The sad part is that Ivana obvious didn’t remember how the Season One gals were chided for flaunting their sexuality. Crikey.
Wow. And I thought Jenn C. just. didn’t. get. it. Ivana takes not. getting. it. to a brand-new, heretofore unexplored level. My god, running around in a skirt that’s nearly down to your pubes and up to your ass with a midriff-baring shirt and talking about how the women in the knee-length skirts and strapless but quite modest tops look like hookers? Taking off your skirt on a street corner? Using “Waaaahhhh, the chick guaranteed a spot in the final four sucks as much ass as I do,” as a defense? And she expects to ever have another professional job in her entire lifetime? The cluelessness is just…I can’t even think of a word extreme enough to describe the sheer enormity of her cluelessness. It’s just mind-boggling.
The thing that really sunk Ivana, strip-tease aside, was her inability to really, truly grasp the concept that there might be more than one solution to any given problem. She sees a strategy that seems to be working for someone else, and her mind locks onto it as the only possible successful strategy. She ditches whatever she had planned (which to give the bimbo what little credit she deserves, usually has a lot of potential) to imitate the competition, but since she’s doing it on the fly, she doesn’t have the planning and organization that was key to making the strategy successful in the first place. So she gets her ass handed to her. It’s what happened to her with the ice cream challenge, with truly embarrassing results. It happened again tonight, with even more embarrassing results.
Well, that’s what I get for speaking out in Ivana’s defense. Yikes.
That was one of the most embarrassing, cringe-inducing moments I’ve seen. I just can’t imagine what was going through her head. She knew later she made a mistake, but she was way to late.
I think Ivana’s problem is that she panics, gets flustered, and doesn’t think well in that state. I think DtC is right…she had to up the ante. Saw she was getting beat, saw that selling sex was working for Jenn and Sandy, so figured out how she could beat them out.
I considered the possibility that if her team had won, that Trump would have fired her anyway. Would have been justified.
Where do these people live that they expect to pay $5 for a medium sized candy bar?
This was, however, the least suspenseful boardroom ever. Ivana vrs Kevin is a no brainer.
Next week should be interesting.
The interviews might be the most legit piece of evaluation that the show really subjects them to. Those guys are brutal, uncaring, penetrating and sharp as hell. If you’re a lightweight, you will be exposed.
As it stands, I don’t know that any of the final four seems like an obvious weakling superficially. Like I said above, Sandy as a way of rising to occasions and has shown some genuine substance on occasion.
Kelly looks strong but have we really seen him subjected to an intellectual inspection. Rememeber how he exaggerated the extent of his work on the dog washing task? If he’s the type of personality who will instinctively puff up his own record and inflate his own accomplishments then he’s going to get the skin flayed off him in these interviews. Something tells me they’re going to be able to spot that kind of resume padding a mile away. If they tell Trump he was a liar in the interviews he’ll be gone.
Jenn could go either way. She’s got a certain force of personality that seems to overwhelm people but will it work on the horsemen? I would hope they’d be immune to her Jedi mind control but you never know. In any case, I can’t see her freezing up or giving answers that aren’t smart. The coldness will probably come through, though.
Kevin is likable, forthright and smart but doesn’t always seem to present himself well under stress. Remember the flopsweat? If he goes Albert Brooks in Broadcast News during the interviews that could probably really hurt him.
My gut feeling is that Sandy and Jenn are going to the final four. I know that most people seem to think Kelly is a lock but they thought the same about Amy last year too. Let’s see how he does in the pressure cooker.
Ivana’s finally gone, and it’s like a great big tumor has been removed from my TV screen. I wasn’t surprised to see her not thank Trump & Co. for their time and consideration. I wasn’t surprised to see her bring up Jen in the boardroom, I wasn’t surprised to see her lie again (“Jen’s record [of losses] is the same as mine!”).
I was surprised to see Kevin speak so highly of her. Is he really such a poor judge of character, or is he just two-faced?
