Game Show NewsNet

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.