That reward sucks. I wonder how long Magna had to wait for Trump to finally make his sucessful Free Throw, he surely didn't make it on the first try.

1) Kendra, "flying under the radar" is not a good strategy for this reality show. You did a great job on the pamplets, but it's nothing to be proud of that no one's noticed you until now. Kind of a case of too little, too late.

2) Chris, geez buddy, if you keep crying like that people are going to think you're a homosexual or something.

The funniest conversation of the season between Bren and his teammate Chris (mighta been Alex) out on the 'deck':

Bren: I love ya', guy!
Chris: I love ya', man!
Bren: Now let's go to the Boardroom and slit each others' throats!!

Kendra really rocked with this one, but I think her pissiness was a little out of place when the teammates wanted to quit for the night. When did her two teammates bag and go to bed?? Wasn't it like 2:30?? Then Kendra wakes Tana at 8:30 AM to say that she had completed the project. So she did 6 hours of work late at night/early in morning, so how effective could she really be?? Anyway, I'm sure they all could have gone to bed, and then each do 2 or 3 hours of work to finish up in the morning. All that depends on the time required to get the pamphlet printed (did they go to a printer?? Or was it done on a printer in the suite?) and when their presentation was to be. If their presentation was to late in the afternoon, then they CERTAINLY would have had time to sleep. What does anyone else think?

I would have been impressed with Kendra but she's a whiny brat. She micro-managed every part of the task, then complained when her teammates got frustrated. Yes, they checked out and they are wrong for that, but she was the pm. Some people need to go to bed early, get a couple of hours sleep, then wake up early and finish. I'm willing to bet that if she had told Tana and Craig to go home, get a couple of hours of sleep and come back, they'd have been more willing to work. And why couldn't Craig have started on the text while she was perusing the pictures?

Tana's stock has fallen for sure, but I bet it was simply the Kendra win edit that we've seen coming or weeks. This way, Trump can justify hiring book smart Kendra over street smart Tana.

And Chris? I was laughing exteriorally at his ass. It served him right. I hated the "how can THEY beat US" attitude from his team, so whatever. No sympathy from me.

ETA: mootermutt beat me to it! ;-)

Word mootermutt987 - Kendra rocked as a worker, and sucked as a manager. There was no reason to make the other players sit there and stare at the back of her head while she worked with the layout people.

And Chris? THERE'S NO CRYING IN THE APPRENTICE.

I am SO over promo guy. "You won't believe what happens after the Boardroom!" The dude had me all geared up for a double firing and all I got was The Passion of Chris. Chris, there's no crying in The Apprentice! Suck it up, little boy. I cannot believe Trump pandered to Chris's tears.

Really, I was waiting for Trump to be told about Tana and Craig's slacking and call them in the boardroom for a dressing down. And if said meeting resulted in Craig getting axed and the fear of god being put into Tana, so be it. Craig cannot disappear from my TV fast enough. I like Tana but her attitude was shit. You never rest on your laurels, slut. Never. Kendra, not a fan, but major kudos for your hard work and knowing what it takes to get it done.

ETA: Slacker, you beat me to it.

I wish Kendra would go back to flying under the radar, because she was SOOO getting on my nerves last night. I don't know if it was the whole sleepgate situation or just her mushmouth way of talking, but I was tired to seeing so much Kendra this episode. They should have just split the work evenly instead of Kendra trying to control every little aspect of the brochure and maybe everyone could have gotten some sleep that night. I hate Kendra the martyr, who stayed up all night slaving away while her teammates slept.

And the brochure wasn't anything the average teenager couldn't have come up with for like a high school project. I wasn't impressed at all with the fact that Pontiac was going to use her brochure for their marketing campaign- i think they are just lazy, and also they know people will just be asking for the "apprentice" brochure all the time anyway.

Kendra's pamphlet looked good because the other one was so bad.
And word to everyone who mentioned that she sure isn't a manager. Manage, as in 'people' and 'time'. Geeez, if you have to stay up all night because you wasted the day working ineffectively, hell, you're on your own.

Yay forums!

Yay for Kendra! I think she's got a lot of talent. My main concern is her inability to inspire the respect of her teammates. A good leader has to do that, no matter how hard that may be. In this hypercompetitive reality show environment, Tana and Craig may be trying to sabotage her, wherein normal circumstances they would follow her lead, but she's gotta pull the team together. My suspicion is, however, that it's not so much reality tv as it is age. Especially with Craig's "young lady" comment next week. It can be tough to manage people who are older than you.

Loved the "I respect your honesty, and yet am totally offended by it." Hee.

Boo for Tana and Craig. Can't believe they went to bed like that. Maybe they come from different environments, but in my little neck of the woods, people pull all-nighters all the time. You do what you have to to get things done. With a tight deadline, sleep is optional.

Hahaha for Chris, Bren and Alex. Magna will never be able to win with two GIRLS on their team. What do GIRLS know about cars? Kendra and Tana will just go play with their easy bake ovens while Craig tries to do all the work himself. Now excuse us while we take our clubs and go hunt mammoth for womenfolk. GRUNT.

