# The Apprentice -- 5/12 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545 "2005-05-12T11:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/61 "2005-05-13T20:41:45Z")
Thanks, **Liberal** , that’s what I thought. Of course, it does seem a bit unlikely that wherever they moved to completely lacked institutions of higher education to which she could have transferred, but, yanno, it could happen. Because she’s got street cred. Hee! ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/62 "2005-05-13T21:11:06Z")
I’m disappointed that Tana turned out to be an ass, but I still don’t see Kendra as having achieved anything close to the maturity and presence of the previous winners. (And I say that as someone who could not stand Bill Rancic.) I can’t imagine DT giving anyone from this bunch any real responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/63 "2005-05-13T21:56:02Z")
Yeah, I’d be curious to know where Tana attended school. If it was a state school, she easily could’ve transferred to the state school in whatever state her and her husband moved to. Can’t shake the feeling that she was one of those “well, I found me a husband so there’s really no need to continue with my education!” types. Priorities and all that… ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/64 "2005-05-14T00:13:02Z")
This harks back to a post a page or so ago, about DT hand picking the candidates for next season and how they’ll be better. I doubt it. Okay, a little better, maybe. The thing is, the show, and DT on several occasions, have said they are looking for another DT, someone who can ‘grow up’ and be as rich and influential and all – but the set up of the show insures that that will never happen. Most of their candidates are at least 25 years old. Consider the proto-Trump entrepreneur, the guy/gal with the fire in belly, the relentless drive to get to the top and rule the world – where is this person at age 25? Well, if a ‘street smart’ they’ve been working for at least 7 years. A ‘book smart’, three years. Maybe more: I know a man who started a cleaning company between high school graduation and starting college. He kept it going through college to help pay the bills. In fact, he _grew_ it those years, going from one crew to four vans and crews. Entrepeneurs start businesses. They have ideas, they work at them. Some fail a time or two, but keep trying out ideas until one clicks. And then, once they have that toe hold established, they use that to add more services, open more branches, get bigger and bigger and bigger. So there are those stellar proto-Trumps at age 25. And now you offer them a change to compete (at long odds) for a _chance_ to audition for an undefined job in an undefined industry working for SOMEONE ELSE. You really think they’d find that tempting? Why? To be ‘famous’ for a brief span? Lots of business types aren’t interested in personal fame. For a ‘high salary’ for a year? Get real – they’re probably already taking the equivalent OR they would be, except they are busy plowing every extra cent into the expansion of their business. Worst of all, they’d have to drop out of their own business for a year, likely enough to kill fledgling businesses. Young “true entrepeneurs” have NO interest in helping run DT’s empire: they are in the crucial stages of building their own damn empires, thank you very much. Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven, remember? So, there goes any chance of the show turning up a really good entrepreneur. What will you get? You’ll get some not-so-good entrepreneurs, who have failed or are failing at their current effort, and thus willing to abandon it. . You’ll get ‘fake’ entrepreneurs, that is, people whose ‘own business’ is actually part of someone else’s, like Tana’s Avon background. Franchisees are followers. Mostly you’ll get “not in any sense whatsoever enterpreneurs” employees. Well trained employees, maybe, skilled in their particular area – lawyers and salsemen and marketeers and anything else – but they are _employees_, who choose to work for someone else’s dreams rather than take the risk of striking out on their own. Some of these will be much better than others…but they aren’t going to ‘grow’ into outstanding entrepreneurs. They’ll be employess of Trump, never his equals or competition. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/65 "2005-05-14T00:41:35Z")
At this point, I’m just waiting to see where Trump will bury Kendra in his organization, never to be seen again (like last season’s Kelly). > [@](#): > > Over the entire season, though, it seems to me that Tana has been consistently superior - she’s gotten along better with her fellow consistents, and has shown a level of maturity that Kendra hasn’t quite reached. Tana could still win this, IMHO. Whenever I have thoughts like that, I keep going back to not very many weeks ago when George and Carolyn point-blank told Trump they could not see Tana _ever_ fitting into the Trump organization. I just don’t see how he could hire her at this point without losing a lot of credit with them, especially since they were so forthright about it. And he values their opinions pretty highly, as was made obvious on several occasions this season. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/66 "2005-05-14T01:29:51Z")
