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Sixteen up-and-coming
businesspeople have come to the biggest jungle of their lives
- New York City - to take on each other and the business savvy
of Donald Trump to win the job of a lifetime as an apprentice
with the Trump Organization.
Recaps by Gordon Pepper, GSNN |
FACT FILE:
Host: Donald J. Trump
Assistants: George Ross, Carolyn Kepcher
Creator: Mark Burnett
EP: Mark Burnett, Donald J. Trump
Packager: Mark Burnett Productions, Trump Productions
Airs: Thursdays at 9:00pm ET on FOX |
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Episode 4 - January 26
Last week saw the end of Sam. Will it spell the
beginning of the men's reign of terror - or will it
spell the beginning of the end for the guys, as another
loss would leave them at half-strength.
"Everyone of us would have been in complete shock if it
wasn't Sam (who was fired)" says Amy, while Bowie noted
that when the men walked in without Sam, "they all
rejoiced like the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz".
Apparently, Sam got on the women's nerves as well, and
they was much joy and rapture when he was eliminated.
But there was not all joy in Mudville, as Nick is
brandishing his Brutus-like dagger. "There are weaker
players in the game than Sam - and I'm pissed...it was a
witch hunt to take down Sam...he'll get his vengeance
through me."
Trump gets his vengeance on the partiers at 7am, as they
are all supposed to meet at 8am at Times Square. He
brings them out in front of Planet Hollywood - and the
assignment is simple. The women manage the restaurant
tonight, while the men manage it tomorrow night. Whoever
can do better business at this point from the same point
last year will get to share a day of golf at Trump
National Golf Course.
The women's reaction of the new men's team? "The men are
a more lethal weapon now without Sam, and I'm much more
nervous now than when they had Sam." That comes from
Katrina, and this comes from Bill - "If we have to walk
back into the board room now, it will be a 100% complete
embarrassment." Nick, who is wanting to see a male
embarrassment, nominates Kwame, and Kwame thinks that
it's because Nick doesn't have any leadership skills -
but Nick says that he wants Kwame to be the leader to
that Trump can fire him. The women, also taking notes on
that, have made Katrina the project manager - although
Amy, who has had experience with restaurants, and who
should probably be the manager, is Katrina's second in
command. Strategy, strategy, strategy...
Omarosa has decided to play in the sandbox with the
other women and she is making steps to be nicer. Ereka
still thinks that it's to play the game, but Omarosa is
doing just that - and she's learning to be a player. I
am sure that the Donald and his minions are noticing
what she is doing, and if she doesn't make any egregious
errors, she could be a threat to win it all.
Back to the assignment at hand - Kristi notices that 25%
of the sales is from liquor. According to her, that's a
potential mark-up increase of 300%, and that's where
they should be targeting the increases at. The women,
who have been using the 'Sex Sells' campaign throughout
the whole show, decide to continue it by being the
"Planet Hollywood Shooter Girls." As you know from the
promos of this show, Carolyn will call them out on this
later on. You'll be getting my opinion on this topic as
well.
Trump's tip of the week - the art of the deal, part 2
- sticking by your word. If you get the reputation that
you are a deal-breaker, then your business career will
be short-lived.
Will Katrina's life in the show be short-lived? Coming
out to hawk merchandise isn't working, so Ereka has the
idea of coming out to the lines in Times Square to hand
out coupons. That doesn't seem to be going well either -
but they do play some dirty pool of their own, telling
people to come down tonight because the store will be
closed tomorrow.
What do the guys do while the girls are out? Do they
plan? no. Do they Bill decides to play Trump - The Game,
as Troy and Bill start to get into it while they are
playing the game. Troy calls Bill a snake be breaking
the 'handshake deal' and Nick looks like he wants to
slither out of the room. Even without Sam, the guys
can't get their act together and if they don't, it
doesn't matter if the women bring in 400 pound
Polynesian Hula dancers to be the Shooter Girls.
However, we have problems in the women's camp as well,
as Jessie comes out and sets up some tables for people
to come down and get a better view. The problem? No one
told Katrina and they share some words. What else isn't
good? Kristi looking at the sales numbers and seeing
that they are not nearly close to making up that money
in the merchandising.
Whatever the women don't make in merchandise, they more
than make up for in booze. "$20 for a t-shirt can take
you up to 25 minutes to sell it. I can sell $20 worth of
shots in 3 minutes." And that she does. Heidi - "Heidi
was the queen of selling shots." The managers wanted to
shoot the women, who explain to them that 1. No workers
should be drinking on the job, and 2. They are
responsible for the welfare of all of the patrons, so
they could be liable if one of those drunk people
mistake the head of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader squad
for a speeding NYC bus. The women do make a profit - but
they notice that they only made around 10% more of booze
than last year, which leaves them very vulnerable for
the guy's first win of the show.
Nick is looking past this round and is looking at the
total game. His strategy is to sit in the wings and
watch the guys eliminate themselves, also adding that if
he loses, he's feeling comfortable in the Board Room.
