» Apprentice in the Media Options

[BrahmaGirl]

Bowie is on the Edge in Dallas right now, and he says that Clairol's angle with the Dramarosa campaign is something like, "Tame your mean streak." Hee. Still, they're getting a letter from me.

[Erish]

Even though the series hasn't aired in the UK, the BBC News have a lessons learned from the Apprentice piece today.

Not so sure that Richard Branson can inspire the same degree of awe as The Donald... "Here's my Virgin Hot Air Balloon" doesn't quite cut it.

[Rachel RSL]

That entire segment on Today was annoying. I've never yelled "Shut UP!" so many times, that early in the morning. Katie Couric just wouldn't keep her yap shut. And whenever she finally stopped talking long enough to ask one of them a question, as soon as they started to answer, she would interrupt them. It was also pretty obvious that Katie isn't a regular viewer of the show. ("One of the girls gave you a rought time Bill. Was it Heidi?" HELLO- Heidi wasn't even on his team, dumbass!)

[The Mee]

I watched the Today show too...and I wanted to smack Katie Couric who was babbling during her interview with Bill and DT how great it was that Bill succeeded without the "silver spoon background" of an Ivy league education. I totally agree with the poster who expressed this sentiment upthread: Where the fuck do you Kwame came from? You think Kawme was born with a silver spoon in his mouth?

And stupid Couric couldn't even get the Apprentices' names right...she thought Heidi was Katrina. What a maroon, I could do a much better job interviewing than her.

This post has been edited by The Mee: Apr 16, 2004 @ 9:40 am.

[Kromm]

Well, the "style" thing can be discussed, debated and twisted into so many other things (i.e., it's just an excuse, he liked Bill / didn't like Kwame because...). Trump's been very, very vocal about how great both guys are and how difficult the decision has been

In theory I can see this. But in practice, as Bill pointed out, Trump is on record as being a micromanager--going as far as writing it up as part of his advice on "getting rich" in a book which JUST came out. Kwame himself spent a lot of time dissing micromanagement as a concept--those words weren't edited into existance.

Personally I think the ideal candidate is a combination of the two. Bill's intensity, practicality, and yes... paranoia, combined with Kwame's ability to SEEM confident. You can micromanage, heck you can even yell at people, without seeming like a wreck. Be stern, not frazzled.

Erish... I know that The Apprentice WILL be playing in the UK soon. What I'd be curious about, when it does, is if things are perceived differently in the absense of all of the "extra" things we've seen and heard through the supplementary media. Will Omarosa seem quite as evil without full knowledge of all of her media appearances (it might even seem more like the editing is "out to get her" if you don't see her outside the show)? Will the Nick and Amy drama, and the Katrina bitterness be as fun? Will Ereka seem as stoopid?

[Mowgli]

Posted by Neko

Maybe Kwame's had the luxury of never encountering incompetent or disruptive co-workers, but to me that shows a severe lack of "real world" experience, despite the G-S job that he gave up to do the show.

I was hoping for Kwame until yesterday, but after watching him at the Taj Mahal, I totally agree with Trump's choice.

Bill may have micromanaged, but at least he was completely on top of all components of his event. Kwame's idea seemed to be divvying up tasks that he himself didn't fully know the requirements of, then not following through with his people to make sure they were getting them done.

The disasterous lack of communication within the team itself--and among the team and the others responsible for the success of the event (from Diane, to the food director, to the "meet and greet" staff, to Jessica herself)--was a result of Kwame's "hands-off" style (and one scr*w up employee like O. can destroy you in a short time--as she brilliantly demonstrated! I have no doubt Bill would have smacked her down and -supervised- after her first evidence of incompetence.)

I sympathized with Heidi when she told Kwame she didn't know how to plan a "Meet and Greet" and his answer was basically, "I don't know either. You'll figure something out." He should really have helped them define the tasks, not just keep piling responsibilities onto Troy (whom he didn't supervise either...more disasterous effect).

I like Kwame and was glad to see the verbal support he got in the BR from George and the team (even O), but Bill was definitely the better choice for Trump.

[clandrith]

I watched the Today show too...and I wanted to smack Katie Couric who was babbling during her interview with Bill and DT how great it was that Bill succeeded without the "silver spoon background" of an Ivy league education. I totally agree with the poster who expressed this sentiment upthread: Where the fuck do you think Kwame came from? You think Kwame was born with a silver spoon in his mouth?

That was me, The Mee. Bill has a whale of an inferiority complex and for all of the ranting about O-montrosity's fragile psyche, Bill seems the need to prop himself up constantly by bringing up and then looking down his nose at Kwame's Harvard degree. [sarcasm] Oh Bill, you beat a Harvard MBA with just a bachelor's from Loyola. What a trooper and all around wonderful guy you are![/sarcasm]

Katie Couric and Matt Lauer need to be pushed off a short pier for their insipidness. They both suck as interviewers.

