The Apprentice: Martha Stewart – Episode 1-4, Sweet Suite
OK, so due to real life circumstances, you’re getting the second half of a fun experiment, as Paul Meekin and I have swapped shows for a week. Why is it fun? Because he’s never watched ‘The Amazing Race’, and aside from his recaps and columist content on the show, I’m pretty much in the dark here with TA:MS. Also, it’s up against ‘Lost’ now. But don’t worry, I’ve watched ‘The Apprentice’ before, and I even subbed in for Michaelangelo last year. I know the format.
All that aside, my wife tells me that Martha did what Donald did in either Season 2 or 3, and called back in the whole team and fired someone who wasn’t picked to go to the Conference Room session. As a result, a woman (Shawn, apparently)was found to be unfit and let go.
This week, we’ve been promised some sort of challenging task where one of the teams don’t finish. Judging from the recaps, Matchstick is more likely to do that, but it is close to that time on a Burnett show where teams get swapped, so Primarious (what the hell kinduva name is that? Were they reading ‘Transformers UK’ and thought “I could use Primus, and change it around to sound kewl”?) could conceivably lose.
Anyways, you’ve come here to get you some LIVE Martha info, and since it ain’t 9pm Eastern yet, you’ll just have to wait. So do me a favour – tape ‘Lost’, and join me for a full hour of ‘The Apprentice: Martha Stewart’!!
Last week, teams baked cakes, Matchstick didn’t sell a single one, and Shawn got fired because she made a brash statement.
Matchstick comes back to the Loft without Shawn, and Primarious is shocked. Matchstick breaks it down for them, and they can’t wait for Primarious to visit the Conference Room. Well, I suppose you have to win for that to happen.
Opening Credits (Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These) if you’re keeping track)
Morning, the British receptionist lady tells the teams to head to the Conference Room. Martha gives them a task via a videotaped message from her house on Turkey Hill Road. Teams will be given a two-bedroom suite at the Westin, and they are told to make a “lifestyle” suite. They’ll be judged by Westin executives and SPG Platinum members, and she notes that the Teams need to have a clear vision of what they want to do.
She also notes that Matchstick has been losing, and her viceroys ask which member of Primarius thinks they can lead Matchstick to victory. Only Leslie does, and thus she is the new PM for Matchstick. One of the Primarius members wonders what Leslie was doing since she wasn’t the strongest member.
Primarius gets to the suite, and notes that it’s huge and empty. Well, DUH. Amanda steps up and volunteers to be PM. She organizes things, and the team comes up with a “Westin Entertains” theme. They also decide to get a professional designer to help out.
Matchstick. Leslie thinks that the team is disorganized because they’ve had poor leadership. So she sets aside 2 hours for brainstorming. Dawn thinks that they’re just eating up time. Jim agrees.
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Martha’s tips – You need to believe that your idea is going to hit a home run.
Primarius recaps what they decided. Ryan finds an interior decorator, and Amanda seems to overrule her. But Ryan thinks that they should never OVERestimate Matchstick. And we get a montage of the chaos taking place at Matchstick, and no real ideas coming forth. And they have an 8-person decorating team just sitting around doing nothing. Finally, they decide to do something involving “flow” and Feng Shui, which is great – except I don’t think that they have any idea WHAT Feng Shui is.
Meanwhile, Primarius is painting, and Amanda is convincing herself that grey is great. But noone else likes it. Amanda thinks that paint colour isn’t “big picture”, which is pretty far off the mark. Ask any of the ‘Trading Spaces’ designers.
Over at Matchstick, Bethanny is pissed off about having no time to get furnature, but luckily she’s shopping at IKEA and can pretty much get everything there quickly. Meanwhile, the contractors have to leave and Matchstick is left to paint the walls overnight. Dawn is pissed and doesn’t work with everyone else. And Leslie takes that as laziness.
Ad Break – I flip over to GSN and they’re reshowing ‘The Amazing Race 7’. Where they, you know, LEAVE the U.S. and stuff.
Morning, and Matchstick are up at 6:30am to get back to work. Except for Dawn, who is still sleeping. Leslie thinks that Dawn is useless. Today, they’ve got all their materials, so the contractors can do their job. Man, what a concept.
Back at the Loft, Amanda does some team building by giving them some pencils. I guess you had to be there, but it works. They fill the suite with games and things that project “fun”. The viceroys visit, and they’re impressed.
Over at Matchstick, things are a bit further behind, but it’s coming together. Except that there’s a crisis in that the furniture is not yet there. 15 minutes before the execs arrive and it’s still not here. 7 minutes, they’re in the Westin loading dock and… nothing.
OK, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that Matchstick is gonna lose again.
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Primarius. The judges are here, and Amanda (dressed like a flight attendant) walks them through the suite. The judges seem to like it.
Over at Matchstick, they don’t have a couch, and basically Leslie has to cover for it. It looks pretty sterile without it, actually. And the For Leisure Or Work is kinda nice, but it still doesn’t mean anything to me.
Martha arrives at the Westin, and the executives are impressed with their work, but naturally, Primarius wins because they have a clear theme that’s easy to understand. And probably because they had couches. Their reward is that they get to chill in their suite. And Matchstick? Conference Room. Where someone will get dismissed. Wait, that was ‘The Law Firm’.
Primarius celebrates, and Martha comes to briefly visit. They’re overjoyed.
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The Loft. Dawn’s expecting to go to the Conference Room for the fourth time, so she’ll be prepared. Meanwhile, Leslie butters up Bethanny, because she’s going to take her and Dawn into the Conference Room. Bethany, unsurprisingly, is pissed, because it did come down to poor time management. Leslie asserts that this is all a plan to get rid of Dawn. Leslie has obviously never seen ‘The Apprentice’.
Conference Room. Jim gets credit for the idea. Leslie pins the furniture snafu on Bethanny, and Bethanny jumps all over her. Dawn notes that they brainstormed for 6 hours, but Martha’s daughter notes that bottom line, the task didn’t get done. They talk about Dawn’s inability to wake up. Dawn tries to defend herself, but they’re all over the sleeping in. Eventually Martha channels David Banner to cease the arguments. The team is split over who should be fired, Dawn or Leslie. Leslie chooses Dawn and Bethanny to accompany her to the Conference Room.
Cigar Guy notes that Dawn keeps coming back, and doesn’t really say anything disparaging about Bethanny or Leslie. Martha calls them back in, and it’s time for an
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Martha notes that she needs a win from Matchstick. She tells Leslie that she thinks that she had a communication problem. Leslie blames the lack of furniture. Bethanny tells Martha what Leslie told her pre-Conference Room, and doesn’t know why she’s there. Cigar Guy says it’s because she was in charge of furniture, which was very important.
Martha’s daughter notes that she may not have been liked, but she always works hard. Dawn tries to say that she does, but everyone jumps all over her.
Martha quiets the catfighting. She gives Leslie a reprieve because she stepped up as PM. Bethanny worked hard, so she stays. Dawn isn’t liked, and she doesn’t work hard, so she’s just not right for Martha’s band. She’s done.
Martha tells her viceroys that a reshuffling might be in order. And in her letter to Dawn, she basically says “don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out”.
And that’s the show.