Kwame's target is to make an extra $25,000, and they
create a street team and an inside team, with Bowie
being the merchandising salesman. Bill has a great idea,
and tells the sales staff that every hour, the guys will
make $100 bonus for whoever has the most sales. George
and Carolyn watch and smile at that - what they don't
smile at is Troy trying to sell alcohol to passersby on
the lines for the people on the Broadway ticket line,
and as Bowie points out, you can't do that. Troy then
tries to sell merchandise and food - which is a great
idea, but Bowie tells him to return to base - which is
not a good idea because they could have made food money
on that line.
Bowie and Nick try to peddle outside, and they are as
convincing as trying to sell ice to eskimos. Bill is
inside and staring at - an empty interior of a
restaurant. 'I think that Donald Trump would be having a
heart attack if he saw this.' He'd also have a heart
attack if he saw Bowie trying to sell - and his heart is
clearly not in it. Their target? $25,000. Actual amount?
$5,000. Not good.
The women are in much better spirits as they go out for
sushi. Omarosa is continuing to blend in, as she
imitates the guys. She is definitely the most improved
person in this episode, and this footage may be here to
tell us that she sticks around for awhile...
...which is more than I can say for the guys, who are in
dire straits. Sometimes desperate times call for
desperate measures - such as telling people to get an
autograph from Kwame Jackson! "Who is Kwame Jackson?
Someone who is working at Wall Street." Well, there's a
sucker born every minute, and the Kwame Jackson
'signing' is bringing in suckers to see the mighty Kwame
- and buying merchandise. They are finally getting
people to come in - much to the chagrin of Nick, who
doesn't want to make money this way and is cursing out
both Kwame and Bill. "I'll explain to Mr. Trump that I
don't do business like that, and if this is how they
work, they may as well fire me." That convinces Nick to
sulk, and Kwame accuses Nick of 'checking out', which
would be reason in his mind to let Nick have his wish.
With crunch time coming, Bill takes over and starts
doing stuff. Nick and Kwame start selling, and Bowie...
pretty much doesn't do anything but walks around,
delivers messages and gets spurned. Is this
foreshadowing?
We will find out as we head to the Board room for the
reports. The men wet from $13,168 to $14,069 - an
increase of 6%. The women go from $12,592 to $16,537 -
an increase of a whopping 31%. The women's selling
inside and the promotion of the liquor, albeit unethical
(but then again, it's not like the men were saints
pushing the Kwame Jackson tour) was the smart play and
they get to go out on the links.
So the guys go off to the Board Room for the fourth
straight time. Bowie - "I feel like my pet was just
killed". The women get to kill some golf balls - and we
see quickly why women traditionally don't close deal at
the golf course. They do get to see a beautiful
waterfall - which they get to deposit most of their
balls in.
The women, however, don't get away Scott-free. Mr. Trump
tells them women that they are smart and dynamic - but
he warns them to not use their sexuality to win. Carolyn
adds that it won't help them get the job in the long
run. With that, Donald sends them on their way. The
women completely disagree. Katrina - "If being
attractive is wrong, then this is wrong."
My opinion? This game isn't about playing fair - it's
about surviving in the corporate jungle where you need
to use every aspect to stay alive. The women do have the
advantage of T&A, but they have been out-thinking the
guys from day one and they deserve to be up. The men
certainly could have gotten women from off of the street
to do the dirty work for them - and if they listened to
Sam (who brought up that idea) instead of ostracizing
him earlier, then they would have bought some women off
of the streets to hawk up the sales - and probably a few
wins. That's the biggest problem with the guys - they
have played it by the numbers and have not thought out
of the box for the whole entire season - while the women
have been more creative from Day 1. They haven't been
out-sexing the competition - they have been outplaying
them.
The men have more ethical issues, as Nick blasts the
guys for the Kwame Jackson debacle. Nick, who believes
that he is going into the Board Room, says that he has a
very good defense if it happens. Bowie says that he will
probably be eaten alive by Trump because of the lack of
merchandising sales. With fingers being pointed
everywhere, they go to the Board Room, where Kwame
thought that they lost because of the lack of willpower.
Carolyn says that it wasn't the people - it was the lack
of brains. She says that they could have hired people to
go out and get coupons and sell. The guys fail to
realize that they can always get more people in terms of
workmanship - what they really need is a guy with a plan
of action that will get them on the win side of the
ledger.
Trump asks who should be fired, and Nick goes right
after Kwame and the merchandising scheme. Troy and Bowie
go after Nick, who accuse him of losing motivation. Nick
says that he was deflated because he didn't like the
sales tactics. "What about that kid who spent 12 bucks
go home to the internet and sees that Kwame isn't on the
NBA?" Kwame is asked who he is bringing with him - and
he says Nick and Bowie, who underperformed under Troy
and Bill.
Donald goes over everyone's weaknesses, and he says that
it's a tough call. Kwame says that he did better than
Nick, while Nick says that they other guys are trying to
railroad him out of the game. Trump says that Nick and
Kwame both have strong ideals and opinions, and that
makes them both good leaders. Bowie was a disaster on
sales - and when he was asked about the ethicality, he
teeter-tottered from he was against Kwame to he was for
him - and that may have cost him the game. For not
standing up for what he thought - and for being a
disaster in merchandising, Bowie is fired.
So we do have 8 women and 4 men. The teams will be
redistributed into fields of 6 - but who will go where?
And where will the bad blood be boiling now? We get all
the nastiness served up in a platter next week.
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Previous Episodes
January 5
January 12
January 19
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