Normally I think the Donald comes down a little too hard on people, but this week on The Apprentice 3, I totally agreed with his rants against the Magna and Net Worth teams. The fruits of their labor to create a 30-second commercial for Dove Cool Moisture Body Wash were so excruciatingly bad, I was surprised Mr. Trump didn’t insist on firing a person from each team. I participated in Inside Pulse’s poll this week and predicted that Kristen would be the one to go. The fact that I was right, however, says a lot more about Kristen’s flaws than it does about my prophesying abilities. As her chief enemy Audrey put it, that woman is “a royal bitch.” Well, it looks like the bitch fell down and broke her crown, but I have a feeling that Audrey was just waiting in the wings to replace her as the resident Ice Queen.
Audrey has shown a Heidi Bressler-type aggression that ultimately won’t get her hired at the Trump Organization. That’s not to say that aggression and outspokenness aren’t important in the business world, but, at age 22, Audrey doesn’t have enough experience to exude that kind of brashness. She doesn’t know when to stop. For example, as she was arguing with Kristen in the boardroom, she continually interrupted and talked over her. And while I can’t blame her for trying to shut the wicked witch up, such conduct will never impress those she so desperately wants to impress. I think Audrey’s on a fast track out of the game and I predict that the next time Net Worth loses, she’ll be fired.
Erin, on the other hand, looks like she’s in for the long haul. Her confidence and tactics in the boardroom were brilliant, particularly when she stated that she did a good job holding her team together. Trump agreed with her, which tells me that unless she screws up in some major way, Erin will be sitting in the final four. I really think she’s that good.
Michael, who Erin described at the beginning of the episode as “a lazy piece of crap,” did the right thing by taking his lumps from Bren after returning from the boardroom where Danny was fired last week. Hopefully, his promise of an attitude adjustment was sincere, otherwise, as Alex pointed out, “Michael has delayed his execution. Michael has not been pardoned.”
Bren confused the hell out of me this week. Up until this task, I saw Bren as a straight shooter with a great work ethic. I nodded my head in agreement at the beginning of the episode when he bashed Michael as someone with “zero tact, zero integrity, zero character.” But now I’m thinking that was a pretty smug evaluation coming from a man who, less than 24 hours later, had the idea of shooting a commercial for body wash laden with penis jokes and a homoerotic ending. Not that I have a problem with either of those things. On the contrary, I’ve been known to joke around about carrots myself and I am an ardent supporter of gay rights. However, I would never consider using such topics at the centerpiece for a national ad. And I’m not even a businesswoman.
What is even more bewildering to me than a right-wing prosecutor from Tennessee cooking up a commercial about cucumbers and man-to-man love is the fact that his entire team accepted the idea. In an interview, Michael stated that he didn’t like the idea but, given his shaky status, felt that he wasn’t in a position to contradict the group. It was not clear why Erin, Alex, and Stephanie also went along with it other than the fact that they concurred that it was an outside-the-box idea.
Unlike Net Worth’s marathon commercial. Angie said it best with her “This is the box!” comment. But it didn’t have to be. John’s original concept sounded good, but Kristen totally messed it up by climbing into the director’s chair. She was incredibly bossy and arrogant, particularly in her comment that she liked to do everything herself because then it would be done right. And her claims of knowing something about directing and film-making were equally bogus, given that she’s dating a director. Well, if that’s the way it works, then I guess, given that I’m married to a programmer, I should automatically know Java, right?
One of the most satisfying moments of the episode came when the actress working for the Magna Corporation read everyone the riot act for showing up so late. I myself have very little tolerance for tardiness and I admired the manner in which this actress confronted Stephanie and Erin about her annoyance. And the actress’s ire allowed Bren his lone shining moment on the show this week when he very deftly calmed her down.
On a final note, I have to say that if I hear the Donald conclude one more show with, “I really didn’t have a choice,” I’m going to self-destruct. I don’t understand how he can continue to say that week after week when he always has a choice. He’s always preaching to the apprentices about the lameness of making too many excuses and using cliches. Well, Donald, maybe you need to take your own advice once in a while. I didn’t have any choice but to tell you that.