I retract that. I think Ivana is an easy person to get along with. She’s outgoing and enthusiastic and full of marvelous expressions of joy and pathos and yadda yadda yadda. In contrast, Jen gets described as “plastic”. But I’d take the seemingly emotionless Jenbot over someone like Ivana any day. Part of it may be because I’ve been described as cold and standoffish as well. But I can be a friendly goofy person. Around people I trust and know very well. Jen has known these people for several weeks, but given the competitive nature of the show and several early situations (Stacie J’s firing, Pamela’s firing) does she have any reason to trust anyone? Especially knowing that revealing anything of herself could easily come back to bite her on the ass?
That said, I will admit that she hasn’t appeared to do much on later tasks, at least not much that we’ve been shown. Reality, or editing? You decide.
Just finished the episode. At first I was indignant at the unfairness of the task, having 2 against 3 in a production job. Then as the girls started to win, I decided it was unfair to the other team. Poor Ivana. Sort of.
Do they always show the Doorman in the final scene? It just occurred to me that it would be instructive to notice who sweeps past the doorman, and who actually acknowledges his existence.
The twins idea was pretty good, too, as was getting the van. Sandy and Jen won not just because Ivana was a clueless vamp, but because they actually thought about selling the candy bars effectively.
Still, $5 for a candy bar?!?!
With all of that said, Kelviana had no hope of making more profit than Jendy. I don’t like Jen much, but she and Sandy looked hot together. I’d have given them five bucks for fifty cents worth of crappy chocolate if they asked nice. Ivana and The Boys simply could not have possibly sold those same bars for five bucks each. No way, no how. I am torn between thinking that so long as you’re going to lose you should do so with grace (i.e. keep your skirt on, Ivana), and giving her some credit for doing something. Look, it was a life or death situation, somebody had to do something. She did something.
I agree, the guys needed to come up with some other sort of a marketing strategy, but I don’t know what. Personally, I have to admit that if Jenn and Sandy had approached me looking all hot like that I would have gone into stupid drooling guy mode and paid five bucks for a candy bar.
If the guys had approached me, I’d have told them to get lost.
Regarding pricing: I’m not surprised that Kevin was all for lowering the price. First of all, they underestimated their rivals. Ivana, Kevin, and Kelly were all so caught up in the idea that Sandy was dopey and Jenn “brings nothing to the table” and “isn’t that bright”, that they just sort of assumed the other team would prodce less and sell less. Secondly, it’s kind of a race thing (re: Kevin and the $1 bars). I worked at a concession stand one summer, and black people just weren’t willing to pay over-inflated prices for candy, muffins, and water when the same goods could be obtained for much cheaper at a Walgreens down the street. Kevin compared their price to regular candy bar prices and the prices that people usually sell candy for on the street (in Chicago, $1 for charity M&Ms, or those World’s Finest Chocolate bars), and acted accordingly.
Regarding production: We saw Apex working like a well-oiled machine. Which I think was the problem. They worked faster than Mosaic, and probably produced lot more, but it seems like they left most of the work to the machines, while Mosaic was more hands on. My hypothesis is that they produced more bars, but more got thrown away by the inspectors.
And showing Jen and Sandy bumbling in the factory? Total red herring.
Does Ivana have the slightest idea of what “captive audience” means?
But yes! she’s gone! finally! Her weird attack at Jenn in the boardroom…it was just far, far, far too personal for her. The entire time she was out on the street, she was bitching about Jenn. For the past who knows how many episodes, she’s been bitching about Jenn. She lost focus - and she was never that strong to begin with.
what got me about Ivana is she would bitch about people in the interviews after the fact about how everything annoyed her, but wouldn’t say anything to the person in question when it was happening, and she is the PM.
there were two examples of this. the first was when she was so offended Kevin was selling them for $1. She had this look on her face as he was doing it-said nothing. In the interview she was ragging at him left and right.
