The Apprentice 2, Episode 6: Dressed for Success

As always, the candidates are trying to predict who will get fired. John thinks that the women will gang up on Pamela, and that Trump will see through it. Shows what you know, John – the women ganged up on Stacie, and it worked great. Raj thinks Trump believes Pamela is the strongest woman, but he still thinks she’ll get fired. Well, they must wonder no longer – Lil Stacy and Maria return. Stacy gives an arrogant, “What’s for dinner?” and Maria does a victory twirl. Everyone cheers. Wes says that by getting rid of Pamela, the women did all of them a favor. Raj chimes in with, “Ding, dong, the ice queen is dead.” Lil Stacy repeats her line from the boardroom in which she compares Pamela’s reluctance to worry over the minutia of cleaning products to the Enron scandal. Everyone high fives her, but I think it’s a really, really overblown comparison. Kevin says that the women will be stronger without Pamela, but he’s not worried.

The men once again choose their project manager at random. I just don’t understand why they insist on doing it that way. Shouldn’t they wait to see if it’s a task that one person would do better than the others? Anyway, it’s John, and he’s confident that the team will do well again. Raj asks John if, when he’s delegating tasks, he’ll give him a good one. John says in an interview that he likes Raj a lot. He’s unusual, but a sharp guy.

While the men make decisions, the women mill around, trying to figure out what to do next. Elizabeth wonders if there’s anything they need to talk about, but the general consensus is that they should all just go to bed. Good plan. Maria says in an interview that Elizabeth wants to spend lots of time on unproductive discussions, and that the next project manager needs to find a way to minimize that, yet still make Elizabeth feel like she’s a productive part of the team. Lil Stacy concludes the night’s conversation by saying that while they’ve been hard core so far, “Let’s be harder core.” Yes, that’s clearly the strategy they were lacking. Hardness of the core.

I’d like to take a moment to applaud the efforts of the men of Mosaic for answering the phone in various states of undress (with the exception of Chris’s nipple ring from last week). Kevin is the one to answer the phone this time around, and let’s just say he works out. Bravo! Anyway, everyone is to meet at Trump Model Management. The men are especially pleased with this turn of events. Did they not know that men can be models, too? Chris suggests that the task will be to grease down the models. Shut up, Chris. I do not need to hate you more.

The next morning at the modeling agency, Trump lays out the task: the teams will work with a designer to produce a new clothing line, which they’ll show off at the Avon Fall Fashion Show in front of buyers for some major retailers. The clothes will, of course, be modeled by women from Trump Model Management. The team that makes the most money at the end wins.

Maria is project manager for Apex, and is confident that her team will do well – she studied home economics in college. Kevin, on the other hand, says that even though the men don’t have any experience with designing women’s clothes, they can still pull out a win.

Wes says that it’s essential to choose the right designer. They meet with a variety of different designers, but end up choosing Ilsa. John thinks her styles are a little eccentric, but that she’s really talented. The women also meet with designers and are impressed with Darren. Darren tells them that he likes to be at “the low end at high-end stores.” Elizabeth is concerned that they’re going to make a mistake by going for prices that are too long, but Maria makes it clear that the discussion is closed. Elizabeth still isn’t done talking, and suggests that they meet with buyers, since that’s their target audience. Maria tells her to make a list of questions for the buyers, then sends her with Jen to meet them. It’s actually a very smart strategy. Elizabeth does seem (like Lil Stacy) to be a bit of a naysayer, or at the very least the kind of person who feels like they always need to play devil’s advocate. Maria has given her a real task to do that will be worthwhile (and isn’t just busywork) that will relieve Elizabeth’s concern, yet at the same time will get her out of everyone’s way. Smart.

The rest of the team goes out for lunch with Darren to brainstorm their line. Sandy says that it’s important to them to design clothing that all of them would actually buy. Ivana says in an interview that because Elizabeth wasn’t there to second-guess everything, they got everything resolved in 45 minutes.

Mosaic divides into two groups. Kevin, Wes, and Andy go to meet with the buyers, while the rest of the team gets to work with Ilsa designing the line. Raj says that he’d like to find clothing that shows off the female form. As the brainstorming session goes on, it’s clear that the men have given almost no thought to women’s fashion, and Ilsa seems frustrated. Really, I don’t know why the guys feel like they need to be so involved at all. They don’t have to design the clothes – Ilsa does. Didn’t they choose her because they thought she knew what she was doing? They should get out of her way and let her get to work.

Kelly says in an interview that Raj and John “futz around too much,” so when they’re out of the room, he tries his hand at sketching an outfit. Ilsa likes it. Chris can’t believe that “the Army guy” is designing women’s clothes. He says, “After that, I’m surprised he’s not wearing pink camouflage underwears.” Chris? I thought we agreed that you were going to shut up.

It’s time for a quick Trump Lesson of the Week. This week: “Know Your Market.” Trump says that when you’re selling something, it’s very important to pinpoint your target audience. If you can’t focus, you’re sunk.