Very interesting episode:

Mr. Trump has a very tough task ahead of him in choosing the winner, as both teams did very well in my opinion.

I am thinking that this abrupt ending may be because of the poor ratings...or maybe this is the only way DT can think of to give Frankie the win. Frank would probably flounder in the Final Two task so this is a way around that.

There is a distinct possibility that Trump hires more than 1 person. However, Nicole still has no chance.

I thought the "dirty bum" was offensive and I'm surprised the Renuzit people were okay with it.

I also don't get Stefanie and James' premise. If the Renuzit product works, why would the wife "charge" her husband with "stinking up the house"? If the product worked, the wife would be none the wiser.

Okay, maybe I'm overthinking that.

Good grief. With Nicole’s ass-kissing and Mirna’s kung fu and ticket counter shit, this has officially become my most annoying night of television. Jeebus.

Meantime, I honestly thought James and Stefani’s commercial looked a lot better than Frank and Nicole’s. If it was Nicole’s job to do the editing, then she should be fired based on what the actual finished product looked like. Honestly, that was some sloppy editing job right there.

The cocktail hour was really cute. Nice to see Kelly there, even though he isn’t working for Trump anymore. And Kendra, too. Still has the distinction of being the only female Apprentice (and she deserves it still).

Can’t wait to see who becomes the next Apprentice!

THAT, was the last task? THAT!?

Poor Stefani. No way to stand out, no way to identify yourself as the strongest candidate. First the stupid PM rules and then having to be co-PM with the only guy to have a winning record. ~sigh~

Never mind the fact that compared to past tasks this was a cake walk.

After tonight, I fully expect Frankie to win.

So disappointing.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it's going to help Fricole's case that their "bum" looked like, well, a semi-attractive guy in brown clothes. When I think "smelly bum," I think someone who looks more like M. Emmett Walsh.

So is the James/Stefani double-hiring inevitable now? It would be new for the show, thus getting media attention, and it's been over a week now since Trump's managed to get his name in the papers for something.

I thought Frank and Nicole's commercial was nonsensical and tasteless, between the funny storyline about the hospital-ridden son and the pointing at the smelly homeless guy, but the Renuzit people apparently go for that. (The Renuzit commercial that aired towards the end of the ep kind of confirmed that for me, though, with the toilet-trained dog.) I thought it was very interesting that we didn't see Trump ask the execs about which commercial they preferred -- only about how the teams interacted, which made James and Stefani come out ahead.

And I cannot see this ending in any way but a double win; he'll probably tell James "You're hired!" and Stefani "You're also hired!" (or James will do the hiring), but there's so much editing emphasizing their great teamwork that wasn't there in S4 for Randall and Rebecca.

My $.02

This task really could have been done by one project manager and a team of three people - so why the teams of two?

I'm hoping that it's to set up for hiring both James and Stephanie. Aaron stated this clearly and the execs seemed to hint at it as well from what we saw.

If Trump hires James and only James I call foul - Stephanie's never had the chance to lead on her own due to the permanent PM rule and she's also been great - winning and never having a serious problem.

If I had to choose right now:

I would still say James wins it all based on his overall performance, narrowly edging Stefanie as both did an excellent job.

As for the court thing, the idea was the husband stunk up the joint, but after seeing him use the product, he was found not guilty.

Seems like James and Stefani might be hired together, especially after the inclusion of Aaron's remark about hiring both of them. Angela and Trump both praised Stefani, and she was recognized as the "manager" who keeps things moving, so I suspect she'd be the lone hire should Trump only hire one, but I'm leaning towards the double hiring.

I really don't get how these dumb people ended up doing the hospital thing... The whole Fricole's commercial was like a parody of itself, and not in a nice way. And the music of the other team's commercial totally stunk. So Trump is now looking for movie producers as Apprentices?

Seems that way to me. He can't hire Stephanie and not James because even Trump realizes that this would make a mockery of his own show. He can't hire James and not Stephanie because that makes it clear he has no respect for women in business (of course he doesn't regardless, but he'll probably try to hide that). So he hires them both.

Frank and Nicole are still on this show? I guess they need to fill their quota of screaming banshees for the finale. Nicole is so gross in every way it amazes me that people can stand to be around her. Tim, has she been feeding you drugs or something to warp reality?

God, this show sucks so much. This might be the only time I've actually wishes cancellation on a show I have watched for multiple seasons.

Maybe because the execs thought both ads sucked so bad that the team interaction is all they could go with. I thought both ads were terrible! As for as the fired Apprentices, did they show them doing anything?

Wha...? Fucking cop-out. Frankie was reading off his hand, Trumps! FIRED!


