I have always been on the Carolyn love train, but I have to say, Ivanka is my new best friend. She rocked the boardroom, had very specific, instructive comments, was not gratuitously bitchy, and generalyl brought a lot of smarts and insight to the table.

As for Stacey, that firing could not come soon enough. That was absolutely the right call. I'm not a big Brent fan, but hear the guy out, for pete's sake. She put herself on such a pedestal and created drama where there was none. And Pepi was just a total wuss, and clueless as to how to manage his people or his time.

Somebody already mentioned Marshawn who IMO was competent but made a very stupid tactical decision for defensive purposes.

But I also put Tara (Not Tana) in the competent and stable category, she just forgot her task was about corporate pimping and not about representing and pulling down stereotypes.

As far as Ivanka. She's cute, but the problem I would have is that if you kissed her it would be like kissing Trump and that is not a good thing. She has his cheeks and lips. I couldn't get past that.

Also she probably is competent at what she does, but I see nothing more superstar in her other than the absolute fact that she is the bosses daughter.

You could definitely be right, but it does happen. I know that I and a lot of people I used to work with were getting a "been-there-done-that" vibe. That said, it was still a sucky "reward".

I would hope that the Apprentices could offer those men something more than a bit of help choosing clothes. Like networking... exchanging ideas of alternate career directions... positive encouragement... a little counseling about interviewing...

Wait a minute. Scratch that. These guys think that being on a TV show is the best way to get a better job.

I couldn't help thinking he looks a lot like Bill (Rancic) -- it's the eyes and the mouth.

I agree that Ivanka came off as surprisingly intelligent. Unfortunately, when she's not speaking, she looks very . . . vacant.

Best scene of the ep: Brent channelling Napolean Dynamite in an interview. "I have amazing Skillz. I have dancing skillz, I have robotic skillz..."

I wondered about the guys being dressed, but I withheld judgment. Their stories seemed a little suspect, but then, they were on the screen for what? A minute? I didn't think I could learn the details so quickly. Sure, it was a "nice" thing to do, but that segment was a bit...something.

I was pleasantly surprised by Ivanka. She's pretty. And sharp!

I would have been pissed if Michael would have been fired. At least he HAD and idea! Everyone else was sort of wandering about. I was so freaking happy Stacy was fired though - I, too, hate that "threatened" defense on reality shows. Bill? You can get to the truth: the cameras! I could tell from the onset that this would not be Brent's week to go.

And, I liked Pepi, but that was Pure D mismanagement of the task, the ideas, Brent.

But I have to say I hate these tasks so much. I mean, text messaging? I still love Season One's tasks so much more because they had a progression about them and not just some random stuff that a marketing street team would try to do.

Now that would have been something to see. Cutaways to Brent up in the suite playing...Elevator Action? on that gigantic screen moniter. Especially since we didn't see how many people were enticed to come over by his "dancing" for the calls they got. Only thing that could have made it better would have been if he actually got text messages while wandering to the lobby to get a snack.

I start to wonder if he and Lenny could do well on the same team. Brent, after all, does have ideas- but no one listens. Lenny has the ability to get people to shut up and listen as well as a finely tuned bs meter. I think that the two of them would play off of their respective strengths if they didn't kill each other first.

Yes, Brent has an attitude and a bit of an ego. But, when you live in a world of Ken and Barbies and you're constantly chastized, ostracized and belittled for being different, you either become strong and believe in yourself, or you believe the BS and fold. Brent has probably put up with that kind of crap his whole life. I'm glad to see that he has been able to rise above it, to an extent, rather than do what so many others of us do, which is to accept other people's opinions and blend into the background.

I thought he demonstrated remarkable restraint when Stacy so rudely dismissed him, like he was a two year old interupting Mommy, instead of giving him the respect that ANY other adult deserves. Even if his ideas were totally off the wall, at least he HAD some ideas and wasn't afraid to share them. I get the feeling that some of the others probably had ideas too, but didn't want to get shot down by the cool kid brigade.

I'm one of the few who likes the helping others as a reward, reward. The thing that bothered me about this one was - wouldn't a salesman who's only been out of work for six months, and a former stockbroker, already have business clothes? Not that these men didn't deserve a helping hand, just that they needed a different kind of help. Surely there were more "clothes needy" men out there. But, then again, maybe they weren't willing to be on camera.

