Very sorry to see Scott go but ultimately the EEE was his dumb idea. That was the team's downfall. Tom is ridiculously disruptive and Clint is just clueless about how he comes across. Who the heck is Natalie and how dumb is she to say -- in front of the BORING Zappos Chairman -- that she wouldn't even wear the costume down the hall?

Damn it!! I was rooting for Scott. In fact I thought the client liked the men more than the women. But..ultimately I knew he was gone when he came up with that stupid name. Yes Tom was frenetic but he had some better ideas than any of the other guys including Clint. But who knows if that was just editing that made Clint look as bad as he did. Or even Tom for that matter.

Bye bye Scott. :(

Can we have more of the Tom & Dennis Show? Please?

And I can't believe that no one went with Joan's idea for a midget for Zappo's! I was waiting for someone to jump in and say "and we can use Scott for the model!"

I love Scottie, but EEE is such a bad name. Especially since it's an actual shoe width - the widest.

I could sympathise with both Tom and Scottie and can see where the breakdown was. They both have such different communication styles that they really couldn't understand why the other didn't "get it", so to speak. For example, I could see what Tom was trying to do by listing all those names, but I could also see what Scott wanted to do by focusing on the other task (writing the script? or was that still concept at that time). If either one of them had said something like "Look, I know what you're trying to do, but right now I would appreciate if we could focus on X. Or at least let's discuss it after we finish X. Just so long as we don't drop it totally." or "If I help with this now, can we get back to Y?" Basically, I think either one, or both of them, just needed to take a deep breath, step back and figured out what the other was trying to do, it might have been different.

Only one comment on the women's team (for now) - What was up with Melissa taking credit for that character?

"Sheht ehp!"

I like this show so much more when it's not about begging your rich friends for money. This was a nice episode, although I'm still not sure it's worth watching for two hours each week. The Zappos guy was a bit standoffish, which didn't seem to do his company image any favours. It doesn't hurt to smile once in a while!

Besides Melissa taking credit for the Mizz Z idea -- WRONG! -- I was so bothered by Tom constantly saying that so-and-so must have misunderstood, misinterpreted, miscommunicated, etc. him whenever they had a criticism of him. How insulting to the intelligence of the others.....oh, you must have misunderstood me.....

I really liked this episode. I have to admit I am from Tom Green's home town and am rooting for him, so a bit of bias but that was awesome. I did feel bad for Scott in that he was so dead meat at the end, but, really, the EEE was the STUPIDEST IDEA ever, and the sole reason they lost. Plus Tom had so much more to grill Scott with, like how they had to have Tom come in and rescue them at the end by doing the presentation even though he was not involved in the script.

I love how Rodman does nothing, says one smart thing in the board room, and he's like the smartest guy in the room. It will be cool to see him when he gets going a bit more.

They have some seriously hot women on Athena. Would have been much more interesting to see them in the board room though. I predict we will next week.

What a bunch of prima donnas! I'm sorry to see Scott go. He stuck up for himself very well, though.

I can't believe nobody came up with a lightning bolt character zapping customers with good service. I thought both of their ideas sucked.

Tom is nuts so I was sorry to see Scott go, but the EEE was lame and his responsibility. Let's see how much Tom contributes next week. Between him and Dennis Rodman, there isn't a whole sane mind.

Funniest moment of the episode: Melissa asking the Zappos guy about his girlfriend. HA! I mean, SERIOUSLY?

Poor Scott. I wanted to absolutely strangle Tom Green by the end of that.

Why is Rodman still around? He contributes nothing, and just sits around whining all the time. The ones who put work in on this task were Scott, Hershel, and Clint -- and now they threw 1/3 of their actual team under the bus. Great idea, dipwads. I hope Joan Rivers (and attached team) continues to crush you underneath her heel.

The women's Zappos mascot costume looked like something straight out of a 1960s comic book. I liked the guys' better. I also liked that they had a dark-haired character (after all, most women are naturally dark haired)

If someone had told me that I would be hoping for this outcome I would never have believed them, but after watching the episode, I'm glad Tom stayed and Scott was sent packing. It's hard to believe that you can fit that much asshole into such a small package, but Scott proves it can be done.

I really felt like Scott got it in his head early on that Tom Green was a joke and then no matter what Tom did from that point forward, Scott was never going to change his mind. Yes, he was frenetic during brainstorming, but I think Clint was just as bad and didn't have any of the negative fallout. Tom had some good ideas, even including the Zorro-type character. Change her to a girl and you still get Jesse's storyline and a built-in "Z." Scott did bench Tom, with him several times telling Tom not to bother doing anything. People may not like Tom, but he certainly did try to contribute but he was dealing with a leader who had already written him off.

