# The Apprentice -- 2/17 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515 "2005-02-17T12:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/1 "2005-02-17T12:12:31Z")
I haven’t been watching a lot of TV this week, so I haven’t seen any promos – and all the NBC website says is “One team has an outrageous idea! Will it pay off?” which is pretty damn content-free, doncha think? Does anyone know what the task is? And does anyone want to speculate as to the exact nature of Chris’s out-of-left-field outburst this week? ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/2 "2005-02-17T14:20:46Z")
I think he’ll go after homeless people next. Since they’re obviously not paying tribute to Trump’s glory. By the 8th episode, he’ll snap and call Carolyn a whore. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/3 "2005-02-17T14:35:05Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > … Does anyone know what the task is?.. It looks like they are refurbishing an RV to be some sort of mobile office. From TV Guide: > [@](#): > > **Airstream of Consciousness** _The 13 remaining contenders hop on Airstream trailers for this week’s assignment. One risks everything, while another shows why sloth doesn’t pay off._ ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/4 "2005-02-17T18:34:49Z")
While waiting for tonight, here’s the pre-show point to ponder for the week. Consider the abysmal abilities of those voted off so far in season 3. Just think about these folks for 2 minutes. Then, I reckon you, like me, will realize: 1. The post-boot apartment has to about the worst place on Earth to live. Can you imagine these idiots stuck in a room together after knowing they lost? I’d rather share a room with Jack Chick at Mardi Gras. 2. Think about what this says about The Apprentice casting department. They had multiple thousands of applicants and decided that these were the people that would be most impressive and most fun to watch. Instead we have robotic boors, shrill harpies, unbalanced quitters, and clueless jerkwads. Until we hear of a new casting director this does not speak well of the show’s future seasons. 3. When thinking of how pathetic those already booted are, consider that the same people that chose them for the show chose the remaining contestants. Which means multiple weeks to go of leadership and effort that could be outdone by any group of people randomly culled from a high school yearbook. 4. You’ll start to ask yourself if the only redeeming folks we have seen so far are actually good in the mold of “The Patriots had a great year and are one of the all-time teams” or good in the mold of “The Celtics are going to the playoffs only because someone has to win that division.” The Raj Ratings are going to get tougher because I fail to see why I’ll need anything above High School level by the time this is done. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/5 "2005-02-17T19:23:42Z")
Wow, **Mully** , I don’t really expect to find existential angst in an _Apprentice_ thread. That’s so … postmodern. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/6 "2005-02-17T19:31:54Z")
I hope the challenges get better. They have been mundande. I’d like to see something that exhibits real business skills. Here is an example of the type of challenge I’d like to see: A staffing company (brought to you by Administaff or [Monster.com](http://Monster.com)) screens and ranks a candidate pool (each non-Apprentice job candidates get a “score”) and then each team interviews them. They have a budget on what they can spend and they have to fill certain spots (project manager, foreman, accountant, etc.) for a Trump-esque project. The team that has the highest “score” wins the challenge. I just KNOW someone would hire the low man (good BS, no real skills). Kind of an Apprentice within the Apprentice. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/7 "2005-02-17T19:38:12Z")
Gee, thanks, **Mullinator** , now I don’t even want to watch! ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/8 "2005-02-17T20:10:14Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > Gee, thanks, **Mullinator** , now I don’t even want to watch! Heh. Really, I do enjoy watching The Apprentice, I’m just pretty critical of being fed crap when the capacity for greatness is available. I figure this show has one more horrific season left in it before it moves into Survivor territory for me, loosely defined as “I’ll start watching the season, but as soon as the show gets remotely bad, boring, or contrived, I’ll be out the door quicker than a Mormon in a whorehouse.” ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/9 "2005-02-17T20:57:55Z")
I’d kind of like to see a week where The Apprentice and the Biggest Loser teams trade sides. I bet the Biggest Loser people could own the mental-based skills (such as they are), and the Apprenti would collapse on the physical challenge. Unless they got something like, “Write a song about being overweight and perform it at Carnegie Hall.” Which would also be entertaining…Hm. I’m off to draft a letter to NBC! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/10 "2005-02-17T21:07:03Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > Unless they got something like, “Write a song about being overweight and perform it at Carnegie Hall.” Which would also be entertaining…Hm. I’m off to draft a letter to NBC! Which “they”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/11 "2005-02-17T21:32:08Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > And does anyone want to speculate as to the exact nature of Chris’s out-of-left-field outburst this week? Hmm…The task is about Airstreams? “I DO NOT DRIVE A COMPACT CAR, MR TRUMP!” ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/12 "2005-02-17T23:44:45Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#): > > Hmm…The task is about Airstreams? > > “I DO NOT DRIVE A COMPACT CAR, MR TRUMP!” Ha! That made me laugh out loud (for real). Yeah, it’ll be something like that. ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/13 "2005-02-18T00:02:55Z")
> [@Mullinator](#): > > Heh. Really, I do enjoy watching The Apprentice, I’m just pretty critical of being fed crap when the capacity for greatness is available. I’d love for this show to cast a bunch of really smart people who treat every task as a real business task (versus a Survivor-type game) and show how two ideas compete in the marketplace… but then we’ll never have: “I AM NOT A HOMOSEXUAL, MR. TRUMP” ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/14 "2005-02-18T00:27:47Z")
[Omarosa Decries ‘Apprentice’ Racism](http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C93637%7C1%7C,00.html): > [@](#): > > A valuable meditation on trendspotting as articulated by the late and fictional Auric Goldfinger: The first time is happenstance. The second time is coincidence. The third time is enemy action. > > In the first season of “The Apprentice,” Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth was vilified (perhaps correctly so) in the wake of her confrontational attitude, charges of racism and potentially feigned injury. In the second season of “The Apprentice,” Stacie Jones Upchurch was booted from the show because her team of amateur psychologist diagnosed her with some potentially dangerous mental problems and convinced Donald Trump that firing her was the only solution. In the third season, Verna Felton nearly destroyed her team in the season’s second challenge by quitting, only to return and then quit again. > > Omarosa was the only African-American woman on the NBC show’s first season. The first time, you see, is happenstance. Stacie J. was the only African-American woman on the NBC show’s second season. The second time, apparently, is coincidence. Verna, to her credit, was one of two African-American women in the NBC show’s third season, though she’s the only one who has received any kind of screen time thus far. The third time, quite clearly, is enemy action. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/15 "2005-02-18T01:09:00Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > Unless they got something like, “Write a song about being overweight and perform it at Carnegie Hall.” Which would also be entertaining…Hm. I’m off to draft a letter to NBC! > > > [@twickster](#): > > > > Which “they”? The Apprentice teams. The Biggest Loser teams already did it. 😃 Although at a slightly smaller venue (perhaps a few thousand people). ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/16 "2005-02-18T01:59:36Z")
I am just like Donald Trump. He likes European women. I only date Eastern European women. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/17 "2005-02-18T02:01:03Z")
I’m losing faith in Bren. ☹ John, though, dresses pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Spree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Spree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spree)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/18 "2005-02-18T02:01:29Z")
I’m sorry, but I would be totally skeeved to step into an Airstream Trailer sitting on the street for a “spa treatment”. I hope it turns out a lot classier than it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/19 "2005-02-18T02:02:27Z")
At this point, I’m not really sure which idea is outrageous. Will people really have an urge to pop into an Airstream trailer for a massage? Will Net Worth be able to pull off their casting call idea? I’m leaning towards “no” on both ideas. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515/20 "2005-02-18T02:02:42Z")
Didn’t toilet guy think he was Trump’s secret twin also? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-2-17/290515.md?page=2)