I thought this too. If he used the product, there's nothing to "charge" him with. Here's how that should have gone: wife goes out of town, warns her husband not to have his stinky poker game there, he does, she pulls up outside, he sprays the stuff, she doesn't notice anything. (Also: did I see the dad spraying a soccer ball? Do soccer balls smell?) Nonetheless...Nicole and Frank should have been sent home. (For good, I mean.) Smelly homeless people just don't make me laugh.

Interesting. Interesting. Interesting.

Dear God, it didn't end!

I really hate Nicole. She gets on my nerves on every level. Just watching her sleep was nervewracking. I thought tonight's episode was very boring. No crises, no unhappy clients, no suspense, and no investment on my part in how this ends. This has been a really bad season. Maybe the show does need to be based in NYC with the penthouse interactions. If it weren't for Jacob's recaps I would not watch this show at all.

I can't believe Nicole - wearing a yellow T-shirt during the task! Of course the execs or DT J or Ivanka would stop by and you're wearing a yellow T-shirt & whispering with your boyfriend?!

Kelly's no longer with Trump? What happened? What's he doing now? He is adorable, and it was so nice to see him tonight.

Damn right Trump's mother used Renuzit. As long as he was living under her roof, she had some industrial-strength stank to contend with.

It was funny to see their faces after Trump announced that the decision would only be made in a week... well, actually in about a year, considering that this thing was filmed last summer... Hope they are still alive and kicking, although I fully expect some of them to walk in all grey and carrying walking sticks. After all, it has been a long time... And long time also for Tim and Nicole to "keep up" their showmance...

I totally agree. And, quite honestly, I thought my TV was going to take off and fly away if she moved her arms any more in her interviews.

I give this to Stefani, who has shown intelligence and sophistication throughout the process.

I thought along the same lines for a second, but then thought that the wife pressed charges, as it were, and the husband used Renuzit prior to the "expert" inspecting the home. The part that bugged me was the "Or is he?" after the not guilty verdict. I do like your alternate idea, though, lovefool. My roommate and I were both remarking that we could have done better, and we're a couple of drunk fools.

Count me in one of those who were offended by the "smelly bum" concept, though Renuzit's actual ad featuring a dog pooping in a tiolet and then trailing toilet paper on its hind paw was much on the same level. The female executive's over-laugh after Francole's ad worried me as well.

Mostly I cannot believe that this was the final task! This shit was bush league!

He moved on to better things, I guess. The NBC website says he's gone into venture capital.

No. Freaking. Way. Quoth Colin, this is BULLSHIT. I just sat through two relatively cheesy commericals, one of which I thought was done...maybe not seriously better than the other, but enough so to declare them the winners (the "INNNNTERESTING" one, FYI), and you're telling me that EVERYONE LIVES?! No. That's just....dumb.

So what brought us to this point? I think it started last week when Heidi and Christine got fired. Maybe just before it happened, a little light bulb came on over Trump's head: "Hey...I really think I've got probable cause to fire Heidi...and at the same time, Kristine futzed up with the phone number..we can have these four wacky kids from Arrow be the finalists! It's a perfect setup: The ne'er-do-wellls come back to be the winners. Screw what I said about a team getting fired, I'll just cherry-pick." DT totally went for storyline over substance...otherwise we'd have the proper James v. Stefani final everyone anticipated.

Then he has those lovable scamps..I mean, the Arrow team...set off on the LAMEST FINAL TASK EVER. Trump moved to LA for the glitz and the glamor...and this is the best he can do for a final task? For frig's sake, past finalists had to put together Celebrity softball games, Jessica Simpson concerts, Olympic rallies, etc...and he ships these four off to do RENUZIT COMMERCIALS? Were I Bill/Kelly/Kendra/Randall/Sean, I'd be insulted. It's like finding out that, while you had to accurately determine the square root of pi, your sucessor had to solve 1 + 9 to get hired for the same gig.

Rarely does a show scream out "CANCEL ME." But this show just popped two vocal chords trying.

Great point! It defies the logic. But it works for commercials - the more illogical something is the more memorable the product they advertize.

I liked both movies. I did not think the stinking bum looked offensive. The only fault with the Frank/Nicole movie was that the product was used somewhere other than home. Also, I thought Stefanie/James were able to fit a full description of the product into their commercial, and they did it very smoothly. But both movies did a good job - I am going to get a bottle tomorrow.
Is there a chance all four are hired?

I agree with you completely. I found it extremely offensive and cannot believe the Renuzit VP didn't go on record saying the same. She actually laughed aloud. It's surprising how low what I once believed were credible brands will stoop for television exposure.

