From the New York Daily News:


Bernie and Casino Mark.

They are no George.

They do, however, fill in for him from time to time.

Discuss!

Bernie sucks.

And Mark has a pornstache.

That's all I have to say about those two. They are not cool.

He was totally trying to get away with the pornstache!

Talk about inappropriate an appearance for the boardroom..

Yeah, I think whoever over in the episode thread christened him "Poor Man's Mark Spitz" or "Poor Man's John Stossel" had it right.

"Poor Man's John Stossel." There's a scary thought.

I wonder if Carolyn ever has important business to attend to? I shudder to think at who would be her replacement.

Mustachios seem to abound in casino men - especially those who've worked in AC and are above the level of Pit Boss. I saw plenty of 'em when I worked at a casino on the Mississippi River near Memphis.

But this Mark guy - he did have kind of a Ron Jeremy thing going on, didn't he? Ew. I just grossed myself out.

Bernie's okay. He's not as fun as George, but I seem to remember him getting in a few zingers during his BR time.

Who am I kidding!? I'm totally George's bitch. I love that man!

Casino Mark? Post-nose-job Geraldo. However, he did seem to be pretty sharp about knowing what was going to work and not work at getting new gamblers registered, and successfully separated from their money.

Wasn't it Geraldo Jr. who referred to Nick as Amy's boyfriend? Made me giggle. I'll give him 5 points for that.

Although John Stossel seems to fit, I originally thought that Bruno Kirby from City Slickers had grown a mullet and had gotten a job from Trump.

He may be "no George", but Casino-Mark was perfect for this challenge. He runs the Taj Mahal so he knows what will fly and what won't. Business wise I am sure was was great, but he had no screen charisma.

Poor Guy...compared to George and Carolyn...there is no way he can come out on top.

I think Mark is the love child of Hall and Oates.

Crystal, YOMANK! Bwah!

If anyone here has played Yahoo Games, as I've been known to do from time to time, there is a '70s looking atavar with high hair and a thick mustache. That's what this Mark person reminded me of. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Anyone agree?

Pretty sure that TD came up with that and Porn-stache just laughed along. I do seem to remember that they showed Mark's reaction shot to TD having said that, so I can understand that one could attribute the remark to him.

I'd have to go to the tape and watch the ep again to be sure, though.

I agree that no one can replace The Fabulous George, but Mark was a good choice for 'overseer' on this task. He was right on with his comments to Carolyn about the "yelling into the casino playing floor" being stupid & certainly counter-productive toward the task. I also agreed with Mark that the car RENTAL with the balloons was a VERY lame & tacky presentation for a prize.

He was kinda cute when he was giggling about the 'boyfriend' comment DT made, so as a replacement, he was fine.

Just get Fabulous George back....ASAP!

The Stache was a bit of a disappointment, especially as a replacement for George, but he runs casinos for Trump, so he probably had some specific insights that George might not have had. I'm just glad that Carolyn was around. She seemed to balance him out.

I enjoyed Mark in that he prompted you folks to come up with "pornstache," which in turn made me laugh out loud. On several occasions.

He can't replace George, but he's not bad snark-fodder (and casino expert).

Yeah, 'pornstache' is now in my vernacular. I think Mark beats out Bernie slightly overall. But I miss George. And I can't see Mark having much gravitas outside the casino in the next few episodes.

ETA[2x]: I think a suit with wide lapels and a slick bolo tie might go better with the 'stache, but this would likely cause the show to JTS. 'Specially if he wore it in the boardroom. (Look it up at acronym-finder.com, where I found what ETA meant.)

We have always called that kind of 'stash a "molestasche." I wonder if Casino Mark drives a van...

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie...you're good at your job I'm sure, but you ain't George. Now GO AWAY!

I blame this guy, the nonGeorge, for taking away my Troy. Darn you for saying to Trump "Troy's a loose cannon". Darn you and your nonGeorge-ness!!

I don't even wanna know your name, nonGeorge.

Yeah, seem like a Yes Man to me.

