Oh, my...this season is dwindling down to its last few weeks. Oh, whatever will I do? Survivor has ended; The Amazing Race finale is on Wednesday. I might have to hit up my book pile for entertainment going into June. Well, that can be fun, too! Onto the show...
When the girls (Roxanne, Tammy and Allie) saw Lee and Sean returning from the Boardroom without Michael, they all seemed a bit surprised Lee remains in the running for the job. I personally think that no one's more surprised than Lee himself. They all pretty much think that Trump has taken a special liking to Lee. I can't really disagree. He squirms his way out of that Boardroom each and every time he could be fired — and that's a lot of times! Tammy, of course, was happy to see Sean return. She fluttered her eyes and all. I think she's smitten with the Brit.
This week, Bill Rancic and Ivanka Trump monitored the progress of the teams and report back to Big Daddy Trump. The task looked like fun, but I don't think it's the best challenge they could face. Bigwigs from Microsoft and Wal-Mart explained that the teams had to create an environment within a Wal-Mart store focusing on Microsoft's XBox 360™ geared for display and promotion of the product. The envirnoment created had to be interactive and three-dimensional. Now, that seems to be kind of easy. Just with the "360," it screams out full-circle, doesn't it? Use their promo designs and colors and you're there!
Sean and Lee were immediately full of ideas and excitement about the task at hand. Their team, Gold Rush, is down to just the two, so they outsourced almost all of the labor details — flooring, a roof, the banners, signage and all. "No more Kinkos for us!" Sean was the Project Manager, but they both took on even roles in the task. Both were very familiar with the product, so they knew what could tie in with it as far as goods sold within Wal-Mart. Ivanka peeked in on them and seemed to be very positive about their teamwork and enthusiasm. Their only real downfall was that by out-sourcing the work, they lost control on the completion time. That's bad, very bad.
Article comments
1 - Heloise
I have watched every episode of the Apprentice for the past three years and it is the BEST damn thing on TV. I don't watch all that other crap but mostly cable and education programs. But Trump has given the advertisers their money worth and also the public.
Here is the only show where black people have a chance. My advice for the Survivor wannabes....if you're black don't bother applying to that show. It's a good show, but blacks fare very badly on that show, so I stopped watching it. It was too painful.
Let's hear it for Trump. YOu go dude. YOu may be a greedy businessman but you put on a good show.
Don't roll your eyes at me. Love it.
Heloise
2 - Jackie
Probably due to the selection process - The Apprentice seeks out successful folks - blacks can do well. I thought Cirie (a black woman) on Survivor this season did great. She was a fan favorite to the point where viewers voted her a car. She didn't win, but came close. But the selection process for Survivor doesn't necessarily go for the cream like Apprentice does.
Although, going for the best doesn't explain how Brent got on the show this season.
So... Heloise... do you like Trump's hair?
Don't roll those eyes at me! ;-)
3 - Rodney Welch
Once again, a veritable act of God saves Gold Rush; I think all that religious observance is beginning to pay off for Lee. Note to future Jewish candidates: Observe those holidays!! Pray! It helps!
I mean, their exhibit looked like absolute, utter trash; it was literally falling to pieces. When the WalMart and Microsoft executives walked in, I was watching the show through my fingers. It was downright painful to look at -- and yet, miracle of miracles, the executives preferred it over what Trump called Synergy's "third-rate lounge."
This was obviously one of those tasks that could have gone either way, and I think would have gone the other way with another pair of executives. If Trump thought Synergy's exhibit looked bad, what in the hell would he have said about Gold Rush's?
It's funny how things go, isn't it? Usually, with something like that, you think presentation and appearance are super-important, but it proved less important than pricing and consumer information, which is where Gold Rush excelled.
These variables change week to week, it seems -- sometimes presentation is all-important, sometimes pricing, sometimes something else.
Couldn't you just as easily have seen Lee and Sean in the boardroom, with Trump saying "Guys, it doesn't matter how well organized it was, it looked bad and looks are important."
Which brings me back to my original point -- Gold Rush was saved by divine intervention. At least, that's the only reason I can come up with.
4 - Dynamo of Eternia
This was an interesting episode.
