So far, I agree – though it’s very early days yet – but why do you think that is? You’d think with a bigger – much bigger, from reports – contestant pool, they’d be able to get a better group of players.
Is it that the truly savvy realize that TV exposure might not be in their best interest? (It’s one thing to pull a bone-headed move in one’s office in Podunk – another to do it in front of 20 million people) Or that they can’t take six weeks out of their life to appear on a TV show? or what?
Were the producers too concerned about the contestants’ looks, and not enough about their skills? You’d think they’d realize that we’re not watching this show for eye candy. (Though eye candy ain’t to be sneezed at – I thought Troy was cuuuuuuuuuuute.)
Well, there were a good number of good-looking men and women in the first season, and most of them were reasonably competent, despite their failings. Amy was quite lovely, and I thought that Jessie was just too cute for words. I could also see how women would find Nick, Jason, Troy or Bill attractive. Heck, I think the first season cast was more physically attractive than the current crop.
So no, I don’t think the producers have sacrificed competence for eye-candy.
While I won’t defend this use of the word “rape,” it was not absolutely incorrect or colloquial. The older meaning of the word is to rob or pillage, though of course the most common modern meaning is to sexually assault.
It’s almost like they went out of their way to choose a bunch of mild Omarosas. The contestants on this show repeatedly confuse mindless arrogance with confidence, and deceit with strategy. To make it worse, they equate victory to success… so the ends justify the means and that mantra has been elevated to a pedestal. They come across as a bunch of scheming empty suits.
I don’t know if it is capitalism as much as moral confusion. The contestants don’t seem to know how to fight a good fight. It is assumed that good looks, a facade of confidence and a generous dose of scheming are necessary to succeed.
Watching the Sat. Boardroom Episode, it seems that there are two women that didn’t come off as catty sorrority sisters.
Blonde Jennifer and Sandy seem to have a chance.
Blond Jennifer said exactly what I would have said if asked. She said it made her uncomfortable and thought it was weird.
Sandy went further but still scored some points with Trump.
I believe both women said it was Maria they would have fired.
Also, I think I noticed an editing moment. In Thursday’s episode, I seem to remember Trump doing his hand gesture when firing Stacy J. Tonight, the hands were at the side. I have already erased my DVR from Thursday. Anyone still have it to check?
One thing was clear… Trump wanted to fire Stacie J. badly.
I’m sure Trump saw the footage of Stacie’s ‘episode’ of wierdness. When the other two brought up Stacie’s episode, Trump jumped on it right away. It was like he was waiting for them to bring it up.
Just like Bradford’s bravado overshadowed the questian of who’s fault was it that the team lost, so, too, did Stacie’s episode overshadow any question of assigning blame for losing.
That the ladies took so long to bring it up is as stupid on their part as it was hysterical on their part to overplay the ‘episode’ as schizophrenic and frightening.
I am sure that at least ten of the remaining players (all but two of the ladies and several of other team) are already fired in Trump’s mind.
And again, I have to say that what makes this ‘reality show’ more satisfying than those ‘vote off the island’ shows is that the ones who should go, go. Survival of the competent.
WRT the assertion that micromanagers do better: Both Kwame and Bill did well last season with delegation (except for Kwame’s mistake of delegating anything to Amarosa, that, he should have micromanaged).
And the lesson is this: The style of leadership you adopt should reflect the ability of those you supervise. If they are competent, then you delegate and trust their judgment and abilities. If they are incompetent (or simply aren’t skilled in their task), then you manage and supervise closely. And you adjust this style for each member of your subordinates. Anyone who takes an a priori stand and says “I’m going to have a light hand with everyone because the last guy was too controlling” without judging whether their team can handle such lax oversight is bound to fail. And they did.
Peace.
It didn’t seem that way to me. In fact, he seemed confused by it at first. He had to probe them with questions to figure out what the heck they were talking about. He even asked why Stacie was brought in at all. He seemed to think that bringing her in was just one more sign of incompetence. Only when he realized that they were talking about behavior that could be classified as frightful and unstable — just as dangerous for his company as waiving immunity — did he call in all the others, and that was just to make sure that it wasn’t the two women trying to get out of being fired. The others who came in were not subject to firing, and therefore were free to speak their minds. Their consensus was unanimous. What else could he do? Had Trump NOT fired Stacie, some of us might be saying, “WTF!? Does she need to get on the boardroom table and stab her genitals with a crucifix or something?”.