Herschel was annoying last week and he pissed me off again this week. Calling Tom a liar when Tom was being pretty dead on in describing what had happened all day was so unnecessary.

Khloe did surprise me. It took her a bit of time to find her voice, but once she did she managed to set her team in the right direction and bring them to a win. She probably could have delegated a few of the tasks differently (like have someone who isn't sick give the presentation), but overall, I thought she did quite well. The moment when she disagreed with Melissa on who originated the concept was spectacular. I heart Joan, first for bonding with GayScott! The Costume Guy and then for calling Annie out on her superiority complex.



I felt like that was Tom trying to be diplomatic more than anything. He didn't want to call them jerks or outright say that they were a problem because he knew that he could have to work with most of those people again next week. He didn't want to say that anyone was wrong, he didn't want to say anything final.

Plus, I think he was sort of right. Most of the men on the team did misread his motivations and held their mistaken impression against him every time he interacted with anybody. Tom wanted to win. Everyone assumed that Tom wanted attention. Tom, during the brainstorming session acted like a guy in a writer's room. He threw out every idea he had so that if one of them caught on, they could all work to tweek it. That read as frenetic to other people, when it's very likely that for Tom that was just business as usual.

"Together, we're a pair!" Ha.
Man, that Melissa Rivers is a little bitch isn't she. I like the rest of the women.

That had me cracking up. What kind of accent is that?

Jesse continues to impress me. I think he'll be among the last men standing. Would love to see him win it all.

Good episode! I am really enjoying this season -- never thought I'd be watching a show where I was invested in seeing Tom Green outlast Scott Hamilton, but woo! Scott, Clint and Hershel seem so linear and essentially humorless, whereas Jesse, Tom, Brian and Dennis (who doesn't seem invested in the show at all, but has good instincts) seem brighter and more able to adapt quickly to the insane deadlines and other pressures of the challenges. I agree with my beloved Joan* about Clint Black - fully half of the team painted him as a domineering, stern prig.

Had the heroine's name been less insane, the men would have won. Zappos is already renowned for excellent customer service, so without the distraction of EEE, the superior concept of the customer-as-heroine and vastly superior presentation given by Tom would have clinched a victory. I think seeing how well Tom presented made me pissed at Scott for still trying to lay blame at Tom's feet, to say nothing of how grossly sanctimonious Scott was when Tom tried to point out they were fighting the same fight for similar charities.

I felt Annie in terms of her take on Claudia's insta-illness. I guess I've pulled enough bull in my own life to have certain instincts about fakery. I think she was stressed and tired, as they doubtlessly all were, but I don't think she was sick-sick and it certainly didn't seem to me that she was actually fighting to not go home and sleep. I don't know what to think in terms of whether Melissa was stealing credit or not, but it wasn't a fabulous concept to begin with.

*I used to volunteer with God's Love; it's a fantastic organization. I teared up a little at Joan's segment. I flove her!

EEE would have been soooo easy to fix: ZEE -- Zappos Everywhere, Every Time. (The Every Thing was false advertising anyway, Zappos isn't Ebay or even Amazon.) They're all idiots for missing that.

I was on Tom's side for this one, yeah he's frenetic but he's trying to be creative. Make him go off by himself or a couple of hours and return with his best 5 ideas if you can't tolerate watching him work it out. It must be frustrating having him around, but it's just as frustrating when people ignore your ideas.

Jesse is like the Trace this season, sort of the sleeper type who ends up being quite strong.

I can't believe how hard I was rooting for this outcome. Wasting the talent at your disposal is the essence of bad management, and that is exactly what Scott did. Tom's a writer. Let him write.

I guess so, but I keep getting distracted by the new, delightful, and increasingly unexepcted contours of Joan's face. I'm just glad to see that the CGI team employed during the making of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has found a practical application for their talents!

When golfer lady said, in front of the client, that she wouldn't even wear that skirt into the hallway, in response to Trump's query if she'd wear it on the golf course, I harked back to Season 1's Tammy saying "We were duped." Ah, the Apprentice good ol' days... If the ladies had lost, she might have suffered the same fate as Tammy.

My thoughts on the characters' names: Didn't like either of 'em. "Mizz Z," in my mind, kept flowing into "Misery," which... yeah. As for "EEE" I'm loathe to say I agreed with TG, but yes, my first thought was, plaster that across a woman's chest and they're going to think it's her bra size.