I would have loved to have seen Mensa Guy's reaction to Lee's actually winning since he just knew he was going to fail.

Last season I knew that Randall was going to win very early on. This season, I have no freakin' idea. Maybe no one will win. Now that would be good TV.

Not sure where you live, but I live in the NYC area and I can totally understand how traumatic 9/11 could have been for the guy. Everyone copes differently. We don't know his whole story - where he was at the time, if he lost anyone he loved, etc.

I do not for the life of me understand why every season a team spends almost the entire task fighting like kids over the same toy! I thought these people were adults--and the clock is ticking while they're complaining about Brent?! Pepi, stop the 'brainstorming' long enough to stand up & say: 'Brent shut up. The rest of you take turns speaking about the task only. If anyone continues to squabble, you will be told to shut up next. Get the fuck on with it.' It's all smoke & mirrors anyway, because none of them can do a simple job. That's why they bicker & carry on.

Good for Lenny; the only one on two teams who realized it is 'simple as the world' or whatever, and got out there and did it. I like him enough to hope he never wins this thing--working for trumpie would ruin his prospects.

Haven't these apprentices seen the previous seasons.

Episode one, some one opens their big mouth to interrupt Trump when he is about to fire someone else... we all KNOW this is suicide. Sheesh, how many times has Trump himself pointed it out.

Episode two, the pile on. If you are going to pile on, you have to have something concrete to pin on the guy. They had nothing. Trump has shown before that he won't be swayed by that. It isn't like Brent is going to win. With the exception of the one woman who wouldn't pile on, that whole team looked pathetic and stupid with their whining.

So Brent was offering dancing and robotics. Robotics? Um, no.

What a lame task, and an even lamer reward.

This season has a early start on the stupidest and worst ever. The only guy I like is the Russian guy... just because I worked with a Russian woman for many years with the same arrogant, abbrasive attitude.

Why Brent? Brent had the floor and Stacy interupted him. Twice. He tried to handle it in an adult manner by asking her to speak in private. She's the one who came back in and said "Okay, I need you guys to help me", or whatever it was she said. Brent may be a flake, but Stacy was the one at fault in this situation, yet no one had the guts to point that out. If Pepi were a true leader, he would have asked Stacy to hold her thought until Brent had finished his.

Seeing planes crash into buildings and seeing people plunging a few stories to their deaths can be traumatizing, especially when unexpected.
As far as whether alcohol or drugs played a part in any of their job loss, it didn't need to be spelled out, it wasn't the point. The point was they are getting back on their feet, so good for them.

I'm always iffy with Trump's on-tv charity work, because I'm just not always convinced of the altruism.

With the editing, it was hard to tell if the team was really annoyed the most with Brent, Pepi, or Lauren. I understand not wanting to go against the team leader and getting dragged into the board room.

I didn't see the intelligence in Ivanka. GR was "Very smart and very impressive"? Not exactly profound. Her later comments to Syngery in the BR were a bit more on point, but what are the odds that The Hair is going to allow his progeny to appear vacant or awkward in front of America? I would bet money that she was given some direction or suggestions of what to actually say before the taping. Also, she looked as if she were going to cry after the firings. Could she have a soul?

In no way did I consider Brent's actions to be threatening per se, but unless Trump & Co. caught wind of the incident and had already reviewed the footage, I was a bit perplexed as to why the situation was written off as Stacy's inability to "handle" Brent. Obviously had some kind of physical altercation taken place, Brent would've been ousted immediately, but I was surprised that the whole thing was just generally brushed off. I know that if I were to even suggest what I perceived as a threat to my person from another employee to management at my company, you better believe it would be investigated. I don't at all agree with Stacy's bullying tactics against Brent, but for all Trump knew, he really could've been inappropriate, no?

And these folks have got to start thinking of the quirky Brent-types as key players in the game. I do believe that standing out from the crowd and failing to jump on the bully-bandwagon has its benefits. No, you wouldn't overly praise someone that 7/9 people thought was terrible, but you don't join in the attack either. Wait to be asked, then claim that as PM, you'd be able to manage him/her. Once stepping into the PM position, take said "disaster," give him a semi-important responsibility with small likelihood of failure, and, win or lose, bask in the glory of having "controlled" the loose cannon.

