Chris dodged the bullet for this week – but he’s on Trump’s shit list for sure.
And Raj – asking for Robin’s phone number? Tacky!
Ivana lives for another day, how bizarre. I’m glad Kevin got to stay.
Poor, poor Raj. I almost shed a tear, but then I realized it was just gas.
His mistake was pretty glaringly obvious. Even I said, “What?” when he wanted to
change the floorplan of the house. He should have listened to hot girl and good guy.
Chris sticks his head in the noose, and Raj refuses to take the hint pull the trapdoor.
Ivana, you are such a catty bitch. You babysat Raj, my ass. Picking on Stacie J was so uncalled for. I hope your next week is hell.
Raj, how 'bout keeping it in your pants for one episode of this show?
I agree with not bringing in Chris. He didn’t do anything wrong, and the blaming the victim crap from Trump and Carolyn really got up my craw.
I think if Raj didn’t stick by his original decision, he’d feel like he lost integrity.
That being said… Calling Ivana “dear” and asking Robin for her number? Sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. Couldn’t have happened to a bigger gentleman.
Raj is not my favorite person in the world, but I don’t think he deserved to get fired. It should have been either Chris(for opening his big, stupid mouth) or Ivana.
Wasn’t Ivana the one who messed up so bad, the week Stacie J. got fired? She’s got some karma coming for that.
What did Chris hope to gain by dissing his team? We didn’t hear anyone complain about his performance this week (did we? I forgot already), unless it’s in footage we didn’t see.
Was disappointed in Kevin backpedaling on the contractor. He started out strong, owning up to recommending the guy,.
Didn’t both teams put in new bathrooms? Was one job easier because it was just an upgrade?
And finally, those houses would sell here in rural Iowa for about $60-70K. I don’t know how people in urban areas manage.
Lesson from the task: Keep good control of your contractors, making sure that they stay on target to meet the management triad: That they deliver the agreed upon product with the agreed upon quality, on the agreed upon schedule, at the agreed upon price. That upstairs bathroom should have been completed on time!
Lesson from the firing: Hoo boy, so much to say here. If there’s a weak spot on your team, go after it ruthlessly. Raj should have come down hard on Kevin for promoting the contractor. Raj also should have acted to eliminate Chris’s badmouthing of the team. And what did Ivana do on this task that was so weak? I didn’t see much of her, so I can only assume she was busy working on the house. In summary, business is no place to be a gentleman.
I was hoping that Ivana would get fired, but Raj earned this one. As Trump said, he just made too many mistakes.
Way to go, Chris, for talking yourself into the hot seat. Carolyn smacked you down very well, telling you to fix your own d— team. If you lose next week, make sure to pack the Trump Tower soaps, because you won’t be coming back.
Is anyone else starting to get really bad feelings about Blond Jen?
She’s doing an awful lot of manipulation behind the scenes. Like this week, selling Raj on the idea of jumping all over Ivana. (And I believe she’s done similar ‘counseling’ to other project leaders in the past.)
Also, didn’t she offer to lead the attack on Ivana in the Board room? But then she didn’t.
Nice way to set things up: You get the guy who is one of your top competitors to bring in an ‘unworthy target’ (and not so incidentally NOT bringing you) and then don’t back him up. If the target goes, fine. If not, he likely goes because by now they’ve all learned DT gets pissed when leaders play favorites with who they bring with them.
Heads you win, tails you win, standing on edge you win.
And I think DT missed the point of what Ivana was trying to say: she wasn’t trying to put down Stacie, she was trying to point out that Jenn was duplicitous: saying in the boardroom that Stacie did great work when earlier she’d had complaints.
Actually, Auntie Pam, I think it was Maria who made the huge printing budget mistake on that task. Ivanna just helped her conceal it from the PM.
Crass is completely correct, really. If they don’t get past the bullshit and playing like a team, they’re just going to lose and lose and lose. Pretty damn stupid of him to say it in the Boardroom, though. A)Trumpie ain’t gonna like anybody badmouthing the team. Rather than getting points for being insightful and confronting issues (which I’m sure is what Crass was shooting for), he’s just painting a big ol’ target on his chest. B) Carolyn is entirely correct; he should spend far more effort trying to fix the team than telling Trump and the Viceroys how bad things are. C) By choosing that time and place to bring this up, he’s just pissing off his teammates by making the lot of them look bad in front of Trump. Not good for team unity, dumbass. Money can apparently buy Rolex Penisdentials, but not brains.