I'm of two minds on the firing of Scott. Yes, based strictly on the results of the project to hand, the comic, he probably should've gone for making the executive decision on "EEE" since, the two comics being virtually the same, that's the one thing the client didn't like. Based on team dynamics, though, I think Scott is a better fit for a men's team that works together. I don't think TG was trying to undermine Scott from the beginning, as Scott believed, but yes, as the task progressed, I think Tom was intentionally trying to do so. That, and being more interested in performing than working on task. Tom, people who whine "No one in the room is listening to me!" maybe ought to consider the possibility the fault for that is your own and not everybody else's and change the way you're trying to communicate your ideas. But I knew he'd be saved when he said in the BR that he wanted to prove he could lead the team to victory by being PM next week. That's a surefire way to not be fired 'cause Trump loves to give contestants that chance. Whether it's to see them succeed or fail, though, I dunno...

Early favorite: Jesse James. Very smart, organized, and productive.

I was surprised they showed Tom rejoining the rest of the contestants at the end of the ep, rather than waiting for the big reveal at the beginning of the next ep. Have they ever done it that way before?

Yay, George!

Another thing, I think it's interesting that neither team let their writers write. And both are comedians. I wonder if that clouded peoples' judgements.

I'm glad for the outcome; it reminded me of high school, the jocks (technically including Hamilton) 'not getting' the weird class clown and kicking his ass. It was a creative task and Tom acted more like many people I've worked with on similar kinds of projects. His demeanor on the show when not in a creative situation seems to be serious and focused. I'd like to see him survive a while longer but I fear his time is pretty short.

My boardroom would have taken a lot less time: "The company's name is Zappo's - who came up with a character named EEE?" "I did." "You're fired."

Exactly. Plus... Its too bad, at the end of both presentations, that Trump basically forced the CEO to say both groups did a really good job -that was B.S. One the one hand we had the brutal presenter plus the "I wouldn't wear that down the hall". On the other we had EEE. CEO was kind of a dick though.

Second funniest moment of the episode:

TG: (on the concept of 'EEE') You mean like ecstasy?
SH: ...blank stare

Scott is such a WEENIE.

I got really pissed at Khloe and Claudia's comments about the comic book focus group. At the comic book store I go to, I'm the only customer that's not currently dating. But I have, and I can talk to women (and can be damn romantic). I wanted Athena to lose on those comments alone. Way to stereotype.

Staying with Team Athena, as much as I like Annie Duke, I had to agree with Joan Rivers (who I dispise, but now have some admiration for because of her charity. Did she help start it?) on who should write the presentation.

As a cancer survior who is about to face a second battle, this Boardroom was the hardest to watch since I wanted either Tom or Scott to win given they have the same charity, and would prefer Scott given how he's saner (?).

EEE was idiotic and Scott did an unbelievably crappy job of managing the team.

That said, I want to freaking strangle Tom Green. Scott's point that he's better for the team in the long run is absolutely correct. This is the second week Tom has pulled out "It's the project manager's fault we're all unmanageable assholes." He had better be PM next task if he's going to try to play that angle.

I was thinking that -- he doesn't speak unless he has something to say, just like Trace from last year. You can tell Trump respects him just as much.

I like Tom, he throws a lot of ideas out there and if someone would actually listen to him, he's bound to say something that they can use.

I agree completely! There were definitely points during the brainstorming session from hell that Tom was really whipping up the chaos rather than focusing on workable ideas. I'm thinking about the idiot transvestite idea in particular. (though I admit that, in that moment, I wondered if Cucumber Dick, A Homosexual Commercial would finally be surpassed)

When Trump was asking in the Boardroom who could manage this crew, I immediately thought of Gene Simmons. Because he would do exactly what he did last time --- send all the troublemakers/useless people out into the hallway, and put the entire thing together himself, with the assistance of the one or two useful people.

How do you manage the unmanageable? I can't believe that Scott Hamilton, founder and producer of Stars on Ice, was let go rather than Tom Green who was all over the place. Scott handled himself well in the boardroom and made a good case for himself. It was easy to see who the real business men were during that task. Trump knew he was keeping the lesser player.