Come back Georgie! Georgie would have stick up for Troy :(

I read it, at first, as something that might cover up a large mole. Oops--I was wrong.

George was harsh on Troy over the pedicab fiasco, so it might not have saved Troy. But I think we would have gotten an insightful zinger. Bernie's just...there. Why'd Trump copy what he had to say near-verbatim? Eegh.

Since Trump's casinos business (Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc.) is a public company, officer salaries are publicly reported:

Donald Trump, Chairman, President and CEO $5.39 million

Mark Brown, Chief Operating Officer $1.48 million

I liked Diane's directness and no bullshit approach when speaking to Assorama. If only they could've met face-to-face over the phone call lie by Assy! She would have shown her how tough a Jersey girl can be. Maybe Diane will pop up next Fall when the Taj is showcased again.

Other people out there seem to share our lack of enthusiasm for the NotGeorges.

AmIAnnoying.com has the goods. But surely Bernie doesn't deserve to be lagging behind Omarosa, who has a funny double label, by 10%. Even if he did give Trump the final reason to can Troy.

Hmm, maybe this poll was instrumental in Trump's decision to turn Boyfriend Bill into Boardroom Bill.

I actually thought Bill was a pretty good NotGeorge. I'd rather have him than MolesterMark any day.

I thought so too. Of course, measuring from last season, there's nowhere to go but up. (Bernie wasn't so bad, though.) Bill's experience on the other side of the table helped, as shown when he tried to warn Jenn C. I don't fault him for the "it's not a game" comment, since yes, in the larger sense, the whole endeavor is a game, but at that moment, Jenn C. didn't need to be thinking about moves on a checkerboard, or at least that's how I understood his remark. But if you're the dead weight that needs to be cut, then that point could be difficult to understand. Bill tried, regardless.

Me too. Boyfriend Bill was sharp, to-the-point, and a fine presence. I read Dramarosa's commentary about how she wanted the sweet, wonderful Bill that she knew from S4 back, and, well, she's nuts (shocker!). Bill needs to be straightforward, and from what I saw, I thought he did an excellent job.

I remember some episode where Bill just listened to whatever Omarosa was babbling about and let her babble run its course, which she probably saw as strong agreement. I believe he was on the other team, which had won. But he was in a different role then. He understands when to play different roles, and he does it without too much hypocrisy.

As I rewatched the episodes, Bernie gave off corporate ur-toady vibes to me. Given Bill's interview comments I've read about his book and why he wrote it(too much business theory in other business books, etc.) I think Bill is a good fit for mor than just ratings.

I personally thought Bernie was a terrific fill-in for George. He made two points in particular that I thought were as dead on as anything George or Carolyn said throughout the first season:

1. Noting that Kristi's failure to defend herself from the attacks on her meant they were all true. Of course they weren't all true, but the perception was that they were, and that sealed her fate by letting them stand.

2. Putting it very bluntly and 100% accurate about Tammy "not bringing anything to the table".

The distracting thing about Bernie is he looks like a DEAD RINGER for the actor who played Stu Gharty on HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET (Peter Gerety is that man's name) which was one of my favorite shows.

Having said that, I don't really miss him or Mark Brown or Bill Rancic when they're not there. That's not a knock on any of them; it's simply recognition that George just kicks that much ass.

Concerning whoever the fat guy replacement for George was: Good job making it seem like washing a bunch of dogs has the same significance as going to war. This blowhard says that if Andy were the leader of a batallion, his failure in communication could lead to the death of his troops. Guess what, you massive turd? The dinky dog washing operation can not be compared to a matter of such gravity. Get over your lone respect for business.

I liked the CFO George Fill-In. He saw through Stacy's bull in no time flat and called her on it in no uncertain terms, and with very little in the way of belittling eye-rolls. Good job, Cruz Bustamante-lookalike-CFO!

I liked him, but he didn’t seem to be a natural fit for the task. Anyone else think that Trump made him do this as punishment for something?

Heh. I really like that image.
"I'm sick of your screw-ups, NotGeorge. I think you need to learn what real screw-ups look like."
"No, Boss, not that, please, not...the apprentices!"