I had a bad feeling about Raj’s extra bathroom as soon as he started babbling his prententious, stumbling Raj concept-speak at the contractor. He came across as a blithering idiot who didn’t know a claw screwdriver from a Phillips hammer–as a sucker, in other words. Just like any other service industry, contracting and construction has plenty of folks willing to put the screws to the suckers and the blithering idiots. If Raj had come across as having his shit together and knowing what he wanted, I don’t think he would have had nearly so many problems with the guy. As it was, they sat there with way too much work to do and not nearly enough time to do it, eating a slow, leisurely lunch while Raj fussed at them. The whole time, they were looking at him the same way I look at the little yap dogs who hurl themselves at the doors of the kennel, barking and snarling, when you walk past–that look said, “Bitch, please. We are so not going there, so just sit down and stfu already.”
Aye, mateys. Abandon ship! Someone has put a torpedo into the Raj Ratings. Weird episode this week. I was planning something election themed here, but the show was oddly…empty I guess. There was little of exciting consequence, nothing truly mind-blowing (short of Raj hitting on Robin and no blowing was going on there). The show just sort of happened. They give me little to work with this week, so I’ll be a little briefer than normal. Let’s just say my analysis will be a little more George Bush and a little less John Kerry.
Edmund Fitzgerald - or, Gone with no hope of returning
Bradford, Stacie J., Rob, Pamela, John, Jenn C., Stacy R., Elizabeth
Wow Rob, you were pumped. Utterly forgettable, but pumped. Stacie had a bit of redemption but you still sort of suck. Jenn C’s orgasmic delight in the helicopter is all the funnier considering her post-show foibles. And Bradford. You provided great TV when fired, but I get the feeling that great moment was a bit of a waste because I think if you had stuck around you would have been one of the more fascinating ones to watch. I blame you for Ivana still being a boil on the ass of this show.
Raj (Dry Dock) – This was deserved. It is nice to not have the firing be the result of a team witch hunt. How the heck did the contractor get away with that bathroom? Did no one ever go upstairs? I was actually pretty sure the home would go down in value because that was pretty awful. Also. Never, ever wear shorts again. Your dorkitude clearly knows no bounds. One hint. Hiring the contractor who has a blinking style that makes Maria look catatonic is not the way to go.
Titanic - or, Dead in the water, just waiting for the cargo class to drown
Sandy (Bismarck) - You won, but I just get the feeling you aren’t good. Next week does seem tailor made for you, but it’s probably a trap episode that will send you down in flames. Also, you look different in every shot. Can your morph?
Ivana (Dry Dock) - You have now been called out as a weak link and that does not bode well. I have this odd feeling you will slip through to the final 4, but you really offer very little. I think your next PM role is your last.
Bismarck - or, probably sinking, but it will take a couple more blows
Chris (no change) – Bold but dumb move. It’s good to stand out before Trump, but that was a bad way to do it. He’ll remember the bad timing more than the words you said and he will associate your leadership as a do or die scenario more now. And you running a bridal challenge? Bad things, man.
Stuck in dry dock - or, Who are you? Are you on this show? This level now represents those in transition from weak to strong.
Wes. (No change) – Your team was pretty much non-existent this week. Maybe that’s why the episode felt odd. Too much time was spent on reward and pre board room positioning. Give us more task dynamics. But good job avoiding crummy voiceovers this week. Oh yeah, this was supposed to be about Wes.
Maria (No change) – The George replacement that sounded like the bastard child of Elmer Fudd and Mushmouth had more airtime this week.
Andy (Titanic) – I’ll give you the big jump of the week. You did nothing wrong after a PM win so you have a bit of wriggle room. Although next week does look a little dicey.
HMS Pinafore - or, Some singing, some dancing, some tragedy. Overall, not too bad.
