everything. That's something I don't think Andrea understood. And in the end, I don't think the hats sold more product.

That takes me back to Andrea's leadership quality on this task: there wasn't any. She didn't lead, she dictated and demanded. There wasn't anything in her behavior that resembled a "good leader." There isn't anything Andrea did that would make me think that I would want to be lead by her, unless I was a vegetable that needed to be hand-held and spoon fed every waking minute. If you can't think for yourself and can't make a move with out checking in with the boss every time you do something short of going to the bathroom, then the Andrea we saw this episode it the boss for you. If you're a self starter, self motivator and creative; working with Andrea during this episode would have been torture.

There's nothing here that made me think that she valued the people who worked with her or those who work for her now. And that's a shame, because these are supposed to be some of the brightest young entrepreneurs in the country... and how this was edited, Andrea just dismissed their ideas. There's a reason why these people "The Best," they just didn't wake up one morning and inherit a trust fun from their parents and lounge at home all day. Andrea using these people as if they're only a few extra pair of hands was a disservice to herself and the team. And, this gets back to my original philosophy about this: If the team loses, 9 out of 10 times it's the project manager that should be fired. [If there's ever a show called "The Apprentice: Fedora Chronicles" you can bet that would happen.] You know who would be taking the Taxi to the secluded location where they keep the fired candidates until they finish filming the show if Synergy lost? Andrea.

Keeping in mind, that I haven't forgotten the scene in Episode 3 when we saw the aftermath of the previous board room, Andrea ran into the boardroom for a good cry after Brent was fired. Hard to believe this isn't the same woman. But this is just more of the same where we saw Andrea over-stepping her roll and take control and dominate over weaker candidates.

Leslie - The Anti-Andrea

While Andrea could make up her mind and disregard the suggestions of her group, Leslie went in the other direction. They worked together and really looked like they were having a great time again, but Leslie seemed to do just a bit of whining. I could be wrong, but I thought I saw just a bit of indecisiveness on Leslie's part and a "oh, I don't know what to do... where do we go from here... it hurts to be me" tone.

When they set the price of the product too high, the floor fell out from beneath them (as in "In Latin, 'Jehovah' starts with an 'I,'..." type of floor falling beneath them... if you're looking for a cinematic equivalent and an obscure reference to a fedora wearing action hero...) and that was the beginning of the end for them in this task. In hindsight, since that's where and why they failed, nothing else seemed to matter.

Lee goes above and beyond again in this task- this time instead of putting all of his talents to save one of his friends from a boardroom firing, he put that burst of energy into selling a thousand P'EatZZa to a local business. The deal fell through eventually, but Lee took a chance and could have brought home a win for his team. It was a chance worth taking. If more people tried to do what Lee did, instead of working a system that wasn't accomplishing anything, they would have all buried "Synergy."

Gold Rush also missed out on other opportunities, they just didn't seem to do enough on this task. The night before, when they could have been resting... members of the Synergy Team handed out flyers. Something they didn't have to do, and couldn't have hurt... but paid off in the end. What did "Gold Rush" do? They came up with "Trivia Questions..." something that just didn't do a thing to promote what they were doing. "Gold Rush" worked too hard taking up time for something that didn't add any value or had any benefit in the end.

Breakout Character of the Week - Two weeks in a row...

Just like last week, Sean again reveals himself to be a real human being and a real likable guy. Starting with his side interviews talking about what a failure of a Project Manager Michael was ("He's a Wanker!") to confessing his love for The United States when the team was flown down to Washington DC to be with New York Senator Chuck Schumer over breakfast at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel.

After breakfast, the group went and to see the White House... and Sean had some great things to say about being in this country from the perspective of an immigrant from England. I can't knock they guy anymore. Not that I have done much of that... besides for being too perfect. With that said, for now, I think this is going to be the guy we all hope wins.

Beyond that, there seems to be a great connection with-in the group... even with Andrea being a "dictator" on her team. This group has great... well... I hate to say it... they have great "Synergy." I would love to see what the team would look like if Roxanne or  Andrea went to "Gold Rush" and Sean, Allie and Tammy remained.

The Board Room

Like it's been during the past few weeks, the PM is "Called On The Carpet" by Mr. Trump and asked why the team failed. The PM won't take responsibility for the loss, and will instead try to blame a member of the team who was the one who either worked harder then the rest or was the only one who came up with an idea. (The exception was when Dan took Lee and Lenny into the boardroom after the Arby's task because he said those two did the least...)This time, "Gold Rush" lost because of Leslie's management mistakes and she tried to blame the loss on Lee who went beyond in trying to sell the sandwiches in bulk to a local business.

And again, I'll state this point: You can't or shouldn't fire the person on your team that tried the hardest, came up with the most creative ideas, or tried to break out of the mold the rest of the team poured themselves into. Lee was that candidate this time, moving beyond the "politician" or "lawyer" roll he cast himself as since the "Norwegian Cruise" task. Can't blame Lee for this loss because this time he took a risk and went beyond trying to make a sale that would have garneted a win... while the other members were just cogs in the machine.

Leslie's leadership simply wasn't there, but neither was the rest of the team who seemed to just go with the flow. Leslie tried to put the blame on someone else when it was the price of the "P'EatZZa" and the wrong promotion schemes that caused this team to fail. I felt bad since she was fired on her birthday, but I couldn't feel bad for her who got fired when she wasn't suited for working in the Trump Organization.

Now... About Bill Rancic.

I think Bill's been getting some unfair harsh criticism by some of the posters on the Yahoo groups and various websites because he's a bit too much of a nice guy and just seems to go with what ever Donald says. Perfect example is when someone is fired, and the camera cuts back to the board room for Trump and company's reactions. Bill is always quick with an affirmation for Mr. Trump: "That was a no brainier," or "You made the right decision." I'm not there and I'm only able to judge by what I'm showed by the show's producers and editors, but there are a few times when I think Mr. Trump is wrong in who he fires. (Perfect example: Bryce was kept on a week or two too long.) When I don't agree with who's fired, and Bill hands out a "thumbs up" it just makes it a little worse for some folks.

Maybe these folks who criticize Bill had a point. But in the last few episodes, we've seen Bill start to come out of his shell a little more... asking people tough questions during the task and then going after them and asking hard questions in the board room. Bill has been giving the viewers like me what we've been waiting for: grit. He's also giving us a bit more of what he should be delivering - playing the "Bad Cop" to Donald's "Good Cop" or vice-versa.

It's totally different when Carolyn or George ask "why didn't you this..." or "why didn't you do that..." When either of those two ask, it's possible for the person under fire to come up with a plausible excuse. What do they know, anyway? They weren't there, they were participating... they're just observers. They don't know what it's like to be in "The Fishbowl" and under pressure like that with the camera's rolling.

But when Bill asks "why didn't you this..." or "why haven't you done that..." it smacks a little harder. Those questions have a bit more authority behind them when they come from Bill. Bill's the "Monday Morning Quarterback" who was actually once a "quarter back" and actually played the game under the watchful eye of the camera and sound crew.

My advice to the producers of the show and The Trump Organization? Have more of Bill Rancic and let him be more of the guy we knew when he was a contestant during the first season. Granted, I watch the show for Trump and how he dispatches people in the end, but Bill does a better job at getting to the bottom of what went wrong in the end because he has a greater insight. There's no greater expert on "The Apprentice" then Bill Rancic, not even the shows creator or producers know the show as intimately as he does. Granted, people like Mark Barnett and Donald Trump created the venue for Mr. Rancic to shine and succeed. But in the end, Bill broke new territory and did what nobody else had done before by being the first winner of this contest and has grown beyond being just that guy who won the first season.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 9 – Ameriquest/Ellis Island – The lyin’, The Witch and The Boardroom - The Descent of Andrea

For folks who missed it, (and most of you who did) CNBC had a “Clip Show” on Sunday Night at 11PM EST. It was a look back at the past 8 episodes, signaling the halfway point of this season’s show. That Clip show proved to me a few sure things…

First: Brent was a bigger disaster and idiot then I previously thought.

Second: The weekly shows could be an hour and a half long and it would still be entertaining.

Third: Often there’s more relevant “drama” that occurs between tasks and often illustrates why the team’s dynamics fail or succeed and how the “Gold Rush” and “Synergy” become unified during the Off Hours.

There wasn’t a time while watching this clip show that I thought: “Gee, you know what… I was wrong when I wrote the rant for that episode.” That snapping sound you hear isn’t me breaking my arm to pat myself on the back, it’s me clapping for the editors who are able to distill what happens into hourly episodes and make it accurate to what really happens. (Granted, those people who edited the episode so far are the same people who edited this episode and could have continued with their goal to show us what they wanted us to see…)

Teaser

From the Teaser for this episode that was shown a the end of last “week’s” episode, we knew that this could be the end of “Syngery’s” 4 week long winning streak and that it could be the end for Tammy and Allie. It was a hook that worked, I was anxious to see this episode although the preview was misleading and wrong. What was amazing in this episode is how those two recovered that and other issues they faced after they missed the ferry from Ellis Island back to the city… Missing The Boat was just the first in a long line of problems.

The Task

Another straightforward task: Create a brochure for The Statue Of Liberty and Ellis Island, those who make the most money will win.

Also, the winners usually have the fewest setbacks as the Project Manager utilizes everyone’s individual skills and assets. That’s huge… something I’ll be getting back too later.

