Kwame will be gone next week.
Just my bet.
Heh, and did you see Nick’s face when she did? I’ve never seen a smirk go flying out the door faster in my life, and I liiiiiked it.
Bill’s the one who pegged the high roller thing, but I don’t know if he’s the one who did the negotiating on it. He’s often pretty insightful about stuff, but he’s not an innovator, so I don’t know how far he’d really go in an open-ended situation. I guess it would depend on the circumstances, just like anything else. He was the one who shooed away the chick in the VIP area, but Troy was the one brushing off the one trying to get people out of their line. And Troy had to do it in front of the customers without alienating anybody.
BTW, did anyone else find it a bit ironic that Little Miss Troy-is-extremely-unethical was telling the models to go and pry people out of Protege’s line? Troy’s stunt with the apartments was slick but fair. What they were trying tonight truly was unethical.
Come to think of it, you’re right. I’d forgotten that. Maybe Bill’s a lot better idea person than I’ve given him credit for.
It was interesting how Amy handled losing. She looked sick, actually sick, when the loss was announced. She really prepared thoroughly for the board room and handled herself much better than I expected, especially since it was her first experience there. I was really impressed with the fact that she didn’t trash Katrina for her lousy negoatiation with the car dealer. Amy actually settled the deal by cutting short the flirtation and getting down to “what’s in it for me” business.
Does anybody think the Amy/Nick fling will have a real impact on what shakes down? Amy stated again that Nick has a crush on her but I’m getting the impression they’re both playing each other. The knives will come out when the pressure is on.
Yeah, but Amy showed her inexperience in the boardroom with the whole “I don’t remember…” spiel. If she had been around to see people get flayed by Trump for not owning up to their mistakes I think she would have taken a different route. Amy clearly sailed past this boardroom based on her prior experience.
But the “I think Nick has a crush on me” just left a foul taste in my mouth. Yes, it’s true, but…Katrina is gone, and unless Amy tells Nick she said that (NOT!), the first time Nick will be confronted with it is the next time he’s in the boardroom. D’oh!
This is shaping up like Amy setting up Nick for the fall. It’s the Lovers vs the Guys next week, and I just don’t see Nick and Amy coming out on top. With both of them in the boardroom, Nick will be like a deer in the headlights when Trump says “So you brought your girlfriend into the boardroom”. Scratch Nick.
After that, we get into interesting territory, because they either have to fire two people one week or have three people in the final episode.
Okay. Is everybody satisfied now about the hair? 
I like the way Troy thinks with his feet, but I’m not sure that’s a quality I want in my president. Personally, I like Kwame now. One of the toughest skills is delegation, and he seems to understand it. And it’s a necessary skill for a top executive. It can make or break a company.
Um, Troy thinks ON his feet, not with them. (Then again, maybe he does. :))
Of all the contestants, Kwame is the one I’d most like to work for. His management style, as he put it, is to hire good, creative people and then get out of their way. Speaking as someone who’s currently micro-managed, I dream about having such a boss.
Kwame doesn’t seem ruthless enough, though. My guess for winner is Amy or Bill, though Trump may favor Jackass Nick.
Did you guys notice that Trump basically passed the decision of who to hire to Amy in the boardroom this time? He did the same thing with Troy last week when Heidi was fired. That seems to indicate to me that he that he believes Troy and Amy are valuable, viable candidates and doesn’t want to fire either of them just yet. I wonder if Troy/Bill/Kwame lose next time their team leader will be given the same deference, or if he just feels that way about Amy and Troy. That’ll be interesting to see.
Whoa there, pardner. Do note I say “dinged,” not fired. Trump should have really held Amy and Katrina’s feet to the fire for the botched concept–especially as Amy was project manager. A car rental as prize in the East Coast’s grandest/gaudiest casino? Yech. Amy was the PM, yet the team slept on the way to Atlantic City, she mixed emotions with business (thus setting herself up for Katrina to make a show of the Amy-Nick two-step), conveniently forgets who came up with the rental car as grand prize idea. I like the woman but frankly what surprised at how little poise she showed in the Boardroom. Another thing: Amy doesn’t have the most developed ethics. People on this Board can fantacize that CEOs are a bunch of amoral, possibly immoral, business types, but that simply isn’t the rule.