How awesomely, embarassingly bad was NetWorth's brochure? Egads, let me count the ways.

1. From what I could see, bad choice of fonts. Very unprofessional, very highschool photoshop.
2. Horrible choice of models. If you were going to use a model, you needed a model like Melania, elegant and sophisticated. Not your typical cute girl on beach. Know your audience. Frat guys and surfer dudes: Not your audience.
3. All that verbage. Ouch. This isn't War and Peace. People don't sit down and read these brochures page by page.
4. Boring cover. It reminded me of the cover of Spinal Tap's album. "We wanted to leave it up to the interpretation of the buyer." No! No you don't! The whole point of the exercise is to manipulate the car buyer's interpretation.
5. Bad photos. Because out of focus=fast=no.

And last but not least: Chris is so so gay.

I can understand Kendra's frustration. Craig wasn't getting what she was saying when I thought it was pretty clear. The two of them obviously don't like each other. Tana just came off a big win and she had a bit of a 'tude.

But...

Kendra, it wasn't like they didn't do anything on the project. Tana was right there with you during the photo shoot/focus group thing. Craig was handling the indoor photo shoot and your team got some good pics from both shoots.

I also don't believe you and Tana didn't talk about the presentation beforehand.

Still thinking it will be a Kendra vs. Tana F2. I think Tana is a better people manager and she's organized.

Awesome episode!

I understand that Kendra was a little over the top with the Tana and Craig sleeping thing...but really i would be just as proud of myself for what i accomplished on my own. Go Kendra!

Also, some of you have said Kendra flew under the radar, she never said she did. If you listened to her little speach during the reward, she said....

"My strategy has been to sit back and observe while everyone else has fought over the spotlight. Now i know all their stenghts and weaknesses. Now i am a force to be reckoned with"

Agree or disagree, it's a smart strategy.



Tana: Hello Jen M, i missed you!

Craig: Go back to not speaking!

I actually would have fired Alex, had Chris not lost 7 in a row. Alex botched the task, not taking pictures he was assigned and setting up Bren for failure. And then he tried to use that against Bren....you can't fool Bren!

Bren's stock rose alot after his awesome boardroom performance. He is able to argue a point without becoming a shrieker.

Cosby, you got no game.

Donald, how many takes to get that shot?

Zeke, quit messing up the Knicks.

Team Networth, one week you win pearls, next week you run wind sprints.

Have to disagree here. First of all, we don't know a) how long they were given to do the task and b) how long it takes. And if they were in fact, working ineffectively (something we also don't know), then that's as much Craig and Tana's fault as it is Kendra's. Finally, if you're not done with the task, keep working on it until you are! I mean, really. I honestly feel they thought this was just an easy way to get rid of Kendra. Tana flat-out said she didn't care what happened, because she was exempt. And I'm sure Craig thought there was no way he'd lose to a "young lady". In short, they both suck, and I hope they are the next two bootees.



Indeed. This man is way too excitable to be working in show business. I think he previously must've been a shepherd. "Coming next week...you won't believe...your eyes...a wolf attacks the sheep one by one."

Tana's strengths: managing people, keeping focused on accomplishing a tangible goal. But...not very creative and her vocabulary needs some work.

Kendra's strengths: creativity--whether applied to design or marketing ideas. Good at "doing her thing" for the team, but I'm not sure if she can delegate effectively to others, i.e. lead.

If I were DT who would I hire? Kendra's smart and creative, but young, and would any of Trump's people ever listen to her? Tana's got good "people skills", is mature, and can lead, but is she really smart enough?

Trump doesn't have an easy decision (although, since he'll probably just have the "girl" doing PR appearances anyway, rather than any real work, he'll probably just pick Kendra).

I kind of felt bad for Chris. I mean, bottom line is, he is a 21-yr-old kid. I'm glad he was put down early though. Being in the final 4, for example, would've eaten him alive. I don't blame him for crying. Hell, any one of us at 21 years old, all wet behind the ears might have cried as well, if we were that close. Of course, you'd hate yourself in the morning, but still. The kid's got spunk. Nothing could have saved the kid from getting fired, though. I wish he didn't have to take all the blame for being ona losing team, but there is something to be said about seven times. Christ.

I didn't like Tana's comment about coasting due to exemption. It's a bitch thing to say no matter how you've performed in the past.

Chris, Bren, and Alex's team's (I forget the names) brochure sucked ass, but Kendra's concept was stupid to me. The whole one word-definition thing is the stuff high-school projects are made of.

Was anyone else hoping that Trump would just fire the whole lot of them and get on with it? They all sucked in their own little way. What is it with that team?

arena73:
Haha!

Housewonder



I would have fired Alex too, he's too busy flirting. He seemed more interested in shooting pictures of the model than the car.