I actually like the latest NotGeorge. He seemed to be a good observor, and sized up the various Mosaic (NewMosaic) participants, or rather, the level of interest and participation, fairly well. He does have a tendency to dramatize, for instance, envisioning the Lost Battalion, who were done in by a misplaced communications device, just like when Andy lost the cell phone. But his assessment of the Apex business plan (well, we're giving them the benefit of the doubt in the "plan" thing) was interesting to me. And, the point he (and Carolyn and the Hair) attempted to make to Stacy was a sensible one, that communicating an idea to others isn't the same as persuading them, and that learning to persuade a CEO that your idea is worthwhile is better than "walking the path of destruction." "Walking the path of destruction." Okay, yes, that's a dramatic way of expressing the point, but he was trying to tell her something worthwhile, that that one way or another, what you're doing ain't gonna work honey, not for others, and ultimately, not for yourself. Not that Stacy could hear it over the noise of her internal babble.

...

Hmm . . . yes, that's what I remember too, though I don't have a tape either. In fact, wasn't he the Horseman who summed up Amy as someone with an "empty" personality? (snerk!!!)

That was Charlie (grey-haired exec). Allen was the Horseman who asked Kwame about being low-energy.

The next NotGeorge has an interesting back story. I believe he was working as a security officer at one of Donald Trump's buildings when Donald saw a lot of potential in him and brought him into the Trump Organization's construction field. His name is Matthew Calamari. Also, I believe he appeared last season during the apartment renovation challenge; he was the burly guy with the mustache who chatted for 10 seconds with Donald about the progress at the building where the teams were assembled (this was right before Amy got selected by Protege to join their team).

I prefer the NotGeorges to be the sort of seen-it-all-done-it-all warhorses who can catch on to the subtle mistakes as well as the obvious ones. I can’t give Bill a lot of credit for pointing out that screaming fights should be stopped because...yeah. He just seems like he is inexperienced enough to be possibly swayed by the candidates own hype or ‘hypnotic fembot spells’ or whatever. Not that Trump is actually requesting detailed input from the viceroys this season or anything-- I guess Bill is pretty good at sitting and blushing which is all that is being asked of him. I liked the dog task guy (Allen?) and his military maneuvers a lot. I wish he would come back for a more challenging task-- I’d enjoy seeing him and Kelly or Jenn go at it. I think he could crack their armor.

Disclaimer: George is still the mostest bestest ‘George’ evah. Love!

After tonight I guess instead of calling him Casino Mark we need to start refering to him as Mumbles. Of course I doubt The Donald will ever allow him near a camera again.

Yeah, what was up with that? DT et al have shown how impatient they get when someone can't construct a sentence, get to the point in 10 seconds or less, etc. And the COO is showing obvious trouble with stringing together a simple noun + verb sequence?

Was that the "if this had been a military manuever..." guy?

No, I think that guy was interviewed before Cindy Brady (tm iMissEthan) was.

Mumbles (can't remember his name) is NOT Mark Brown...two different guys.

Mark Brown is CEO of Trump's casino holdings, specifically managing the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Mumbles is COO of Trump's real-estate holdings, specifically managing Trump Place in New York.

Mark Brown is an average-height, skinny dude with dark hair and a mustache, while Mumbles is a decidedly big and tall dude with dark hair and a mustache. As far as I know, Casino Mark did not appear on the season finale.

Yeah, that was Matthew Calamari. I noted elsewhere that his performance last night reminded me of Luca Brasi in The Godfather trying to speak to Don Corleone, but "Mumbles" is appropriate too.

Two guys. One pornstache.
I’m a little glad that Matt choked, because Allen was also pretty awkward but nobody noticed because of the trainwreck. I heart Military Maneuvers Allen.

Who ordered the Calamari? Scroll down and click on his picture.

"I like Kelly because.. because..." Exactly!

So, Ashley...that's his name right? I think I like him. He seems like a seasoned, more self-assured Bill.