Lee knew that he was now wearing the target that first belonged to Tarek and that this was his time to really show his leadership skills. He did what every other successful PM has done in the past; called for a meeting and asked people their thoughts and what roll did want to take. After his teammates received their assignments, Lee again did what every other good project manager has done in the past: set them loose to do their jobs with out micromanaging.

Meanwhile, “Synergy” had a whole host of problems, mostly from Andrea. Those who have been reading this so far already know what I think of her. I’ve been blunt in the past, and will continue to do so now: She’s been over-rated, controlling and domineering. She’s been past “Assertive,” overstepping her authority when other people have been The Project Managers and over-ruling other people’s ideas when she was in charge. After 8 tasks – and her attitude is the same win or lose and alienating everyone along the way, her teammates patience have been finally worn down.

It’s like Lenny making jokes and from my point of view his way of not taking things seriously – Andrea’s behavior only works as long as you’re winning. If you’re successful and winning, you can be a little quirky. When you're the loser... any behavior that

I have two theories on Andrea and why she annoyed the rest of her teammates; it’s either because of her arrogance and she honestly believed she’s smarter and more talented then the rest of the people on her team – or she’s simply not as talented as everyone (including Trump) was led to believe. There’s a possibility that this is true.

Getting to her behavior towards the end of her involvement of this task also reflects what I’ve observed before and echoes what I’ve said earlier… she just doesn’t come off to me as being a very successful and happy person. There just didn’t seem to be any joy in what she did, and no sense of camaraderie between her and the rest of her teammates.

That leads to what happened in the suite between Tammy, Roxanne and Allie who were lounging in one of the bedrooms with Sean as they were discussing what was going to happen in the board room…

“There will be Blood on The Walls In The Boardroom… There will be Blood on The Walls In The Boardroom…”

Maybe it’s just their exhaustion, or maybe they didn’t care… or that they really aren’t that bright; but discussing what to do about Andrea and how to have a unified front against her in the Board Room with in ear-shot of her was maybe a bad idea or rude. And it was also just bad strategy – letting someone know you’re going to go after them before you actually do it just gives the person you're going after time to prepare a counter or preemptive strike.

I have to hand it to Sean, not because he’s looking more like the front-runner on this team but because he’s a class act and doesn’t try too hard to go with the group mentality. As he was talking to Andrea, he was painfully blunt that he was torn in two directions. While he was making his “I’m Conflicted” point with Andrea, the other ladies continued to talk in the other room…

The Board Room…

Once there, and the rhythm of the board room began with Trump asking the Project Leader (Allie) “What happened, Why did you lose?” Right from there it was the beginning of the end for Andrea. There was a unified front against her by the three other women and Sean not really taking sides. Sean and I share the same philosophy – if a team loses then it should usually fall on the Project Manager unless there was another member who performed very badly.

The three women did a great job dredging the past for examples of how Andrea wasn’t any good for the team and how many times they almost didn’t win because of her. They also did a great job revisiting how she ignored good ideas by her other team mates and how they only one because Gold Rush had been doing so badly. Allie, Roxanne and Tammy did a phenomenal job turning Mr. Trump’s opinion about Andrea around. (If I were an Andrea fan, it would be too easy to throw a Macbeth analogy ‘By the pricking of My Thumb, Something wicked this way comes…’ – and it would be too easy for me to use an analogy to Andrea and the Ice/White witch from Narnia…)

Room For Romance?

That leaves Sean in a very strange position. He had been close and cozy with both Allie and Tammy, and there was some question if there was something more going on with him and one of the two women. With Sean not sticking up for Allie, there’s sure to be some hurt feelings and confusion.

Maybe we’re covering some unknown territory with “The Apprentice,” a ‘Love Triangle’ that belongs more on NBC Day-Time on a show such as “Days Of Our Lives’ and not in a Reality TV show about the corporate world. It’s possible that you could find True Love while at work, but this is an awkward position since this is a competition where in the end there can be only one winner. What if Sean and the woman he’s emotionally involved with, either Tammy or Allie, were the Final Two and had to compete against each other?

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 10 “Hair Cutlery” / Charmaine’s Bad Hair Day – Tarek’s One Too Many Close Shaves.

Teaser –

In what has to be the sleepiest of all episodes, “Team Gold Rush” is beaten badly; Not just by the superior effort by Synergy but by their own Project Manager’s inability to take this project seriously. This episode is the perfect cure for Insomnia until – as usual – The Board Room.

Show Recap

Every show this season starts with a recap of last week’s boardroom, condensed to a few minutes and then shows the aftermath upstairs in the suite. This week was no different, there was a palatable tension in the air since Allie felt betrayed by Sean, who was in a tough position because on at unemotional/intellectual level he couldn’t say Andrea was completely at fault for the loss. Again, it’s almost always the project manager who’s responsible for the loss unless there’s a member that’s a total drain like Marcus or Clay from last season or Brent from earlier this one. Andrea wasn’t THAT bad, but she really didn’t contribute much besides endless criticism.

If you’ve read my post from last week and those before, then you know how I feel about Andrea and my inability to cheer for her because of the lack of joy in anything she did. She was also difficult to get along with and her behavior was a strange mix between Brent and Terak’s. Confrontational, cornering people in a quasi-threatening way while trying to be the defacto Project Manager at every task which sometimes contributed to a net loss rather then a net gain.

Did his “integrity” harm the team’s cohesion? Sean knew he became the scapegoat if the team fails. What does that say about the other members of his team, though? Do you really want to be working with a guy who chooses what’s easy over what’s right?

The Challenge

As part of introducing the “Hair Cutlery” challenge, Mr. Trump met with the remaining contestants and talked about the ribbing he gets about his own hair and if it’s real or a toupee. Donald asked for a volunteer to inspect his locks and prove “Once And For All” that it’s his own hair. After Charmaine looked at his hair line and laughed: “It’s Real!” they went to the business at hand. That moment had nothing to do with the actual challenge, but just another example of how Donald Trump uses this show to prove to the rest of the world (if only the viewers) that he’s a real human being during what is essentially an hour long info-mercial about him and the company’s his friends and associates run.

This task was much of the same as before: Who ever earns the most money, wins. This time it was for the new stores in Hair Cutlery chain of salons. With two new stores in the franchise opening on the same day, each team had the task to generate excitement and sales in the stores that were assigned to them. Bill and Carolyn were Trump’s “Eyes And Ears.”

Project managers Charmaine for Gold Rush – Tammy for Synergy. Tammy did what she could to bring the team back together, noting that there was still some tension between Sean and Allie. For Charmaine as Project Manager of “Gold Rush,” it was chaos from the minute they arrived at their store. It was pretty clear which team was going to lose, it was just a matter of which member of the team was going to be fired. And… knowing my philosophy you should know that I was counting on The Project Manager Charmaine to get fired. Tarek was sharing with Charmaine the target Trump had on his back … I’m not sure she knew it yet.

During “Gold Rush’s” first “Marketing” meeting (Marketing is in quotations simply because they didn’t market… they wasted their time on that concept.) More chaos and indecisiveness follows: Terek asks, “What’s the Theme?” Charmanine says there was no Theme besides “Grand Opening” There’s argument about there being no theme – last minute they agree on a “Making You Feel Good” theme. From there, they did nothing: Gold Rush wasted time the night before getting the bottles on the shelf just right with out much or any focus on flyers, banners or spreading the word.

Meanwhile, Team Synergy did what every winning team does: successfully cram as much work into the time they had. Despite the back-stabbing talk between Allie and Roxanne about Sean, Tammy was able to put everyone to work on appropriate tasks. While Allie and Roxanne gossiped, Tammy and Sean hit the streets telling people about their store’s Grand Opening.

Synergy took time to eat after all the hard work they did so far that night, Allie and Roxanne talking over dinner – “Tammy Doesn’t want to date Sean.” While Sean and Tammy are having a “High School” like date eating Pizza while spreading the word the night before.

Personally… there’s some serious sour grapes with Allie, I’m sure – now all of Sean’s attention is focused on Tammy. Tammy hit it right when she said that having Pizza with Sean felt like they were in High School – that’s what it felt like to me. I was wondering if there was a chance Synergy was going to actually lose in the boardroom we would see Sean and Tammy passing notes scribble out of spiral notebook while Mr. Trump was diagramming the sentence “You’re Fired” on the black board.

I forget… is this “The Apprentice,” “The OC” or “Degrassi High?”

The next day the differences between the two teams were Black and White – as different as Negative and Positive. Synergy’s hard work the night before and excellent time-management through out the task paid off – their store was busy with business moving at a great clip. Allie was selling bottles of hair product to the customers who were either waiting for a hair-cut or just got done. That alone might have doubled or tripled their sales. While Allie was hustling hair products, the other team mates worked the sidewalks and parking lot.

The worst possible scenario was being played out at Gold Rush’s store – which brings me to a point. There is nothing more boring for a man then a hair salon, it’s enough to put a man to sleep. It’s the combination of the atmosphere, the smell and the quietness that’s enough to bore a man into a coma. Any man who’s had to wait for his wife or girlfriend knows that this is the perfect place to take a nap if possible… this might explain why this challenge tanked for “Gold Rush” and “Synergy” soared: “Gold Rush” had three men and one woman and Synergy had three women and one man. Did gender have any issue with this challenge? I could debate that issue in a separate rant…

Which leads me to why Carmine ultimately failed: Nothing happened. Nothing positive happened for her and her team. They weren’t proactive – they weren't reactive. What did Tarek and Lee do on this task? They worked hard – not smart - by “spamming” the parking lots in the surrounding parking lots with flyers. There was no word of mouth, no interaction with potential customers.

