My guess is that Trump is probably much more clued in than the editing would make it seem or than he lets on in some of the boardrooms.
Remember Omarosa’s meltdown when she tried to tell DT that she had suffered a “concussion” that had affected her performance?
Trump dismissed her histrionics and said, “you got hid on the head with a tiny piece of plaster.”
He had no previously mentioned the Omarosa beaning or let on that he knew about it so this leads me to believe that he probably knows more than we see. Because of the “Crazy Stacy” firing, though, I think he may not see all the tapes or really get debriefed until after the week’s firing.
So, my guess is that while he may not have all the info on the current week’s events, I think he gets filled in afterwards and so generally has a sense of what has been going on in previous weeks.
George isn’t a financial muckamuck, he’s a lawyer and an Exec VP and senior counsel for Trump Org. When he’s travelling, it’s undoubtedly to work out a contract issue with one of Trump’s myriad projects.
That’s an interesting point. Andy has been good at avoiding confrontations, so we haven’t seen too much of how he handles them. I actually think that Andy would have dealt with the situation if he were PM not by “standing up” to her as much as by benching her or something. I do have some confidence that he would have found a way to neutralize her, which is the important thing.
But the problem with Andy thus far (as I’ve said, and apparently The Donald agrees) is that he only takes leadership if it has been officially assigned to him. He asserted himself when they were deciding who would be the task leader (last week?) and he wanted a chance at it, but then stepped back into a “follower” role. A lot of that might have been intimidation at being so obviously the youngest and least experienced, however. I hope that winding up in the final 6 will give him more confidence.
Someone upthread mentioned that he seems to be the only one who is actively learning and changing based on what he hears and sees in the boardroom. Good point. A young and inexperienced person who is motivated to learn and willing to change is more valuable than a young and inexperienced person who thinks he already knows everything.
Didn’t Andy take it upon himself to bring in the “Goodfellas” contractors at the house renovation project, though? That was something he did without direction. So he can’t be said to never step up without being assigned responsibility. If he hadn’t brought those guys in, his team might not have finished their house, either.
Kelly was asked in the dog spa episode how many dogs he washed. He said 8 and it was only 4, and Trump said, “I hate people who exaggerate!” Kelly shut up after that. Granted, that’s not big, and Trump was being hyperbolic as usual, but it’s something.
The only negative thing Trump ever said about Jenn was that Chris should have brought her into the board room because he might have wanted to fire her, but she kept flying under the radar. That’s it. I’m inclined to believe that it was because he was giving Chris a hard time about making a really stupid board room decision and failing to learn at all from the past mistakes of his predecessors in that seat, not out of any real desire to fire Jenn. In fact, I’m willing to bet Trump’s bottom dollar that there is 0% chance that Jenn would have been fired on that task. It was Chris’ firing all the way, predetermined the week before.
IMO, Jenn still smells like a rose to Trump. I also barely can see how she stole credit from Ivana, really. This is what she said in the presentation:
Levi’s Guy: How did you come up with this idea?
Jenn: We know that jeans are something that men and women have difficulty and problems in trying to find the perfect fit, so we’re gonna solve that problem by grabbing the customer at the door, we’re gonna be the first stop…It’s gonna help them interface and interact with the store clerk, they can go in there and actually say, this is what they’re looking for…What I’m looking for my jeans, what’s going to keep me coming back…
Kevin said that Ivana was the only person who could explain the idea and that Jenn shot in and stole Ivana’s credit. Ivana then said that she didn’t want to interrupt Jenn, but she had to because Jenn was saying the wrong things. Ivana said that the Levi’s guy gave them ideas for a really creative brainstorm, and they collaborated on the ideas.
OK, to tell me, where did Jenn steal credit there? Nowhere. She just offered her take on how Apex’s catalog would accomplish Levi’s goals. Can you blame her for not wanting to stand there silently while Mr. Sweaty and Ms. Intensity profused themselves out of a win? She had to jump in or risk being accused of slacking and doing nothing if they lost. She’s not stupid-- she’s seen it happen.
