That was all kinds of awesome! The quote the article was based on, summed up the show for me.
I’ve only been watching for 3 or 4 episodes. I don’t remember watching an entire apprentice show before until now. At first, I was thinking that it was supposed to be based on management principles. But that didn’t make sense. No one would run a company like that. Then I thought it was based on some rule set. But that didn’t make sense. All the decisions have been based on different rule sets for even the 3 or 4 shows I’ve seen. Knowing that the decisions are based on what makes the most absurd situations for the best tv viewing makes the most sense. Saying that outright would make the whole thing less entertaining, so the overlay of the pretense is really what’s amusing.
What’s up with that cranky old man who looks like Dick Cheney? I LOVE him! I giggled for about 20 seconds straight when he said Aubrey’s skyscrapers looked like a car grill. Hil-flippin-arious.
So yes, Aubrey’s display sucked, and I’m not just saying that because I don’t like her. The display was ugly to look at, and she was selected as the victor solely for the show’s narrative. This is a fact.
Also, I’m torn over how I feel about (yet another) one of Trump’s dumb ass comments, asking Clay’s team if they had considered using Lisa as the model. Har har har, you sexist douche, never one to let a single opportunity to make sniping. judgmental comments about women’s physical appearances pass. On the other hand, Lisa’s a bitch, so if that comment (basically “Dayana’s beautiful; you’re ugly”) got under her skin, I might just have to live with it. Let’s just say Trump’s completely ridiculous question was uncalled for (even the cunitiest of cunts should be jabbed at for their cuntery, and not their looks) but I’m not going to cry too much about it.
That was the great George Ross, who used to be one of the regular advisors to Trump in the boardroom before he replaced him with Don and Ivanka and before, when the show was about business.
Aubrey’s display was hideous, but it really was Trump’s style. It definitely had that tacky, shinny aesthetic he loves.
Nice to see George back on the show. Back in the day, it was Trump, with Carolyn and George as viceroys. They did a decent job of making the show somewhat related to business principles. I do, however, wonder what trend George is trying to kick off with his tie hanging down to his nutsack.
Aubrey’s display reeked of seventh grade dance backdrop. I half expected preteens to queue up next to it in zoot suits with toy tommy guns. Hideous!
I agree it was a mercy win for her charity - as it’s patently ridiculous for anyone to have survived this long on the show and to have not won one red cent for your charity. Clearly Trump et al wanted to justify her survival somewhat to set up the Aubrey-Clay finale.
I realized how plastic looking Aubrey is yesterday. Fake tan, fake boobs, fake hair, fake eyelashes… she looked like a mannequin. Dayana, on the other hand, is just beautiful. Oddly enough, Lisa isn’t a gnarled old shrew, either. She’s just an average looking middle aged woman - amazing how placid she looks when she’s not in a spit-flecked rage over Dayana breathing.
While I agree Aubrey’s display was inferior I do think their slogan was better by a long shot. I also think Clay not having a takeaway was a huge minus
I cant decide if Dayana is getting the axe next week or not.
The previews make it look like she is but on the other hand we know how previews are so misleading…
But even if I think Dayana wont win this I do hope she will outlast Lisa.
Did they mention presentation was part of the task? I remember branding and display but I don’t remember them mentioning they should have a speech and swag.
Where “they” means Donald Trump. Yeah, his reasoning for not firing Clay was tortured. Cleary Trump just wanted to keep him.
It’s about who will make the most “drama” to draw the most viewers. Anyone who thinks that the show has the slightest thing to do with business competence or any other kind of competence really hasn’t watched it. Ultimately, it all just comes down to Trump’s whims.
Penn nicely summed it up in his limo exit: “I can tell you the rules of chess, but I can’t tell you the rules of Celebrity Apprentice. That’s what’s beautiful about it.”
Yeah, too “pompous” for Trump? Trump puts the pompous in pompadour. You want the brand to fit Trump, pompous is the way to go. Get his pouty face and hideous combover and the slogan “You Earned It!” Awesome!
Reminded me of that commercial for that bank that said: “We make money the old fashioned way - we earn it.”
I totally see Penn’s point with the slogan. You worked hard, you earned your success, you earned the right to smell nice with Success.
I was highly amused when the execs said “It’s a pity we can’t take parts of each one.” BUT YOU CAN! That’s the beauty, you can remake whatever you want out of this. You have the source materials, I’m sure. Take the handouts and stink sticks just as they are, grab Aubrey’s slogan, and then paste that onto the image of Dayana and the tie, sized appropriately. Take Clay’s teams display box and tweak it to integrate the chosen slogan better. Bingo! Killer display, with all the features you liked from both.
Penn admits he got burned out by it all. I genuinely see him trying not to be overbearing and … what was the word? He is polite, he didn’t throw a fit at Clay for bringing him back to the boardroom, he hasn’t thrown any tantrums. The worst we got was that one tiff with Clay, which they worked through.
Penn was very creative. He came up with the bulk of that plan. He conceptualized it, he framed it. He came up with the slogan, which didn’t seem bad to me. With the word success, it has the right feel of credit to the one it’s due. Clay pointed out Penn’s problem, he has an idea, he pitches it, then repitches it, and continues to advocate for it. Clay kinda felt like Penn was shutting down the brainstorming process, so rather than fight the tide, he accepted the idea and worked to make it great. And it really did seem great.