To paraphrase the conversation between the two as they drove around from parking lot to parking lot…

Tarek: “What are you going to wear to the Boardroom?”
Lee: “I think I’m going to wear a black suit, you?”
Tarek: “I’m going to wear my black suit, too. Maybe with a blue shirt.”

At this point, they knew they were doomed and publicly acknowledged it. The turning point may have been when they were spending more time on doing nonsense busy work when they had been asked to do when they should have focused more on ways to bring warm bodies through their doors the next day – but from what the producers of this episode showed us… this is the point where these two voiced their resentment and resignation to the inevitable failure of this task.

But the worst thing that happened was will Bill Rancic who was filling in for George arrived at the Gold Rush store to check on their progress – and the only progress he saw was when Charmaine was getting her hair done. It’s the metaphoric Captain of The Titanic re-arranging deck chairs and sending song requests to the band as the ship sank. Nothing could help her recover from this blunder – having Mr. Rancic show up to an empty store with the Project Manager being attended to.

This loss reminded me of “Team Excel’s” loss during last season’s Sixth Episode. (Yahoo and NBC Recaps...) The task was to set up events in the Dick's Sporting Goods store that would bring in customers – the team who increased sales for their particular store would win.

What happened next went down in the journals of Reality TV lore – Team Excel did such a bad job with their baseball diamond that took up almost all of the stores available floor space that sales actually went DOWN. The pitching and hitting clinic took too much time and potential customers and not enough focus was on the team actually selling. In the Final Boardroom, Mr. Trump fired the four team members responsible for the loss.

Boardroom melt-down

When both teams were called back into the boardroom and the results were in – Gold Rush was buried by Synergy. Trump dismissed the two teams: Synergy to enjoy an afternoon or evening of song writing with Burt Bacharach and more in fighting between Allie and Sean and Gold Rush back to the suite to wait to be called back so he could fire someone.

Back at the suite, Lee played politician and tried to measure which way the wind was blowing and gage who he should rally behind and who should he rally against then nominate to get fired. His attempt at trying to find his direction and who to blame never ended, he continued to do so right up the very end of the boardroom.

Everything that I had said about these Charmaine was laid out in this board room, Charmaine noted “Tarek never relinquished roll of Project Manager.” That’s something I’ve observed since the beginning. Tarek’s obvious strategy  was to make himself the defacto-Project Manager and thus making himself invaluable and the obvious choice to be The Next Apprentice. That only works if his team was successful and he was actually good at being a good leader in this contest.

Tarek: “Charmaine wants all of us to just love each other.”
Trump: [laughter] “You’re a fool not to have taken advantage that… You’re not a genus.” [Call me crazy, but I thought I heard some sexual innuendo there…]

Tarek and Charmaine then went after each other simultaneously – arguing and yelling at each other at the same time as if forgetting that they weren’t alone in that room. Trump let it go on for a few minute, letting the two of them demonstrate for himself first hand what we’ve already known since the first episode this season- there’s some strange tension between these two that’s either unresolved love or unreciprocated lust on both their parts (they seem to spend a bit too much time trying to prove they dislike each other a bit too much… don’t they?)

They also proved that they haven’t learned the lessons I’ve pointed out here on this rant the weeks before: There’s a time to speak and be noticed and there is a time to fly under the radar and keep quite. I half expect in a future episode when Mr. Trump would say something to a quiet candidate: “You haven’t said much this boardroom,” and the candidate would reply: “I’ve learned along the way, Mr. Trump, that if I have something to say, it better be something important enough that would cause all eyes and ears to be directed my way and that would keep me from being fired, sir.” That’s essentially the major lesson to be learned episode after episode – speak only when you have something to say and will only bring the right kind of attention to you and not make you Yellow Cab’s next customer.

… “I would like another chance,” Terak said as he knew he was being set up for the kill. It didn’t do any good since Mr. Trumps mind was already made up. Tarek heard the inevitable words “… You’re Fired.” And the rest of the team were sent back upstairs.

In fact, the opposite was true: Silence. Neither of the two said anything, giving us a rare opportunity to hear the usual jazz music in the background. The music is actually pretty darn good, to be blunt it’s far better then the delusional ramblings of the fired contestants milking their last few minutes of national television.

Thoughts on The Final 6

Next week, it’s a safe bet that we’re going to see another shuffle in teams since “Gold Rush” has 2 members and “Synergy” has 4.

Allie: Of all the people on Team Synergy – She’s the one that stands the best chance or threat of being fired next week at this time. Simply because she might not get over being jilted by Sean in her imagination. Jealously doesn’t complement the rest of Allie’s behavior and might cause her to take a cab ride away from Trump Tower in the week to come. Watch her jump ship and head over to Gold Rush with the remaining two team-members.

Lee: He’s inherited the target on his back that used to belong to Tarek. Trump likes to play favorites: Who he wants to win and can do no wrong – and the one he wants to fire and can do nothing right. That person could be Lee. Lee also needs to stop playing the fence. The week before he had an incredible win and should have carried some of that momentum forward. I would have been surprising to see Lee play the maverick during this task and say “Screw This… I’m not stacking bottles, I’m going to hustle on the street and get some people in here.” Part of me thinks that Lee is incapable of taking initiative on his own with out being Project Manager, but if he’s going to survive towards the end he’s going to have to take some ambitious moves by himself.

Michael: Who’s this again? I think I remember seeing him in a few frames in some of the segments and I’m having a real hard time remembering what he did in this episode besides clinging to Charmaine while she was sorting bottles at the hair salon. I can’t even remember if he was in the board room. What did he do again? Flying under the radar worked very well for Kendra Todd in the third season… but I don’t think that’s going to work for Michael. Trump could easily fire him for simply not being involved and engaged during this interview process.

Sean: Not sure if he’s capable of winning this competition anymore, with his alliance with Allie, Roxanne and maybe even with Tammy weakened to the point of breaking and maybe those three being out to get him. He’s still smart and charming, but if his attraction with Tammy gets in the way of his performance, he might not be able to last another two weeks. While he’s still the strongest player out of the whole group, he’s just not the stand-out player he was a few weeks ago.

Roxanne – How much of what she says about Sean is just parroting Allie? And how has she moved ahead after this week’s episode?

Tammy – I have a hard time believing that I’ve spent so much time writing about this stupid love triangle between her, Sean and Allie. I don’t cover soap opera’s on The Fedora Chronicles, and I wouldn’t let anyone else either. She’s pretty strong right now after this last win, and I think she could edge out Sean as being the favorite candidate to win. The only exception I could make is if her relationship with Sean becomes intimate and physical there at the suite… Is that even a possibility?

It's after Week 10 - and I still don't see any strong front runners or obvious champions here, even counting Sean. Is that a good thing since we're left guessing week after week? I don't know... I would like to have one person stand-out and obviously deserve to win. If anything, if all of these contestants prove to be too lame to work for Trump... it would be a surprise and a shocker to see him fire the last two contestants during the finale.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 11 - Rutgers University/ Outback Steakhouse/ “Where’s Waldo” Is Sacrificed To Trump The Fire God.

Teaser –

One of the most amazing turn-around in recent memory, Synergy pulls a win out of thin-air and hard work while Gold Rush puts on more of a spectacle…

The Chronicles Connection.

I just got back from a week long vacation yesterday. From Tuesday of last week (May 4th) to Tuesday of this week (May 11th) I’ve had little involvement with what’s going on my own website. I needed some time off to “recharge” my batteries and get a new focus on what it is that I want to do with this website, the products I want to promote and review and make some effect in turning pop culture around in a new direction.

While I was gone I got a few great ideas on what I want to do with new projects and new perspectives on what I’ve been doing. I have some Jazz CD’s from up and coming artists to review and Humphrey Bogart’s “Dark Passage” that somehow managed to pull a "Michael," - sipped under my radar and I’ve never seen before. I have a lot of energy and new found ambition for this site and my other Internet ventures. Last thing I want to do is divert my attention in what’s become little more then a sick high school drama.

Board Room Retributions.

When Donald Trump has to recap what’s happened two episodes ago and how what happened then effects this week’s episode; it doesn’t bode well for the viewers. I’m half expecting the theme of “Days Of Our Lives” or “General Hospital” to be playing in the back ground.

For those who don’t yet, few episodes Sean didn’t team up with his girlfriends Tammy, Allie and Roxanne, instead he half-sided with the Ice-Queen Andrea after they failed the Ellis Island Brochure task. Again, was Andrea the reason why the team failed? It’s debatable because of her negative energy, constantly trying to take charge of every task and finally not coming forward earlier and saying that she’s an expert on mass-marketing and sales. She didn’t bother to say anything until the task only had an hour more to go.

And in the boardroom – what did Sean do… he said that Andrea wasn’t the only reason why the team failed and some responsibility falls on The Project manager. Come on, now… what’s he supposed to do, lie and say that all the responsibility falls on someone else other then the PM? Allie was absent during apart of this task because she went back with Tammy to get the notebook she left behind and the two of them missed the boat that left Ellis Island which left Andrea in charge of the Brochure. How is that Andrea's fault?