[Rachel RSL]

Well, in all fairness, the reason Bill brings it up a lot is because that's the one thing that other people on the show kept throwing in his face: Kwame's education is better then yours.

[archer1267]

I sympathized with Heidi when she told Kwame she didn't know how to plan a "Meet and Greet" and his answer was basically, "I don't know either. You'll figure something out."

I think Kwame thought he was showing confidence in Heidi's abilities, hoping to motivate her thusly, but I agree that it's not a helpful way to manage people. My new boss sometimes does that to me and it seems like such a cop-out to me...at the end of the day, people need to know what targets they're supposed to be hitting. And without the buy-in and guidance of senior management, there's only so much I can do on my own.

I've heard it repeated in several jobs that it's not wrong to admit that you don't know something - but that it isn't enough to admit that, you need to take it further and say "...but I will find out," or "...but I'm willing to find a solution." Kwame did neither, and that's been his style all along.

Not so sure that Richard Branson can inspire the same degree of awe as The Donald... "Here's my Virgin Hot Air Balloon" doesn't quite cut it.

I don't know how he's viewed in the UK, but I have more awe for his accomplishments, given the fact that he's a self-made man and didn't inherit his wealth. Although, I've gotta say, I didn't find VirginCola to be an especially refreshing beverage - and tying the word "Virgin" to products seems like a slippery slope, given the connotations!

This post has been edited by archer1267: Apr 16, 2004 @ 10:26 am.

[RhondaGC]

In that article posted above about Amy spilling the beans about the finale she supposedly said that all 14 fired apprentices would get a chance to ask questions of Bill or Kwame before the selection. Was that smokescreen? Was that part cut out? (seems unlikely to me) Or were they told this would happen and then it didn't. I seem to remember reading about some other candidate (I can't remember who) saying something similar about getting questions ready for the final two. Just wondering what happened there.

From one of the other articles above:

But here's the real shocker from last night's tense two-hour finale of NBC's "The Apprentice": Put America's favorite ditzy blonde on a reality show with a bunch of Donald Trump's lackeys, and she's not the one who looks like a bumbling idiot. Go figure.

Hee!

And did anyone else love it as much as I did when Kwame on Today this morning referred to Omarosa's "fragile psyche"? Hee! That's got to be the best euphemism for it yet.

Actually I preferred the comment by the woman on the street, in the segment they showed earlier in the show which got people's reactions to the win last night. One woman said, of Omarosa, "I think she has a personality disorder." Not that it takes amazing powers of perception to figure that out.

[nowandlater]

Oops! USA Today accidentally posted this:

And the apprentice is: Kwame Jackson

This post has been edited by nowandlater: Apr 16, 2004 @ 10:35 am.

[djmama]

Hee, nowandlater! Most excellent find!

[goobaletta]

nowandlater, I love you. How great is that link?! That is too damn funny. My favorite bits --

''TV Quote from Kwame.''

''TV Quote from Trump''

Hee!
****************************
Kwame, not Trump, needed to say ‘You're fired!’ From MSNBC. They've got the interview videos from The Today Show if you missed them. There's a poll that asks:

Why did Bill Rancic win 'The Apprentice'?

So far the response, "Omarosa wasn't on his team" is the overwhelming favorite. Imagine that.

Bill's going to be on Live with Regis and Kelly on Monday.

Mar-a-Lago cheers finale. From the Palm Beach Post. Fun article. My favorite so far today.

Longer Associated Press article. Pretty comprehensive. A couple of new Bill quotes.

Recap of Heidi, Sam, and Satan's appearance on that VH1 show that I didn't watch. I haven't seen this link posted, but if I missed it, apologies to the original poster.

This post has been edited by goobaletta: Apr 16, 2004 @ 10:44 am.

[audrey]

Amy confirmed that Trump has offered her a job - she said she hasn't decided if she'll take it (still has to negotiate) and that she has tons of job offers, both IN front of the camera and behind (I'm betting she goes for something in front of the camera...) so no surprise that Trump is calling her. And from various reports, he is very taken with her....

I guess George was wrong that the Trump organization wouldn't hire anyone that did the FHM spread. Too bad; I think it sends the wrong message.

[RhondaGC]

I'm onboard with the Katie Couric hate. But then her perky ways and cute haircuts have always rubbed me the wrong way. This morning clinched it though. I think what annoyed me the most was her constant references to the amount of time that their show has spent and will spend promoting The Apprentice. She kept saying stuff about how it was all Donald all the time around here and stuff like that. Of course she said it while laughing, as if she was being cute, but it still came off as if she was annoyed by the attention around the show. I mean, not that I don't agree with her; this show is wonderful, but the hype is starting to annoy me even. But I just didn't think it was in good taste for the host of the show which is doing the promoting to be complaining (albeit in a jokey way) about it.