Thank goodness Michelle's departure worked out the way it did, and Stefani was totally rad this week.

In other news: Frank and Nicole! Quotations marks for emphasis? Why am I not surprised.

Tonight could only have been better if all 4 of them had stormed out and said they were leaving instead of spending one more second in Tent City. Hee. Trump is an ass. Trump's kids are asses. I never liked what's her name but really, good for her!

Go Michelle! That was beautiful. I would have just up and walked out of that boardroom after TD went on and on about being a loser, etc.



Are you insinuating they are the romance?

Loved Stefani on the tour bus.

Go Michelle! I love that she left on her own terms and that she told Trump to blow it out of his ass.

The title should be "You can't fire me because I quit." Yeah, Stefani kicked ass and I thought the entire task was managed well.

I would have respected Michelle more for quitting if she had done it after winning a task or last week when she wasn't a PM.

And its totally unfair that the winning team did not get some sort of treat for winning. So they are just left with the satisfaction of winning...whatever Trump.

When it's episode 3 and I hardly know any of their names, then I know it sucks. Michelle was probably the worst PM, next to Elisabeth from TA2.

I'm fairly disgusted by all the guys on this show. They all act like bitchy Heathers. And that little one with the curly hair totally bugs me with how he talks behind everyone's back.

Frank, please shut up.

I'm out. This show...no, wait...Donald Trump, has discovered "The Great Well of Suck," and is pumping it out BIG TIME. That assinine speech about "victory, oh you're not moving into the house, but winning, now that....well, since....and then" launched the vomit comet. Happy to bid him and the show adieu.

Hah. Trump hates "quitters." And in this case, "quitters" means "people who call bullshit on all the bullshit up in his bullshit." I love Michelle so very much for knowing what is actually business-related and what has become something so far from a show about entrepreneurship and management that success at the "game" generallly means you'd tank a real company. Kudos to her.

In other news, Tim keeps getting cuter - and I'd totally take my kid on the tour to learn what a speedball is. Drugs don't kill, kids; mixing uppers and downers in massive doses does.

Also, I understand that the losing team is now telegraphed in the very first task meeting by the Horns of Impending Doom, and underscored with the "Who Should be Sent to Tent City," (which makes no sense as the firee is actually the only person on the losing team *not* relegated to Tent City) but really, promo monkeys! Please do not show us an "Apprentice Romance" with two teammates from the currently-losing team enjoying a poolside moment. I don't even know what the task *is* next week, and I know who's going to win. Not. Okay.

I loved the part about the 'well, we don't think any of the tourists are 'angry' so...' Yeah, that's success for you. None of your customers are angry! Hee.

I do not respect Michelle for quitting. If she wanted to step down, she should have waited until the board room so as not to leave her team hanging.

Stephani is officially my favorite. She’s the prettiest one of the female apprenti, but she’s smart too! She seemed more like the PM than Aaron did.

Good job taking the mic away from James, Stephani! I loved it when she said, “are you handing the mic off to me because you ran out things to say?” Then James said, “I’m just a shy guy!” It was funny and made the tourists laugh.

I felt kind of sorry for Michelle. Yes, maybe she was indecisive and wasted a lot of time, but I’d hate to have the douche duo of Frank and Nicolle on my team.

Frank, who the hell cares if you respect them? I lost all respect for you on the first task, when you were too stupid to figure out the team needed signs.

I’m torn about Frank. Part of me wants to see him get his ass kicked and get fired. But the snarker in me can’t wait to hear the next dumb thing he’s going to say.

Like when he and Nicolle were riding in the SUV, and he was bouncing up and down in the back seat like a little kid screeching, “I like to get things done! I like to get things done!”

What a STFU Frank moment that was!

Nicolle needs to grow up. I could understand it if she’d said, “Michelle, we wasted a lot of time today. So we need to get focused and have plan or else we’re going to waste the whole night and still not be ready.”

But that whole, “Do you want me to stand up or sit down? Do you want me to sit down or stand up,” just made her sound like a bratty baby.

I love how the losing pms are so full of themselves – and have all the answers – when somebody else is leading the team.

Still, Michelle should’ve just gone to the boardroom with her team and if it meant getting fired – that’s the way it goes on Apprentice.

I have to admit I'm not sure how the indignity of being fired is better than the indignity of quitting.

As for Trump's rant, she's 34 and presumably has been successful in business. She's tired of living in a tent, not tired of the competition. If this idea was so brilliant why not do it in NY? Have the losers live on the roof of Trump Tower- I'm sure he could have filmed it in the summer.