Khloe would have known that EEE is the station her 'Reality' show is on. Scott's problem, IMO, was that he was unwilling to utilize the talents of his group. If Tom wants to throw out ideas, have someone write them down. Or ask Tom if had any sketches that he 'Drew', just to irritate him. I would totally love to see a poker challenge between Joan and Annie. Is botoxing the elasticity out of your face and therefore minimizing your potential 'tells' permitted?
I like Herschel. I thought he was tempted to throw Scott out of a window when they were leaving the first boardroom.

Tom undoubtedly has a personality that rubs some people the wrong way, but the only reason the team had a fighting chance on this task was because he pulled off a good and entertaining presentation. What did Scott bring to the table? Bad ideas ("EEE"), bad management, and bad boardroom strategy (bringing in Herschel instead of Clint). The decision was an easy one.

Well my initial impressions of the men were turned upside down tonight. Scott's passive aggressive behavior, total lack of intuitive people skills, general bullheadedness and idiotic EEE idea (and pals-i-ness with icky a-hole Clint) really turned me off him big time. I agree that he was sanctimonious in the board room when Tom was trying to find commonality with their both being testicular cancer survivors. I've always had a hate-on for Tom Green but tonight I found myself kind of appreciating how his mind works. He is frenetic and I can see that it could be irritating to be around that level of static, but he had several worthy ideas. Scott had just shut him out completely. I found Scott and Clint way more irritating.

It's interesting that Jesse had more fashion-forward sense for the comic book costume than the women. The men's general presentation was infinitely superior. I agree with a previous poster that my version of the boardroom would have been "who's idea was the "EEE"? You're an idiot - and you're fired.

Really put off by Melissa's dullard behavior in this episode. Asking the CEO (who was astoundingly unappealing) about his preference in women's hair color? Wow. And then taking credit with the concept when the truth was captured on camera. Wow again. Love her mother though.

I thought Scott came across as a small-minded little twerp. Once he decided Tom was of no value, he closed himself to anything the guy had to say. There were times I wanted someone to wipe the smirk off Scott's face.

I loved hearing Joan's opinions of the others. Clint Black is a snake? I'm going to have to watch for that. I hope she stays up to the end, because her opinions are really interesting to me.

I love Scott Hamilton to the point that I completely overlook the fact that he beat one of my fellow Canucks for the Olympic gold in 1984. Plus he has absolutely no shame. Have you seen the chicken outfit he wore for his ice shows? Or the male ballet outfit? I thought TG (who I normally cannot stand, despite the fact that he's also Canadian) was quite gracious in the board room he didn't yell, and he didn't call anyone names. I also liked his "I'm also a cancer survivor" comment. I hate to see Scott go, and obviously Trump and his secretary did too, but seriously, EEE?!

I was thinking 'eZe' might be a good idea; gets across the easiness idea as well as the Z, but then again I'm not a businessperson. Which is probably a good thing.

I'm with whoever's picking Jesse to win this thing.

I concur with the impression that Scott just decided to shut Tom out from the beginning to the point of being narrow-minded. I don't think Tom was trying to undermine him, but trying to stop him from making a really stupid mistake.

I did enjoy watching Hamilton squirm in his chair when Dennis Rodman was pitching his transvestite idea. Scott Hamilton belongs to a hardcore, anti-gay fundamentalist church (another reason I wasn't sorry to see him fired, actually).

Really? Wow - surprising only in that practically every male figure skater besides him is gay. Wonder how they get along...

The Zappos CEO should've been fired this week. Dude seemed clueless. I wondered if he was an imposter.

Herschel comes across as completely humorless and wound way too tight. I hope one of Tom's stream-of-consciousness routines makes him explode at some point. Good TV, that might be.

Agree with the above poster who said they coudn't believe that neither team was taking advantage of the fact that Joan and Tom are writers. That was the first thing I thought when Annie decided she would be the writer.

If you look at Tom's history he has some crazy awful ideas, but he also has some great ones. Some segments on his MTV show were brilliantly hilarious. And he was running off ideas when they were having a brainstorming session, so not everything is going to be a homerun. If Scott was a good project manager, he would have found a way to incorporate Tom instead of trying to marginalize him until the last minute when he decided he needed him.

Hurray that Tom Green is still there!

I'm intrigued that Clint Black is starting to get such a bad edit. That runs completely counter to his image and could conceivably hurt him with his fans.

So far, Jesse James is coming across as the best. Second best is Joan! Khloe did a good job as a quiet leader once she found her footing. At first, it was a hen party in there. Scott was condescending and that is never a mark of a good leader.

Oh, and the BORING CEO of Zappos (my words earlier) is a mid-to-late twenties Harvard grad who sold his internet company a few years ago to Microsoft for $265 million. Oh my God. Still has zero personality though.