Wow I was soooooooo prepared for some serious boardroom fireworks here. As soon as networth loss, I knew Chris was out. And all I could htink about was what he would do AFTER he got fired. Cmon Chris, he could punch Trump, slap George/Carolyn, Dance on the tabel while chewing tabacco and swearing in Trumps face, Kick both alex and Bren in the groin on his way out.... anyone of those woudlve been exceptable to me. But CRYING!?!? I was so ready for something else, that I just started laughing when Trump called him back. I half expected The Donald to say :"Chris, GET OVER HERE! SIT ON MY LAP! Now why are you cryin". I swear that whole scene reminded me of when I was a little lad, and my mom/dad would try to make me feel better by giving me some candy. Chris needed to go but IMO he was only half the reason networth lost. I was hopping both Alex and him would get the boot. Alex has never proved himself in my eyes, and I hope the Donald can see him for his true character.

That was actually a pretty tough task to put together in a day. I've put together corporate brochures and press kits, and it's not an easy task by any means. There's more to it than just sitting down at a computer and banging out some verbiage and slapping down some photos in Microsoft Publisher or CardMaker 2005. It can be pretty darn tedious, and yes CRAIG, sometimes you ARE looking at the same. Darn. Photos. Over and over again to see which one is the better fit for the copy.

Craig is an asshat, and Tana, while I was on her train, is getting a bit too big for her britches and better simmer down. If it wasn't for Kendra working all night, they would have been in the boardroom because I don't think those two would have done better than Net Worth.

Alex is a turd, and I agree that if Chris wasn't in the boardroom seven weeks in a row, he should have been fired. I can't believe he hosed the photos so badly. Didn't they have a checklist of what photos to get? That's a no brainer when you're taking stock photos for promotion.

Alex is a total goof-off when given responsibility. I would have been furious if I'd left him with a simple goal (take good interior shots of the car) and came back to him just posing dozens of shots with models so he could flirt and schmooze.

Bren wrote bad copy, but at least he worked hard.

Chris (for all his "brilliance"--huh?) didn't do much to make the brochure any good, but he wasn't as bad as Alex.

For all Chris's belligerence, I think Trump identifies with his aggressiveness and sees it as "enthusiasm" and "passion". I think he sees a bit of himself in Chris, which may be true as I think they are both braggarts and bullies, albeit they have a nice side, too.

The crying was embarrassing. I could feel sorry for him, but with his condescending attitude toward women (I think he feels they're "weaker") and his unwillingness to admit he has a problem with anger--I don't really have much sympathy for him, embarrassed or not.

The dumbest thing about the losing brochure was that the out-of-focus shot of a car doesn't imply it's going fast. This is what shows speed when it comes to cars, i.e. the trails behind a car. Out-of-focus just looks like an example of bad photography.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that, the Solstice isn't an upper line car, so frat boys might very well be a potential market. I believe I heard Kendra mention the price is in the mid 20s, not much for a very sporty looking roadster. I had no problem with that model, my problem was that Alex apparently used all the film taking shots of her and didn't follow one single instruction about what to photograph.

Chris's line of reasoning that a lawyer could be expected to write catchy copy in a brochure was a bit wobbly, too. I'm sure some lawyers can write pithily (hi, miss alli), but it's not a given, since the profession often calls for being wordy beyond belief.

My first thought about Kendra's brochure was that the shape was annoying. My first thought about Net Worth's was that it looks like every other GM brochure I've seen for the last 15 years, so I was surprised at how negative they were about it. I've seen tons of blurred "speed" photos of various Chevrolets, Buicks and Pontiacs so I really didn't think it would be a source of complaint. I even wondered if part of their dislike of the Net Worth product is that it did look too much like their usual stuff, and since GM sales are in the toilet right now (especially Pontiac and Buick), they wanted to try something new.

Chris deserved his firing, but Alex should have been fired right along with him. He completely fucked up his portion of the project; where Chris really messed up was in not checking to make sure the photographers got the shots they needed. I thought the night shots Bren and Chris asked for were actually very dramatic and showed the car better than the bland ones Kendra used.

Chris also showed a lot of class in his farewell speech, and I don't recall anyone else ever thanking Carolyn and George.

Probably just one, because my gut told me he had a stunt double take the shot. After the ball went in, all I could see was the side of "Trump's" head ducking away; it could have been anybody wearing a dark suit and a wig.

I'm with Kendra on this one.

Maybe it was a little dull to look at multiple car photos to pick the cream of the crop but Gawd at least she didn't just pull the first thing that caught her eye like Networth did with their blurry image!

I think Kendra was almost forced to micro-manage due to her teammates poor attitude; contrast that to when Kendra gave both Craig and Tana a lot of freedom on the Fuse task when they were proactive and working to their full potential.

I wasn't completely surprised by Craig's negativity but I was pretty shocked when Tana chose to blatantly cash in on her exemption and bail on Kendra. Even though wussy Alex took a nap over on Networth, he had the decency to stay with his team and not to skulk back to the suite.