#2…She complained about how Kevin took charge in the candy-making room, how SHE is PM yadda yadda…Why didn’t she say anything to him in the room then? They had video of her being offended looking at him and not happy-not one word from her mouth to him.
i also loved how she called her striptease a ‘gimmick’. ‘Gimmick? Honey, dropping trou’ is **not **a gimmick. Like someone else mentioned, the first thing I said to myself is she is NOT wearing a thong.
she looked like a drowning rat in the boardroom. 2&0, 3&0, 0&2…Why are you firing me?? Go get lucky in Kentucky.
Nice episode.
TrainWRECK!!
Aaargh. Funny that they mentioned “I Love Lucy”, because I used to get all cringe-y watching the messes that Lucy would get into, and I nearly became apoplectic when Ivana started ranting and stomping and offering to drop her skirt. But, as I’m sure you all understand, I couldn’t NOT watch what became of her.
Frankly, even if she hadn’t resorted to that, her manner of speaking in the boardroom made it clear she is not an accomplished negotiator and businessperson. Although when Carolyn told her to stop addressing people with “LOOK…”, her tone made me think she was going to follow it up with, “or it’s off to your room, young lady!”
Out of the deep end of the pool everybody, it’s time to snack on your weekly Raj Ratings. Time for me to settle down on my comfy couch, dim the lights, turn on the TV, and watch my little aspiring corporate sea monkeys dance for their master. Off we go, into the wild Trump yond…
SSQQQUUUAAAAWWWWKKKbbbbbbbzttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!
[from deep inside the UN]
Faceless government lackey #1: Secretary General Annan! Secretary General Annan.
Annan: Yes, whoever you are. What seems to be the problem?
FGL #1: We have just received word from an embedded resource that a person who posts to an internet message board known as the SDMB is about to blow the lid wide open on the oil for food scandal.
Annan: Scandal? What scandal? I am only aware of vague improprieties that may or may not be a little shady.
FGL #2: Sir please, your desk chair is an empty oil barrel signed “With much love, Saddam.” We all know about this.
Annan: Sigh, fine. I guess the party is over then. Who is this and what does he know.
FGL#2: He goes by the moniker of Mullinator. He’s a generally harmless giant and actually somewhat incompetent but a heck of a looker and his witty repartee is quite intriguing. He’s apparently grown a little fanbase that each week waits with rapt attention for his dissection of a US television show known as “The Appentice.”
Annan: Ah yes, I have heard of this show. Supposedly intelligent people behaving like children and making poor decisions in the ultimately fruitless pursuit of powerat the expense of the more important things in life. Sounds like a UN meeting to me.
FLG#1: Uh, yes sir. Anyway, this Mullinator seems to have stumbled upon your secret cache of pictures, documents, and statements all tied to the oil for food program and it blows the lid off of everything. He knows the names, dates, amounts. Everything!
Annan: Damn! I knew I shouldn’t have hidden it on top of a bookcase. But who would think someone that lanky would be nosing around.
FGL#2: Yes, yes. Well, each week he brings out the Raj Ratings, his dissection of the show’s events that week. He is planning to have a theme this week relating all actions to our scandal, and in the process divulge the information to the world.
Annan: We must act! Hiding this scandal demands our full efforts. I need a solution here people.
FGL#1: I know. We will lure him to your secret lair, strap him into an intricate laser cutting device, tell him about all of the other secret plans that have yet to be discovered, and then leave the room assuming his death will take place.
Annan: You fool, that didn’t work with Bond. Why do you think it will work now!
FGL#2: Sir! How about we cut off the power to his neighborhood just as the show is starting? He will be unable to watch, thus unable to do the weekly Raj Ratings. Then, we rely on his scatterbrainedness to forget about the information he has found. He will then be forced to watch the replay on CNBC on Friday night. His ratings will be delayed until then at which point, most people probably won’t be waiting around to read them anyway.
Annan: Brilliant! Put the plan into motion. FGL#2, there will be extra oil in your inbox this month.
SSQQQUUUAAAAWWWWKKKbbbbbbbzttttttttttttttttttttttt!!!