Which brings me to this week’s disaster – how did Sean’s behavior two episodes effect the group now? Allie can’t get over it. It’s two tasks later and Allie is under the belief that somehow Sean betrayed the team in general and her specifically. Oh, the horror of being Allie and attracted to someone such as Sean… someone who actually tells something that closely resembles the truth and restates facts rather then go along with The Group Think…

… I haven’t looked back yet at what I’ve already written so far on this season of “The Apprentice,” but I'm pretty sure I already asked this: didn’t we all graduate from holding on to make-believe grudges because someone else betrays us in some insignificant way or don’t live up to our fantasizes? Anyone over the age of 25 years old has moved past this nonsense... But I have pictures burned into my mind of Allie alone in her pink room on her lace canopy bed with a spiral notebook filled with pages of “Sean And Allie – FOREVER” written over and over again… and she’s ripping the pages with tears streaming out of her eyes as Shawn Cassidy’s or Andy Gibb’s songs are blaring out of the stereo.

Can we get over this already? Apparently not… since Roxanne and Allie (neither of whom were romantically or physically involved with Sean) are trying to convince Tammy (who might want to exchange letter-sweaters and class rings with Sean) during what can only be described as a teen age sleep party rag-fest and adolescent gossip session later that night.

While the girls are playing “Slumber Party” in the next room and ragging on Sean, Sean’s in the next room trying to catch some sleep. He can’t because of all the noisy trash talking about him coming from the next room. Can we move on from all this? Can Synergy re-unite and get back to what they’re best at – crushing “Gold Rush?” Is there any possibility that we can graduate (again) from this adolescent “who likes who – who hates who” nonsense and get back to some corporate competition?

If you saw the promotions for this episode… the answer is simply: “no…” Because we go from “High School” adolescent behavior to drunken College student behavior... Which isn’t even a slight improvement.

The Challenge

Skip ahead of the melodramatic entrance by Trump in his helicopter at Rutgers Stadium as the College band played. Skip Trump gawking at the Cheerleaders, and skip past where Trump invites “Synergy” to pick someone on their team to join Gold Rush. Sean volunteered to go to "Gold Rush" (you would to if all your teammates were trash talking about you the night before…) and give a brief and sad good-bye to Tammy before joining the losers – Lee and “Where’s Waldo” Michael.

The Task – host a tail-gate party at the upcoming home-coming game… at this point, I could almost hear Davy Jones from the Monkey's singing ...

Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings
Of the bluebird as she sings.
The six o'clock alarm would never ring.
But it rings and I rise,
Wipe the sleep out of my eyes.
My shavin' razor's cold and it stings.Cheer up, Sleepy Sean.
Oh, what can it mean.
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming king...

No, that really didn't happen - that was just my imagination drunk with the intoxicating romantic melodrama here on “As The Trump Tower Turns...”

After that, Trump gave the two teams the task – “Each team was to work with Outback Steakhouse on a tailgate party. Each team would have a different parking lot to sell Outback food at the next day's Navy game versus Rutgers. The team that made the most money would win the task.” (As summarized by the NBC website.)

Work Smart – Not Hard… and don’t play while you’re at work.

There are two lessons to learn from The Apprentice – first is when to talk and when to keep quiet in the boardroom. The second has a subtly that maybe a more articulate man can describe – who ever gets the most work done successfully during the shortest amount of time usually wins.

Who ever gets the most work done during the task wins, but it also depends on what kind of work it is. During the “Hair Cutlery” task last week, Charmaine had the members of her team busy on things that had nothing to do with people coming in through the doors of store that her team was assigned. That's why they failed - doing busy work that had nothing to do with winning the task...

This week, Lee was the project manager and was in charge of the event. What exactly was the event in Lee’s eyes? Make this one huge party. His goal was to throw the biggest fraternity party on the dime of Outback Steakhouse on the grounds of Rutgers University... not selling the most.

Lee and his team (consisting of Sean and the hardly-there hardly awake Michael) canvassed the Pep-rally that took place the day before the Home Coming Game. They had flyers, the were able to get an announcement through the DJ’s sound-system that were being used during the rally… anything that needed to get done to get the word out about their event got done. They did more then “Synergy” did...

Also, “Gold Rush” got an exclusive from the Cheerleaders – who were only supposed to show up at their event. Later, Allie went to talk to the captain of the Cheerleading squad to see if she can break that exclusive deal. And again… we’re back in High School talking about what’s fair and getting into some serious adolescent behavior. Allie bonded and felt a real spiritual connection with the Cheerleading coach... It was as if they were long lost sisters who finally reconnected after being separated when they were very young. (Yawn...)

Allie's attempt at "stealing" some of the cheerleaders almost worked. Later the Cheerleading coach went to talk to someone from “Gold Rush.” Sadly… that turned out to be “Where’s Waldo” Michael. After some floundering from Michael who tried to give in and let Synergy have some of the cheerleaders in “good faith,” he spoke via the wireless his PM Lee and Sean (the Brit with the back bone,) and said “no way” with a grimace on their faces that I’m sure could be heard via the cell phone.

And then… Michael’s fate was sealed. No matter what happened if they lost – that’s what would be brought up in the boardroom. And as I’ve spoiled already… they did lose. And they lost badly.

And why did they lose? This was a selling event. Those who sell the most “Outback Steakhouse” products at this Homecoming game would win… Remember?

… And while “Gold Rush” was having eating games (giving away some of the food they were supposed to be selling,) and having a Money Booth, Cheerleaders who were doing a routine that separated the crowd of potential customers and the food that was on sale, The Synergy girls (Girl Power!) were running around with food they delivered to their customers. Yes – Synergy didn’t have much of an event… but they were selling product like crazy. The girls couldn’t keep still; they had no time to rest.

On Synergy's side - There was no spectacle. There weren’t any contests, there weren’t any games… there was selling. And did I mention that this was a “selling event?” The goal was to have the most money in the till – not to see who can create the biggest party and throw product away.

In the end – Synergy made $2,750 while Gold Rush pulled $1,750 – losing the task obviously by a grand.

The Board Room

By now we’re used to seeing Synergy bonding during their rewards – with rare exceptions. And we’re also used to seeing Gold Rush try to figure out how they’re going to throw the weakest member under the bus or set them up for Trump to fire.

Who’s the Sacrificial lamb this week to be slaughtered at the Altar of Trump? Maybe the Fire God will have been satisfied last week with the firing of both Mensa Tarek and Charmaine! Alas… no. Because The Fire God once had 4 sacrifices in one week last season and his appetite for candidate blood still needed to be satisfied the next week. It’s not the quality or the quantity of the sacrifice – it’s the consistency and the schedule. Someone must always be sacrificed to Trump The Fire God after each task.

Once in the boardroom – it’s pretty easy to figure out who Trump wanted to fire – The Project Manager or “Where’s Waldo.” From there, “Sean The Brit With The Back Bone” was either helping Trump to put out Lee who was on fire by handing him gallons of gas; or help Michael the man drowning by fetching Trump glasses of water.

Trump exercised his flogging technique on Lee, with help from his “eyes and ears” George and Carolyn. The two set Lee up for the shot, and Trump took it. Just hammering Lee about how the focus was placed too much on the “event” and not enough on the sales… with some focus on "Where’s Waldo" wanting to give away some of their advantage or not doing enough to sell...

But after Trump dismissed the losers and had his quick “con-fab” with George and Carolyn and invited the Losers back in… Carolyn went for “Where’s Waldo’s” throat. Carolyn did the heavy lifting for Trump, verbally “abusing” him for trying to give away some of his team’s advantage to Synergy.

The more Carolyn talked, the worse “Where’s Waldo” looked. No matter how hard he tried to speak, Carolyn knocked him down and made it impossible for him to get a word in. The more this went on, the angrier Trump became.

Giving away the advantage just to be “fair” really seemed to anger Donald Trump… “Where’s Waldo” should have been happy there were no sharp knives, blunt instruments or firearms in the Board Room. It’s rare that Trump gets very angry… you can tell he really enjoys this aspect of his life… doing the show a few hours a day when they’re filming the show as a means of taking a break from running his Empire. He’s also able to show his human side. And this time that human side showed the “angry” facet.

“Where’s Waldo” Michael was finally fired – no longer able to fly under the radar since all the other moving targets had been eliminated. You also knew that there was no way Lee was going to be fired before Michael was… Lee seems to “Step Up” and has done more to make himself more visible and a more viable candidate then Michael ever has. Granted… Lee made a desperate move when Trump told everyone to leave for a minute before “The Final Boardroom” which might have saved him or made him look worse.

"Where's Waldo" took the cab ride home and indulged in some self-delusion... while Lee took the elevator ride up knowing full well that the next task is most likely his last... as Sean was probably wondering if Tammy was making his Martini shaken and not stirred before calling his agent to see if Daniel Craig had been fired yet from filming "Casino Royale..."

Final Thoughts

This Season of "The Apprentice" is coming to the final stretch – with the Final Four to be determined after next week’s episode. This is where this usually get really intense and really good… since the viewers get to know the candidates.

As I alluded to in the beginning of this rant… I have a lot more to do for The Fedora Chronicles – and I started writing this rant on this season because I thought that this would be a good way to demonstrate how Traditional Values either still exist to day or they don’t.

… This season I enjoy ragging on the candidates more then I like to see anyone win. After 11 episodes, I don’t have a front runner or two like I did the seasons before. I’m not pulling for anyone this season like I did with Randal and Rebecca a few months ago.

I was a bit crushed when Season 4 Of The Apprentice ended. I was even a bit cheesed off that Martha’s Apprentice was over, even though it should have been better. (Don’t lie… you wanted to see Martha be as brutal and bitchy as I did. She didn’t live up to the Reputation.) I don't know if I'll feel the same when this is over.