Jenn M. (Queen Mary II) – You clearly want to kick butt and take names. That’s good if you do well, but makes a small error seem larger. But, if your biggest enemy is Ivana, you have little to worry about. You are still able to avoid the final boardroom which may cost you in the end.
Kevin (Queen Mary II) – If Raj wasn’t so oddly ineffective as PM, you would have been gone this week. But, you aren’t and you seem to be sane. Of course this is reality TV which tends to reward the type of person who would wear underwear on his head and call it a new paradigm.
Queen Mary II - or, Leader of the Pack, vroom vroom
Kelly (No change) – Not because you had a great week. Rather, I can’t penalize because you were never really shown.
It’s close enough to the end that I should pick a final 4. I’ll go Kevin, Kelly, Jenn M., and Andy. I think the shakiest is actually Jenn M. There will be at least one woman and she is clearly the class of the group, but I just get the feeling one of the weaker ones will make it.
Next week? I think Sandy really screws up her strenght and goes away. Or not. Just so long as they are able to avoid making it sound like Trump is overdubbing through Stephen Hawkings voicebox.
I don’t think she ever had the opportunity to go after Ivana. She understands that you only speak when spoken to in the boardroom, a lesson Chris would do well to learn. Makes me wish there was an extended boardroom on Saturday where more would be revealed.
I believe she actually wanted Raj not to get fired and thought that Ivana was the weakest link on the team. She was right, but she hasn’t learned that Trump won’t fire people just because they’re weak-- they have to do something that really ticks him off, whether it’s task relevant or not. Raj has been on DT’s shit list since the beginning, and he did screw up bigtime on this task. I also don’t see how he could have brought Jenn into the boardroom, since she vociferously opposed taking out the wall and making those two rooms into one. If he’d dragged her in, she’d have eaten his lunch.
I agree with this. Ivana was trying to make Jenn look like a hypocrite. I’m not sure if Jenn actually was or not. I felt like Jenn was pro-Stacie consistently from the very beginning, so Ivana may have been bullshitting here. I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s a weasel.
Jenn kinda reminds me of Amy, who managed to go very far without getting dragged into the boardroom. However, Jenn is much more of a straight-taking hardass than Amy. I’d like to see her or Kevin win this, though Kevin has had a few strikes against him. I think Jenn, Kevin, Kelly, and either Wes or Andy. Can’t wait until Maria, Ivana, Chris, and Sandy are gone. Were last year’s people as annoying this year’s?
I think she was telling Raj to go after Ivana, and she would back him up. When Raj first spoke in the boardroom, he only mentioned Kevin, and they cut to a shot of Jenn looking surprised, like she expected him to bring up Ivana as well. Then when Trump asked Jenn about the contractor, she said Kevin and Ivana pushed hard for him.
Mullinator – your recaps are definitely the highlight of my week! Another great summary – thanks.
Yesterday one of my underlings said she wanted to start a pool when we got to the last six. I said “I’m willing to put money right now on the fact that three of the final four will be Kevin, Kelly, and Jenn.” I’m not sure who the fourth will be – Andy or Wes, probably, as a couple of you have stated, since – well, since they’re in Mullinator’s Dry Dock. Where, BTW, I don’t think Maria belongs – that budget thing has not been forgotten, and when the time is right she. is. outta. there.
I’m wondering, how much of a hit did Apex take because the bathroom wasn’t completed? Would that have been enough to win?
Not to mention the carpet issues. I’m sure the “let’s make it 3 bedrooms instead of 4 bedrooms” idea was the kicker though.
Like Slacker said, I think the four bedrooms into three because Raj wanted to bust down a wall with his penis (was that the most transparent thing ever?) was the deciding factor on the actual value of the house. The smaller mistakes, like the bathroom and the carpet, were probably emotional hits.
I do think Raj’s team did wonderfully on the siding and the kitchen. The kitchen ceramic tiles made me drool. I want that kitchen. But the rest of the house was in shambles. Sandy’s house wasn’t complete either, but the work looked unfinished rather than done incorrectly.
I thought the obvious way to get a contractor to finish on time would be to negotiate a deal in which there would be a substantial financial penalty if the work wasn’t done on time, and a financial reward if it was. If the contractor wouldn’t agree to it, then go with another contractor who would.