Well, that’s how I picture it taking place anyway. Sorry, see you later tonight when this thread will be long since dead. But, I have a tradition to uphold.
I tell ya, no one was happier than me to witness Ivana’s pathetic and inevitable flame-out, but I’m curious: was no one else bothered by Kevin’s knee-jerk price-drop panic? Ichini Sanshigo argues that it was smart, but I can’t see how simply unloading the bars for whatever he can get for them shows Kevin to be either shrewd or skilled as far as nailing that crucial higher profit. The fact that Trump himself commented on it last night tells me the guy may have smeared himself with raw meat for the interview grizzlies next week.
Yes Rubystreak, along with watsonwil, we seem to be Jenn’s main defenders these days. (Apologies if I’ve neglected other like minds.) Though both of you have argued her value much more articulately than me.
She rocked again this week with the deceptively simple dress-alike idea. Showed sex-marketing smarts that didn’t go over the line, unlike that desperate twit Ivana.
P.S. That was hilarious, mullinator. 
(How many more names can I drop in a single post?!)
I just watched Ivana on the Today show. Two interesting things.
First, they had a choice of two different bars to produce. The one they chose took longer to produce than the other. She mentioned regretting not choosing the other one and going for volume rather than producing fewer and going for price. It wasn’t clear from the interview if Sandy and Jen chose the other one (I can’t remember if the bars looked identical last night). But that could explain how two people made nearly as many as three.
Second, she said neither she nor Trump remember him saying, “you stripped, and I’m not hiring a stripper” in the boardroom.
I forgot to tape the Today show appearance. Did she try to defend herself and attack the other players or did she actually learn something about herself from the experience? Nah, that’s asking for too much from a reality contestant.
The firing was so delicious that I rewound it about three times (I love you, DVR!). I really enjoyed the subtle smirk, smacking the desk and the pistol point. You can tell he was looking forward to firing her. Not just because of her name, but because she’s a trash-talking, no responsibiliy taking, stripping hypocrite and failure.
My mouth was literally wide open when she dropped trou’. Was she in-fucking-sane? :eek:
The candy task was far more artificial than a lot of the other things they’re being required to do. Quite frankly, the candy task would have been more interesting and realistic as vanilla Crest redux - this was a new product, not yet available in stores, and the goal was to create buzz. M&M/Mars doesn’t expect a profit of more than a few cents per bar, but that’s OK because they make millions of them. Capping the available bars at about 350 and then requiring maximization of the profit on that limited supply is incredibly unrealistic - it’s not how M&M/ Mars does business. But I guess they figured they couldn’t have three subjective judgment call tasks in a row (after Levis and Pepsi).
For next week, I see Jen falling for the same reason Amy did. Sandy lucked her way into the final four - she was ripe for firing after the restaurant task. The bridal salon task was obviously hers to lose and she didn’t. Those were lucky draws. Last week she fought hard and impressed the Triad enough to avoid firing, especially since Andy was just ripe to go at some point. Jen and Sandy also have not been terribly impressive as project managers - Sandy’s stint in the home construction thing was saved by the Sopranos coming in to save the day and Raj’s inexplicable decision to remove a bedroom from the house, and the candy task was not a great test of her leadership skills, since she only had one person to “manage,” and both were smart enough to realize that they better damn well get along because Trump was not particularly pleased with their catfighting. Jen’s only got one win to her credit, on the dog task, which again was not a particularly great challenge. Kelly and Kevin have better win records on concrete tasks.
If nothing else, Sandy’s lack of formal education will get her.
Final note - one thing I miss this season is the kind of cameraderie that Troy and Kwame shared last season. You could tell those guys genuinely liked each other, and it was sad that they both couldn’t make it. No one in this bunch showed that kind of friendship.
Ivana was so jealous of Jen that she was willing to make an ass out of herself *(literally) * to beat her. If she wouldn’t have pulled that stunt, I think Kevin would have been fired.