Trump asked Levi’s guy who he thought did the best job in Apex, and he picked Jenn because she was confident and balanced. OK-- he didn’t give her credit for creating the fit wheel, he just seemed to appreciate her self-assuredness and balance. That indicates that Ivana and Kevin were both totally incorrect; Kevin asserted that Ivana was the only person who could explain the wheel, and Ivana stated that Jenn was just saying the wrong things. WRONG. Levi’s guy obviously thought Kevin and Ivana came off as insecure and off-balance, which they both did seem to be at times during that presentation. Jenn, as usual, carried herself fabulously. She got credit for that and she said thank you. What else would you have her do? Ivana herself already said that they all created the wheel collaboratively, so Levi’s guy, not knowing who did what, liked Jenn for her personal carriage and delivery. End of story.
Sure, when Levi’s guy and Trump praised Jenn, she could have piped up and said something about Ivana and Kevin, but ask yourself, if the shoe were on the other foot, would either of them allocated credit elsewhere? Hell no. And frankly, I’m not sure Trump would have appreciated that chivalrous gesture. Look where chivalry got Bradford. Jenn has most definitely internalized the lesson about saying as little as possible to Donald Trump, only speaking when spoken to, and being direct as possible. She also learned that being a hero gets you nowhere, so just take whatever comes your way and dea with it as minimalistically as possible. That’s a sound strategy and it’s working for her. Don’t you think Carolyn would have said something (nasty) if she thought that Jenn was taking credit for something she didn’t do? The only people alleging a credit steal are Kevin and Ivana, and god knows the editing of the task was designed to make it look that way, but I don’t think that’s what actually happened.
Now, don’t get me wrong, while I feel badly that Ivana was not recognized enough for her excellent wheel idea (whose execution was a bit weak, IMO and the Levi’s guy’s), I think Kevin and Ivana’s bitching is 80% sour grapes. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
My call for Final Four is Kelly, Jenn, Kevin, and Andy. Top two? No idea.
Who will get brought back for the final task? Last year it was the last 6 fired. That means Wes and Maria will be back, right? That should be, ahem, interesting.
For the last time, JThunder, I am not saying that they deliberately ditch George. Nobody is saying there are Machiavellian machinations at work to keep George out of some episodes. I am saying that they don’t make any special effort to keep him available. I’m not sure why you’re so hellbent on arguing a point I’m not making, but whatever.
Masonite, I quit being able to tolerate five minutes of Wes the first episode, when he was drinking champagne from the bottle (as someone else said, he should have had his lips severed) and talking about the men dominating the women. Getting trapped in a cab with Maria and her incessantly twitching eyelids of doom couldn’t have happened to a more deserving Apprentice, imo. Well, maybe Ivana. I really hate her, too.
“For the last time”? CrazyCatLady, this is the ONLY post in which you’ve asserted this unambiguously. This may be the “last time” in which you say such a thing, but it’s also the very first one.
In fact, you’ve only posted twice on this topic, and what you said the first time around was (and I quote),
No offense, but when you say that he gets “shuttled off,” it’s rather hard to interpret that as anything but a delibrate act of removing him from the scene.
You also said, “I think that a lot of George’s meetings could be moved to New York or rescheduled if they b]really** wanted him there for the show” (emphasis added)." Again, I’d like to ask if you have any special knowledge or insight into George’s work schedule or priorities. If not, then on what basis do you make this rather strong assertion?
Now, we could quibble about whether you meant that George is deliberately shuttled off, or whether they just don’t make any real effort to keep him on the show. If you say that you meant the latter, then fine. Either way, it’s rather absurd (and a bit distasteful) to insist that this is what’s happening, when it’s perfectly plausible that George simply has more pressing duties that cannot be readily rescheduled.
I always wonder, when the contestants are sitting at home watching themselves on TV, what they think? You know that Maria, for instance, is ranting about how the editing is unfairly portraying her as a control freak, etc. – but is she as bothered by the blinking thing as we are? Is she going to go ahead and pop for Lasik, since the contact lenses clearly aren’t working for her?
Media update: Full-page NBC Apprentice ad in the November Vogue – right before the main editorial section begins (p. 341). Yes, this is the same issue as the eight-page layout that I reported on a week or two ago. (I apparently am the only magazine junkie here, eh?) Anyway, it has The Donald, with pink tie and full combover (no, really, even more so than usual) scowling at the camera from a boardroom chair, flanked by the unsmiling but not hostile George and Carolyn. The slogan: “ONE SHOW TRUMPS THEM ALL.” At the bottom: The Apprentice/New Season/ 9/8 Thursdays NBC." Hmm, gotta wonder what kind of tit for tat (I was thinking about saying “quid pro quo,” but let’s call a tit a tat, shall we?) was involved between Vogue, NBC, Burnett, and the fashion industry on all of this.