There’s a point where I can’t be bothered with this hybrid of “The Apprentice” and “Disney Channel’s High School Musical.” I don’t want to turn off the few loyal readers of this rant. I’m not going to leave you hanging… I committed to doing this and I’ll see it through to the end. But to be honest – I really hope Trump says “You’re Both Fired” at the end of this season’s Finale… who ever “The Final Two” are. I'm no longer watching this to see who the winner is... but rather just to see everyone get fired in the end...

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 12 – Microsoft Xbox360/Wal-Mart/DreamWorks “Over The Hedge.”

Teaser

As the show cranks up the tension and adrenaline with The Final 5 candidates: Gold Rush proves the old adage that it’s best to trust the Devil you know with the Devil you don’t (Go with what you know…) but still manages to pull out a win in this hour long ad for the Xbox360.

The Chronicles Connection

I love some aspects of technology. I love how I can go on line, order a DVD from Amazon and have a vintage classic show up at my door with in a couple of days. I also love how I can have a small dish on the roof of my house and get 400 channels of Television Programming and Music for less then $40 a month. (Where would I be with out Turner Classic movies or XM’s “Jazz” or “Music From The ‘40’s” stations?) I also appreciate to a larger extent that with the advent of the Internet I’ve been able to meet fellow vintage aficionados and retro-centrics from all over the globe – from Boston, Chicago and Hong Kong – from states North Carolina and California, From North America, Europe, Asia and the Philippines… I’ve met some incredible people and done some incredible things with them.

The Fedora Chronicles simply wouldn’t exist with out The Internet and computers, and the irony does strike me as there would have been no need of this website if that technology didn’t exist. I’m taking advantage of certain aspects of what I rail against, when I’m not pounding away at other aspects of our declining society. I appreciate what we have and our capabilities to do amazing things. But like I’ve asked before, what amazing things are we doing besides entertaining ourselves and consuming products from other parts of the world we wouldn’t have known existed? These are good things in moderation, obviously, but have we gone too far in some aspects?

So for me, this episode was a bit strange, promoting a product that can easily render games like "Metal Of Honor” and “Brothers In Arms,” and even the upcoming “Indiana Jones” video games – hardware and software in the 21st century used to recreate images and action from the 1930’s and 1940’s. The system also seems to me to be a bit frivolous: It’s just a high price entertainment system – as far I know you can play music and fiddle with pictures when you’re not playing games… but can you write articles or send e-mail with it? I can’t begrudge someone who would want one of these things, I’m sure that in the years to come I’ll have to answer to either one of my boys who will tell me that’s the thing they “must have.” I’m sure they’re great to have, as long as there’s an off-switch and time’s taken to experience real life digital free for a few hours a week.

Board Room Aftermath…

As with every week when the previous week’s episode dove tails into the next, we saw a recap of “Where’s Waldo” Michael being sacrificed to Trump The Fire God. We also saw the anticipation and speculation from what remains of Team Synergy – Allie, Roxanne and Tammy wondered who got fired.

Allie brought up a great point, what if Trump fired them all? Since “Gold Rush” did such a horrible job – couldn’t or wouldn’t Trump fire them all? Sure he could have, as he did last season when he fired the two remaining team members last fall and Randal and Rebecca were instantly “The Final Two.” Trump could do what ever he wants, and when he does something unpredictable – the show is more entertaining. He should be more unpredictable like that more often.

It would be Allie to suggest that maybe Trump would fire everyone, wouldn’t it? It just seems to me that after two episodes and working our way through the third since Sean ‘betrayed’ Allie by siding with Andrea, it’s getting more then just a bit tiring to see Allie ‘out to get’ Sean. Or are we seeing more fuel added to the flames since Sean has picked Tammy over her as his love interest?

And will the group all hang out together when they go to the store and wait up all night at the door in anticipation of The Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” DVD to go on sale at Tower Records? Please, someone stop the adolescent melodrama.

Folks know that Trump didn’t fire the remaining teammates Lee “The Politician” and Sean “The Brit With The Backbone,” and Tammy was pleasantly surprised to see her beau come through the door…

The Task

This week’s mission was pretty simple yet over-complicated: To create a customized and original Wal-Mart in-store themed area for customers to demo the new X-Box 360 game system. The task itself is pretty straight forward, but the time constraint pokes another hole in the premise of this show: Win by making professional results with an unrealistic time-frame to get it done. I can’t help but wonder what the results of this task would have looked like if each team had a whole week rather then just one or two days.

Sean and Lee had the right idea right off the bat: Create a display that features the X-Box 360 and have it look like something PROFESSIONALS would make. They used the X-Box 360 logo as the basis of their display, creating a workspace in the shape of a circle – (360 Degrees, who would have thought…) with a huge circle with the dark lime green text on a white background hanging from the ceiling, the logo on the floor and wrapping around the area was a plastic tarp with the logos, slogans and other hype surrounding the product. In short, it was supposed to be something that looked like the Microsoft company would have made if they had their own people making this design.

Synergy – Here’s a team that once couldn’t be beat easily. In episodes past the only way this team could lose was through other team members who were obstructive and counter-productive. When Synergy lost, it was because of members like Brent or Andrea (crap… we’re still talking about Brent and Andrea?!?) or because “Gold Rush” did such a horrible job. Recently it’s been just the opposite, partly because Sean who was a charismatic leader and hard-working participating team member. I’m starting to believe that what made “Synergy” a success was the teamwork with Allie, Roxanne, Tammy AND Sean. Once Sean “betrayed” Allie and “stood up” for Andrea which resulted in him leaving to work with “Gold Rush,” “Synergy” couldn’t get their acts together.

… Granted, they were still capable of winning – but it’s not the same crushing and humiliating defeat they handed “Gold Rush” in the past. “Synergy” lost something when Sean left.

In this week’s challenge, the team’s heart wasn’t in it. Tammy took over as PM because she had to make this win “about her.” It was a poor choice of words and I don’t think she meant it in a self-centered way, I think her attitude was more about proving to Donald Trump that she was indeed worthy of being his next Apprentice.

But her idea for this task proved that she wasn’t. The idea of doing a “Velvet Rope – Award Ceremony” (or a “red carpet awards show" event) style display just didn’t do anything. It seemed to be something cooked up by someone still in High School, like creating a hide-away in a parent’s basement using curtains and other junk found.

Tammy’s idea of creating a space with a large black curtain surrounding work-station’s area with “Themed” make-believe award signs “Winner of The Best Game Platform” “Winner of ‘this,’” “Winner of ‘that,’” It all seemed a bit contrived and patronizing. Doing the space in a bar/lounge -slash- award ceremony furnished with things found with-in the confines of the Wal-Mart store just didn’t seem practical. I can’t get the picture in my head of what Rebecca Jarvis from last season would have done. Would she have done this? If she was drunk and had only an hour… maybe.

Not trying to pick on Tammy, but this idea just wasn’t there. There wasn’t anything professional. The franchise owner’s daughter who was the Captain of The Cheerleading squad and the Glee Club came up with this, would it have past the mustard? I have my doubts that even nepotism would save this nonsense.

Tammy’s not alone in the failure of this task, Roxanne and Allie just weren’t on her side. Those two didn’t put in the same effort they did on other tasks earlier in the season. There were signs of obvious disrespect towards Tammy from these two teammates, and Tammy wondered out loud to the camera if these two had a strategy to sabotage her so they would be in the final four.

Friendship and Allegiance doesn’t last long on The Apprentice, does it?

The Results

Sean and Lee had a half-finished and half-assembled display when the executives from Microsoft and Wal-Mart came by. The roof (the top part that was support the walls of this circular display) never arrived in time, so the walls of the display had to be hung around a scaffold that didn’t reach high enough. Was it just me, or did the executives look pissed?

If they thought that Gold Rush did a bad job, I can’t imagine what they thought of “Synergy’s.” These two men looked furious, and I’m wondering if in part of this segment that was edited out if the reps from Wal-Mart and Microsoft asked bluntly: “Are you three drunk?” and “Are you serious? This is supposed to be a professional result?”

“Gold Rush” won because they had a better idea and display despite the fact that it was half finished. The didn’t do a great job because they didn’t have a great idea, they simply didn’t have enough time and didn’t choose a subcontractor that could do the job in a short amount of time. But the idea was there… an few hours more and they would have had an impressive display and an incredible win.

Spielberg has a 'Lot' on plate with reality TV   Steven Spielberg By Nellie Andreeva Steven Spielberg is entering the reality TV arena. The Oscar-winning director has partnered with reality guru Mark Burnett for "On the Lot," an unscripted series for Fox aimed at discovering the next big Hollywood director. Combining elements of Fox's "American Idol" and Burnett's "The Apprentice," the series, from Mark Burnett Prods., DreamWorks TV and Amblin TV, 16 aspiring filmmakers will compete for the big prize: a development deal with DreamWorks...

The winners Sean and Lee (just sounds weird, "The Winners Sean and Lee...") were flown across the country to the DreamWorks studio where they provided voices for two "extras" in the new movie: "Over The Hedge."

When you’re watching The Apprentice, you should know that it’s essentially an hour long commercial for one product or more… Essentially The Apprentice exists so that NBC and Mark Burnett can show that Donald Trump is more then the head of his Empire in Gotham. The show is also used to showcase the products he believes in and the Presidents and Executives that runs them.

