Game Show Newsnet | The Apprentice: Season 10

And you thought the Mahsa backlash was over. Not even close. Yes, Steuart got to meet with the CEO of Snapple, but more interesting is what happened in the loft post boardroom.

Brandy is celebrating the fact that her attack plan on Mahsa worked. Apparently Brandy did not believe Mahsa should be fired based on the last task, but she did believe Mahsa would be difficult to beat. Thus she took her chances by revealing Mahsa’s behind the scenes collusion and kudos to her she was successful.

Seriously, if this was portrayed correctly, Brandy outplayed Mahsa and it’s nice to see people playing the game.

Then Anand decides to play the role of The Donald and asks Stephanie who had the last say at the printer and forget to put contact information on the brochure. Stephanie waffles, Anand calls her a liar and classless and Stephanie can’t believe someone would ever call her classless… while cussing. (And she didn’t have a problem with the liar part…) She finishes with a simple comment that she would never want to work with someone like Anand

And you know what that means…

More ellipses…

And a team switch!

The new Fortitude
David, Anand, Stephanie and Poppy

The new Octane
Brandy, Liza, Steuart, Clint

The teams will be creating a 4 pg print ad for the Donald J. Trump Signature collection. That’s right; they will be doing work directly for the Trumpster, so no pressure. It will be judged by execs from the Trump brand and Macy’s with the possibility of the ad actually being used if it is good enough.

David and Brandy have stepped up as PMs for this task.

Fortitude has decided to go with something a little classic. They are doing an ad where the models will appear in black in white and the only things in the frame that will be in color are Trump’s clothes. Makes sense to want to draw attention to the clothing, but the fact that they think this is original somewhat baffles me. Regardless, if it is executed well, it could be a winner.

The entire team has agreed on the idea and crazier yet, David has found a confidant in Stephanie. The two work very well together and are seeing eye to eye on many of the creative parts of this task. Anand doesn’t seem to like this and he is pairing with Poppy. They don’t like the model David picked and are mad that they have been tasked with menial duties like getting food for the crew.

This is what we call an interesting version of turnabout. David hasn’t done anything this task to truly earn derision. Some of his anger toward Poppy may be unmerited as she had not worked with David before, but Anand failing at gathering food, a task that David had been demeaned by numerous times is quite funny.

Now this does not mean that Anand and Poppy didn’t have valid complaints. The lead model that David chose (and fell in love with) did have a small neck, and Poppy and Anand’s criticisms of the ill fit between the model and shirt fell on deaf ears.

However, at least Fortitude had models. Octane is preparing for their shoot in Trump SoHo and is currently model-less. Brandy is freaking out a little bit because without models there is no way they are going to make their deadline and then she resorts to the only possible solution. She and Steuart will be the models.

This becomes all the more interesting when you hear what the concept for Octane’s 4 pg ad is. They have decided to sell the main attributes of the Trump brand which are defined as Power, Wealth and Sex. These are as listed by Clint and Trump later clarifies that the last of the 3 is the most important.

In the Octane ad, the male lead will be portrayed in the morning post coitus state getting ready for work while the female lead lies in bed wearing the Trump shirt that presumably was removed from the male the evening before. That’s right; it’s sexy time on The Apprentice. Seeing the final shot, it’s actually not that risqué, but there is no denying the sex appeal. The other shots of the ad campaign feature the lead up to the evening including the night out at the club drinking Trump Vodka, and tons of other brand integration.

It’s a solid ad campaign, but Liza is very worried. She admits to cringing each time sex is mentioned and worries that the final product may make Macy’s a little uneasy.

On the positive side, there is no conflict on the new Octane when it comes to getting the work done, so very little of the episode is spent on their interpersonal relations. I take that back. Every camera shot is trying to imply that Brandy and Steuart are having a fling. They aren’t. This isn’t Temptation Island.

So with the ads complete, it’s time for the presentations. Brandy speaks for Octane based on the fact that Trump gave her accolades during the Fashion show task. She gets her information across well, but her nerves are also palpable.

David gives the presentation for Fortitude and comes across more naturally than Brandy (Stand-up comedy is good for something after all!).

Both teams receive the obvious criticisms. Is Octane’s ad to sexy? Why do Fortitude’s clothes fit so loosely? Yada, yada, yada boardroom!

And sadly, there are very few fireworks. Must be because Mahsa is gone. And in a moment of foreshadowing, I don’t expect these boardrooms to be lighting up any more M-80s any time soon.

Both teams are confident about their Ads. Stephanie actually says that her fears of working with David were alleviated once they actually joined up on this task. Poppy throws a few of the only bars saying that David talked to her childishly and did not let her play a major role in this task.

Octane is sitting pretty and smiling. Especially after the ads are swapped and they get to see that Fortitude failed at matching their level of product integration. You see where this is going yet?

Congratulation Octane, you win!

Fortitude, stay with the Trump Reaper.

With only four options to choose from when it comes to firing, Trump zooms in on David as PM. David acknowledges that 90% of the task was his. He does cite problems with insubordination from Poppy and Anand even calling Poppy a puppy that would follow Anand around rather than do her own work.

Poppy takes offense to this (shocker) and points out that she did do her own work and that the entire 4th page of the brochure was all her doing.

Trump then points out that all the pictures on the 4th page were too small to effectively feature the product. Poppy is forced to admit to this mistake and defends saying that at leas the product was featured on the last page as the first three pages as designed by David only featured 3 pieces from the line.

David fails to attack Poppy in Mahsa-style for her 4th page errors and when asked who he would like to bring back into to the boardroom, he selects Poppy and Stephanie. Trump and Anand are surprised that Anand was spared, but David explains that he and Stephanie were both in step when it came to decision on this task and that if anyone else could be held responsibly for the poor vision here, it was her.

Stephanie actually doesn’t take offense to this and David has conducted himself admirably and professionally in the face of being fired. Trump, however, can’t value that and notes that David was PM, claimed 90% of what ended up being a failure, and David, You’re Fired!

David has moves on since the Apprentice and is now running his own company hopping to challenge the likes of Trump someday. We shall see. Until next time, considering I’m in Vegas, Good Luck at the Tables!

To see this episode in its entirety, visit the official website at www.nbc.com/apprentice.