Did anyone else think The Joker was going to hug Chris?

I can understand why Tana and Craig might be frustrated if Kendra won't let them make decisions or do anything, but still expects them to sit around and just be there. I think it is almost identical to the Home Depot task where Craig had a great idea but couldn't get his team to understand it, so he ended up doing the work by himself in the end.

I also believe that the sleep problem was that Kendra assumed everyone would stay up all night mulling over the project, while Tana and Craig assumed the goal was to get it done quickly so they could get some sleep. A timeline may have been a good idea.

As each episode airs, it becomes so evident how far this series has fallen. One of these whiny, immature twits is, by default, going to be the "apprentice". I'm so glad DT has cut down the finale to one hour because this is becoming so anti-climatic.

What did Isiah Thomas have to give those Knicks to show up...or was that some sort of disciplinary action he was taking out on them?

I fell for the fake-out promo again! I vow, here and now, NEVER AGAIN!

Go to hell Craig. No wonder he and John got along, they sure do love talking down to them dumb young females. If finishing the brochure alone wasn't enough to command his respect of the "young lady" then the guy's just a dick. I didn't think Kendra was being at all unclear about the theme of the brochure. She's right: whenver she talks he just stops listening. What an asshole. I really hope this isn't stemming over from The Box incident because if he holds that against her while seemingly getting along fine with Tana, Bren and Alex then I really think he does look down on younger women. Either that or someone (Tana?) made it seem like Kendra was the main denouncer of The Box.

I sympathized with Tana and Craig to an extent because it was probably unreasonable for Kendra to assume they were physically capable of pulling an all-nighter, but they were both kind of assholish about it. "You're the self-proclaimed expert, let's see that expertise." If there were moments where Kendra didn't know what she was doing, we certainly weren't shown any. Hey Craig, Kendra pretty much had to micromanage you because you keep ignoring her every time she tries to explain to you what the idea behind the brochure is. And while she's still my second fave, Tana's performance during the presentation actually bothered me a little bit more than Jen M's did because with Jen, the team seemed to be deliberately marginalizing her to later point out she did nothing, so stepping up during the presentation was possibly crucial to her not being fired in case of a loss. Tana did seem to be working hard earlier in the day, and I was fine with her calling it a night and taking advantage of her exemption which she certainly had earned. So I didn't see why Tana felt the need to keep trying to take over the presentation. It seemed as if Tana just had trouble with having most of the control during the presentation. Although given how often she's probably done it, I can understand how that might take a little getting used to.


No kidding. I was counting on a complete meltdown of the enraged kind after Chris got fired. Even for a contestant crying that was nothing. Hell, Erin's breakdown in episode one over the inevitability of people being fired was more compelling.

That blurred picture and their reasoning behind it was so transparently bullshit. You're right BlackCorduroy, that picture did not indicate any type of motion except maybe on the part of the camera. For their sake, I hope they didn't actually believe what they were saying. Hey dumbasses (Chris and Alex), that would not make me want to turn the page; it would give me a headache.

At least it looks like Trump's passion for Alex has cooled down. Apparently three losses in a row doth a true loser make. It was painfully obvious he was doing nothing but taking mental notes of what to tattle about in the boardroom. Though I agreed with Chris' firing because if I want to see someone persevere week in week out in the face of relentless losing, I'll watch Survivor and root for Stephenie (which I do!) But you, sir, are no Stephenie.

Man, this was a trainwreck. I think we might as well give the gig to Kendra. If Trump doesn't like sleepers, it takes the wind out of Tana's sails. Craig? He's dead man walking, with one PM stint, an articulation problem, and his clashes with Kendra. Even if he wins as PM next week, he wouldn't survive the Four Interviewers of the Apocalypse. By pulling off the brochure on her own, Kendra has taken a wide lead. I just wish she had more of a personality.

Chris...hee hee heeeeee. I understand why Trump fired him this late. He had to get beaten. He had to get his spirit broken beyond recognition. Otherwise, he ends up trying to kill Trump. Just wish it didn't come at the expense of his teammates. Seriously, the man is a nutter, and I'm glad he's gone.

ETA: Going to the Knicks? Gotta be punishment. Trump's got business in New Jersey...why not visit the Nets? They've been Eastern Conference champs twice.

I didn't see her guiding them, but she wasn't stopping them, either. From what I remember, they had no ideas and no suggestions.

If they -really- had anything to contribute, they could have picked up a pencil and paper and sketched out a mock up, or some captions and ideas to use with pictures...done something. Craig just looked stupid and useless sulking at the computer because he was "tired of looking at the same pictures".

Their problem was neither one is very creative with writing or design. You can't really tell someone how to be creative, either, and Kendra had a team of pros to do the actual execution.

So...Craig and Tana didn't bring anything to the task, but they should have at least stayed in the building. (And, imo, they should have gotten right up when Kendra came in in the morning and at least shown enthusiasm and support for what she'd done).