I know Brent...although a slight victim of the editing monster, he really is THAT socially inept.

I'm on board the Brent-understanding train as well. Sure, ideas may be stupid, but at least he's trying to speak up and say them, because in a brainstorming session, there's no such thing as a bad idea. Plus, he's trying for the team, and to be willing to act weird in Times Square to try to help win the task, that's the type of sacrifice that's needed. Sure, he's gone if he screws up again, but he's not Sam or Markus in terms of lack of work productivity.

I seriously think that his team is trying to get rid of him because they just don't like being around someone that is heavyset and sweating all the time. Except that there are people in the business world that unfortunately may be like this, or may be sick all the time, or may be covered in leaves which you are scared of, or whatever. In business, you learn to deal with them, particularly if they're your customer or client or bosses. These people seem to have a very strong 'clique' and are pushing out Brent simply because of his looks, and fortunately can hang on to his ego as their stated point of dislike.

Which is why I hate it when all these other candidates could be considered thin and beautiful. I've yet to see what I'd consider even a non-thin woman on this show, and can only think of a couple of heavier guys (the guy from the first season, and Brent) so far. I know that those types of people don't bring in the eye candy ratings, and while there's a reality that these traits can sometimes be considered handicaps in the business world, if these people are successful and want to be Trump's Apprentice, there's no reason for them not to be on the show. (Same argument I've seen for why there's always underpresentation of minorities on this show too.) Which is why TA cannot be taken serious as a show about business, but instead just finding out who the least goofiest candidate there is after all these others are whittled down.

That said, that was a good firing. PM was gone immediately when they didn't start until noon regardless of what else happened, and while Trump was pushing the location bit, I really think that it was the fact that she as a criminal attorney was trying to accuse Brent of cornering her and if anything being scared of Brent. (I'm pretty sure that after the Stacie J firing seasons ago, Trump does have a good idea of what's happened from footage, but does his best to act as if he's never seen it). I disagree that the bathrobe idea should have been nailed on Michael - generating an idea, and the final implementation are two different things, so that was another strike against the PM.

But man, that was a lame task - again, did they get anything for text messaging that number? At least the Sheena Twain promo on Martha allowed the caller to get a free sample, and if free razors was the case here, I'd have been pushing that edge (ha ha) a lot more. Heck, that fits into the general shaving mentality - give away the shavers, sell the blades - perfectly.

BWAH!

Werd. Trying to isolate a loudmouth like Brent by ignoring him just makes him worse and winds him up. Pepi should have moderated that mess better. And I was happy that Roxanne (yes I am already an early fan of hers - fellow Baylor alum, "Sic em!" and she is a cool customer) bailed (reminding me of Kendra early in Season 3) on the Brent bashing for this very reason (although i think she also seemed to think that the whole Brent plotting and them having to get their stories straight about it was a load of horseshit in the end). Pepi just did not manage that mess well at all. Being a capable manager for this group would mean being the person that can control the loose cannon if you got one (Markus/Danny/Sam/et all) by finding a way for that person to do their thing without damaging everything else. Last season, give Markus a chance to ramble and bs, he shines. Last night, give Brent a chance to make a complete ass of himself, he shines. Brent was a total distraction in planning that thing, but the deal for me is that Pepi should have figured out a way to handle him in the planning phase. Or if not handle him, then neutralize him. He can't handle Brent, well see ya.

Werd to the bashing of this task. Stoooooopid. I like how Lenny just narrowed it down to its essential point, getting people to take 10 secs to punch in numbers on their phone. When it all boils down, it's not about marketing or salesmanship or any real business type solution. It's about finding a set of people idle enough to take the time to just punch a few numbers. Heh.

Am I the only one who thinks that was actually a cool reward? Yes, diamonds are nice and lunch with the Donald is a valuable experience. But I think it was so neat that the contestants actually got to do something meaningful - that probably none of them would ever have done on their own. Rewarding in its own way...and I would have been excited (if nothing else, they're all gonna get fired eventually so it's something to put on their resumes)...

That said, the fake happy reactions were a little overwhelming. I thought it was a cool reward but even I wouldn't have chimed in with "it's the most important kind of reward, Mr. Trump..." Stop trying to impress. Do something good for the sake of doing something good, not to impress other people.