I was surprised we didn’t hear about any negotiations like that, and I expected Trump to bring it up in the boardroom.
A good episode (despite featuring Denise Rich).
I liked the challenge quite a bit. I wish the shows were an extra half an hour so we could see more of the project. Who needs Will and Grace anymore anyway?
A few thoughts:
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Rubystreak offers a great lesson: Only speak when ABSOLUTELY necessary. This is so true. Whenever someone says the incredibly stupid phrase “There is one point I’d like to make…” or the equivalent, I cringe. Those points NEVER payoff. Answer questions, defend yourself, let everyone else worry about themselves.
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Given the above lesson, Ivana and Chris both goofed big time. Chris had no real reason to make his point. What remedy was he seeking? Did he want Trump to change the teams or was he targeting someone for Trump’s firing? Was Ivana the bad chemistry apple, was Raj or was Chris just an idiot? With Ivana, StarvingButStrong offers a likely reason for her attack on Stacie J. That is likely why she said that (until Starving made the statement, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why she did that). But here is a new lesson: Pick Your Battles. Trump was using the moment to make a gesture of kindness to Stacie because she was humilated earlier in the show and Ivana steps on his dick to take a swipe at Stacie AND another female teammate. Two things: (1) a guy like Trump only likes people to step on his dick when he is in Malaysia and (2) when Trump is speaking well of someone who is already fired, it is not worth the risk to contradict him regardless of your motives.
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I did think it was nice that Trump made nice comments to Rob and Stacie J. Rob’s confessional indicated that he was embarrassed and wanted to redeem himself. I liked that Trump noticed and gave him a bone (I wonder did he believe he had a shot of getting back in the game?) Stacie got a chance to prove she wasn’t crazy (I think the kitchen scene DID prove she is at least an idiot, though.)
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Speaking of unneccessary confrontations, why did Jennifer pick that argument with Ivana in the bedroom (rawwwrrr…cat fight in the bedroom!)? Was there a purpose (get her riled up, off balanced, and directed at her instead of Raj?) Jennifer has an interesting strategy. he is cold blooded and ruthless, but unlike the other catty women, her ruthlessness has purpose. She isn’t in this to be a bitch. She is in this to win.
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One thing really bothered me last night. Many contestants have begun referring to the “game.” The self-referential talk in Survivor changed the nature of the competition. People started talking about strategy more than the accomplishments. Here, the effectiveness of such behavior is limited due to subjective decisions by Trump, thankfully. Still worried to see it growing.
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Finally, the firing. Raj deserved it. Presentation is a big part of a challenge like that. You bought new carpet and let workers walk all over it? Paint was all over the yard. I would like to sell you a new product I have invented. It is called a “tarp.” It will prevent such mistakes. Kevin owned up to the mistake, but he was wise to misdirect a little bit when Bradford tried to bury him. Bradford? There is a fine line between owning up and falling on your sword. Raj’s house was in disarray. It was time to fire him. I thought he was going to cry. It was tough on him. His ego is so massive that such a blow had to hurt. But he rallied with the receptionist. Nice effort, buddy. You made the effort to womanize at every level. Even took a shot at the Tennis godess. So much so that Trump had to tell him to spend the 20,000$ on the project instead of a trip to Ten’s (ask for Jack!) It was his time to go, but for a while, he made for good television.
I stand by my view that if Andy makes it to the final stages, he will be fired for the same reason Troy was. A recent college grad, even one from Harvard, is not credible as the “head” of a company. So, I pick Kevin, Jen, and Kelly for three of the final four. But man, picking the 4th is hard. Ivana and Chris are living on borrowed time, Wes hasn’t impressed with his leadership skills, Sandy has been a non-person, Maria is not exactly one of Trump’s favorites, and Andy has the problems noted above. If Maria pulls off an impressive win, she may rise in stock, but I’d say right now, Wes is probably #4.
Is there a rule against someone being PM two weeks in a row? Because Sandy seems like she’d be a natural for the managing a bridal salon task, seeing as how that’s what she does for a living.
And who wants to see a crazed Bridezilla tearing Chris apart? 'Cause you know there’s going to be some Bridezillas involved.