I know what Herschel brought to the table. My favorite "Apprentice" catch phrase of the season: "SHET UP!"
First time I've ever heard it pronounced quite that way. Cracked me up.

I don't think Tom was "performing", I think he was legitimately trying to brainstorm the team, and noone but Dennis and maybe Jesse really caught that. You throw ideas at the wall - they either stick or they don't, but that gets them out. By the time they got to the name, everyone else was probably exhausted of Tom, but Tom seemed to be the only one putting out ideas, so...And Tom stuck the presentation rather well (save for having the cheat sheet), showing that while he may have through the name stupid, he wasn't sabotaging the game.

And we descend further in the ickiness of Trump's love life. Ew. But then George will be back, and my mind will be clea-- oh no, Tom in a wedding dress!

I found it unintentionally hilarious when TG brought up the "Russian judge" commentary. Who knew it was foreshadowing?

SH had to literally overcome the Russian and/or East German judge in competition.

Who knew Scott Hamilton could be such a little bitch? And wow, did not know at all about him being a crazed fundy. He was absolutely the right one to go. Although I guess his religion is why he doesn't know what 'E' means. I didn't get the impression that Tom was trying to distrupt things, rather he was asking questions that needed to be asked and trying to get the team to focus more. Scott just dismissed him.

Liked that this was a traditional Apprentice task, instead of being based on who could get their friends to fork over the most money. Why didn't the women use Brande, the Playmate, to model the character? She wouldn't have said stupid things about wearing the costume. Melissa trying to grab all the credit was also stupid. I foresee retaliation next week.

I don't know who said it, Hershel, I think. But it's not a maybe that Tom Green has ADD. I mean... duh.

And Scott and Hershel both responded to it in the worst possible way. They gave him no direction and tried to ignore him... which is just going to give his creativity nowhere to root and make his brain (and mouth) work faster.

It's not hard to deal with someone like Tom. Send him off to come up with 500 z names. Or listen to him for five damn minutes. Not just let him talk, listen to him.

I was rooting for Scott and Jesse and Annie right at first, but now it is Tom and Jesse. Scott was a total ass today. As was Hershel (one of my childhood favorites).

I actually think Tom, given his personality, handled himself pretty damn well today. He didn't fly off the handle even though he was told to shut up, called a liar and mocked. All when he was clearly right.

Tom and Jesse are the two strengths on that team and I bet that will become clearer as time passes. They are both smart enough to figure out how to best use each other, too.

Management 101 - Any manager who treats one of your biggest assets as a liability needs to be fired as soon as possible.

Yeah, I came out of this tonight with completely different impressions of Tom and Scott. I've never been a Tom fan or critic, really. But I do get how his mind works, I think, and he seems totally genuine. Was he irritating? Sure, but Scott's shutting him out had everything to do with Tom's eventual overcompensation, IMO. In those early stages, I saw nothing wrong with Tom throwing out random ideas. That's why it's called brainstorming--initial ideas aren't supposed to be pretty and fully-formed. And this entire task seemed tailor-made for Tom's sensibilities, especially after annoying, dispassionate CEO guy said humor was a good thing.

Scott, Scott, Scott . . . man did I find him annoying and humorless. I also felt like he came close to lying, based on the edit we saw. It never really seemed like he completely owned up to the name, when it was completely and independently his idea. And he totally underrated Tom's protests to EEE. It would be one thing if Tom had just said, "I didn't like it," but Tom actually spent time trying to work through and suggest appropriate Z-names while being completely ignored by everyone, especially Scott. That one effort on its own seemed both constructive and task-focused--anything but intentionally "distracting." Scott's buddy-buddying with Clint Black (who seems douche-y as all get out) and tasteless lack of acknowledgement of Tom's interest in helping the same charity were also disappointing. I just feel like Scott went down several notches for me tonight.

In other news, I'd be completely thrilled with a Joan Rivers vs. Jesse James finale at this point. Or Annie Duke. She's got a superiority complex, sure, but she also seems to be right a lot. (And I like her brains and non-bimbo-ness.)

I hope that when Scott watches the episode on TV he is a big enough man to realize that Tom was throwing out a lot of good ideas and if he had shown him any respect the men could have easily won the task.

Tom probably handles this well because it's been his experience day in and day out most of his life. Did you ever watch his show? I'm glad he's not my employee, my employer, my kid, my husband, etc. He's a difficult guy. His agent probably suggested that he go off his meds for "good TV."