I agree that Roxanne seems great so far. She expresses herself very well and doesn't go along with the crowd in assessing responsibility for wins and losses. The only thing that worries me is that these are the EXACT same things I liked about Marshawn until she imploded. Hope that situation is not repeated.

Other random thoughts, most already touched on by others:

These contestants seem to have no idea how to manage people. Maybe because they're all such "entrepreneurs" who've run their own shows and haven't really had to work in team environments. Most of us in the real world don't have the luxury of simply benching co-workers who are annoying or disruptive. A good manager has to know how to capitalize on everyone's strengths and motivate people. Even "difficult" people can be motivated, or at least made to feel that they bring something of value to the team.

I'm on the Lenny love train, big time. I also loved the Lenny/Lee interaction, and can see the beginnings of some good teamwork there. Feels like a nice big brother/little brother relationship might be brewing. Maybe Lenny=Moose and Lee=Squirrel. (I almost typed "Andy" instead of "Lee." Are we absolutely SURE they are not the same person??)

Finally, Ivanka - I liked her a lot. Not only for all the usual reasons (bright, attractive, well-spoken) but because she seemed genuinely sorry to see people fired and feeling bad. Nice girl.

Thing is, if they're going to name the team appropriately, they'd have to be "Plan 9".

Brent: Sigh. Unfairly treated, there's no denying it, but he's also the architecture of some of it by the way he embraces his social stigma, rather than shutting up and quietly disproving them all. His interviews about how he's always been sidelined say a lot and imo, betray a lot of WHY he's always sidelined. He expects that to be his position. It's difficult to fault his teammates for putting him there, when he considers it his place, y'know? And he doesn't seem to have used his time there to observe social dynamics and adopt them himself.

He just seems to be this secret Action Hero in his mind, and every episode, to him, gets the subtitle, "*This* time, it's personal!" anyway, that's how he comes across to me.

Some of the team members were carrying signs and giving out flyers with text messaging instructions. I'm assuming that at some point someone had to stop and make these arrangements? Still it wouldn't have taken the whole team hours to do this.

I thought they left at 6:30. Roxanne said they woke her up when they left, and then they showed the alarm going off.

I don't like Brent, but I hated the pileup on him. I think the rest of the team figured he was an easy scapegoat and if they just ignored him and didn't let him contribute he would be an easy target in the boardroom.

I was glad Brent refused to let them "fire" him and send him back to the suite. I liked seeing him fight for his right to be there.

I liked that Trump told them he was going to fire two of them. I think they all planned on ganging up on Brent, and this made them re-think their strategy.

He seems like an angry fellow. Did you actually work with him and is he intelligent or just sweaty and odd? And did he really lose 100 lbs- cuz boy's still rotund. It was hysterical how proud he was of his 'Robotics'.

why 'shut up Brent'? Because, editing or not, I can tell you he is the type (like Marcus) who never stops trying to make his point (and he never gets to a point), but also spends most of his energy trying to be heard instead of making that point. He has been put on this show to see if he can be managed. Trump asked that of several past PMs regarding other planted tools.

AND can afford to take off, what, a month? or more? of time from said "best and brightest" job to do this show. I just don't understand how any company or governmental department (or one's own business) could just say "oh, sure, you take ALL the time you want to interview for another job. We'll hold down the fort and keep your office ready for you when you get back". I'm pretty sure my company would frown on that. They'd maybe cut me some slack to go on TAR or Survivor (even there, tho, they won't be too happy if I win $1MM), but to get a leave of absence to TRY OUT FOR ANOTHER JOB?!?!

How is that even possible?

Oh, and GO LENNY!!!

[TMI snipped] ... & an odd thought hit me: Trump's tagline from this past show was 'don't judge a book by its cover', but the reward for the winning team was to put pretty covers on used books! So sad.

Something I noticed last night that I had never really paid attention to in the five (?) seasons of this show is how freaking over-the-top arrogantly grandiose the music is that accompanies the shots of Trump Tower, Trumpartment, Trump's Waffle House, whatever. It's choral voices "ooh-AAHHH"ing like something from Carmina Burana. God, that man's ego is YOOoooOOOOoooge!

Reminds me of Monty Burns' Opus, "A Burns for All Seasons", and in that vein: "BOO-urns, Trump, BOO-urns"

I've always felt that Trump fires the strongest candidates he doesn't want.