Nicole grates every second she is on my TV so I am beyond words about her, but in all fairness Frank and James require earplugs as well. Stephanie is the only one who doesn't shout through a confessional.

I really have to stop with this show after this season. It's just too much ridiculous at once for my system.

Ah, Frank. What was that? "Hospitals smell clean!" Right... cuz no one ever vomits, has diarrhea, sneezes, coughs, urinates, has pus, or anything like that in a hospital, right?

I think Fricole's commercial would appeal to 3rd and 4th graders. Adults? Not so much.

I think MB tried to play up the "Hollywood" angle wayyy too much this season. How does producing a commercial (in teams, no less) help weed out the stars from the Frank's and Nicole's? If anything, it actually made them seem borderline competent. Gross.

Nicole's antics in front of the execs was hilarious. As was her smug expression afterwards, like "I just did good."

Fricole commercial=dumb, dumb, dumb.

If they wanted to use the kid misses home concept, they could at least have done:

1. Kid in summer camp and Mom sends him/her a bottle of Renuzit to spray cabin/bunk area.

-or-

2. Mom visits kid in college dorm and sprays dorm room.

Hospitals are very sensitive about scents these days. I'm not even sure if they use smelly disinfectant anymore.....it's an allergy thing.

Sometimes while watching this show I wonder if there is something wrong with me, because it is so inane that I can't believe someone approved this stuff for broadcast. That's why it's a relief to come to TWoP!
I agree with James' point...if I received a call telling me my child was in the hospital, I would freak out with worry. I do not want to see a commercial about this...it just gives me a very negative vibe. And, in my race to the hospital, the last thing I would have on my mind would be to grab my household air freshener, so to me the whole thing was ludicrous. Furthermore, the Frank/ Nicole commercial was very choppily edited. James/Stephanie was much smoother, although not terrific. And of course, Stephanie's presentation was seamless while Frank sounded nervous.
I cannot imagine why the exec seemed to be enjoying the hospital commercial.
I also hated, hated Nicole jumping up like the teacher's pet when the execs walked in, all "Ooh, ooh, cut, we have to place the product here right this second!" whereas she sat on her ass up until then.

What a lackluster penultimate episode! No drama, no tension, no...task? I mean, that commercial is the type of thing that they should have done about halfway in, not as a final task.

What did the fired Apprenti do, exactly? There wasn't one shot of them doing anything at all.

The only thing that the "hirings" did was give Trump fodder for his final decision, and I think that's what's going to give it to James. Trump loves Angela more than anyone on the show, and James saw that. Of course, as the only PM who was in the boardroom enough times to see that Trump loved Angela, that's an unfair advantage, but still, it works as a reason.

Nicole screwed herself over by hiring (or agreeing to hire) Tim. Trump said as much with his "hedge" comments. Nicole if someone is fired because of fraternizing with you, don't hire him back! That's just plain stupid.

Frank is one of Trump's favorites, but reading off his hand and his decision to hire Surya undermine him.

Stefani should be hired right next to James, since I really don't think he could have won as PM without her (she grounds him), and I don't think she could have gotten as far as she did without him (he brings enthusiasm she hasn't been shown having). However, the last time Trump hired a male who was a minority, he also offered the job to his female opponent (even though Randall didn't agree to hire her). Though I don't think Trump cares one way or the other about how he looks when hiring women or minorities, the producers very well might (especially Burnett, who finally realized that 1-2 minorities on each season of "Survivor" wasn't cutting it), so I don't think it'll be a double-hire this season.

I'm confused. I thought the editing was leading up to a James-Frank F2 for sure. Then he keeps all of them including the wretched Nicole. She must exude something in real life that totally evaporates before it gets to the screen.

What happened to the Miss Universe Pageant? The final task was no different from a regular task.

The Renuzit lady had bad plastic surgery.

I think James and Stephani's commercial was better than Frank and Nicole's, but I wouldn't call theirs a clear winner. It didn't find the plot of a courtroom drama to be very creative, although I found the commercial was meticulously executed. I think if it's Stephani's idea for the courtroom plot, then it sort of shows that she's a bit lacking in the creative department. But James did agree to that plot. I found Fricole's commercial worse. And just when you thought Ticole's romance was over. Ugh. Watching Ticole was pretty nauseating.

Stephani's has great lawyerly skill such as being organized and orally gifted, but I think James edges her out a bit as the better candidate with more unique qualities that he would offer to the apprentice role, qualities such as being able to put people at ease etc.. I think he has shown a lot of leadership ability and that's what Trump is looking for in the apprentice.