There seems to be a fundamental difference in how the game was played during this boardroom, vs the entire last season. I thought that firing decisions were supposed to be based on what happened during the current task. For the women to exaggerate Stacie’s goofing around from two weeks ago in order to kick her off now seemed very distasteful, especially when Apex lost because of a very specific mistake that Maria (and/or Ivana) made. It looks like the only incident we saw with Stacie on this task was not having a big enough truck for the toothpaste, but it seemed like a small matter - apparently everything got to the promotion on time anyway.
I think Trump got this one wrong.
I too am surprised that so many candidates seem not very good.
I do not recall things quite this way. I remember Bill as very much a micromanager. The golf course task was very labor-intensive, and I remember Amy and the others strenuously bitching about how Bill was always double-checking their work, bugging them all the time, and in general, micromanaging the hell outta them. Kwame, OTOH, trusted his employees a little too much, to his later regret.
What I want to know is: how did Stacie J and Jennifer C ever get all that toothpaste to where it needed to go? They only had the one van and 3 minutes before the warehouse closed to get a room full of boxes outta there. We never did find out how they did that, did we? If that required a bunch more people and vans, and Elizabeth had to divert people, time, and resources to getting that squared away, that could most definitely be considered a major fire to put out, due to Stacie J’s incompetence. We might never know, but it’s possible.
I rather doubt that she had a total breakdown. However, I think it is clear that we didn’t see all of what went on, or the full extent to which she flipped out.
The additional footage only confirmed this. Remember, two of the female contestants disagreed with placing the blame on Stacie J – and yet even they agreed that she seemed to be acting nuts. This suggests that the grievous accusation against Stacie wasn’t just the result of a scapegoating conspiracy amongst the women. It also suggests that this wasn’t just their wild imaginations at work, even though there was probably an element of exaggeration on their parts.
As for why Mark Burnett didn’t show more of this footage, there could be any number of reasons. Perhaps the cameras simply didn’t capture the juiciest parts. Also, when the Season Two premiere was shown, it was not yet clear that Stacie would be accused of acting nuts, and perhaps they didn’t see fit to show the full extent of her behavior. Burnett may have felt that the choice clips they did show were sufficient to convey the extent of Stacie’s erratic doings.
Remember, air time is limited, and the viewers have made it clear that they want to see more of the boardroom scenes. This will necessitate cutting much of the actual action, even if it means sacrificing some of the juicier moments.
The episode only confirmed my belief that she acted high-strung for 5 seconds and the Murder of Crows decided that they would buy themselves more time at her expense. If she were that crazy Burnett would have been all over the scenes just like he showed Omarosa dicking around and then lying about being at work. Also, if she were that crazy the Murder of Crows would have complained to the producers that they were scared of her.
I like Jenn M. more and more. I think she would have said more if it wouldn’t have made her the next target.
I’m pretty sure the season is completed before the first episode airs – and that Burnett edits accordingly.
The explanation that the cameras weren’t there for “the worst of it” (whatever that might be) also seems odd – the cameras are there for pretty much everything, aren’t they? They certainly would have been for a team sitting around as a group like that.
I see your point, but a little perspective here. We’re talking about a guy (Trump) who doesn’t know a Ouija board from a Magic 8-ball. He just doesn’t deal with things like this. He spends his life making business deals. For the rest of us who do things with our lives like watch TV, we are pre-primed with almost every kind of kookiness there is. If Trump did indeed see the clips, he might have thought Stacie was possessed by demons. He probably imagined the scene a year hence, with Stacie in charge of his company. There’s a meeting about the construction schedule. Suddenly, Stacie pulls out a crystal ball. Her eyes turn bright green, and she declares, “Hey! I’m over here! The spirits don’t want us to start this thing until the 15th.” I wasn’t a bit surprised that he fired her. Even if she was merely careless, it was the same sort of carelessness expressed by Bradford in giving up his immunity. Something fatal that could sink the company. The rest of the women were merely incompetent, and in time will drop out as well.
I think if they were more willing to show average, and even below average looking people - the candidates would be better. The main criteria for most of the women seems to be their appearance.