So with with four candidates in the boardroom, three of whom Trump has laready decided he doesn't want. He fires the two strongest of them. After all Brent can be fired at any time. He is pathologically incapable of winning and Trump knows it. ( If there was the slightest chance that Brent could somehow win this thing, Trump would have fired him so fast it would have left skid marks. )

That said I'm okay with the firings. Two things really killed them. Bad time management. Seriously sleeping during time the rules say you could be getting folks to text message? Did these people come to win or for the relaxing getaway? And horrible location. Do you stake out a spot where people are standing aroud in line with nothing to do like the other team did or do you stake out a high traffic spot where people are busy moving from point A to point B. The entire team deserves a demerit for that blunder. The folks most responsible for those errors in judgement were Stacy and Pepe. In addition Stacy further sealed her fate by showing weakness in the boardroom.

One of the reasons Kelly (S2) was successful on this show was that when he was PM he took control from the beginning of the task. He would state to his team (and don't forget that was some bitchy team) we have a half hour (or maybe he said 45 minutes) to brainstorm and he did not let any one person hog the brainstorming session. When ideas were thrown out, he assertively but respectfully rejected the bad or ridiculous ones by just saying NO and went on to the next person. He did not waste time by "dealing" with the attention seeking candidates. By the time the minutes were up, he had the idea the team would employ and went to the execution part of it. He had a plan from brainstorming to execution and although he may have seemed methodical (not to me) he knew what he was doing. The PM's on this team need to work efficiently and not waste time on personality conflicts but must reign in their fellow teammates not by personally accusing or attacking their personalities or allowing their teammates to do it but by being all business and having a time management plan. Pepi failed at this and Lenny helped Lee cut through the BS. and understand this concept. Alla was able to do this when she was PM and deal with Clay in a professional way. She let him give his creative ideas but when he got out of hand, she nipped it in the bud-remember "Cut it."

ETA: Another thing-on all the other seasons, the candidates did not sit down to have a breakfast and waste time. They ate on the go or fit in eating where they had some extra time. Most of them lost weight during filming because their goal was win the task, not have a leisurely meal.

Absolutely agree.

It reminds me why I always had love for "Jenbot" during that cycle when most hated her. She never bought into that gang up on Staci J lynch mob mentality.

Thought comes to mind that this show has deginerated to the same point of the RW/RR Challenge. The "Task" is only the catalyst to get to the boardroom posturing instead of the inital season when they really wanted to win. It is unfortunate that most of the show is no longer the task, it is the fidgeting and confrontation in the room before Trump and his minions.

Man, what a crappy task. Was there any incentive to have those people text messaging? How about a free supply of Gillette products for a year, or a money giveaway?

I felt bad for Brent throughout most of the episode. Is he a loose cannon? Probably. Will he win? No. However, it looks as if he is trying too hard to be a member of the team because the others look down on him. I can't blame him for being upset at Stacy cutting him off everytime he tried to talk about his idea. If I were him, I would be angry too, mainly because I hate being cut off. Who knows, maybe his idea would have been the one to lead them to victory.

The way they ganged up on him in the boardroom was appalling. It looked like Stacie J. all over again. Fortunately, Trump seemed to learn his lesson from past seasons and not be swayed by the group. However, most of the sympathy I had for Brent went evaporated after seeing that smug smile in the elevator.

Speaking of the boardroom, the right people were fired. Pepi was ineffective as a leader. He could have nipped the Brent/Stacy in the butt by scolding Stacy for cutting him off and allowing Brent to voice his ideas. I'm glad Bill called him out on blaming the distraction of Brent as the reason they failed the task. No, they failed because of poor leadership and a lack of a solid plan.

I'm glad Stacy was booted. She was the instigator of the whole conflict, and she tried to portray herself as the victim. Add the poor location choice, it was obvious she was out of there.

It looked MENSA boy was right about Lee being overwhelmed leading the task. Fortunately, Lee was willing to listen to Lenny and get the project on track. While I don't think he's apprentice-material, he has potential to be a solid leader if he keeps learning along the way.

Well that, and because if Trump and Burnett have one brain cell between them, they have to know that a crazy deluded un-beautiful guy draws in the ratings and buzz. I mean so far 90% of the comments on this thread have been about him, so to kick him off now would make no business sense in Trump-speak terms.