Clay’s team’s flaws were not integrating the slogan into the work, picking a slogan the judges decided seemed pompous, not doing fliers, and not being prepped for the presentation.
So fliers weren’t specified as a requirement. But it’s an in-store display. Have the product display to actually buy some, but also have fliers in case they want to think about it. And even though the task was to create the display, there’s something of an unwritten rule in business that when you present the display, you do some sort of presentation about the display, describing your design choices and what it means. It’s a the sales pitch of the sales pitch, as it were. Describe why you picked buildings, how the bottles represent windows. Have Penn describe the choice of the slogan, why “You earned it” is a testament to the point of success. Success is something you achieve through effort, and it is the reward for hard work. Success is rarely given, it is earned. So Success is also earned. With Penn’s sales pitch, he probably could have brought them around, or at least tempered their objection to the slogan.
Aubrey’s fliers were great. The sample sticks were a great idea - who came up with that? Is that original? I know magazine ads have long included samples, but do store displays do that? Her slogan idea of “Trust Your Instincts” was great, cemented by Clay finding the video. Using the man’s own words was well-chosen.
Aubrey’s idea of having “a young Trump looking up at his success” wasn’t very good. It was pretty lame in concept, and even worse in execution. None of the execs understood it, and George Ross was awesome - “That doesn’t look like Donald, that looks like Eric.”
From the version we saw, Aubrey suggested “Trust your instincts” as something she remembered him saying somewhere. Then Arsenio found a video with the words “Always trust your instincts”. So she did come up with it first, if the edit we saw can be believed.
Arsenio says he found an alternate version that said something about trusting your gut, but we didn’t see anything about that. He says that was what he preferred, but Aubrey went with the instinct version. Which I can see Aubrey having already thought that opting to stay with her choice. But I think instincts probably is the better word choice.
To be fair, I can totally see Penn getting told the task and not knowing what to do, but then after having more time to reflect and more information from the task managers coming up with an idea. I don’t think he was being a jerk.
Yes, Aubrey is that conniving. But did you also notice all the execs seemed to see through her ruses. Eric commented that when she said Arsenio wasn’t being creative he found it hard to believe. None of them seemed taken in by the use of Eric as a “young Donald”, and seemed to see through her pandering by using Eric.
Yes, she has gotten ignored, dismissed, and downright insulted repeatedly. Yet she manages to maintain so much composure and elegance. This time, once again, there was no reason for her to be in that boardroom, except Clay was supposed to pick a third person, and he didn’t want to pick Lisa. I’m still trying to figure out what Lisa contributed to this task, specifically. Penn did the conceptual work, Penn worked the camera, Clay did PM and such, Dayana contributed ideas and she was the model and she offered up ideas for handouts. What did Lisa do?
With all the other cramp from Trump, this is a freckle in a sea of pimples.
Yes, Trump thinks it is the height of funny to suggest Lisa should have been the model. That’s exactly the kind of thing I expect out of his mouth.
I’m sorry to see Penn go, but with the results scored the way they were, it is difficult. He pushed his idea very hard, and didn’t leave much room for alternatives to be suggested. Clay could conceivably be faulted as PM, both for the slogan and for the lack of handouts and for the poor presentation. I wish Penn had spoke up, but I suspect Penn was burned out and wanted to leave.
I’m a little annoyed with Clay for his treatment of Dayana as well. He dismissed her idea without really understanding it. Do I think having Dayana shirtless with the tie, even if they didnt’ show her full breasts, would fit the branding wanted? No. But it wasn’t quite like she was suggesting a full frontal shot, either, which Clay made it seem. And when she made another suggestion, her accent made it hard to understand. Can’t fault Clay for that, but his method of asking for clarification didn’t come out that well.
I suppose Dayana is going to get fired soon, simply because nobody likes her ideas and Trump is now looking for an excuse.
The problem with the slogan I have is that the Execs specifically told them they were trying to go after the 20 and 30 year old age range, and “You’ve earned it!” sounds more like it is aimed at 50 and older. Pompous was a dumb word, especially with respect to Trump, but I think the word stodgy fits.
Ooh, Dayana is really good at getting her picture taken. Color me unimpressed.
And I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that Aubrey’s display was miles and miles behind the other one in terms of appeal. I thought her display was too tacky for a Dollar General.
I even thought “You earned it” was a really good slogan. Too pompous? I think the Macy’s execs forgot it was for Trump. And that the name of the freakin’ cologne is SUCCESS for cryin’ out loud.
Did everyone know Clay is a grown ass man? He’s used that line in at least two or three episodes so far. First time was with Penn.
I Just hit the mute button on Lisa’s boardroom tirade. Geez that woman is something. If this doesn’t get her fired than nothing will. I’m actually hoping her team did lose just so she can be fired. I’m sure Trump must appreciate the importance of someone showing respect and following what the Project Manager wants. That’s the most basic employer/employee relationship there is.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH, why am I watching this trainwreck?
I think Lisa is right, Dayana is worthless. But I absolutely cannot stand the bullying! This drama has gone for 30 minutes and we still haven’t hear what team has won.
I agree. It’s not a real job, and Dayana would fill the position of classy yes-person so much better than Lisa. So, I hope it’s Lisa but I don’t think it will be.