I found it particularly interesting being that I am a huge fan of video games in general and as an Xbox 360 owner.
For a while, I honestly thought that Gold Rush was sunk because of how their display turned out. The lack of the roof, the sagging side, etc. I didn't find Synergy's to be all that impressive, but at least it didn't look like it was falling apart.
But Gold Rush did get the concept more. I know if I were to walk into Wal-mart and just briefly glance at their display, I would go "Ooooohhh... Xbox 360" and head on in (esspecially once the roof was put up and the sides were fixed). Synergy's display was unimpressive in terms of what it was meant to do. It was very lounge-ish, and It's something that I could possibly walk by without even noticing it, and even if I did notice it and go in to check it out, odds are I wouldn't spend as much in there (or be as likely to make a purchase) as I would be with the one Gold Rush made.
So, in the end, I do agree with the executives decision.
And man, the reward this week was AWESOME! I would have loved to get that reward. I am a huge movie buff (even studied film and TV production in college), and that kind of things is really interesting to me, so that would have been like the ultimate dream reward!
Some of these rewards just seem up and down. Some of them (like the stomping on the grapes and the shark tank thing) just seem more like they'd be torture rather than a reward. Then there are others that are really awesome, like this most recent one.
As far as the firing goes, I guess Tammy was an alright choice. Her vision wasn't all that great and the end result showed. But still, the rest of her team didn't really give her the time of day even from the get-go on this task. I know that Tammy made the "all about me" comment which didn't set well with them, but I think they took that a little more personally than they should have. I think Tammy was mostly refering to the fact that she is the PM this time, so not only is she in charge, but her butt is much more on the line than the rest of them. I'm most everyone else feels the same way as PM, Tammy just didn't articulate what she was trying to say with the best choice of words.
I can understand why someone would roll their eyes when they feel something is a bad idea, but for the most part, the other 2 team members didn't really bring much to the table to work with. And I agree with Jackie in the sense that I have no idea of Allie even did this week. Did she do anything besides rolling her eyes?
In some respects Tammy was a prime, reasonable candidate for the firing, but in my eyes the other two weren't much better and were both in a position where they could have reasonably been fired as well.
As pointed out in this article, the final results of neither display were particularly impressive (Synergy'd for missing the point, Gold Rush's for being unfinished). I wonder if there will ever be a case on this or any future season of The Apprentice where both teams do so badly that Trump declaires neither team to be winners and fires someone from each team. I know this may sound odd, but I don't think anyone ever expected him to fire 4 people at one time like he did last season. Plus, lately it seems like they are changing the rules up and doing new things to keep the show fresh(I noticed this season there are no more exemptions from being fired, for example). So, I wouldn't fully rule out the possibility of firings on both sides to end up happening at some point in the future.
5 - Heloise
Well, the hair is another story. I mean he does not have the Kennedy genes for hair, but he is not bad looking. His kids look like grinches a bit.
But as for The Donald, he is trump in the way he thinks, that's what I love. We think alike! I can predict when he is going to fire two instead of one, (should have won some money) and when he said he hates his slighters to the end...that was pure gold.
Heloise
6 - Heloise
About those exhibits: I too was shocked that they chose Lee and what's his names exhibit. But if you think about the marketing aspect of it...they did have the best one.
If you fixed up the falling down exhibit and with all the price points and the other products they were showcasing along with the Xbox, makes sense that they were the marketer's dream. The lounge, well, it was a nightmare according to Trump.
I did not agree with them on this one. But in truth their exhibit "Tammy's dream" was a nightmare, a cheap lounge that only a black teen would love.
They did roll their eyes...:)
Heloise
[Heloise, please don't put your email adddress in your name, it's not safe and against policy here at Blogcritics. Other than that, welcome. Comments Editor]
7 - Heloise
Okay, sorry about that. I was at another computer and in a hurry. It's not a good email address anyway. Thanks
Heloise
8 - TheApprentice
I HATE ROXANNE AND ALLIE!
9 - clubstyle_dj
Allie is history!
10 - clubstyle_dj
That was total BULLSHIT. I will nolonger be commenting or watching.
Thank you for your time.
csdj