In a similar situation, Kendra was able to acknowledge Craig deserved all of the credit. She didn't try to take credit away from the deserving PM, either--not like Tana and Craig both did on this task.

Wordy McWord to this, dmeets.

Craig seriously needs to get off my TV and now would not be too soon. What patronizing bullshit is this, anyway? Audrey was right. He's taking this, "I'm the father of four and I know what's best for everyone" garbage entirely tooooo far.

And, yo! Promo monkeys at NBC, get over your sorry selves. "You won't believe what happens after the boardroom!" The hell. It was Seinfeld who always said, no learning, no hugging. DT, you ain't no Seinfeld.

Phooey.

I'm going back to not watching and only reading the recaps. At least I'll get that hour of my life back in the process.

No shit. It's not the task. It's not during the task. It's not the boardroom. It's what happens after the boardroom!
I thought for sure Chris was going to go postal, come back with an shotgun, hold Robin for ransom and shoot up the joint. Now THAT would have been 'Must See TV'!

I don't care at this point who wins. Well, except Craig. Don't like him. Boyfriend Bill is "Supervisor" of the Trump building in Chicago, Kelly is in charge of getting Trump Bottled Water up and running, so this Apprentice? The job descriptions are dwindling down. Hey, they can be manager of Trumps new pizza parlor. I'm sure he'll have one soon. The man stops at nothing.

Best quote of the night? Tana: "Chris doesn't belong here. It's like he's a business virgin and we're all sluts". Hee!

Except for maybe not losing seven times.

Or not being bat-shit crayzeeee in the Boardroom at every given opportunity.

Or not being the jackhole who contributed exactly nothing to the previous week except losing a credit card and stalking the Best Buy people to retrieve said card.

Hee, yeah. Nothing could have saved him, from himself. Or being fired.

On a less acerbic note though, I actually did feel somewhat sorry for him during the Boardroom because it was clear he was thisclose to crying from the beginning because I think he knew before it started how it would end.

It sucks being thisclose to losing your shit and crying (from relief at it being over, stress, anger (what? Chris? angry?? that's kooky-talk) and not being able to just get up and go cry in the restroom and get it over with and instead being forced to be subdued, bite the inside of your cheek and wait for it to all end so you can cry and be done with it. Not that I know anything those situations, that's just what I've heard. (Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight).

Oh yeah! I forgot about that. Hee definitely! I think out of the 18 people this season, Tana's the one that had me laughing my ass off the most. She's funny as hell.

Man, I totally feel that one. I give presentations constantly in both of my jobs and it is extremely hard for me to just shut up and let someone else do it. You just get so used to talking....

Craig blows goats. I never particularly liked him, now I really don't like him. And I actually defended John during Sexistgate Part 1: The Audrey Factor, but there's no other way to spin this for Craig.

I actually sort of liked Chris's crying breakdown during the boardroom. Some Intense Guys just have so much energy and emotions they just can't keep themselves under control. Chris is in that group and he probably had no idea he was going to cry either until it happened. Although I admit I would have been more amused by some fit of rage, I think this is more the true Chris. He's violent because he feels vulnerable and when he didn't have anything left to defend, he just needed to have a good cry, *right now*, because he does everything *right now*. Aww.

Kendra... she's really good, tons of good ideas, hard worker, on top of things. She's not going to let Craig get away with sabotage. But she does not inspire. And I'll be a one-eyed horny toad if I can say why that is. I have to say, though, that the Apprentice track record for "micromanaging" is far better than the Apprentice track record for "inspiring."

It seems like Kendra and Tana had some sort of problem with division of labor. It should be apparent that Tana is the best presenter of the three. Her presenting - while giving the impression that she was trying to take credit - probably did help the task. She should have been presenting all along. Overall, though, it's easy to forgive, forget and move on if you win.

Tana's earned enough goodwill that I will forgive her for trying to steal credit and for checking out of a task when she was exempt, but this was not her finest hour.

Immunity is broken as a reward for being PM. There needs to be something better.

Seems like every season there's a contestant who gets distracted by models and fluffs up their part of the task. I figured it would be Bren, but I guess it was Alex. Stock: sinking. But of the five remaining, he's a lot better than Craig.

Ideal final two for me is Kendra and Tana, although it is probably more likely to be Bren and Tana. I don't think Kendra will interview well, and I don't know if Kendra has earned enough respect to get her past a lukewarm interview. She's had two task-winning ideas and was a big contributor to two more, but it's not clear that Trump and the Viceroys really have a good feel for her yet.

Kendra's great. She's young, smart and savvy. Tana and Craig are older and I think they have a hard time listening to her. Craig particularly seems to have a chip on his shoulder when it comes to a young, successful women.

Unlike Chris, Tana and Craig seemed to have a thing against members of the original Magna corporation.

Kendra's rant is an accumulation of the crap she's taken from Craig the past week. Granted she wigged out @ Craig's box idea. Everyone checked out of the box idea, it wasn't just Kendra. Craig's box idea wasn't so much great as not as horrible as the Kitchen island.

