Apprentice Recap

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Niki Tehranchi
by Niki Tehranchi
22-Oct-2010
 

Apprentice Recap, Season 10, Episode 6, Thursday, October 21, 2010

It was fitting that the men dressed up as Ancient Romans for the task this week, because the Boardroom became a veritable Gladiator's arena.  But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

The challenge this week was to raise the most money by organizing pedicab tours of New York.  You know, those horribly anachronistic and humiliating carriages attached to humans instead of horses.  At least, they were not pulling them on foot, as I have seen before, but on bicycles.   

The men of Team Octane decided to go for humour again by dressing up as Centurions and wisely decided "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" by sticking to the Trump building to target tourists.  The women also went back to a past success, the ice cream task, by donning pink T-shirts but made a not so wise decision to use their sex appeal by putting on tight, itty-bitty shorts and calling themselves "Babes on Bikes." 

It was very cringe-inducing and demeaning to see some slimy guys ogle the tight bums of the young women of Team Fortitude, like they were Hooters waitresses instead of college grads and business women.  Not a shining moment for the women's team.  Which is too bad, cause I was really rooting for Kelly, the Project Manager.  Kelly did a lot of work in last week's fashion show challenge that earned a win for her team, however she did not toot her own horn, leaving all the glory to Project Manager Stephanie and emcee Brandy

But the worst mistake Kelly made was appointing Canadian Stephanie as the scout who would choose the best location in New York to attract lots of sales even though she had Brooklyn-based Mahsa on hand to lend her expertise.  If there's one thing that you ought to know working for a real estate tycoon like Donald Trump, it's the golden rule "location, location, location."  The girls chose Wall Street on the premise that this would be where the guys with the most money would be.  Have they not heard of the recession?  Not to mention that local New-Yorkers, busy crunching numbers in their head and trying to hold on to their job like a sailor holding on to his boat during a shipwreck, would probably not waste their time on a cheap tourist gimmick.

The women ended up making a third of what the men made even though they were 6 against 4.  Well I should say 3, since Crazy Dave can't really be considered as a teammate, but more like a Virus, as Steuart said.  And if you think that moniker was funny, you should have heard Clint come up with the best Boardroom line since Mahsa's infamous Titanic takedown of Nicole:

"Dave couldn't get a job as an Oompa-Loompa selling Gobstoppers!"

Clint, you just went up ten notches in my book.  Anyone who can quote Roald Dahl so breathlessly is a friend of mine.

The girls predictably started tearing each other up, trying to assign blame as soon as the men left.  Mahsa wisely stayed very quiet while Kelly, Stephanie and Liza gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and roared their terrible roars. 

Although I criticized Mahsa's abrasive approach in the first episode, fearing that attracting negative attention to herself would lead to an early exit from the game, I am beginning to see an interesting strategy.  Her St Valentine Day Massacre or should I say "Mahsa-cre" of Nicole early on was akin to being the newest convict in prison, where you immediately pick a fight and beat some random other prisoner to a bloody pulp as an effective preemptive strike, leading the rest of potential attackers to stay weary of you.  It is quite clear nobody wants to pick Mahsa to be in the final three in the Boardroom because they are just afraid of her. And I think in this task, even though she did a great job in sales, she definitely had potential to be blamed because she should have given her input as to the location, being the only one out of the group to actually live in the vicinity of Manhattan.  Rockefeller Center, as she mentioned, would have been an infinitely better choice of location leading the women's team to a potential win. 

As it turned out, Kelly was unfortunately fired.  And so we move on to week 7...

The Apprentice airs on NBC thursdays at 9/10 c.

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Niki Tehranchi

Thanks BB

by Niki Tehranchi on

A hilarious recap blog is written by former Apprentice candidate Jen Hoffman. Here is the link:

//www.thewrap.com/television/blog-post/apprentice-10-lots-questions-no-answers-21909


Big Boy

Love the recap!

by Big Boy on

Niki,

I'm liking your weekly summaries more than the actual show.  Good work! 


Niki Tehranchi

Way to hang in there

by Niki Tehranchi on

She has made it pretty far in the game but in my humble opinion, I think Stephanie and Brandy are the two strongest contenders on the women's team with Steuart and Anand on the men's team.  If I had to bet on it, I would say Stephanie wins the game.  The trailers are edited to make you think one way only to surprise you when the actual episode airs.  At least once before, the preview was made to look as if Mahsa would get fired. I think (and am hoping) she still hangs in there for another few weeks. 


Anahid Hojjati

Dear Niki, does it look like Mahsa will be in trouble next week?

by Anahid Hojjati on

Niki jan, I missed beginning of this episode but I saw all the discussions. Your review is great. Thanks. Mahsa was safe this week but the trailer for the next episode made it look like that she might be in trouble next week. What is your take on this?


Anonymouse

I'll have to see the re-run!

by Anonymouse on

Good review Niki!  Kelly was the right person to get fired. 

I liked your characterization of crazy Dave. He has totally lost any confidence anyone could have of him or any likeability and whatever happens to him is his own fault and no one will shed a tear!  He is a virus and will be known for that and if that is what he likes to be known for so be it, good for him!

I don't understand when these Project Managers want to "delegate" quickly instead of assigning tasks because they're the leader and setting the rules and goals.

Instead of delegating the task for finding the location to someone else, which by the way is the most important decision in this case, she should've just asked for opinions and then made the decision and it'd have been clear where the tourists areas are, the most famous ones!

I also liked your review of Mahsa.  Yes I'm beginning to think her original going ballistic on day one and staying calm and collective the rest of the way may have been the right choice.  Note to self and others, draw the first blood and then go your own way!

She has established herself as a no nonsense tough cookie who'll tear you AApart (ala Al Pacino on Any Given Sunday :-) unlike crazy Dave who is just a lunatic and given the right circumstance he'll hang himself with his own rope!  

Everything is sacred