Okay, time to start the pre-game speculation.
It’s off to Atlantic City this week – will they even up the teams? When will they eliminate the separate teams? What will the challenge be? And who did come up with the idea that the Donald found so appallingly stupid?
This guy has some speculation. Note: link contains possible spoilers. There’s some evidence that Bill ends up with Troy and Kwame.
I’m hazarding that either Bill or Nick get dumped. Both have slipped under the radar by clever placement and jargon. They’re both hungry but nothing out of the norm for upper-middle management. They’re sterotypical “suits”.
Katrina is frankly lightweight in terms of ability but The Don has bagged too many women in a row for her to go yet. Besides, her catfighting w/ Amy lends suspense.
(The same might apply to Nick, vis a vis the flirtation w/ Amy.)
Troy has solid ability, and Kwame is much stronger and cannier than he appears. Both are real sharks, just with different means of survival. (That isn’t an insult, btw.)
Same goes for Amy, though she seems twonkier around the edges.
Nick and Bill seem most vulnerable and disposable, though much depends on the specifics of the task. They just seem like the least likely to hold things together under pressure.
(I can’t believe this show has even caught my interest, given that I rarely watch tv. Somehow it hooked me on a casual glimpse though. I feel so dirty.)
Nick won’t go. Trump thinks that smarmy little fuck is the greatest thing since sliced bread, for some unfathomable reason. If they stick with the teams (I think they will this week and next), Troy and Kwame will probably pick Bill. Kuntrina is the obvious cannon fodder, but Trump’s getting testy about them losing so often, so they won’t want to go that way. Nick’s useless and obnoxious and certainly not above torpedoing the team to get rid of one of them, so they certainly don’t want him. Trump’s already commented on what bad strategy it is to keep batting Amy around, so they won’t go with her. Bill’s really their only choice.
So, assuming that it’s Bill/Kwame/Troy vs. Nick/Amy/Kuntrina, it’s a pretty sure thing Nick won’t be going anywhere. If N/A/K wins, of course they all stay, and I’m guessing Kwame will probably go. Or maybe Troy, Trump seems to not like him much. Bill’s not really had any huge bombs, so he’d be the safest one on that team. If N/A/K loses, Kuntrina’s the obvious one to go. So Nick and Amy are pretty much guaranteed a pass this week.
I’ll give you Nick, but I must heartily disagree that Bill hasn’t distinguished himself. He shows excellent initiative and has great organizational skills as a leader, if not always the best diplomatic skills.
Kwame seems to be a very nice guy; that’s about as much as you can say about him. He’s gotten as far as he has through a combination of dumb luck and knowing when to duck.
Twick, I’m really hoping that it’s Nick or, if the gods are merciful, Katrina that comes up with The Bad Idea. Got a reeeally bad feeling though that it’s gonna be Troy. He has, traditionally, been the big idea man. :eek:
Whewwww. Troy made it through the week. I thought that tiger was the death of them, for sure.
and here I was all set for a big cat fight…
Wow.
Katrina’s Taxi Ride Swan Song was pretty much a dog with a frisbee.
“Amy is manipulating Nick. Other guys, watch out, she will manipulate you too to get what she wants.”
Could she be any more bitter.
Good show.
Trump should just fire all of the contestants and hire that 10-year old kid. “Let me give you some life advice…don’t keep selling once you’ve made the sale.” Hee! 
Ding dong, the bitch is gone! Yay! As soon as Amy’s team lost, I knew Katrina was outta there. Amy’s my favorite, but I was glad she lost so that we could finally unload that jealous, petty, annoying twit.
The funny thing about this task was, it seemed like Kwame’s team (I can’t remember who’s Protege and who’s Versacorp anymore) was kicking Amy’s teams ass, but in the end, they only beat them by $15,000. If Amy’s team had a slightly better idea, they’d have cleaned up.
Next week should be plenty interesting. Amy and Nick v. The Boys. Seems like an unfair set-up, but the stakes are getting higher and higher with each loss, so… hey, maybe we’ll lose Nick next week. Would be interesting as hell to see Amy and Nick go at it (not THAT way 
) in the boardroom next week. IF so, here’s hoping The Donald can see past his fascination with Nick and pick the better “man.”
The guys almost outsmarted themselves with that tiger but Troy (again) came up with a great idea in the wheel. Troy, Kwame and Bill also worked really well together. They just got down to business without any infighting. The other team consisted of Amy and Nick flirting while Katrina pulled bitchfaces.
All the real deadwood is gone now, and only the players are left. It should get really intense from here on out.
I was glad to see Amy lose one and have to face the heat in the boardroom. I was also glad to see Trump jab her a little about her “boyfriend.” I have a feeling she might get a little cooler towards Nick now. She doesn’t want Trump to think she’s letting a personal relationship influence her thinking.