This puzzles me as well, about this show and other reality shows. I know I couldn't go to my boss and say "I'd like to take somewhere between 1 and 15 weeks off work, publicly embarass myself for the world to see, and mention that you guys were stupid enough to hire such a famewhore, and maybe get to defame you in the process. Thanks!". I guess a lot of them have their own business, and I was kind of surprised that Kwame I think quit his lucrative job at Lehman Brothers. Though it probably paid off for him. And I remember Jennifer Massey's law firm were pretty supportive of her.

You mean that rack of pink and peach suits wasn't something Trump's minions hijacked from a truckload of hurricane relief supplies being sent from Miami to New Orleans for Mardi Gras?

Plot twist- what if in addition to multiple firings, Trump started adding new contestants at random during the runoff- it can work that way in the real world.

New York is full of guys pretty much like Brent. They may not be handsome, they may not look good in business dress (or bathrobes), they may not--whatever. But what they are is productive. Somebody is out there pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, cold-calling, making sales, handling real estate transactions, you name it.
I once worked with a guy who described himself as "the fattest well-dressed man in New York." He worked for many different banks as a cold-calling salesman, and he was awesome in his sales and closing rate. He wasn't handsome, he wasn't charming-- what he was, was effective and successful (and fat and well-dressed).

Of course Stacy was going to be shown the door pretty soon. She surely must have seen the sign above the Boardroom door: "Only pretty young women please".

Ivanka is a good replacement for Carolyn and a great representative of a younger generation of businesswomen - not just because she's younger, but because she doesn't seem to have the need to condescend to, harass and demean people in order to seem powerful.

He definitely sets them up. Pam and Kwame both immediately come to mind. Kevin was another one. No way Kevin was going to get past the interview part at all.

So far two poor choices have been blared to the heavens as the greatest business sins inflicted on mankind. So Tarek and Michael could both discover a cure for cancer, a way to comb Trump's hair so it looks like he could actually have some and bail out the morass that is Trump Inc all while pimping Trump's latest corporate whore (when does he lower himself to do Cialis?) and they still aren't being hired. Not that I think Tarek has it in him, but I think if he wises up to how the game is played, he certainly could do no worse than smirking Rebecca or smarmy talking point Randall. Of course those two were "stars" in Trump's heaven. And I thank god daily that neither Rebecca or Randall would even be meteor gas in the business universe I operate in.

Bad idea or not, pinning the blame on Michael for the team implementing it in the way Trump did, pretty much means Michael is gone by mid-season. I think in either case Trump has the excuse of setting Michael and/or tarek up like he did Pam. His comment about managing Brent was kind of fishy and I can see him forcing Michael to be PM to prove he can manage Brent and that way if the team fails, of course it is all Michael's fault. Ah pretty Michael. You and that cute Missing Prince of troy are going to be missed. Because Lenny will grate after awhile and Brent never didn't grate.

I loved that Trump announced to them in the BR that he would be firing two people. So even if Brent were going, the other three would still have to defend their mistakes to stick around rather than just piling up on Brent. I don't really think that ended up happening, but I liked the announcement for that reason at the time.

Brent is somewhat of a train wreck, and I don't believe that "robotics" is synonymous with doing the robot, but he wasn't the root of Synergy's problem in this task. I actually think Stacy was a bigger problem in terms of disruption...if she would have just let Brent get his ideas out, they could have shot them down or built on them and moved on. But her constant interruptions and then insistence on creating a huge issue within the group over Brent really just portrayed her as a drama queen and attention whore. Especially since her ideas didn't really seem to help the team any more than his did.

I loved Roxanne in this episode, she totally played the Jen M part which I consider a plus. I realize it's crazy to assign feelings to Trump, but I think he does still feel badly about how the whole Stacie J thing went down, and is resistant to firing someone when there's any scent of a witch hunt brewing. Brent will flame out on his own given time, but until that happens his presence doesn't automatically absolve others of their decisions and mistakes within a task.

Oh, and did it bug anyone else that Brent kept calling Pepi "Pepe?" That drove me crazy through the whole BR.

Come on Burnett, we want a task that involves smarts and strategy. How can we evaluate these 'brilliant' people with such stupid, idiotic tasks?