Craig hasn't shown very much in terms of his business skills, before or after the box. If anything, he's been under the radar, a lot. He seems to belittle people.

Kendra has shown on several occasion to have a good instinct for doing the most efficient and most effective thing to win the task. I've seen that she's just very competent, but in a quiet manner.

I think with some more experience, Kendra can better command the respect of those around her. She has the most potential though.

Chris cried... the guy needs to get a hold of his emotions.

Oh, and I love the condensed boardroom. They should do that from Week 1. Carolyn and George giving their opinions in front of the three is priceless.

You can take any in-focus picture and make it look like it's moving. It's called Adobe Photoshop -> Motion Blur

Plain and simple, they didn't have any good shots, so they used the blurry picture. They could actually have motion-blurred that, and made it look halfway decent. They could even have done other stuff to take that crappy out-of-focus picture look more in-focus and not so sucky. One of them could have gone back early in the morning with an el-cheapo digital camera and make some halfway decent amature photographs. They didn't.

Word! That 'I'm exempt so I don't give a ****' attitude will definitely come back to bite her. It was obvious during the presentation coup attempt that (1) she wasn't the creative force behind the brochure, & (2) she can have trouble articulating. Not that a college degree automatically confers an extensive vocabulary or anything, but she didn't come off well in that 'presentation'. I've been on her train, too, but was disappointed.

Craig? You're next to go.

Bren impressed me with his poise as he defended himself. He showed how to shaft an attacker without losing his cool & not letting anyone see him sweat. Angie could have taken lessons.

Okay, Chris has been around too long & should be gone already, but for crying out loud, will somebody tell me how the PM gets fired this week for a lousy project, but Golden Boy Alex skated through last week as PM for a disaster & one of the worker bees got the shaft instead?

Final two: Bren & ......?

I think Magna's brochure was fantastic. I have difficulty with the idea that GM, in the bat of an eye, claimed they would use it. IF they are, I have to assume the ad agency had a tremendous amount to do with it. It takes months and meetings to compile something like that. I smell a fish.

Craig is a non entity for me. Reeeealy disappointed in Tana. I think when she was on the job, she did what was needed and in the way it needed to be done. She was right there on the shoot and working. But, she should have sucked it up and worked through the night. Kendra, probably because of her personality, didn't create a team enthusiasm that could have pushed Tana through the night. (No, a professional shouldn't need a reason to stay up, they just do it, but Kendra bears some responsibility. If your team walks out, you must be doing something wrong.)

Kendra's got it all on paper. She's come up with great ideas, strategies and tactics. But, she's whiny, imperious and her need to micromanage isn't a good thing. Too bad her successes will probably give her the win.

Tana is a far better leader and I think she inspires people to want to do their best. Sorry to hear her say she was exempt and didn't really care any longer. I expected better from her.

Chris. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I don't think he deserved this firing. He's deserved others, but this was Alex's time. The guy is a fuck up. He's lazy. Even when directed what to do, he didn't do it. Did it look like he had highlights on the tips of his hair in the boardroom? Can't believe I'm going to say this...I felt bad for Chris when he cried. OK, I've said it and I'll have to live with it.

Bren giggles at his own quips, but couldn't come up with text? That brochure looked like shit. All that text was unnecessary. Put the stats on the final page. Three guys who were so sure of themselves, but they thought with their "little heads" and stuck a model in front of the car. Wow, what a novel concept.

Me thinks it's Bren and Kendra in the finals and I don't want to watch either of them for an hour. Although, if the show is going to stay with the theme of college vs. high school, it might be Bren vs. Tana. Can't imagine Craig is in the running. Kendra vs. Tana? Can't envision two women up against each other. Hell, I don't know. Don't really care at this point.

Sbeet I agree with your comments regarding the task itself. I am not in the publishing industry but the couple of times I have helped put together firm promotional material together, I remember having to spend a lot of time staring a photos that seemed similar but varied in subtle ways and could some how ruin the look if the wrong one of these similar pictures are picked. So what am I trying to say? SHUT YOUR WHINING PIE HOLE CRAIG!

I especially hated it when Craig tried to convince the viewers in an interview after the the winner was announced of how they were "all" deserving of the win. Yeah right. Tana too fell in my esteem this week. I really didn't like it when she keeps trying to take over leadership and we saw that this week not only in the presentation but also when Craig and Kendra were having their spat. She walks in like the only person who can ever control the situation and starts to deal with people like they were here spatting. I just don't think the momitude will go over well in the corporate world.

When they were first given the task, I new Magna was going to win (and not just because I read the spoilers) cause Kendra chose the right behaviour to attack. Seth Stevenson's article at Slate details the marketing a cycle a car go through from introduction to reselling years after. Apparently the first behaviour a car firm targets is emotional impulse so that people will run out and buy the car regardless of cost, efficiency etc. And this is what Kendra achieved with her brochure.

