He also hates people who say they won’t bring anyone to the boardroom, so the two that were fired we’re poster boys for Trump’s dislikes.
I get the feeling with some of them hat they’re relieved to go, that they can’t put up with all the crap much longer. I think I’d feel that way.
I didn’t see the previews; are they mixing up the teams next week?
In the early seasons of Apprentice, there were often no final board room because Trump would fire someone before asking them to bring two (or three) people back. Then, they realized people liked the final board room, so they’ve been consistently doing them even when there’s a clear choice who will be fired.
In Episode Three of the previous Celebrity Apprentice, Niki Taylor lost the task as Project Manager and took full responsibility. Niki was fired, but Trump didn’t punish their team with a second firing. There was no final board room.
So why would Trump fire Adam and Michael and keep Lou? Simply put, Lou’s ineptitude is good for ratings and people who dislike Lou may stay tuned to see his downfall. Michael is too “normal” to attract ratings, so he has to go before Lou. This week, they repeatedly bagged on Michael to setup his firing. And they played up Lou’s “potential” so Trump won’t look as idiotic when Lou’s incompetence comes to light next week. And they made it clear that Lou will step up next week, because the audience has a short attention span.
Adam is fired for showing up Trump. Trump likes to be the funniest, wittiest and most attention grabbing person in the room. He is none of these things with Adam around. When Adam casually tosses out the word “tumescent”, Trump can only respond with “huh?”
The men’s presentation was clearly superior. They were more knowledgeable and would have sold more Buicks than the women. If a real audience were surveyed about whether they want to buy a Verona after each of the presentations, the men would win hands down. They had Michael Andretti up on stage talking about the Buick, the women had Debbie Gibson (?) The women could not answer about the safety rating and didn’t say the name of the car right.
I suspect the scene with Lou dragging Paul out was intentionally edited to prolong the pauses. So in the end, if the Buick executives really chose Forte’s presentation based on Buick’s criteria, then the Buick guys are the ones to demonstrate true incompetence and therefore should be the ones to be fired.
Aubrey flat out said her sad story was a complete lie. I wouldn’t want to buy a Buick if their execs are okay with shadiness and lying to sell their cars.
The seventh grade, mean girl in me thinks that Debbie Gibson’s makeup looked awful. The adult in me is appropriately ashamed.
I think Adam was right - it was his idea, it was his execution, he was project manager - no one else should have gone home but him.
For the women’s team, if the project manager is making decisions in the car and you’re not in the car - you are marginalized and there’s not much you can do about it. Smaller teams would make a better show, perhaps, but that’s not the format.
Argh, frustrating episode. Even the rundown of the pros and cons seemed in the men’s favor; how they arrived at the conclusion that the women’s presentation was superior is beyond me.
And they fired one of the most compelling people on the show, Adam. If they let Penn go, I won’t have much reason to watch more.
I’ll join in with the chorus of those who can’t see how the women’s presentation was superior. As the show was progressing, I thought that the men’s idea was terrible and that they should have played it straight as most of them wanted to. When it came presentation time, I thought that it worked much better than the women’s attempt at humor with the notable exception of the “You suck” part. I think that the Buick guys had a hardon for the potential of having Andretti pushing their car and when they didn’t get enough of it, they let that cloud their judgement. The men’s use of Penn Gillette was brilliant IMHO.
The more that I watch this show the more that I think that at least a good portion must be staged. In these peoples own minds, they’re big stars. Some obviously more so than others. Do they get paid at all? Would a “big star” commit to 3-4 weeks of work knowing that their charity might end up getting nothing or perhaps “only” $20,000?
I really wanted Andretti to shout “I am not a brand! I am a human being! I am a man!”
I might have missed it but was there no 110% mentioned this week? Although I’d hate to see the men lose next week because I think they got shafted this week, I’d really like to see Lou go. The whole “don’t fight Lou because he’s a big guy” schtick is getting really old.
Me too. Except for the “ashamed” part. She is not an attractive woman.
Is it really bizarre that I’ve always kind of had a crush on Adam? He’s a very handsome man, and bright and – yes – witty.
I really hope Lou can stick around for a while longer, because he’s just so darned entertaining. What strikes me as very comical about Lou, besides the obvious face twitching and 110% giving, is how he always just latches on to whatever Trump’s critiques are and repeats them as his reasons for calling out other team members in the boardroom. He totally deserves the criticisms levelled at him by his team; sure, he wants to be “utilized”, but all he ever does is speak up about how he thinks he should be “big strong guy doing something”. LOL most tasks do not require this, Lou, show some range!