Ergo, she, too, fell victim to incompetence. As did emotionally-stable, but sadly-incompetent Tara.

Roxanne? Hope the same doesn't happen to her.

To me, what makes Lenny even better than Alla is that he's up front. If he doesn't like you, you know. I don't think Lenny would sit there, listen to someone cry and act sympathetic, then turn around and go on and on about how weak they are and how he hates people like that. Lenny would tell that person to their face. How much do I love Lenny? Nearly as much as I despised Alla.



Ha! Meanwhile, Brent doing the robot in the background would get more camera time.

What a lame task. What lame marketing ideas. What lame teams.

Text messaging is “new” technology to DT?

WTF is a “razor system?”

Did DT look a little strange leaning upward to kiss his daughter.



Thank you drallab96. Stacy’s treatment of Brent in the planning stage was horrible. She was condescending, arrogant, and just plain mean. Brent does need help in so many departments (hair, fashion, controlling his spastic behavior, etc.), but he’s on your team, sweetheart. Deal with it. She never gave him a chance and sabotaged team cohesion in favor of showing how cool she is by belittling the un-cool kid in the class.

Brent is a sad case. His desperate lack of self-esteem leads him to behave in attention-getting ways. This is not professional behavior. There are plenty of large men who conduct themselves with professional comportment and don’t have to spend every minute of every interview pumping themselves up and making up for a lack of confidence and ego. He will have a melt-down and it will cost his team. His behavior toward Stacy outside the conference room was not as life-threatening as she saw it, but it was very unprofessional (as was hers to him in the conference room).

While Stacy and her impromptu coven bears a considerable amount of the blame for the chaos, Pepi needed to “step up” and take charge. The team spent so much time on personality conflicts and bickering that they had little time left for project-related work. The bathrobe idea was awful. Getting started at noon put the final nail in the coffin that was Gold Rush on this task. These problems should have been headed off by Pepi. He was the project manager.

Lenny was right – the word itself doesn’t matter. That said, why not use “Fusion?” As in Gillette Fusion?

Despite his being right, I can see Lenny being a problem later. His brook-no-fools and get-to-work-immediately attitude leaves very little room for a creative planning process. That’s going to cause problems at some point – especially when the project manager tears him a new one for hanging up on him.

I thought Lenny’s “hit the clubs the night before” idea was a good one. Products are always being advertised, promoted, and distributed at venues like that. Mostly alcoholic products, but I’ve seen razors, dental care items, cell phones, video game, etc. being demoed outside of clubs. Drunk people will do almost anything for a giveaway.

Lee seemed overwhelmed. Lenny walked right over him. I think Lee is smart and has enormous potential, but he’s young and inexperienced. The lack of experience in dealing with cut-throat lowlifes on your own team caught up with Andy and may catch up with Lee before this is over.

Stacy, people going to restaurants don’t want to stop and discuss razors.

I liked Roxanne in the boardroom. She jumped off the Coven Train and nailed the issue on the head.

So Brent’s mime training actually turned out to be of some use to him.

I agree with Fluffy Malone. I liked Trump’s double-firing announcement. It made everyone going back to the BR squirm when they realized they could not just pile up on Brent, but had to defend themselves to avoid the second firing.

I liked Ivanka. Finally, a Trump with common sense (and decent hair).

Anyone else get the feeling that Trump is getting a little annoyed with his Apprentice candidates. He raked them over the coals severely on this one.



I think the reason Bill said that was that, for the BR session, the viceroys don’t get to look at the tapes. So, for that purpose, they will “never” know what happened.



Newhope: What do you have against The Amazing Race?

ETA: Roxanne, not Alex.

i wasn't crazy about apprentice going to LA next season, but how many times do we have to watch a "i know! let's go hit the 1/2 price ticket line in times square!" big idea....yes, yes, it's a great location...but time for some new challenges!!

Wow, I have something to add that I don't think anyone has touched on yet:

For all the asshattery of this season's candidates, at least they are finally learning from previous seasons.