Finally, I hate Alex with the passion of a thousand Mel Gibsons. Seriously didn't he write down the shit he was supposed to do and still he messes up? I loved how Bren called out his bullshit in the BR. I wish Bren could be in every BR and call out everyone's BS including The Donald's. Loved Loved LOVED it when he told Trump that there is a difference between losing a lot and calling someone a loser since the latter is harsh term that none of them deserve. Ahh Bren, almost wish you would lose more so I can see you in the BR more often.

Good lord, that was the worst reward I've ever seen on ANY show! Passing drills? SUICIDES?! I don't know about you guys but when I was TheLittleC, that was what we did as punishment during gym class. All the Knicks players in the world won't change that.

I thought the blurry picture was pretty. I'm not going to defend its placement in the NetWorth brochure, or anything, but it was a pretty picture.

There was no real point to Tana & Craig sticking around. An all-nighter makes some sense if you're actually doing something...but all they were doing was rolling their eyes and nodding occasionally. Maybe Kendra wanted them around to go for coffee? Dunno. Anyway, T & C weren't particularly polite or graceful about going, so even though I think they were right to leave, I don't really want to defend them.

Chris should have been gone long since. He was born on third and thinks he hit a triple - and all game long, he's been waiting for someone to bat him home. Sorry, Chris, you were supposed to steal that base yourself.

Alex looked good task 1, when he was telling that good-looking man to stop shuffling papers and learn to run a register. He looked good again on the grafitti thing, when he had the wit to ask the locals' opinions. Since then, he's just looked worse and worse. Instead of stepping it up, he's slacking off. May he be the next one fired.

And....shame on you Mr Trump! He saw that Chris couldn't hold back the tears and he called him back in to make sure national television caught every sniffle. How low can you go?

My respect for Tana totally took a nose dive. When Kendra woke her up at 0830 you could see she was a little uncomfortable...panicked even....that's probably why she jumped in the presentation....she was trying to cover her ass and it was obvious she wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about. As soon as Kendra got her opening, and the speech rolled along nicely, you could tell Tana's face she felt like she totally wiffed on this one. (Plus, she looked absolutley stupid in the basketball uniform.)

Craig's an idiot. I couldn't believe after all the time working on the project and he still says 'we don't have a theme' Even my eleven year old said...um, hello! Kendra's been telling you your theme is emotion from the get go. What an idiot.

I was hoping Trump would say to Alex, so it's not the losers bringing you down....turns out you're just actually a loser! 'No time' to get the right photos? I wanted him gone!

Of the last 5 standing though, I really hope Craig is toast next week, I don't really care to see him live through one more task.

I really, really don't see what Craig's problem with Kendra is. I'm beginning to think it is sour grapes--she's beginning to emerge as a star (especially after this week) and he himself has done, um, what exactly? OK, he rocked on the Home Depot box episode, but that's about it. I also am beginning to suspect that Craig is one of those types of men who has trouble taking orders from someone younger than him, and especially a younger woman. I've worked with types like that, and they can be annoying. Especially their way of taking their own weaknesses and projecting them on you so it looks like you are the problem. I see Craig doing that with Kendra, when really she is the star and he (this week anyway) was the problem.

as LaraAriadne said:

Exactly.

Kendra's stock went way, way up with this ep and Craig's and Tana's went down. I can't even believe they left her to do all the work so they could sleep. There have been many times I have wished that the winning team had to meet with Trump to discuss the strong and weak links on the task, but never more than this week. I would have loved to have seen Craig and Tana explaning their behavior to Trump. Honestly, I think the fact that Kendra went to college helped somewhat because she probably got used to pulling all-nighters and it didn't seem like any big deal to her.

The spoilers had said that Chris would lose it spectacularly this week, but that was not at all what I was expecting. I totally thought he would explode at the end of the ep--the crying totally took me by surprise. He's certainly an interesting psychological study. I think when he's not under pressure he's a very nice guy, easy to get along with. But, unfortunately, this high-pressured situation brought out the worst in him.

Why is Alex still there? Has he done anything since the graffiti task, other than sit around looking immaculately well-groomed?


Yep, kinda like Amy in S1. Although she had a slightly higher profile by this point in the season.


See, I've said since S1 that micro-managing, for the tasks on this show anyway, is the only way to go. I mean, yeah it makes the teammates mad, but when the PM doesn't micromanage, things often end disastrously. Especially this season, when the strategy of the other teammates often seems to have been "sit back, do nothing, and then let the PM take the fall when things go wrong." A good PM who is serious about winning will make sure things get done the way he or she wants them done. I admire the confidence in one's ability and ideas it takes to do this.

The Magna brochure was great. You sell sexy by showing what's sexy about the car -- the shapes, lines and colors. Not by writing the word "SEXY" in big red type. That word itself is not sexy. And a motion blur has its place. If NetWorth had, in fact, even achieved a motion blur correctly. But when you're selling a car you do need at least one good, very cool, very sharp, photo of the car for people to fall in love with. It looked like the NetWorth brochure lacked that.