You know, normally I don't like people who quit when they know they are about to be fired, but Michelle I liked. She was right, she didn't sign up to sleep in a tent.

What does sleeping in a tent have to do with the level of business they are talking about. Just because she doesn't want to play the stupid game anymore does not mean she is going to give up everytime she encounters a problem.

I can't believe I'm still watching this show, I'm pathetic, but I'll be here at the end for the finale, so I should just embrace how pathetic I am.

Michelle's group really were a bunch of idiots though. James needs to settle down but otherwise they worked well. The woman on that team may be a long term contender if there team can ever get around to winning.

I love Michelle now! Trump and his precious, overpriviledged kids trying to lecture her about how bad she's going to feel for quitting what is certainly going to turn out to be the worst season of an already-tired reality show were below contempt, and I adored her for sitting tall and just saying, "This isn't what I signed up for."

I think at the end of this series, many will agree that Michelle was the real winner.

Arrrggh! Can I say how much I dislike the superior attitudes of both Donald fils and Ivanka? [Well, too late, I said it ;) ] Especially "Don" - I just hated his whole barrage of questions directed at Michelle. Such an entitled twerp! Both he and Ivanka were so dismissive of her complaint about sleeping in the tent. Granted, I feel she should have sucked it up, but what would either of those pampered representatives of "our company" know about dealing with day-to-day conditions where you're cold, the hot water seems intermittent at best, and you're probably not ever getting a good, full night's sleep?

If you can't tell, I really resent that Donald Jr and Ivanka are being given these positions of power, and are able to lord it over the contenstants. Say what you will about Trump himself, it is his company, and though he is a big blowhard, he has (almost) earned the right to be. What have the children done but be born into the right family? (I'm not saying that they don't have smarts - Ivanka in particular seems sharp - but I feel they are acting as though their positions in the company are based entirely on personal merit, and not the touch of nepotism that is actually there.)

ETA: speaking of entitled jerks, isn't it Donald Jr. who was recently quoted in the press about his impending fatherhood: "Trumps don't do diapers." (I guess that only applies to male Trumps.)

Way to go Michelle!

Screw Trump. A job interview is a two way process, and if the candidate decides your organization is full of shit it isn't "quitting" to bail. That goes 10X for a fake job interview like this nonsense.

I used to frown on people dropping out of this type of show because they are taking a spot from someone who wants to be there, but I'm now all in favor of people calling crap for what it is.

That said, she did suck on this task and deserved to be fired anyway. Everyone else on her team sucked too. The other team did a great job.

If the romance is Frank and Nicole that's just gonna be appalling.

Good for her! I was so happy that someone - as it happens, Michelle - finally stood up to what has become a sorry-ass excuse for a show.

Wow, I just wish she'd gone further and explicitly referenced the pathetic Playboy Mansion reward, the thinly-veiled homophobic pen-in-the-swim-trunks incident, and the general overall suckiness of last week's episode. Michelle was like a refreshing voice of reason in an increasingly disturbing sort of group-think atmosphere this season.

And I LOOOVED the Trump hissy-fit (family-style!) that ensued before they finally let her go. Best moment of the season to date, definitely.

I really hate to say this, but Frank's kind of growing on me.

Not in a "He totally should be the next Apprentice" sort of way, mind you. He just seems so sweet and harmless. No idea how he got picked for the show, though.

Michelle's departure was sweeet...I say good for her. I'm surprised more of them haven't up and quit, to be honest. Tim's night vision interview about "going back to camp" made me think I was watching Survivor for a second, for God's sake.

This show has really gone past the point of ridiculousness.

ETA: I think Jacob's referring to Frank and Nicole's stupid (and incorrect) use of quotation marks in their sign: A Day in the Life of "The Rich and Famous". That kind of shit really bugs me, so I took note of it also.

The romance is not Frank and Nicole.

I hated the pugilist analogy and I'm glad that Michelle quit. How much indignation is one person supposed to suck up before they can say look here, I'm at least going to walk out with my dignity somewhat intact when I was set up to fail in the first place. The Donald totally put Michelle's back up against the wall and there was no way she could have said no to being a PM. Trump totally knew from the last board meeting that it was going to be a train wreck when he asked Michelle to step up to the plate. He's a poor businessman if he if couldn't see how people felt about Michelle from the last time.

Good on you, Michelle, for committing Apprenticide.