1) When some of the candidates were talking to Stacy pre-boardroom, most of them were trying to dub Brent "mentally unstable". But someone--I sadly can't remember who--said that they were unwilling to call someone mentally unstable because they're not a doctor and can't speak to that. So then someone referred to him as "socially unstable," and still, this person insisted that they couldn't get on board with that terminology. He insisted that if they were to accuse Brent of anything, it would have to be in professional terms. Am *I* insane? Can anyone else recall this? I was so impressed by this person and their unwillingness to jump on the "CrazyBrent" train. Maybe this has nothing to do with previous seasons--probably this person simply has integrity--but I also think Trump has become increasingly wary over the seasons of boardroom claims that someone's crazy, and I thought this person was sensitive to that.

2) When the brainstorming with Brent was not going well, the team noted that Trump had lambasted Kwame for not firing Omarosa (Kwame, understandably, had not thought that was an option). So Pepi lamely tried in his passive way to do this. While I don't think it was the right thing to do, and am glad Brent was not fired in the end, I'm glad to FINALLY see the candidates referencing past seasons!

Also--I heart Ivanka. I have since I saw the aforementioned documentary Born Rich. Out of all the kids in that doc--including Rockefellers and Vanderbilts--she by far came off as the most humble, articulate, and down-to-earth. She could easily be a Hilton--but she stays out of the spotlight in favor of college and business school. Good for her.

Oh--and Stacy is the kind of woman who makes it so difficult for women who really have been assaulted or harassed to be taken seriously.

Masem

The Shania Twain task was on this show's Season 4. Virgin Adam was the one who wrapped the horse-drawn carriages.

ConanGrammarian

Of course. When he started talking about text messages, I thought, he can't know anything about this! He only uses cellphones for sounding important on camera. "I'll be there in an hour, after I do something really important. There, did you get that on tape?"

I agree that Pepi was weak and wishy washy, especially in dealing with Brent after the coven called for his firing. "Gee, they want me to fire you and send you home. I don't know what to do. Do you want me to fire you and send you home?" BTW, I loved that Pepi slept with earplugs in -- no alarm was going to wake him up on task morning, no way!

ConanGrammarian I hadn't even realized my 'faux pas' on saying TAR instead of TA. Thanks for pointing that out. I did mean The Apprentice and not my precious TAR.

And more than that, I'm pretty sure they aren't allowed to tell their employers why they are going to be gone. I don't think they can tell anyone they are on the show until the network does the official announcements of the candidates each season (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). So, that means you have to go beg for 6 weeks off without giving any reason, or at least making up a false one. Or else you quit the job altogether, like the aforementioned Kwame did. But that's not something I'd recommend for most of these guys. It worked out alright for Kwame because he made F2 and ended up getting lots of offers. In fact you could argue he ended up better off that Bill did. But the rest of these guys really need to not quit their day jobs.

Maybe that's why so many of the people on this show are entrepreneurs or small business owners, people who are able to leave their jobs for periods of time.

And to whoever upthread said that Trump and Burnett probably reviewed the tape of the Stacy/Brent incident in light of what happened to Stacie J all I can say is, damn straight they did! They came really close to getting hit with a lawsuit over the Stacie J thing (or at least the potential was there) and so I'm pretty sure they would have been all over this incident even before the BR was filmed. I have no doubt that Bill and Ivanka probably viewed it as well and that's why they were so confident at blowing off Stacy's accusations. With the Stacie J incident I'm guessin they had not reviewed the tape which is part of the reason Trump was willing to buy into the "she's dangerous" crap.

While I was moved by the seemingly spontaneous show of fatherly affection, I can’t think of anything less professional than the boss kissing his employee-daughter at a business meeting. It undermines the daughter.

Hopefully Ivanka will take him (gently) to task and get a promise to never let that happen again.

I like good Boardroom as much as the next person, but I want to see more of the task planning - even on week tasks like this week's. For example, I was wondering where the bathrobes came from and who made the Gillete signs for one of the teams. I think that's why I miss some of the tasks from earlier seasons where they showed them having to be creative to get the job done.

I agree wholeheartedly. And maybe that is part of the reason why I am dumbfounded about all these posts about her smarts and intelligence. I must have been snoozing when she was impressive. Seemed like everytime I looked at her she had this wide eyed stare going on, and I don't think she said much the whole episode. I agree with who ever said that Trump would be sure she had the right lines to say. Time will tell, maybe as I see more of her I will learn to like her.

Soooooooo, I take it that PM exemptions are totally thrown out the window this season.