Am I the only one that thinks the reason Trump didn't fire anyone tonight was because the Renuzit people actually picked Fricole's movie as the superior commercial? I think Trump was so distraught that he would have to fire James and Stefani and pick between Frankie and Nicole that he just decided to keep all four of them for next week. Had Renuzit picked James and Stefani's commercial as the winner, I think Trump would have easily fired Fricole tonight leading to a 1 on 1 match next week.

I hope Trump doesn't do a double hire. I mean, he sort of tried that already with Randall and Rebecca.

Stephani is getting blonder as the show progresses...anyone else notice? She seems very capable, but it would be odd to see her win as she's been almost anonymous most of the season. Funny, in one shot she looked pregnant. It'd be funny if she was hired and promptly went on maternity leave.

My money is on James, though I was never too enamoured of him. (Please don't let it be Frankie.)

Nicole's continuing presence is baffling.

Frank proves once again what a tool he is. First he's whining that Tim and Nicole are off in la-la land while he does all the work. Then he's looking over Nicole's shoulder and interrupting her every five minutes while she tries to edit the film.

For once, Nicole's actually trying to do something, so let her do it, Frank! Sure, she's doing a crappy job, but your imput isn't going to save it.

If they don't get fired -- there is no justice.

Like, say, around week nine?

And another thing! Teenage boys:
a. stink. And
b. have no idea.

Why do I watch this stupid show?

Watching Nicole is just utterly depressing me. I am struggling through a drawn out job search and to see some idiot like her glide through this "job interview" while saying things like "extremely utilized" (in the boardroom) makes the world seem so unfair. Can she at least find some clothes that cover her ass when she sits down--or sleeps like last week?

Did anyone else notice Stephanie and Nicole's perfect manicures? For people who don't have time to sleep they all seem pretty put together. I'm wondering how that works... Do the winners get to use boardroom day for personal grooming or do they just sacrifice sleep?

Wow. Both commercials were really bad, weren't they? I think James and Stefani had a slightly better commercial because while the execution of the premise was flawed the general idea did make sense. Man stinks up house doing something his wife seemingly knows he did, but he covers up any smell evidence. The end result though made it all pretty illogical. Still, the commercial did not have the fatal flaw the other did. No, it wasn't the silly use of humor of a rather hot homeless guy getting defumigated. No, it wasn't the fact that a hospital is a silly place to de-odorize. It wasn't even the fact that the ad was supposedly about "smelling like home" when one of the products aims is to neutralize odor. Logic would suggest that in part it takes all odor, good and bad out of the air ( I say this because nothing in either ad mentione what kinds of scents Reneuzite has). No. The fatal flaw was the jarring first act. The spraying of the jacket and then the cut and the return to the office. Followed by what was basically a second episode in the life of weird lady with a big bottle in her purse.

I actually think all four should be fired based on this task. Hiding the bad with the use of the good product is one of the most basic tenets of product advertising. Whether it is whitening teeth, cleaning clothes, letting birds prank homeowners into walking into their sliding glass doors. ALmost every household product is aimed at hiding dirt/smell/stains/age/wear-tear/etc. For none of the teams to hit a true home run on this makes them all look rather sad.

Tried and true works best in these cases. No matter what Nicole shrieks at the camera. So come up with a slightly amusing, but harmless ad that has the product saving an awkward situation. Kid cleans house while parents en route home. Obviously a rank party was held (go for broad humor by having each juxtaposed shot of cleaning kid find something not only smelly but almost improbable). Parents walk into clean house but both are suspicious. And kid sweating watched as Mom gives a smile that makes it look like she has caught him out and takes a big deep whiff. Only to look chagrined and grudgingly accepting there is no evidence. Camera pulls back to show the kid holding product behind his back.

This is pretty much the same idea that James and Stefani had. But they approached from the wrong angle. Instead of a court scene maybe do a spoof of CSI with the Smellogist going through the house with the suspiscious wife?

Regardless, this was a really embarassing effort by both teams.

And I wonder at the James as Director from Hell edit they gave him? Reason to fire? Reason to co-hire? He looked like an idiot. A stark raving idiot. A Nicole even.

And Trump saying Nicole "really has something". Yes but none of it is good. I'm still completely baffled as to how she managed to scream and tongue bathe Trump's flabby sagging fat ass into a F4 berth.

James still has the edge with a single person hire, in my opinion. I don't think he has ever lost a task with his own specific failure. Frank and Nicole both not only led their teams to failure but really both were directly responsible for their teams loss. Directly. Frank put in one of the worst performances as PM in the history of the show and Nicole ceding all final design decisions to the designer on the task was just as bad as creating poor designs. Especially since the same designer helped create some of the women's designs that crushed the competition's female designs. Neither should have ever made it past their own failure as PM. So I expect the reason that the Hollywood Bowl is being the stench of failure will hopefully rise into the air and disappear. Because both Nicole and Frank, well before tonight's poor showing, were the Pepe Le Pews of this season.