It would have been so much better if she just walked out in the middle of Trump's I hate quitters rant. We get the message DT. It doesn't have to be repeated a bazillion times.

Shut up, James and Nicole. Man, they bugged.

DT Jr. looked constipated to me.

[quote]If this idea was so brilliant why not do it in NY? Have the losers live on the roof of Trump Tower- I'm sure he could have filmed it in the summer.

Ha! The first thing I thought of was in S2, they would have been throwing each other off the roof.

On topic, I missed the last few minutes of the show right after Michelle quit and Trump gave his speech to her. Can someone fill me in?

Michelle gave the Trumps a finger, and it was amasingly beautiful!
Trump and Trumpets can go kiss her entire ass now! It doesn't matter when she did it: before or after the task, after having won or lost - she did it when she was ready! Kudos to Michelle for doing the right thing!
Finally someone had the guts to call Trump on his bs about tents and absolutely unnecessary difficult conditions of the job interview. I just loved when Michelle said she did not care about what Trump thought. It is almost as if she called him a moron. I'd love to send her flowers.

Go Michelle!

I'm so happy someone finally called Trumpy on all his BS.

I was also seriously pissed at Tim et al complaining about her quiting. That it might put them in danger. Do they not get that part of the reason she quit was the way they were all treating her? (granted, she didn't actually say this, but it seems that way to me)

Since Burnett's already borrowing from his other show, how long until he branches out? I can see it now- "Your reward is that you don't have to eat PB&J sandwiches this week".

What kind of crap-ass victory was that? Not even a frickin' reward (lame as they are)? I guess that means they had an open reward slot that no one wanted to fill so Trump had to pull this crap. Hell why not something as simple as "You three get to have a REAL shower before going back to your loser tents?"

I dunno- I'd have a lot more respect for Michelle pulling the "this isn't what I signed up for" thing- which is true- if she hadn't spent the whole task completely sucking. It was too much like sour grapes, after she needed constant hand holding the whole time "we think this is a great idea, right?"

Yes, the conditions sucked, yes, her teammates sucked, yes, Trump sucked. It would have had a lot more resonance when she gave him the big one finger salute if she hadn't sucked just as much.

Oh God, so much word I can't express it. Donald and the Little Trumps assumed that she desperately wanted the job, but quit because she was going to lose. But I actually think her whole "I'd like to someday work for you in a traditional sense" thing was just professional courtesy, code for "this season is bullshit." Which it is. And that's why I'm done watching, with the hilarious and awesome picture in my head of Michelle telling Trump to eat it.

How about A Streetcar Named... "I'm Tired" or "I Won't Wait to be Fired" or..............?

I'm still having moments of hilarity over The Apprentice: Calvinball (which really should be the name of this season) so I was almost dreading what horrors awaited tonight and..................I liked the show. I thought it was much more like the first seasons than anything we've seen in quite awhile. Trump's pontificating didn't even bother me because he was basically right and he was reasonably nice about about it. I also thought cancelling the boardroom under the circumstances was the right thing for him to do but it surprised me although I guess I would have figured it out if I'd looked at the clock.

I can't believe I heard Nicole say, "Me and Aaron" twice. I sort of like her but she can't succeed at an executive level if she doesn't know better than that. And which of the women had tattooes all over her ankles? Do they do that in grad school now?

Everybody went back to camp to see if Trump was going to fire somebody else. Stefani was angry with Michelle for quitting, but in a nice way; everybody else was scared they were going to get fired. Michelle left and the campers finally got a call that the boardroom was cancelled, and everybody cheered.

It was pretty awesome.

ETA: On the title thing, I mean that I literally can't seem to track down the episode title that goes at the top of this page -- what it would say on TiVo or your programming guide.

Well it gets worse. Trump and his village idiot of a son? In the boardroom? How freaking hilarious. Trying to equate camping; getting no sleep, no having basic hygeine available to the regular business world? C'mon. Michelle was worthless, but her refusal to be a Trump monkey? Was her shining moment. How sad that the rest are willing to wore themselves out as they are and just not mutiny. What the hell could Trump do if all the little whores said the bed Trump wanted them to turn tricks in was too hard and lumpy?

Could Burnett go out and get Trump someone to handle the continuity issues? I mean if he is going to bray at Michelle for quitting and how horrible that is for her and how she will always regret it (riiight), he can at least pretend to care. Because, no matter how wise and sagacious Trump let Heidi pretend to be in exclaiming Michelle should not have been in the last boardroom; his picking her to be PM obviously indicated that Michelle was a bigger problem in the rest of her teams boardroom comments than a gay black man with tight pink Dolce & Gabbanna knockoffs would allow him or the show to admit. Clearly Michelle was seen as a problem if Trump made a point of picking her.

