RNO Roundtable: Who Would You Hire from The Apprentice 2?

Are any of this season's contestants worthwhile candidates? If you owned a company, would you hire any of them to run your company, based on what you've seen on the show? Why or why not?

David Bloomberg:

A couple of the candidates are worthy of hiring, I think - though whether The Donald will agree with me is another matter.

Right off the bat, I would eliminate everybody who has already been fired. There were some pretty good reasons for firing most of them, and I can't see any of them operating in a high-level position.

The women, in general, are a train wreck. Jen can't understand simple concepts unless they are laid out concretely in front of her. How is she going to understand building design or an abstract idea? And taking credit for the work of other people? I can't stand people like that. Sandy has had decent moments, but has also had a history of problems. As for Ivana, she had a couple of "wow" showings, but at least as often has gone completely off the deep end and been incompetent. I wouldn't hire any of them.

That leaves us with Kevin and Kelly. Honestly, I'd hire either. Kevin has shown an ability to work with difficult people (remember Elizabeth in the NYC ad campaign) and he focuses on the task at hand. Kelly has shown great leadership and has pretty much avoided causing any drama - not great for reality TV, but definitely what you're looking for in a real employee! Sometimes, military men have problems thinking outside the box. But Kelly even got in there and designed a woman's outfit for one of the challenges! I'm pretty sure he can do just about anything he puts his mind to.

So if it were up to me, I would hire either Kevin or Kelly. If I only had one pick, it would be Kelly.

Mel Ellis:

Worthwhile? It seems that Mark Burnett and The Donald have fallen into what I call the "Survivor Trap" - casting for telegenics (how good one looks on television), rather than on capabilities. The only people who seem to have any idea what they are doing are Kelly and Kevin (my personal favorite). Jennifer is all right, but she seems lost some of the time. The rest of them couldn't figure out how to make my bed correctly. Compare them to last year's group - Nick, Amy, Bill, Kwame, and Troy are just a few of the capable people working for a shot at running one of Trump's companies. They would wipe the floor with this group. I think that's why this season's viewership has been down. Omarosa was interesting, and Tammy was a train wreck, but they didn't make the show, at least not for me. The producers aren't casting for talent, but for looks or "good television" (e.g., possible psychosis). Not good.

Would I hire any of them? Only Kevin and Kelly. Possibly Jennifer, but she has a way to go to prove herself. I don't like her attitude. Why hire Kevin? Kevin gets along with everyone, always has a positive attitude, contributes good ideas, and is a great team player. Remember his working all night with the train wreck that was Elizabeth to help her define her idea for the NYPD commercial? He also was right there with Jennifer in the dog grooming task. He was blamed with finding the contractor that contributed to Raj's demise, but we should remember that he had the truly brilliant idea of asking a realtor who s/he recommended. None of them knew where to start, so he went to an expert. That's the way to do it. I blame the realtor, not Kevin, for the contractor, and I blame Raj for not firing his taco-eating butt when he saw that the contractor wasn't doing anything.

As for Kelly, he lacks personality and can be a bit of a dictator, but he knows how to get things done. My only question is his persistence in delegating tasks to Wes, who seems in desperate need of Prozac and business school. Perhaps, as Wes surmised, it was to have someone to blame if they lost, but other than that, I can't think of any logical reason to have him do anything.

Brian Towers:

Do any of this season's applicants deserve to be named "The Apprentice?" Let's look at each of the five applicants still standing in turn:

Sandy - no. Sandy has been lucky to get this far in the competition. Her only good idea I remember was in suggesting Mike Piazza as a celebrity in the "New Toothpaste" task. She didn't do well in the "Restaurant" task, and in the "Pepsi Edge" challenge she fumbled in her presentation. There are other examples. In "QVC" week, she made a small task big and drove people crazy. Even when she was PM in week 9, it was more a case of Raj losing than her leading a better project.