I was surprised at how vocal Penn was this week, in his immediate criticism of Adam.
I also agree that although in the planning stages of their respective presentations, I thought the women had the right idea, and Adam was going to be too in-your-face brash with the men’s, the Forte presentation was indeed superior, albeit not flawless (Paul/Lou was a ridiculous element).
I don’t recall “utilizing all the team members”, or whatever cockamamie thing Trump claimed the Buick folks had a problem with, being a part of the judging criteria for the task, as detailed by I think Ivanka, when the teams first met with the Trumps and the Buick guys and had the task assigned. I would not be surprised in the least if Trump arbitrarily made the women the winners.
The men, of course, were absolutely right in not having Andretti as the PM, and this was confirmed by the Buick assessment of him as lacking energy. Trump got it wrong this week, big time, and it was cool to see Forte basically calling bullshit on the loss.
I thought Carolla’s presentation was better, too, notwithstanding Andretti’s near-absence. But the one thing Trump got right was that Andretti was too quiet; Trump hates quiet (it doesn’t make for good TV). Don’t know if people have forgotten (including Trump), but Andretti wasn’t even supposed to be there, so was obviously not prepared for the whole deal in the first place. Not a big loss to have him gone, but Carolla will be missed.
Couple of things - though Trump did of course fire Carolla, he did give him the option of bringing two people back into the boardroom with him even after Carolla declined to name anybody prior to the announcement of the winners and losers. I thought that was a bit strange; I expected Trump to simply fire Carolla and be done with it, but then he obviously wanted Andretti gone as well, so couldn’t leave it at that. I believe had Andretti not been a factor in this task, Trump would have just fired Carolla.
Also, I was glad several of the guys actually stood up to Lou for his constant complaining of being under-utilized, essentially saying, “You have one thing to offer and we haven’t needed it, so step up or shut up.” Next week should be interesting for the big lug.
The men’s presentation wasn’t Buick. It may have been the better presentation (and I’m not sure I would give them that. The heckling didn’t work for me at all), but the entire style and tone were much less consistent with the Buick brand than the women’s was. I could see that winning with a different car brand - VW, perhaps? maybe Ford? but Buick doesn’t have a sense of humor - especially not about Buicks.
They also didn’t do what Trump told them to do (make Andretti the PM). Even if his idea is stupid and your idea is better, his ego doesn’t allow that not to be punished.
Didn’t see the first half, came in just in time for presentations, then the board room.
Trump once again demonstrated that he is the Biggest Dick. “Won’t play my game? I’ll show you. I’ll fire 2 people. So there.”
I love how he said “I hate firing people, especially when they did so well.” So he fired two people. Yep. You really showed us how much you hate firing people.
I know why Penn spoke up immediately. He disagreed with the take, he expected the Buick folks didn’t like “funny”, and he wanted to clearly state up front he disagreed. But once the decision was made, he did support it to the best of his ability to make their presentation the best he could. He sold the big guy in the little car bit. It was a great use of his size. Telling Trump at the beginning of the meeting fits with his style, the same way he told the others who he would take back to the boardroom if they lost before they went in. He’s playing straight up. “This is what I saw, this is how I felt, this was my opinion. It was Adam’s calls and we did what he wanted.”
I respect Adam for his response. He had the integrity to take responsibility for his efforts. It was mostly his concept, mostly his direction, and he was the one with the most face time of the presentation. Sure, Lou and Motorcycle Guy didn’t really do anything, but that didn’t lose them the presentation (though frankly that bit really sucked and hit a low note on their presentation).
Frankly, it does feel like the men lost basically because Trump wanted Andretti to PM and he didn’t. Frankly, firing Andretti was the best move of the night. He hasn’t really contributed anything. Yes, he should have stepped up to PM this one, even if he used Adam or someone else to help him host. I think they did hold it against the men that Andretti was there but took a back seat to even the technical discussions.