And how sad was it that only Aaron stepped forward and took the initiative? What a bunch fo losers. And particularly Frank and Nicole. yEah you both took your turn already, but you both sucked big time. Had I been either of them, I would have been fighting for the chance to redeem myself.

I'm still a bit perplexed on the Laker Girls. It might have been an okay idea. But I not convinced it was a brilliant or even a winning one. For all the wonderful hootchie pictures with signatures that probably will never mean a thing, spending that $85 an hour per jiggle girl on refreshments instead of bottled water and stale popcorn? Would likely have led to a win just as easily. Or more so. How many Laker girls were there? Six? Eight? I'm pretty sure there were more than four. Also I would have bought a digital camera with one of those printers and taken pictures of the people on the tour for them and printed them out in pstcard size for the people to be able to send right away. I think you can get one of those for a couple hundred bucks.

Overall though Aaron's team did a great job of planing and discussion. A good solid team effort. Michelle and the rest? Well it was fun seeing Michelle get exactly what she did to Nicole it seems the task prior.

And along with the continuity person? Could someone help Trump with the whole counting bit? Maybe some six year old that has outgrown his or her stint on Sesame Street? Because this whole "you keep losing and losing" and "all that losing". It has been two Trump. 2. 1...2. Hold up your thumb and one finger. Two.

And way to waste time on watching the team do their whole day spa thing. Wow. That was so pertinant and so much fun to watch. At least Heidi didn't get to extend her illusion of business wisdom and brilliance and be brought in to sit in the boardroom again. Even if the boardroom didn't happen.

Frank's freak out at the end? Someone is lacking a perspective filter. His screeching was so desperate and pathetic that I actually felt a little bit sad for him. It was like watching one of those poor old-for-the-industry hags who will never be a successful model grovel when Tyrant Banks turns over her photo and tells her she still has a chance to be America's Next Top Model.

And someone buy James an "inside" voice for the love of God.

Before this theory gets too far out of hand: I'm pretty sure Jacob was just chiding Frank and Nicole for seemingly using quotation marks for emphasis.

Not to defend them or anything, but I actually thought they were using the quotation marks to denote that "the rich and famous" is an oft-used phrase. But probably I am giving them too much credit!

masked_spangler:



I laughed at that too, because it made me imagine that the customers filled out their evaluations based on some customized version of the Wong/Baker "faces" pain scale, and the team was pleased that more of them circled the merely sad face than the actively angry face.

I would love it if the Tent City denizens staged a takeover of the mansion--sort of Les Miserables in Los Angeles. I really wish the entire losing team had walked out with her. Sometimes, when you feel like you are being degraded, you really are. Good for Michelle for recognizing this for the trainwreck it is. I mean, come on...this is not an Osten on Survivor situation. None of these "applicants" had any reason to expect this to be Big Brother in the back yard.

Yeah, I thought so too. It wasn't fair that the winning team didn't get anything except "the feeling of victory."

How about the feeling of a warm shower, or the feeling of sleeping in the mansion for at least one night, or the feeling of being taken out to Spago's for dinner, Trumpy?

So much word. He looked like he was on the verge of tears most of the time! Is he really that desperate to work for the joke that is the Donald?

I fucking hate this show and I force myself to watch it because I know I'll enjoy Jacob's recaps better. But at some point I may have to pull a Michelle and just read the recaps. I know, I know - if I "quit" watching this show I'll regret it for the rest of my life and never succeed at anything ever again.

I hate Donald Trump so much. He is so awful. The whole episode he kept harping on how Kinetic has been "winning and winning consistently" and Arrow loses all the time. It's been TWO fucking tasks!!! Winning consistently?? They won TWICE, and once just barely! And he acted like the reason why Arrow had to do this task and Kinetic didn't was because of all of Arrow's losses. Yet he announced last episode before the task that the winning team would be exempt. It didn't have anything to do with records of winning or losing, it was nothing more than a stupid plot twist planned months in advance.

Plus the harping on quitting was ridiculous. Um, how many divorces has he had? He and his spoiled children who are only where they are because of him have never quit anything in there lives? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I am a firm believer in quitting when it's clear that the ship is sinking.