Said tit for tat is much less obliquely on display in the ad on the inside back cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly (“50 Best TV Shows on DVD”): An ad for the Levi’s/JC Penney/Apprentice Sweepstakes. It’s one of the “butt print” ads – and the butt in question is that of Melania Knauss, “Model/Apprentice Guest Star.” Heh.
Actual editoral content in this issue includes:
[ul][li]EW’s suggestions for improving the show, as one of four shows receiving said advice. Their recommendations: lighten up on product placement – heeeeeeeee – and “stop relying on unstable hotheads and find the aggressive yet appealing candidates (Rupert, Charla) we all know exist.”[/li][li]A brief piece by Dalton Ross on whether Burnett has any say in the firing: Burnett says absolutely no way, and he’s shocked – shocked! – that NBC is still running the disclaimer that Trump discusses firings with the producers and NBC.[/ul][/li]
[sub]Disclaimer:In addition to reading magazines and watching reality TV, twicks reads actual books – occasionally one with multi-syllabic words or even footnotes.[/sub]
Another example of Andy’s good instincts was when he told Wes that they should wear Levi’s clothes to the presentation, and that other than Levi’s, the only choice was a business suit. Then when Trump and Melania show up, Melania’s wearing Levi’s and Trump is wearing a suit–the only two acceptable options, as stated by Andy. And then Wes gets slapped for not wearing Levi’s. Really, Andy does seem to be paying attention more than the rest of them.
And it’s funny that in all of our discussion, we haven’t said much about Melania. I guess there’s not much to say. She seems pretty cool, actually. I do like how she’s included in the show, but she’s not using the show as a big obvious vehicle to advance her own fame career. Of course, being involved in the show does make her more famous and all, but it’s not like she herself is a “product placement”–even more notable in light of the fact that Trump uses the show to heavily promote his enterprises, and more than that, to promote his own bad self.
(I was kind of bored with this season up until now, but since the last episode, I’ve been really interested. Prior to this past week, we still seemed to be in the mid-show slump where there are too many doomed contestants hanging around. But with the firing of inert Wes and uber-bitch Maria, the balance has suddenly shifted. Cool.)
I was shopping on Michigan Ave this weekend and saw the Apprentice ad although Jenn was making some weird pouty face in the ad…I don’t think she looked as pretty as she really is.
God, both Maria and Ivana are such cheeseball cheerleaders with their presentation styles. I come across some of these women at lawschool as well (and I go to, by rankings, a pretty good lawschool)…they’re obviously brainy (well Maria I dunno but Ivana gives off the impression of a brain somewhere underneath all that desperately high-lighted hair) but they talk and act like bimbos as though Legally Blonde were actually real life scenario and everyone will think they’re wicked smart in the end and not flaky bimbos. The brainy ditz thing doesn’t work beyond a certain level…it was a star vehicle for Reese Witherspoon!
I think Jenn’s a cold bitch but I was sort of impressed with her ability to credit-steal. I mean, isn’t that what M.B.A.'s/CEO’s do? Take the credit for someone else’s creativity? I’m related to scads of MBAs and they’re always joking about how their job is just riding high on the success of managing smart people who actually work. And my “managing,” they mean “taking credit for the success of.”
Sometimes, yes. A capable MBA or CEO, however, does not have to take credit for someone else’s work. He or she has plenty of laurels to claim for his or her own.
We haven’t had a dig at Omarosa for a while, so, here’s one:
On the NBC web site, they now have Heidi doing commentary as well as Omarosa. Heidi’s review on this episode (#11) was there this morning when I checked (though, worthless commentary as she shamelessly hides her contempt for most of the candidates (or perhaps, that’s edited out for libel fears)).
No one could accuse Jenn of being a moral role model, but she’s not interviewing for Habitat for Humanity here. When has a little ruthlessness ever proved a stumbling block in business?
Please. They can either meet her on her own calculating terms or whine themselves right into the boardroom. That seems to be Ivana’s MO, for the most part.