Chris crying at the end? You know, I did kind of feel for him. And clearly Trump and Carolyn did too. My reaction was, "Wow he is very young ins't he. But maybe he's a good kind" All of a sudden I'm all parental on him. And I excused some of his previous volatility to immaturity and passion. But I wonder if he had been a woman -- if a 21 year old woman had been screaming in the boardroom every week and burst into tears upon firing -- we'd all have the same reaction. Maybe we'd call her an overdramatic bitch. Or say she's too emotional for business. I'm just wondering.

Kendra is the most creative and best marketer but as pointed out in the earlier posts, she is not much of a manager. Who knows if Tana and Craig (Be Gone!) really did nothing or if she was so into her vision that she did not let them do much so they gave up? I was really disappointed in Tana since the "I am exempt so to hell with it" will probably kill her given Trump's disdain for non-college grads. She should not have tried to grab credit in the presentation, but again who knows why she did that. Kendra was great in something she knows how to do but people need to remember her sour grapes in both the Home Depot and American Eagle task. It should definitely be the girls in the final though neither is perfect. I hope Bren is third just to see him in a boardroom or interview situation. He is better at that than the rest though nothing special on tasks. Be gone, Craig and Alex!

I don't agree. Yes, they weren't doing much, but there was no excuse for leaving one team member to finish everything. They should have stayed for moral support if nothing else. If they were tired and had nothing to do, they could have curled up in the corner like Alex did (can't believe I'm approving something Alex did!). Then they would have still been there if Kendra had needed their help, or something. And it seemed to me that the only reason they weren't doing more in the task is because they chose not to. Kendra seemed to be trying to get them involved from the beginning, but it was clear that Tana checked out (she even admitted it!) and Craig claimed to not understand what they were doing and later was "bored" with looking at pictures.

I'm not saying Kendra was as good at managing as she might have been, but I think part of that is her youth. Some experience and age will help that. Plus, even the best managers sometimes have to deal with people who don't respect them or don't want to do their share. I don't know that it always reflects badly on the manager.

I've seen a lot more controversy when women have cried in previous seasons, midnightoil. Actually, that's one of the reasons I thought Chris's crying episode was instructive--in his case it seemed clearly related to his other strong emotions. Although Chris expressed way, way too much anger, women often aren't allowed to express any at all. Then we're also not allowed to cry, which is sometimes what happens when anger gets misdirected. But I felt bad for Chris, because no one wants to do that on national television.

In other contestant news, I really liked Kendra's brochure. Kendra herself can be whiny, and should work on that. I was disappointed in Tana, who I think overall is the strongest contestant, but Craig's behavior seemed par for the course. He seems to pick a target and badger them, and Kendra is his new target. That's too bad, considering her final assessment of The Box project.

Alex should have gone. For the life of me, I don't see what he contributes to any of the tasks. He can't seem to follow a list, and he doesn't seem to have ideas.

Oh, he can follow a list (see: "Attach belt buckle"); it just has to be a short list.

Alex flirting? Good camouflage, Alexander. What a LOSER! Totally did not follow directions.

Tana? Total bee-yotch at the presentation, even to the point of looking amazed at Kendra's speaking up and then having to contort her face back into a smile. And I LOVED Tana. The scales are off my weepin' eyes.

Speaking of which, Chris? Crying is so NOT good at a job interview! "He's got potential." Trump, the Guidance Counselor. I guess we won't ever see Trump Cigars.

Craig? So he built a box. No way was that creative (didn't Tana save that task, with her work with the chirren?); he was lucky the other team's project was unwieldy. But then, I had the same dim view of Kwame, who was often shown looking befuddled and/or silent, and look how far he went. This episode I think Craig understood Kendra just fine, and decided to risk his team's status so as not to have to "obey" a "young lady".

Bren? Eh.

Kendra? Did a great job, although I was amused when the brochure was open to the "SUK' sess" page. Anyway, great photos, unique brochure shape, pithy content addressing the emotional impact (this is not a Prius we're showing, people!), BUT: Dour face. She can't help it. Thus, Kendra SHOULD have given chirpy Tana the job of presenting; this would've kept Tana honest and involved to the end. Maybe Craig could've designed some doo-dads, like Mercedes has: keychains; caps; even a Teddy Bear.

Was there a Solstice logo? The SUN, anyone?

Okay, I'm done. I hope Alex is, too. Then Craig. Then Bren.

Yes, Kendra pulled off a great product, but she's bugging the heck out of me. That whiny, entitled valley-girl voice she has just gets on my last nerve. It is possible to keep a close eye on the progress of a project without alienating everyone -- but you have to do it without a snotty I-know-what-I'm-doing-and-don't-really-need-you attitude. She may have more experience in advertising production, but she is a terrible manager, completely unable to delegate effectively.

This was the Home Depot task all over again. Interesting that the two Project Managers who had the most difficulty communicating their ideas to their team apparently can't stand each other.