Adam was right, Andretti is just a driver, he’s not a public speaker and he’s not necessarily a salesman or pitch person. Use him for technical support on the ride and the feel and performance. Maybe to talk about equipment and engine. One way to make Andretti a bigger part would have been to play “infomercial host” and ask leading questions for Andretti to then “answer”. But that’s a quibble. Andretti was a last minute substitution, and he has mostly just been along for the ride. At least Lou wants to contribute. Get rid of the dead weight. Too bad Adam is gone, but he took that hit himself, by having full creative control and most of the presentation. There really isn’t anyone else to blame.
Sure, he could have pulled Lou and Andretti to the board room and said “Hey, I don’t think we failed, and I thought our presentation was better. I think you’re just upset that Andretti didn’t PM it, so if you’ve decided to fire one of us this week, then here are the two weakest members of our team. Lou doesn’t offer anything, then complains in the boardroom that he’s under utilized. Michael doesn’t really do anything but show up, and you think he should have PM’d this task but he didn’t step forward. So these are the weakest two, make your pick.” That would have been the gamesmanship way to stay in the game and try to make team “Unanimous” better. But instead he took the “integrity” route, said “This presentation was 90% me, so if it failed it’s my fault, and I’m not going to point the finger at anyone else. I take responsibility.”
I guess we see what Trump feels about integrity.
Trump is going to continue to grill them before annoucing the winning team, because he wants to stir up as much controversy as possible. If he just announces the winning side, then he loses half the drama. Instead, he picks apart both teams, then announces the winner, so he can then go after the losing team harder. Yeah, it’s calculated.
For certain celebrities, the publicity from appearing on reality TV is most definitely worth it. Taking Carolla as an example, he gets flown to New York, spends a week on the show and might parlay this into bigger ratings for his podcast (translating into ad revenue for himself) and potential deals on future shows in TV, etc. This is why Carolla and other celebrities takes the time to appear on talk shows, etc. to promote themselves.
If you’re going to bring up respecting the Buick brand, then you have to ding the women worse for lying and not knowing stuff about the car they’re pitching, including the name of the car. If I was the Buick exec, I would make it clear to Trump and the producers that if they give the win to the women’s team, Buick would immediately pull their ads for the episode. As an exec, I have to protect my brand and not have it associated with a scatter-brained mess that plays loose with the facts. Giving the women the win implies that Buick preferred that sort of sales pitch, which damages the Buick brand and makes me question their ads.
I agree that Trump is a complete blow-hard. His insistence that Andretti had to be the PM was weak and completely wrong-headed. If the Trump organization bases its decisions on this type of thinking and not facts grounded in reality, this week’s episode damages the Trump brand, too.
I do think the men tried to do an honest presentation of the Buick product. Andretti can honestly say he likes the styling, but he’d be lying if he made the car out to perform like a Ferrari or if he had a bunch of fake enthusiasm during the presentation. Does anyone actually think Andretti is impressed by the test drive?
There has to be some compensation to the celebrities (or their charities) that we are not seeing.
$20k-50k per week for a two hour network show doesn’t seem like much when its compared to a syndicated show like Jeopardy who gives away about $100K each week for 2.5 hours of non-primetime TV.
C.A. is getting two hours of Sunday night Primetime Network TV. There has to be more in the kitty than the ~30K that they give away each week. (and the 250K at the finale).
IMO C.A. is not giving (back) 110%.
At that, look at what we are seeing: showing the charity on national television is like a commercial right there, isn’t it? Why, just look at them in action as he hands 'em the check! You maybe didn’t even know this charity existed, and now you’re watching a celebrity spokesman talk about who they are and what they do!
I think s/he’s asking about the celebs who don’t win, which is the majority of them.
“The execs wanted to see more of you, Michael”
“Michael, you’re not a very good speaker”
Hey Trumps, you can’t have it both ways.
Yes, (“he”, BTW) but The Other Waldo Pepper does bring up a good point. At least the charities are getting some exposure that they might not have gotten otherwise. At some point, ISTM, that they all mention what charity they’re playing for. Although, if I heard Andretti mention his charity at some point this season, I have no idea what it is. I’m sure it’s on the CA website but I don’t think most people would be interested enough to go find out.
I missed that part. Were the execs aware that she lied? Also, her lie would have been about her mother being in an accident. She clearly said that if her mother had had an accident in the Buick Verano (Verona), then it would have had all those safety features like 200 airbags and inertial compensators and such (or whatever). She didn’t lie about the safety features, nor did she state her mother was in a Verano. Sure, it’s manipulative sentimentality. Was Buick ever aware of that?