I think the next weakest players are Kwame and Nick but I really can’t predict who will go from here on out except that Troy and Amy probably have the safest positions.
(I loved the way Troy got rid of the hired models…“You sure are as pretty as a peach, though, darlin’”)
Did anybody see Carolyn’s face while Amy was protesting that Nick wasn’t her boyfriend and their little thing had nothing to do with him going upstairs? I hope she doesn’t play poker, because although she kept a straight face, that little eye twitch gave her away. She wasn’t buying that bluff for a second.
I was almost hoping that Amy would get the Ereka treatment, since that would saddle Nick with no better help than Kuntrina and essentially doom his sorry butt. Especially after her “I don’t remember who came up with that stupid idea” line of bull. I imagine victory would have helped her remember whose idea it was, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, a truly good leader gives praise where it’s due without hesitation, and does the same with honest criticism.
Trump was right on the money about Amy’s team blowing it by showcasing a weekend car rental–at the Trump Taj Mahal of all places! Christ, but was that a lame idea and Trump’s mistake (and obvious evidence of favoritism) was not in dinging Amy as project manager. I mean, look around you, folks. You’re at the most opulent/gaudy casino on the East Coast and the best you can do is come up with is a rental Cadillac. Yawn.
I’ll restate my prediction from weeks ago. Amy will win–and probably against Bill. Actually, I think Trump sees some of himself in Nick: arrogant, conniving, a poor follower, and so on, but Amy has been the obvious golden child from almost Day One and Trump has often said that his female VIPs mop the floor with his males. The showdown between Nick and Amy will be sweet. Fortunately, Red will learn a thing or two about life after she hands him his head.
I loved how Bill refered to the Models trying to grab his VIP guys as 'hookers."
Heeee! That was so true.
So after all these victories, Amy doesn’t deserve one Get Out of Jail Free card? Was Amy as expendable as Katrina, whose looks are her only asset as far as I can see? If this is a job interview, Trump has to look at overall performance, not only performance on this one task. He said it himself, and has done it throughout the show. Amy is definitely in the top 2 players in the game, and Trump would have been an idiot to fire her. Ruin the Amy/Nick drama? Lose the strongest woman player? Really?
The Donald fired the right person, as he always has. That’s why I like this show.
That casino gave me a headache.
The winners’ suite made my stomach turn.
That being said, I really liked tonight’s show because more time was given to this very difficult task leaving no time at all for pre-boardroom politicking.
And I agree that the 10-year-old manager was the high point of the show!
Good-bye, Katrina. We won’t miss your picklepuss around these parts.
Um, he DID hire that 10-year-old kid. The kid works in Trump’s casino, right? 
I agree that Trump usually fires the right person, and he fired the right person this week. And I’d bet a large sum on Amy right now.
I absolutely loved the Trump, Carolyn and NotGeorge Pornstache’s walk through the casino to the blackjack area. I wish they had played some gangster music or that song they played in Kill Bill when Lucy Liu’s Mafia Squad is all walking together down the hallway. Or maybe something appropriate out of Reservoir Dogs where they’re all doing that Posse Power Walk. Because that was the raddest Posse Power Walk on network TV in a loooong time.
Wow, Amy was really off her game this week. Maybe it was just the bad dynamics on her team but I couldn’t believe they all wasted time sleeping on the ride to the casino. That set the tone for the whole exercise.
I thought the amplified carny-barker routine in casino lobby was pretty funny, especially when Carolyn noted that Amy was projecting onto the casino floor. Amy still pulled it out with The Don when she commented that the point was get people into the tables instead of gawking at tigers. She also nailed the negotiation with the car dealer. As usual Katrina couldn’t get beyond flirting.
With Katrina gone they’re down to the real players. I’m trying to figure out how the field will narrow down from here with only two episodes left. I wonder when the team concept will be abandoned for individual, head-to-head competition.
Maybe it’s just me but I still just don’t see anything exceptional in Bill. Tonight he basically tagged along–and bitched–while Troy and Kwame did both the idea and implemention work. Nick’s only marginally better in that he can be a good team member. Nick’s just too obviously smarmy. (What in the world does Amy see in him?)
It’ll be interesting to watch the showdown for here on out though.
Wasn’t Bill the one who figured out that the only thing that mattered was getting the VIPs, rather than getting an overall greater number of people? And then implement the idea of getting the VIPs, while shooing away the other team’s person?
That was the key to their win. He also realized that bringing out the tiger was a bad choice, and kept the game much closer than it would have been.
I think Amy and Bill are probably the best two candidates. Amy even stated that much herself.