Nope - my thoughts exactly.

I too was offended by the woman spraying the bum with the air freshener and generally found the storyline to be choppy and horrible in general. James and Stephanie's was a bit illogical (i.e., how does the wife know the husband stank up their house if he used the Renuzit?), but overall, I thought it was pretty good.

After the last half of this season, I was beginning to think that perhaps this show was redeeming itself...and then the worst. final. task. ever. Last week's task should've been the final task. Hell, the Lexus project would've been a better final task.

This show has definitely jumped. Probably did a few seasons ago. When Trump had the losing team in tentville and the winning PM remain PM, I knew he knew the show was not doing well. He added these extra "twists" to keep people interested.

A double hiring would make a lot of sense. It is a supposed Apprentice-ship so perhaps Nicole and Frank would learn more overall. I don't care of the final four who makes it. Well, I like James spirited attitude. I think they never have time to make proper commercials, so both were done okay.

I knew with the show in Hollywood, the projects would be fluffy-- swimsuit design, carwash, two commercials, half-time show etc. and a lot of product placement-- wonder if that was the only way Trump could do the show another season. He so loves to do this show. There were products and companies they did task for in the past of course, but it all seemed innocous: marketing, PR etc. I'll never figure out how the tasks relate to being a Trump apprentice though because the finalist ends up in charge of development of a new building.

This has not occurred to me. Great point, Michael Jordan! I think this may be the reason there were no firings tonight.

Lame. The lamest Apprentice final task by far in six seasons. To end on a creativity task is a joke. How can anyone judge the apprenti off a task like this barring some obvious screwup by one of the candidates? You can't because all you're going to get is a contest on who comes up with the most interesting storyline which has zero relevance on who would be the best candidate.

That was bizarre. I just ended up feeling sorry for that poor actress that had to keep repeating words over and over and over and over and there was no discernable difference in the way James was saying them! Made me want to slap him.

Eh, what a ho-hum episode. No winner, no boardroom drama like last week and a relatively easy task. I want crazy logistics managing.

I don't understand why the eliminated apprenti were even brought back. Wasn't the final 4 task two years ago to produce a commercial? And they did it without a team.

I really think it's gotta be a double hiring of James and Stefani with all the anvils highlighting their teamwork and balancing each other out. It would be a happy ending they could hype as a first ever. In the BR, it seemed like the past apprenti comments were cut short except for Aaron saying how well J/S work together.

How will next week work? It's gotta be part clip show and with 4 people in the final boardroom, will they even have time to make a case for themselves?

Why oh why didn't they just do the mercy firing of Nicole and Frank this week and give James and Stephanie something new next week? Or why didn't they fire three people last week, have the three remaining take teams of two, and then have them each do this task, which was no harder than the Week 9 task?



That never occurred to me actually.

Frank and Nicole's commercial was "What were they smoking?" bad. James and Stephanie's wouldn't stand out in a lineup of network commercials, so they were safely mediocre. The editing was a bit choppy, something which I blame James for entirely since he was so busy getting the actress to say "Interesting!" 10 times too many he didn't get the necessary footage.

Good things these hard driving, best of the best career people can wait around 9 months for a job offer they're only 25% likely to get.

At first I thought this was a joke since he's the one I constantly forget about. I don't think his leaving TA was a bad thing for him since he seemed like an actual business man.


I think this is what it was too, but they needed a little longer to really capture that. They needed to show a prior occurance, that this was an ongoing thing and then he bought the renuzit to hide smells. It was just incomplete.



I actually thought it was smart in terms of Nicole knowing it would make for good tv. That's basically her mark for entertainment in the show and besides, she missed Tim. Heh, I would be surprised if she didn't pick him and knowing Trump he would probably think it was an act of disloyalty.

I think it will be the double hiring that Trump wanted from Randal's season and I think he'll get the results he wants. Stefani plus James is a great combo.

Does anyone know the format for next week? I assume it will be a two hour finale? Where are the interviews, and there's got to be a final event isn't there? I'm so confused!

Why couldn't they just have interviews to get to the F2. That could've lasted only 10 minutes to get rid of Frank and Nicole. Then have Stefani and James on opposite teams with the same exact task. It would've been much more entertaining than this anti-climatic POS episode that took 1 hour out of my life.




Or if you're Nicole then .025% likely