The Apprentice is an infomercial for Donald Trump and the companies that are owned by his friends and associates, pure and simple. That’s not to trash the show, because you wouldn’t want to see them promote or use products that don’t exist in the real world? That would be pretty cheesy… “Make and ad campaign for ‘Trump Cola…’ and come up with a catchy slogan.” You wouldn’t care, would you, if the product didn’t exist in the real world? Just a “Viewer Beware” public service announcement… this isn’t just a TV show, it’s also an ad for what ever is going to be relevant once the episode airs.

Part of this episode was to also help the movie that’s now being promoted like crazy at Wal-Mart: “Over The Hedge” from DreamWorks SKG featuring one of the studio’s founders: Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Personally, I would like to see other versions of “The Apprentice” with its current format continues with other companies and household names. Would a version of this show be interesting, seeing Ford or Chevy pick a new Executive from a show like this? Your favorite beverage company? Just a thought… I enjoy the concept of the show, but I would like to see Donald get a break half the year.

This takes us to the part of the show that's the main reason why we tune in...

The Board Room.

The moments in the Suite leading up to The Boardroom are always intense, especially for the Project Manager. The failure of any given task usually falls on the shoulders of the PM, unless there are some unusual circumstances where one team member was out of control and their behavior obviously caused the team to lose.

At times during this episode, I bet Tammy wished there was still Brent or Andrea to throw under the bus. Her friends and allies, Allie and Roxanne were sitting on the couch talking about how they were going to sacrifice Tammy to Trump The Fire God (my paraphrase and words, not theirs.) Tammy is was trying to figure out how to go into the board room and figure out how to set either of those two up because they didn’t support her in this task.

Once in the board room and the three of them sat down, and Donald Trump walks in and asks “Tammy, what happened?” it was over. Tammy did her best to put up a fight despite looking defeated, exhausted and overwhelmed. I’m also going to say that she was disappointed and resigned to the fact that by the end of this board room she would be dragging her bags to the elevator and take her to the secluded location where they keep all the other previous candidates. It looked like all Tammy wanted to do was sleep for a few hours.

Bill’s response was essentially calling her on the fact that she does and she just did it. No doubt, her time's almost up. I highly doubt she makes it past "The Final Four."

Regardless, any efforts by Tammy were now irrelevant; she was powerless to control her own destiny. Mr. Trump said the idea was awful and the results looked like a third-rate bar lounge… before the immortal words came: “Tammy, You’re Fired.”

Next “week,” it’s the “Final Four.” One can only imagine how Sean will respond with Tammy gone.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 13 - Embassy Suites

Teaser

I know a little about clothes. I also know something about working in the service industry, having worked in Restaurants and resorts for the first 10 years of my work life while in school and college. I still remember what works and what doesn’t while I was behind the scenes in the kitchen or on the grounds.

While I don’t know labels except for those manufactures who make reproductions of the clothes that were in style during the Golden Era or costumes from some of my favorite period flicks, I can tell you where to go to find modern clothes that are close enough to those worn during the 30’s and 40’s, and hope to include all this information on The Fedora Chronicles in the weeks to come...

Combine those two factoids together and I can easily say that I could have done a better job then the two remaining women from “Synergy” when it comes to creating new uniforms for Embassy Suites that are both Traditional and Practical…

Gold Rush succeeded because Sean is an out of the closet Metro-Sexual and knows more about clothes then the vast majority of the population… women included... Lee as the "Project Manager" carried the day with Sean because they listened to their client and actually applied what they heard to the products they made...

Boardroom Aftermath

Just like the episodes before, the beginning of this episode dove-tails with clips from last week’s boardroom and the other team’s speculation on what’s going on down there and waiting for the remaining members to return. This time, Sean and Lee are waiting for Allie and Roxanne to return, resigned to the fact that they’re sacrificing Tammy to Trump The Fire God.

It’s as if Sean’s been reading some of my comments here on The Fedora Chronicles: "I'm just really bored to tears with all the rubbish that Allie and Roxanne come out with 24/7." If it’s obvious to me that this nonsense between the two women have taken their "high school clique" behavior a bit too far, then I can only imagine what it must be like during this contest and being in the suite in person…

As predicted, Tammy failed to return and Sean was visibly furious. But, fact of the matter is that it had to be sooner or later since he would have to compete against her if these two were in “The Final Two.” If there is any real relationship between Tammy and Sean, it would have been awkward for these two to compete against each other for the final award. Still, Sean “vowed revenge” and said that he would decimate “Synergy” to avenge the “woman he loves.” (I’m paraphrasing, obviously.)

The Challenge

You already know after reading my teaser that the challenge this episode was to create new uniforms for one of Donald Trumps favorite organizations – Embassy Suites. How these two teams went about this task easily illustrates why some people fail and others succeed. It’s not just what you do – it’s how you do it… it’s not what you say it’s how you say it.

To me, it’s a mystery how Lee’s gotten this far. Has he been a good leader, or actually lead when he was project manager? This episode and task illustrated what I’m writing about now, because it seemed clear to me that it was really Sean who was doing most of the heavy thinking. Sean seemed to have more on the ball and knew more of what was going on in regards to what would go into a new uniform for the cooks and other members of the service staff. Sean outed himself as being a “Metro-sexual,” the definition is a bit murky… but essentially means he’s a straight man who spends as much time on grooming and clothes as a gay man would. A "Metro Sexual" also means "Cosmopolitan" to some extent. (I remember when they were called, Gentlemen, but now I'm dating myself.)

Where Lee and Sean succeeded, Allie failed much to the frustration and annoyance of Roxanne. The two spent time asking members of the Embassy Suite staff in local franchise what they wanted to see. Judging by the footage the editors of this episode used, the view can assume that “Synergy” spent a good deal of time talking to many of the staff members (despite the fact that some didn’t speak English most eloquently.) Later on you'll see that asking what their potential customers wanted was a complete and total waste of time...

Allie also failed to communicate her ideas with their clothing designer Mark Bauer, doing more to alienate him then getting work done (as demonstrated again by what the editors put in…) 

This takes me on a little tangent, since Allie’s attitude reminds me of what I dislike about the retail world. One of the reasons why I don’t follow trends is because they’re artificial or generated by people in “Madison Avenue” for no other reason then to just generating more sales.

The concept of what’s “In” is just to entice people to buy more products they don’t need, and if something’s “In” that means that obviously something’s “Out.” And the style magazines are in collusion with the fashion designers… just as there’s a whole industry that’s making up new styles and fashions just to have something new in the store front windows.

Granted, we consumers are to blame in part because some trends catch on and become the norm for a few years or a whole decade. Some style trends become such as a political or social statement… which then become exploited by the fashion industry.

Allie and Roxanne lost because there was an obvious back-lash with the employees at Embassy Suites who were asked what they wanted, the employees told them what they wanted, and Allie when ahead as if to say “I know better” and threw in her own designs ideas. She didn’t just ignore her customer base; she insulted them by not giving them what she asked for after taking up some of their time with question and the answers were disregarded. She wasted their time, her designers time, and Roxanne's...

Now, if Allie had a month to promote her line with a make-believe publication like an in-house version of “Vogue” and had been able to use marketing to “prove” to those who voted for this line that this was what was now “In,” she could have potentially won… because people are suckers for marketing. If I had access to a marketing company, I could convince people that the lint from my dryer was the thing to have… and I could make a fortune off E-Bay selling it by the ounce with a Certificate of Authenticity. (I would be successful just long enough until someone else steals my idea an then people get wise to something else that’s now “the thing to have” like the in-soles to some blogger’s worn out shoes or something equally ridiculous…)

The Uniforms weren’t all that bad, really. They had a very unique look to them and looked retro enough for my taste… the were perfect costumes for a motion picture or television series if someone in the style that was reminiscent of the Science Fiction movies from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I half expected someone to say these outfits were going to be picked up by someone making an updated version of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.”/

Allie took a huge risk in not giving her potential customers what they wanted or asked for and instead offered what she thought was better…

That's not to say that Sean and Lee (who it seems was just along for the ride) didn't try and push the boundaries with what they did. They're look was also very "Future-Past" Retro, but their uniforms were more like something people would actually wear. There were actual items that they presented that looked like something I would actually enjoy, either it was the chef's jacket for when I'm in the kitchen or the Bell-Hop's coat that looked semi-militaristic. Part of Gold Rush's approach was to make clothes that these employees would actually wear, and that's exactly how and why they won this task.

After the company fashion show, and the employees voted to pick their uniforms (not costumes, since Allie and Roxanne lost badly) Lee and Sean were sent out on their reward – dinner with Trumps kids Ivanka and Don, Jr. Meanwhile, Allie and Roxanne geared-up for their final boardroom.

Pre-Boardroom Alliance...

Alone together in the Suite, Allie and Roxanne talked about the task as Allie was in complete denial that the reason they lost was they lost focus on the task. They both made a pretty bold pledge – neither one was going to attack or go after the other in front of Donald Trump, neither were to sacrifice each other to The Fire God.

...The Boardroom Betrayal

Every pledge the two made to remain united started to evaporate when Trump came into the room and customarily asked “Ok, What happened…”

While reliving the task through conversation and their own monologues, their friendship seemed to evaporate slowly yet continually until the question was asked to Roxanne – who would be the better Apprentice. Roxanne started to illustrate Allie’s faults, about being difficult to get along with… I was waiting for her to say “And holds on to grudges too long.”