I think you got the teams confused. Forte is the women, Unanimous is the men. If I’m not mistaking what you mean.
Uh, wasn’t it Buick who determined the winner? You see, they don’t get the program we see, they just get the bits of interaction they directly have and whatever product/program is produced for them. They judged largely on that presentation they saw, their reaction and the reaction of the crowd, and their perception from that program of what was best. So how are they going to turn around and tell Trump anything about pulling their advertising? Have they not seen the show? Do they not know how preposterous some of the advertising products come out? Are they not aware there is far more going on in the background than what they see, and the CA show will eventually air all sorts of ridiculous and petty crap from whomever they decide won? I think you do not have a clear understanding of the process. If they were worried with their brand being associated with the scatterbrained mess, they wouldn’t agree to team up with CA in the first place. Clearly the publicity they get out of being a sponsor far outweighs any negatives that come from the contestants doing a lousy job, or the show revealing things they weren’t aware of when they judged the product they received.
From one perspective, I see Trump’s point. Whomever wins the CA is going to have to be PM at some point. Here is probably the closest thing to a challenge that is in Andretti’s [del]ballpark [/del] racetrack. If Andretti won’t take the lead on a car project, what task would he take the lead on? Is he going to be a stronger manager on a task selling fashions? Hotels? Dishwashing liquid? Trump all but declared up front “Michael Andretti, you should lead this project”. The fact that Andretti didn’t take this task essentially means he is unprepared to lead any task, and thus does not deserve to remain in the contest. That’s one of the few reasonable things Trump did in this episode.
I wouldn’t expect him to lie, but he didn’t do a lot of talking, even about the technical merits. Adam largely did that. Now part of it is that Adam kinda hogged the limelight a bit, didn’t exactly give Andretti much time/space to reply. It almost seemed Adam talked over him, or interrupted before he could say much. To that extent, Adam is at fault for not using Andretti, but Andretti is at fault for being such a pushover. Andretti didn’t assert himself or his opinions, he didn’t assert his replies and let Adam walk over him. That, I think, is a fair criticism from the Buick folks. Here is race car driving legend Michael Andretti talking about the Buick Verano, except he’s not talking, he’s just standing there and nodding his head and looking glassy-eyed while this comedian is doing all the talking. I can see ways to have made Andretti a larger part of the presentation, even if he isn’t normally a public speaker or salesman. Use the talents of the professional performers to coach and guide and draw out Andretti, but use Andretti as the “voice”. YMMV.
Do you have some justification other than opinion? What does it take to produce the show? What expenses are there in the hotel rooms for the competitors, the vehicles, the travel around New York, the expenses for hiring models for various bits? Surely there are costs we don’t see, in excess of what a studio show like Jeopardy spends. Like last year when Def Leppard and the Harlem Globtrotters were assigned to the teams. I don’t think they donated their participation. For them, it was a paying gig.
Yes, you’re right, I did. Thanks!
She lied about her mother’s accident I think. And it never was revealed if the execs knew. My guess is that they didn’t.
And I found her story cheesy as hell. <sniff><sniff>My mother got in a horrible accident <tear><switch to sales mode>Which wouldn’t have been so bad if she had been driving in the new Buik Verano.
Made me think of the Simpsons where Krusty squanders his credibility to shill for the Canyonero.
If I were the Buick exec, I would feel a need to ask Aubrey if the story was true, because it was awfully fishy.
I’m pretty sure the execs were aware of the name of their car.
I’m pretty sure the execs noticed the women could not answer the first question out of the gate.
I went back and checked what the executives said. They wanted to “change perceptions” about the Buick brand and to “break the mold” by introducing a new product to a new customer segment. Don Trump stated the criteria for the challenge is 3 parts: Informational Content, Brand Messaging and Overall Creativity.
Don said the two Buick execs will decide the winner based on those three criteria. (Note this is the viceroy son “Don” and not the elder Donald Trump)
The women failed on branding by saying the wrong car name. The women failed on informational content during Q&A. We’re left with “overall creativity”. A subjective category, but do you really think “Love Your Reflection” and a big sign with the single word “Thoughtful” spells a win here? I think Don said the execs did not like “Love Your Reflection”.
So I cry foul. Either the Buick execs saw a completely different presentation or they were high on drugs and think their car shares a name with a city in Northern Italy or they were wildly incompetent or they did not judge this contest.