Great points, **Starving** , but The Donald was born into a very rich family and in no way could you say he started with nothing. His went to expensive private schools on he parent’s dime and started his business life with an enormous amount of money. I’m curious about the timeline of this show. When did the events that T and K plan actually take place? Is the decision on who to hire made live or is that taped and only part of Sunday’s show live? Thanks, Haj ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/67 "2005-05-14T01:42:11Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > At this point, I’m just waiting to see where Trump will bury Kendra in his organization, never to be seen again (like last season’s Kelly). Wherever she ends up, at least she can drive there in her new Solstice (part of the winning package). Sweet. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/68 "2005-05-14T01:58:04Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > Wow, thanks Liberal. That means a lot, coming from you. I missed the limo part. That’s ridiculous. Any event planner worth anything will be the first to arrive and the last to leave, anyway. Comes with the job. > > Another thing that bugged me about Tana last night was using her family as leverage, in a way. You’ve got a husband and two great children? Good for you! That’s not going to get you the job, by the way. As a matter of fact, that’ll probably work more against you than for you. I’m 27 years old with no husband or children. So, why should you get a job over me, _especially_ if I did a much better job than you in the final task, just because you have a husband and kids and I don’t? Now do you see what a stupid argument that is, Tana? > > Trump wants an executive to oversee one of his projects. That event you just royally sucked at? That was a little taste of your future job. Not that condensed, of course, but those are the sorts of things you’ll be dealing with. Unhappy people coming to you with problems, not telling you how “pretty your blue eyes are.” :rolleyes: > > She’s a salesperson. She’s not an executive. > > I also have to admit, I lost a lot of respect for her when she said she quit college after 3 years because she got married. I’ve got very, very little respect for women who go to college to obtain their “M.R.S.” degrees. They make it that much harder for those of us pursuing advanced degrees to be taken seriously. More correctly, she ditched her team. No wonder they showed no loyalty. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/69 "2005-05-14T03:01:35Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > Yeah, I’d be curious to know where Tana attended school. If it was a state school, she easily could’ve transferred to the state school in whatever state her and her husband moved to. Can’t shake the feeling that she was one of those “well, I found me a husband so there’s really no need to continue with my education!” types. > > Priorities and all that… Well as **Liberal’s** transcript bears out, she left school to get married, not to have kids. Sure, she wound up having kids after that but if she left school to start a family she sure could have just said that. I mean, “well I got married and my husband got a job” really isn’t another way of saying, “I considered my life plan carefully and decided it would be best to start my family that year.” Personally, I think if Tana was developing her “book smarts” outside of school in the years since she left by maybe taking the odd course or reading the odd book, I wouldn’t even blink that she didn’t finish. But Tana really missed the important parts! She never really got up to a university level vocabulary. I looked at her website last night and I just don’t think finishing school would help her. She’s mondo beyondo. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/70 "2005-05-14T04:02:35Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > … I’m curious about the timeline of this show. When did the events that T and K plan actually take place? Is the decision on who to hire made live or is that taped and only part of Sunday’s show live? I believe that all taping for the show (except next week’s live last show) happened last fall over a six-week period and was even completed before Season 2 started. What amazes me is how long Tana and Kendra have had to wait for the final anointment of Apprentice 3. But I suspect that they already have a good idea about who’s gonna win. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/71 "2005-05-14T09:16:25Z")
I think Starving’s post is very insightful. In an interview with Dr. Phil, the Donald said that he didn’t think he would have done well if he had competed in an Apprentice-like show. “I wouldn’t have had the patience for it,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/72 "2005-05-14T18:44:11Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > Well as **Liberal’s** transcript bears out, she left school to get married, not to have kids. Sure, she wound up having kids after that but if she left school to start a family she sure could have just said that. I mean, “well I got married and my husband got a job” really isn’t another way of saying, “I considered my life plan carefully and decided it would be best to start my family that year.” > > Personally, I think if Tana was developing her “book smarts” outside of school in the years since she left by maybe taking the odd course or reading the odd book, I wouldn’t even blink that she didn’t finish. But Tana really missed the important parts! She never really got up to a university level vocabulary. I looked at her website last night and I just don’t think finishing school would help her. She’s mondo beyondo. Yeah, I know. She quit school to get married, hence my “I found me a husband so no need to finish school!” comment. She said that her husband got a new job and I’m assuming that was immediately after they got married. That’s why I was asking about the transferring thing. Tana does have a certain…uneducated…tone to her voice, yes. She just really comes across to me as sort of a Super Housewife or something like that, you know? A business tycoon she certainly is not. I don’t even agree with Carolyn and George’s assessment that she’s “a really nice person.” Personally, I think she’s a bitch and a fake one at that, based on her ditching Kendra on the car task (then trying to take over the presentation) and the way she treated her staff in the final task. She puts forth a good front but as the season wore on, it got easier and easier to see right through it. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/73 "2005-05-14T19:25:21Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > I believe that all taping for the show (except next week’s live last show) happened last fall over a six-week period and was even completed before Season 2 started. What amazes me is how long Tana and Kendra have had to wait for the final anointment of Apprentice 3. But I suspect that they already have a good idea about who’s gonna win. Out of curiosity, both DT and the contestants have referred to this as “an eighteen week job interview”. Are they just referring to it that way because the show itself spans 18 weeks or because the process did? I’m more inclined to believe the 6 week schedule because I can’t see them doing a three day task and then just sitting around relaxing for another four days, waiting for the next task. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/74 "2005-05-14T23:36:11Z")
> [@lezlers](#): > > Yeah, I know. She quit school to get married, hence my “I found me a husband so no need to finish school!” comment. She said that her husband got a new job and I’m assuming that was immediately after they got married. That’s why I was asking about the transferring thing. I knew you knew, I just meant to agree and continue the thought. I started that paragraph strangely. I looked at Tana’s website, and it’s awful, so then I looked and Kendra’s and it’s just as awful. It would be a great website for a lounge singer. For someone concerned with her credibility Kendra sure likes to dress up like a disco superstar. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/75 "2005-05-15T00:26:40Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > I looked at Tana’s website, and it’s awful, so then I looked and Kendra’s and it’s just as awful. It would be a great website for a lounge singer. For someone concerned with her credibility Kendra sure likes to dress up like a disco superstar. Would it be too much to ask for a link to their sites? ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/76 "2005-05-15T01:13:15Z")
Kendra’s is [http://www.kendratodd.net](http://www.kendratodd.net) Tana’s is [http://www.heytana.com](http://www.heytana.com) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/77 "2005-05-15T02:25:13Z")
Ooh! Ooh! I want a “Hey Tana!” tee! ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/78 "2005-05-15T06:50:46Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Unless Kendra jumps on the table and masturbates with a crucifix, she is the next Apprentice. That belongs on CBS’s promo for the season finale! 😃 > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Personally, I KNEW Kendra had it locked as soon as she ordered the spotlight to follow Trump from the moment he entered. 😛 Great observation. Always appeal to The Donald’s ego. I think people aren’t giving Kendra her due. She was never shown doing or saying anything too bad or embarrassing on the show and her worst moments, which weren’t really bad on her part, were all in retaliation to Craig’s constant bullying. I think she came out looking great considering the added stress she had to endure because of him. Remember Jen (I think that was her name) crying last season every time she had a disagreement with someone? Kendra was mentally strong all season and that’s been overlooked a lot. Sure, she looked nervous swinging her head from side to side in the interviews, but that’s hardly a sign of immaturity and the four execs didn’t seem to have a problem with it. What bothers me the most this season was how far they stretched the definition of entrepreneur this season. A Mary Kay saleswoman/eBay seller? A shoeshine stand owner? What’s coming next season? An Avon lady, a man with a paper route and one of those guys who stands in NYC traffic with a squeegee and a bucket of water washing windshields for change? Aside from people like Tana and Craig being undeserving of the opportunity, it also makes for bad television the futher they get because viewers no they have zero chance of winning. I’m particularly disappointed because, as a college dropout (something I am **not** proud of), I was really hoping that a star would emerge from the “Street Smarts” group. John could’ve been the one, but his ego and mouth did him in. Still, even though the pool of candidates has been the weakest yet (how did half of them even get on the show?), it’d been very fun viewing, IMO. Thanks for the links, **pokey**. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/79 "2005-05-15T06:52:35Z")
> [@Rainbowthief](#): > > That belongs on CBS’s promo for the season finale! Ugh, I should’ve written that belongs on _NBC’s_ promo for the season finale. I must’ve been thinking of **Survivor**. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545/80 "2005-05-15T06:54:34Z")
Crap, also " because viewers no they have zero chance of winning" should be " because viewers **know** they have zero chance of winning". I really should preview my posts. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-5-12/303545.md?page=5)