Allie began to retaliate forcibility… but seriously, I can’t remember a thing that she said that was negative and stuck about Roxanne. It was as if her voice was background music playing in the other room while I was watching this play out.

Donald Trump ended this episode with a little something about loyalty and how important it is that people who are allied with each other stick together till the bitter end. According to Trump, this turn around between two friends who went at each other just to survive made him sick to his stomach… An instant later: “Roxanne, Allie… you’re both fired.” Don’t cry too much for them, because by the time they got into the cab they were congratulating each other in front of the camera at how well they worked at remaining loyal and how their friendship remained strong.

Which demands the question to be asked… what episode are they talking about… because it wasn’t this one that just aired.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 14 – “Fight To The Finish.”/Pontiac/ World Wildlife Fund / Leary Firefighters Foundation

Teaser

And the question remains… How did we get here? How did we arrive at this point with Lee as one of the last two contestants? How did Lee become one of the “Final Two?” I’m at a loss for words… and I watched the show and reported on it with in the next few days and I’m amazed that it’s come to this.

… And how did we get to the point where the finalists was one of the strongest players and started making poor choices because of he’s love-sick with another contestant? Of course I’m talking about Sean and his feelings for Tammy.

Are either of these two contestants winners? Or are we going to see for the both time Donald Trump say “You’re Fired” to the last to remaining contestants and there’s no winner for this season?

Boardroom Aftermath…

Dovetailing from last episode to this one, Sean and Lee wait for either Allie or Roxanne to come back from The Boardroom. Neither of them did and eventually the two of them were called down to the boardroom for an explanation

As Mr. Trump said, usually the Boardroom at night is the last place you want to be because it’s usually it’s bad news for the team in general and one or two people in particular. As you could imagine, they were there for Mr. Trump to tell them they were the final two and now was the time to pick their teams…

… Meanwhile, all the other contestants from this season were brought up to the suite and were then waiting for Sean and Lee to return. The segment of the episode featured a reunion between The Final Two and the contestants they had worked with and against during the season so far and it must have seemed a bit uncomfortable for Allie and Roxanne, if you stop and think about it. What did they do, drive them around the block a couple of times until the bus with the other members arrived?

Lee Pick’s Lenny to pick his Team…

As part of the “reunion,” Lee and Sean interviewed a few former contestants, Lee spending extra time with Lenny “The Russian. Lee seemed to just turn over his decision making to Lenny, who made cases for Roxanne and Pepe to be members of Lee’s team during this final challenge.

What’s the point of being in “The Final Two” if you can’t choose your team for yourself? Why did Lee leave it to Lenny to chose the team for him? Anyone who’s seen the show in the past knows that not only are we watching, Donald Trump is watching the show as it’s happening before his own eyes, as it’s edited and is watching the show and paying attention to every detail as each episode airs (in his book “How To Think Like A Billionaire,” Mr. Trump even says his life is taken over by the show as it’s filmed and then until the final episode airs...) The only one watching this show with the same attention to detail and obsession as me is The Man himself who will have to hire one of the remaining two contestants.

… Doesn’t Lee know that Donald Trump sees that this most important decision in this final task he doesn’t make himself? There’s no other task that’s as important to the final outcome of the final challenge, and he hands the ball to someone who’s older, more experienced and believes wants him to win as much as he does. By letting Lenny pick the team for Lee, he proved on National Television that he’s just not ready to be “The Apprentice.”

Pepe? I had to go back and re-read what I wrote the week he was fired. Pepe was fired because he couldn’t manage his team, namely the heavy-weight loud-mouth Brent who took it upon himself to “disipline” another member of his team by being verbally abusive. I wrote that Brent should have been fired and Pepe should have been given another week …But here in this week’s episode, It’s “Night Of The Living Brain Dead.” Pepe seems asleep with his eyes open and it’s a wonder why or how he became a contestant on this show in the first place. At this point I’m thinking that Lee’s already lost the final task.

Now, why Roxanne? I have nothing bad to say about his choice, other then it made more sense then Pepe, since one only made it through two weeks while the other made it to the final four.

Sean’s “Dream Team.”

Did Sean actually pick the better team with Andrea, Terak and obviously Tammy? I don’t have any doubt that Sean has a "full house," but I don’t think that his head is still in the game with Tammy there to moon over most of the time.

I’ve poked fun at Andrea and Terak a lot in this rant. To be honesty, I’ve poked fun at all the contestants in this rant and I haven’t spared anyone. I’ve written about how Andrea’s often cold, arrogant and used members of her team only as an extra set of hands then actually treated them as the creative people that they are…

… I’ve also joked along with Trump about Terak needing to take the Mensa test again since he’s not as bright as he’s supposed to be. I think I’ve been fair sometimes and ruthless every other time for entertainment purpose’s, but from the beginning these people have been more successful in business and actually got on the show, something I’ve never tried to do. Right from the beginning, Sean had the best team out of the two, but as I hinted at before his admiration and desire for Tammy has been cutting down his effectiveness.

The Final Challenge.

In the boardroom with the two new teams and their leaders, Donald Trump had a few words about the two new teams before he introduced the Final Task.

The Project Managers had a choice – they could pick between Pontiac/Celebrity Hockey Game at Chelsea Piers for the Leary Firefighters Foundation or Pontiac charity concert, featuring rock band Barenaked Ladies, benefiting the World Wildlife Fund. There was some haggling over who would take what, but eventually Lee would be assigned to Leary Firefighters Foundation.

"Gold Rush Headquarters at Chelsea Piers"

Immediately Lee is in the weeds not sure how to go ahead, what to do for the fundraisers and they should have at this event. During his first meeting with Lys Hopper of Denis Leary's Firefighter Foundation, she wasn’t too impressed with Lee or his team. Lee asked a few questions about her expectations and she said things to the effect: “You tell me, you’re supposed to be the best. You’re the one who is supposed to have all these great ideas."

In the meeting with the Pontiac Executives, Lee and the rest of “Gold Rush” were equally unimpressive. Again, their attitude was like: “What do you expect, what expectations do you have, what do you intend for us to do?” The Pontiac Executives where happy to auction off two cars, but they grumbled about Lee’s missed opportunities.

Lee demonstrated here in this episode that he simple doesn’t know what he’s doing, how to lead and get things accomplished. I’m at the point now where I’m going to predict that in the Season Finale, Donald Trump simply won’t hire Lee to be his “Apprentice.” I highly doubt Lee is capable of running a division of Donald Trump’s Cooperation by himself since he can’t handle running a charity event such as this.

Lee’s Cliffhanger: Lys Hopper of Denis Leary's Firefighter Foundation was on her way to have a meeting with Lee to do a “Final Walk Through” to make sure Lee had enough planned – if not she was going to take the event away from Lee...

Meanwhile at Trump Taj Mahal...

Sean, on the other hand would be a capable leader if he wasn’t so overwhelmed with his feelings for Tammy. “Synergy’s” task was to run the event for the World Wildlife Fund at the Trump Taj Mahal.

Sean faired better then Lee because his team is obviously more seasoned, more mature and more experienced. There wouldn’t be any conceivable way for Andrea, Terak and Tammy to be beaten by Pepe, Lenny and Roxanne in any major task… unless their leadership was hampered by poor decision making.

Ok, we understand that Sean is attracted to Tammy and that there’s some of the same affection reciprocated to Sean from Tammy at some extent, but “Synergy’s” leader started making poor choices because of letting his feelings get the better of him. Rather then meeting with Pontiac executives in a meeting, Sean sent Andrea and Tarek to go in his place to meet with caterer there at the Taj Mahal where the event was to take place.

That’s almost as big of a blunder of anything Lee’s done so far. There’s no reason why Tammy could have gone with either Andrea or Tarek to visit with the caterer, but it was essential that the Project Manager of this task meet the Pontiac folks and discuss the cars that were to be an essential part of this fundraiser.

Sean’s Cliffhanger: Things suddenly went down hill fast for Sean, with Andrea suddenly coming down with a medical condition that caused her to cough up blood and bleed through the nose. At this point I felt horrible for all the horrible things I’ve said about her in this rant. Andrea leaves the show, leaves her team with one member down to see if her condition is something critical and life threatening.

… And as Andrea leaves we’re informed of Sean’s biggest flaw, he put too much of his responsibility with Andrea while he was off holding hands with Tammy as the two picked out the menu for their event as if it were their own wedding. After Andrea left, there was a question as to where everything was and what’s there left to do.

And that’s the dilemma, should Sean be hired as Donald Trump’s next Apprentice? Not based on how badly Sean is doing, but on his own merit and behavior. With everything we’ve seen of Sean this episode and the ones that proceeded it, is it safe to assume that Sean really isn’t qualified since he can’t control his feelings when there’s someone in the room that he’s attracted to or wants to be romantically involved?

Who will be hired? Or will this be the first season when both of the final Candidates be fired? We’ll see.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.

Week 15 – “Season 5 Finale”/Pontiac/ World Wildlife Fund / Leary Firefighters Foundation

I'm not saying this wasn't a good season... I'm just saying that MAYBE it was too soon after the last two versions of it to have another one. I'll debate that this would have been more enjoyable if there was more time between seasons.

Fundraisers With Out Results…

When we last left Lee, he was about to have the rug pulled from under him since Lys Hopper of Denis Leary's Firefighter Foundation was on her way to do a “walk through” and wasn’t happy with Lee’s performance so far. If she wasn’t impressed with what she saw during this walk through, Lee was going to have the event taken away from him and Lyz was going to do the rest her self with her own people.