The “Bill’s no big whoop” brigade continues on the SDMB even after last night?! Folks, he saved Kwame’s and Troy’s asses on this one. What would they have had if not for Bill’s go-for-the-high-stakes-gamblers idea? A lobby full of people, as Amy pointed out, staring at a fucking tiger and forgetting to gamble. Come on, peeps. Bill is good. He’s easily as sharp a thinker as Troy, and he doesn’t get caught up wanting to blow off two hours with his buddy to look at the nifty zoo animals! 
Several people have pointed out that all the deadwood’s gone; I would qualify this as all the annoying deadwood is gone. True to form, Kwame was nice as pie last night but ultimately about as innovative and useful as a can opener in a room fulla Tupperware.
Geez I hope that smug, talelentless, mouth-breathing twat Nick goes before Kwame, though.
Amy didn’t do badly at all last night. Granted, the car rental idea wasn’t exactly divine inspiration, but her work and hustle only paled in comparison to previous weeks because she was out-big-idea’d. Even the Donald can’t call bringing in over $100,000 a poor performance.
Though that remark she made about not remembering who thought up the car rental made me lose just a pinch of respect for her.
Katrina… lol. What can you say. She obviously feels, like her secret soul mate Omarosa, that a horrible injustice has occurred. Aw. It’s so hard being hot and squawking out fabulous ideas like cartoon characters and belly dancers and being unfairly discriminated against by people with actual brains!
Katrina, I’m going to write on a piece of paper one word I think describes you, and you write on a a piece of paper one word you think describes you. I guarantee you mine won’t say, “I think what you think.” 
What I thought was interesting was that Amy’s team basically was copying what Troy’s team did all day.
“Oh, they have a microphone…that’s a good idea…let’s get one of those”
“Hey, they’re snagging the VIP’s at check in, that’s a great idea!..let’s do that”
I was totally totally un-impressed with the way Amy’s team played the game this week. Not only no originality, but blatant idea stealing, and then on top of that, attempting to physically lure people away from the other teams area. Cheap and sleezy seemed to be their approach to this task.
NBC really needs to tone down their promos a bit. They were blasting that “GIANT MISTAKE” line so much, that I almost thought that Troy and Kwame let the tigers run around and they attacked someone. Of course, that would probably have made the news at the time they were taping, but I’m not sure the lame car rental idea qualifies as a “giant mistake.”
Bill definitely saved Kwame and Troy’s asses. I think Bill and Troy make an intriguing combination, because each has skills that the other lacks. Bill is very focused and keeps his eye on the ball, but is somewhat lacking in the geniality and people skills department. Troy has people skills in spades. It’s almost a pity that the contest only allows one winner, because Bill and Troy could be very good at running a business together. Or it could implode, more because Bill can’t stand Troy’s glad-handing ways.
Did Nick contribute anything to this task? I think he just faded into the woodwork to let the women eventually go after each other.
If Troy/Kwame were smart, after the entire Tiger fiasco proved to be a major hinderence, they should have gone to the handlers and said " it’s time to close the show" to get things going again. That slayed their momentum.
Or, better yet, push the tigers towards the Crossfire. Heee.
Anyone see the promo’s for next week’s show.
What do you think causes AMY to scream like she did?
The Donald says something about ‘too much talking’ and I’m guessing it is either Troy or Nick.
Actually, I was under the impression that the kid was the manager of the circus act, so actually he doesn’t work for Trump.
Also actually, I was under the impression that I actually use the word “actually” far too frequently, actually. 