And I'm pissed at Michelle because she sucked and deserved to be fired (really her whole team did because they all sucked) and it was great that she quit before Trump's smug ass could fire her, but she couldn't even do that right. Don't apologize, don't thank him for the opportunity, don't whine. You're quitting so he's going to hate you so just be clear: "When I signed up for this I thought it would be more business-oriented than game-oriented and it's clear that this is strictly a game. And a silly one at that." But she cannot speak a coherent sentence so she came off like an idiot.

Gah.

Possibly my favorite moment EVER on this show, and I've seen them all. Michelle's lousy PM performance and the fact that she surely would have been cobra'd notwithstanding, I'm loving her up and leaving the show, Mario Vazquez-style. The look on Trump's face after the rejection was priceless. And his stupid analogy of a prizefighter--please, a boxer SIGNS UP to get his brains beaten out.

And who knows what else Michelle had to say that was edited out? For all we know, the skeevy Playboy reward may have been mentioned. I was so thrilled that she never lost her composure, and her final "I knew Trump would react that way . . . and I don't care" was worth every excruciating minute of those bus tours for me.

And Don and Ivanka's tut-tutting was so obnoxious--as if they'd endure one minute of the "twists" that Dad threw into this season.

For the record, I thought everyone except Stefani absolutely stank on this challenge. James was ridiculously loud and unfunny and Tim's comments were cringe-inducing.

On one hand I can totally see what made Michelle quit. She didn't sign up for Survivor. The ten thing was such a stupid idea and the night vision camera shots are creepy and annoying. But...come on...she knew she was done for. Had she known she did a good job, or had she won, she would have stuck it out. The time to quit was after task 2.

None of these people have displayed any real business skills. The whole hook to this show is the drama and the conflict. There's no conflict if they aren't all living in the house and one team is exempt from tasks and no one is arguing over who should "step up" and be PM.

Abd did Michelle really say teamanship?

Now this is strange. Back on Season 3, Verna ended up in the Reality TV Hall of Shame for quitting and most of us really hated her for it. Now Michelle has just called it quits and she's not being jeered at by the majority as Verna was. It's a clear sign that the "living in tents" idea is total BS.

Right there with ya..........As soon as I heard of the "tent city" twist for this season I was out; but I've still been reading the re-caps just to see what's going on and hitting the forum's occassionally. I figure if something really good happens I can see it in the repeat on MSN (might just watch the boardroom from tonight when it's on).

As the re-cap of the first episode said - has a show ever, ever jumped the shark this fucking hard.

It was either that or teamsmanship. I'm not sure which.

Mr. Talabone commented on this as well. Quite a few of the massagees were sporting some elaborate body art.



Sorry, that was my fault, I will take it back...

"Hollywood sightseeing tours" is the title of this episode.

Thanks!

I agree with Michele's decision. This was not what she signed up for and she had the courage to tell Trump that. I think she believed there would not be anyone fired after she left so she did not wait to retrun to the boardroom.
I think Kristine is the one with the tattoos but I could be wrong.
I think the romance is Angela and Ivanka.
Andi is totally hot.

I live in a building in Brooklyn that was built by Trump's father, Fred. While it may be true that the Donald built up the brand name, he still began his career by waltzing into a real estate company owned by his father. Obviously his kids were able to waltz into their father's company, too, Wharton or no Wharton. How do those kids dare to challenge anyone who applied for a business proposition and ended up living like a hobo, as if that has any bearing on a real-life corporate job? And as someone else said, for Trump to give this whole spiel about "never quitting," when he has twice walked out on the mothers of his children....it boggles the mind.

Seriously? jesus...looks like NBC has a bunch of "uncreative" people, too.

Come on...they couldn't even call it "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous?"
or maybe "Famous Places, Beautiful Faces?" Or "The One Where Someone Finally Tells Trump to Suck It?"

Michelle has earned my undying affection for (politely and for once, articulately) telling Trump to kiss her ass. I loved that she recognized the fact that yes, she could continue to dance for Trump, but that's not what she's looking for in the experience, and frankly, she's gotten what she's going to get out of it. There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want out of life and when you're not getting it. Good for you, Michelle!

But damn did she ever suck eggs on that task!

She really was awful. I don't expect them to get any sharper living in that tent, though. This show is appallingly bad.

I can't stand Frank and Nicole's single interviews. Why do they feel like they have to scream to be heard? Someone in NBC-land needs to threaten them, at gunpoint, to speak with inside voices every once in a while.