From then on, this episode was like watching someone being slowly tortured, a torture that’s brought on by their own misfortunate half steps, actions and inaction. From the view here at the Front Desk of The Fedora Chronicles and only as a spectator I felt frustrated and powerless watching Lee make the same mistakes other candidates made during their final tasks and eventually lost. Then he started making brand new mistakes that had never been seen before… not to spend too much time beating up on Lee, but there seemed to be a point where I thought that there might as well have been no organization at all to this event.

Anyone who’s seen any number of the other season finale’s simply knows what makes these events a success and what meets with Donald Trump’s approval which finally gets them hired. I openly debate if Lee ever saw this show before because he didn’t make an effort to avoid the mistakes other people make.

First and foremost, everything that can be said about Lee can be summed up with one word: “Unprepared.” I could just write: “Lee was unprepared for every aspect of this final task,” and could be done writing about him.

Every meeting that we saw him in, he was unprepared. Even worse, Lenny was on a long leash or even unrestrained making comments and jokes in inappropriate times. Lenny couldn’t help himself and made genuinely stupid smart ass remarks to executives from the Denis Leary Foundation, with several of the celebrities, and worst of all Jaime Pressly, former centerfold turned comedic actress who can be seen on NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” sitcom.

There were times I think Ms. Pressly looked lost, hurt and felt abandoned because of Lenny’s attitude and Lee’s lack of planning. She could have easily have claimed that she was being disrespected by “Gold Rush.” And she wouldn’t be wrong for doing so.

Denis Leary doesn’t screw around and takes this very seriously (as you can tell just by visiting his website.) From the casual viewer, it seems obvious that Mr. Leary wasn’t impressed with Lee’s performance and the event didn’t go as smoothly or as professionally as he would expect. I’m only speculating, but my guess is that Mr. Leary was annoyed with Lee’s attitude. (I will even go far and say that Mr. Leary looked pissed off.) This wasn’t just a task or a game, this was a legitimate fundraising event in an effort to save lives and get fighter fighters the equipment they need.

Lee and “Gold Rush” didn’t take enough time to set up the Chelsea Piers properly for the event, he lacked signage or direction for the celebrities, and for the most part the event seemed unorganized and under planned. Another word for Lee’s performance could be the word “Chaotic.” I don’t need to say more…

Sean didn’t win just because of anything he did, he won because Lee Lost…

It’s easy to see why Sean won when you look at Lee’s performance and what his team did through out the task, what Lee’s team did and didn’t do did nothing more then to assure Sean a win and was the better candidate.

Despite the fact that it looked like Sean spent more time with Tammy that was appropriate and was absent for many of the meetings with executives, those meetings were successful to a greater extent because of the people he chose to work with: Andrea and Tarek.

As I wrote in the last segment of this rant, I didn’t really like the two of them. But after the last two episodes they’ve earned a bit more respect. Sean picked a great team that really worked hard to win. They worked harder then Pepe, Lenny… and maybe harder then Roxanne. Maybe Roxanne and Tammy worked equally as hard, but that doesn’t nearly make up for how Lenny and Pepe were detrimental to their team, nor did it make up for Sean’s leadership compared to Lee.

Granted, we were shown that Sean spent a bit too much time with Tammy, and the producers of this show included footage of Sean grooming himself and searching for “Lucky Hairspray” at one of the Casino shops before the start of the event, but over all through out the show it seemed that Sean and his team had everything together much more then Lee and “Gold Rush.” Call me crazy, but didn't it seem to that the editors tried too hard to find fault with Sean just to make things more even between the two candidates and build the suspense?

Perhaps the editing was biased towards Sean's unusual behavior, but his event also seemed more professional then Lee’s. It’s pretty obvious when there isn’t a sense of panic and anxiety in the people running the event. There were a few blunders like not having signage for Pontiac: the company that donated the cars to be auctioned off for this event. Sure -Sean had some blunders, but they just didn’t seem to weigh down him or his team down. Even Andrea’s coughing up blood didn’t turn into anything detrimental to the team, since her quick visit to the doctors determined that her condition wasn’t life threatening and critical.

The Live Finale Equals The Biggest Boardroom Of The Season.

Doing the show in front of a large audience must be a joy for Donald Trump, who’s name is synonymous with the word “Spectacle.” I can just image that he looks forward to this part of the show every season. I just can’t imagine how he would top this when NBC doesn’t air the show any more.

We see the last part of the task live with an audience, and with some segments we could hear the reactions of the people in the theater. Don’t ask me why, but this sounded more like a laugh track for a sitcom. Did it diminish the show? For me it just added to the intensity and the finality of it all. This is really it… this is really the final episode of this season.

While Lee was trying to defend himself and illustrate why he should be the Apprentice, I hate to say this… but despite his experience and his education he came off as being soft and overwhelmed… as if that boardroom was the first time during Thanksgiving he was allowed to sit at the adult’s table.

As for Sean: Word of the night is Passion. There was a moment when he was being animated I really feared for Lee’s safety, as if Sean was about to spontaneously combust because of his boundless energy that was about to go critical mass. Seriously, there was something almost dangerous about how intense Sean was about this, Sean wasn't going to be kept from this job no matter while still being a gentleman. It also seemed like Sean was calling Lee out as a little boy and that he wasn’t going to be kept away from this job.

… There was also a point where Sean looked as if the job was already his and Lee was just an interloper, a young up-and-coming kid looking to move in on Sean’s territory. The more Donald Trump let these guys speak, the more it looked like Sean just had the job and it was up to Lee to talk himself out of it. Any suspense that was there was gone.

Even after Donald Trump asked his kids what he thought and they played it safe by saying that either of these two men would be great additions to the Trump organization, when he asked George what he thought and he echoed what The Trump Kids said, and when Carolyn made a stand and said that she had to go with Sean… there was no suspense.

The On-Line Poll results came in, and it was overwhelming for “one candidate,” there was no doubt who was going to win. I’m not saying that when Sean’s name was called and he started jumping around like a crazed maniac was staged… but it just seemed… well… contrived.

I know that Sean will oversee the building as an executive, in charge of the office-work needed to get the job done and might not actually lift any tools to get the job done… but it would have been funny for him to say. I didn’t expect to say: "I'm going to show you as soon as possible that you made the right decision, I'm going to work my fingers to the bone and I'm going to make you richer than you are already."

… Cause, to be honest, – It wasn’t about Donald Trump at that moment. It was all about Sean and how he won. I understand he needed to show some gratitude, but that was a bit much. That was your moment. But you have to hand it to Sean for being gracious and energetic at the same time...

The End Draws Nigh: The Fedora Chronicles Connection

This is the end. This is the last entry of “The Apprentice Season 5” Rant. This should be where I point out the lessons learned and what you should have gotten out of the show. But first, I have to write that I feel like most of the contestants in this season have been cheated and deserved better. I just don’t think some of the tasks were what they should have been, the rewards were a bit uneven and that there was a spark missing that was there in the previous seasons. I also have to apologize if I've said something inappropriate about the contestants... my sarcastic remarks were meant to be humorous and I believe I was poking more at the caricatures these people became thanks to editing and what we were finally shown... but more on that later.

What should readers of The Fedora Chronicles get out of show now that it's over? Well – Hard Work is still a traditional value. Nice Guys don’t always finish first, but often they finish best. And when Nice Guys do finish first, it’s because they found the right race to run.

And to that extent with some of the other contestants in this show who didn’t win, they proved something to themselves and the rest of the world – that sometimes the best way to win is to not to play at all if this isn’t your game and leave with your integrity. Best example was Dan's behavior during "Week 5 – Norwegian Cruise task" and he refused to “throw anyone overboard” (my paraphrase of something he said) when his team lost. Dan refused to blame anyone but himself for the task.

I also remember Brent: I remember his inappropriately aggressive attitude towards women and how it seemed Donald Trump kept him on for an entertainment value until his behavior became too much for even Mr. Trump to tolerate.

One of the things I'm going to remember the most on this show is the inability of some members to put their personal feelings aside and get the job done. There were those who were incapable of remembering that this was more then just a game and that this contest was highly visible to the rest of the world, much of what people did during their waking hours was far game for the editors to use that would best suit their needs to make this show entertaining. Anything that would boost the entertainment value, they used it.

If you vent in front of the camera and say things just to get off your chest but would make for great television… they’re going to use it. Which leads me to ask again, how much of Andrea’s “bitchiness” was the product of editing? How much of Brent’s obnoxious and abrasive actions were magnified because they used that in greater proportion then the footage they had of him working hard and participating? How much of Allie’s and Roxanne’s high school melodrama-behavior towards Sean was just a miniscule fraction of what they actually thought and said? And how much of Sean’s mooning over Tammy was over played because it makes for great entertainment?

The absolute most important thing to take from all of this season is something I’ll reiterate again: Character counts and it takes extraordinary tests to prove what you’re really made of. It’s when you go through something extreme and trying do you find out who you really are. Ignore the fact that the camera is watching you, ignore the fact that you're under a microscope while still exhibiting your best behavior and do the best job you possibly can and accomplish the task.

To an extent, I wish all of us had the opportunity to be tested and challenged and given the opportunity to prove who we really are in the most extreme circumstances. But aren’t we always given opportunities to “Step Up” every day and we just have to notice them? We don’t need to wait around all day hoping to hear the words “Your Hired” by someone like Donald Trump to make a difference in the world or leave our mark on it.

Your thoughts? Drop us a line in our Forum.