I love how the people using strategy never mention it, but the people who don’t use strategy bitch about people using strategy. Case in point: Amy and Katrina. Amy was very smart to bring Katrina into the boardroom, because when it came down to “who’s been a better overall performer?” Amy was the clear winner. If she’d been up against Nick, Amy probably would’ve been out. (It was a mistake to pull the “I don’t remember” line; even if that’s true, she should’ve taken responsibility for making the final decision.) It’s a game show as well as a “job interview,” people, so strategy has its place.
I thought Bill and Troy were equally valuable in this task – Bill had the VIP brainstorm, and Troy got the wheel. Troy’s big problem, as has been mentioned, is that he doesn’t know when to stop the ideas, the tiger being a case in point. Of course, they didn’t know when they arranged for the tiger that they’d have a line out the door all day. Kwame was the right leader for the two of them, too, using each of their strengths and keeping them out of each other’s way. I’m wondering how it’ll go next week if either Bill or Troy is in charge.
I’m impressed that Bill, despite his unhappiness about the show visit, didn’t let it get in the way of his performance. Katrina, as was noted, basically grumped around all day and did as little as possible (something we’ve seen from Nick before, too).
I’d give Bill better odds of making it all the way if he weren’t so obviously uncomfortable in stressful communication situations – talking to Katrina the week before, handling the showgirl invasion of the VIP line this week. His nerves get the better of him sometimes.
Nick’s face was priceless when Amy named Bill as her toughest competition. The two of them in the boardroom would be an event.
I was scratching my head after the episode trying to figure out what was the GIANT MISTAKE. :rolleyes: Amy came up with a sound idea… putting a new car on display did attract passersby and she worked harder than anyone, which resulted in her team having more card swipes. Jeez, they only lost by a tiny amount… certainly not a fiasco to fire the PM over.
The reason they lost was because Nick and Katrina were essentially dead weight. I was surprised Katrina kept harping about being ignored on her bellydancer idea… I thought they came up with a reasonable compromise by hiring models.
I don’t remember Nick doing anything useful, and Katrina botched the VIP line copycat attempt. Katrina delegated the VIP task to a temp when she should’ve stuck around and handled Bill’s rebuff.
Troy’s wheel of cash idea was excellent… people go to a casino to gamble. If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you know this is a tried and true idea because a ton of casinos do this. Suckers, I mean casino patrons, will fall for it every time before realizing it’s only a miniscule “chance” at winning the cash prize.
I thought it was funny to see that one guy wadding up the entry card after he was handed one by the model. The dude had probably just lost big at the casino. 
Yeah, but the position they’re competing for is president, not CEO. If I were Donald, I wouldn’t want a president who is innovative. I’m the CEO. I paint the big picture. What I want you to do is make my picture happen. Kwame seems well suited to this.
It’s unfathomable to me that a Donald Trump reality show is just so amazingly good. Who’da thunkit? (Mark Burnett, I guess, and of course the Donald.)
My prediction is that either Kwame or Nick will go next week, depending on which team loses. I think Nick is more likely, because the Amy/Nick team has a good chance of imploding. The following week, whoever is remaining of Kwame or Nick should go, unless that doesn’t work out because of the task results. So we will most likely have a Bill/Troy/Amy final. I really, really want Troy to win, but I know he’ll be O.K. either way. I’m just sad that I will only get three more opportunities to watch this show. Enjoy it while you can folks, because the second season will never be able to recapture the magic.
One more thought about Kwame – I essentially have him as my boss now. Quiet, unassuming, lets his staff do their jobs. I was talking with my boss yesterday, and he pointed out the most difficult thing for him was having an incompetent employee, because he really doesn’t want to be micromanaging. I think this would be Kwame’s downfall. Give him great workers with good ideas, like Troy and Bill, and he shines, but give him screwups, like Omarosa and Heidi during the lunch fiasco, and he just stands around laughing without managing them to a better performance. There’s a saying that you need to manage people either up or out. I don’t think Kwame would be very good at managing people up.
Yeah, but as the president, can’t he hire whomever he wants?