The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Episode 3: Just Desserts

In the loft, David talks to the rest of Matchstick about how might be getting the axe. He’s afraid both Jim and Dawn will come back, which will be bad for the team. He says that the team is in disarray, and Dawn is at the center of the conflict. Wow, Jim must be really slick if his team believes that only Dawn is the problem. They all agree that it’s really shameful to have lost so badly. In an interview, Marcela says that for them to succeed, they have to get rid of Dawn. It’s official: Jim has brainwashed everyone.

Just as David feared, Jim and Dawn are back. The two of them say hello to everyone else but are very cold towards each other. Betheney says she feels sick. In an interview, Dawn expresses her frustration. She feels like everyone is out to get her (and she’d be right). At this point, she wants to go along to get along. Dawn resolves that in the next task, she’s just going to shut up and go with the flow.

Jim is on the phone with his wife. She says that nothing has happened yet, just some false labor. Wait a minute – Jim’s wife is pregnant and ready to have a baby? And he went on this show? Ooh, I’ll have more to say about this later, but for now let’s recap the scene. Jim says that he’s “sad he can’t be with her,” but that the two of them agree that it’s very important for all of them that he be on the show. As he hangs up the phone, Jim says, “I love you. Good luck with your task.” Yep, so if you hated Jim before, don’t you hate him even more now? He’s comparing childbirth to a task on The Apprentice? I’m sure it was challenging to sell freaking tulips, but I do believe bringing another human being into the world is just a little bit harder!

Perhaps the fact that I’m a new mom is making me feel these opinions just a wee bit more forcefully.

The next morning, Amanda (I think) answers the phone and asks what everyone is up to. She’s shocked to hear that they’ve been sleeping, and chirps, “I’ve been up for hours!” She goes on about how she’s taking care of her horses, and if you hate Martha Stewart, this is pretty much a perfect example of why. She directs the candidates to meet her at a photo shoot for her magazine. There, Martha chats with Alexis and Charles, saying that the task might initially seem easy to the candidates, but will prove difficult. The candidates arrive, and Martha explains that weddings are a big business and will be the theme of this task. Each team will design and bake a wedding cake working with a baker and kitchen at the Culinary Institute of America. Then they’ll transport the cakes to a bridal show at Michael C. Fina and will try to sell as many cakes as possible. The team that makes the most money from sales wins. Martha asks Alexis and Charles to bring her pictures of the cakes – and a slice of each. As the teams leave, Shawn promises that Matchstick will do better this week, perhaps nudging awake that sneaky little sprite known as the Irony Fairy.

Howie is the project manager at Primarius, and he is determined to win. They start with a brainstorming session. Dawna suggests that they have a fairly affordable cake and sell it in volume. The team agrees on multiple flavors among the layers of the cake. Amanda goes online and researches popular flavors, styles, and so forth, making sure to hit Martha Stewart Weddings along the way. Howie is rather overwhelmed by the choices, but is confident that the best thing for them to do is to choose a cake that will appeal to a broad audience. They sketch out a cake with different shapes for the different layers. Finally, Howie wants some ideas on how to display the cake. He sends Ryan, Sarah, and Jennifer to a place called the New York Wedding Center to learn more. What, after all, could be better than the New York Wedding Center to get a general idea of what engaged couples want?

Turns out, just about anywhere would have been a better choice. Sarah, Jennifer, and Ryan are shocked to see that the New York Wedding Center caters to Asian couples. There are racks and racks of traditional Asian dresses, prompting Jennifer to call the appeal “very limited.” They hurriedly flip through some photos of cakes, but then get out of there. Sarah says in an interview that it was a frustrating waste of time.

And now it’s time for this week’s Ask Martha segment. We ask Martha “How do you broaden your audience?” Once again, she doesn’t answer the question, really, but she does tell us that a narrow audience is bad. I’m afraid I didn’t get any reader questions for this week’s Ask Betsy segment, so here’s a question: Why didn’t anyone send in an Ask Betsy question? The answer is that almost no one is watching this show.

David is the project manager for Matchstick. He decides to divide his team into two groups – those handling the baking and those handling the market research. He is happy to have Bethenny and Marcela, who are both cooks, on his team, and wants to make sure he takes good advantage of them. The two of them, along with Dawn, will work on cake design. He, Shawn, and Jim will research. Good plan, not only dividing the team up, but also in keeping Dawn and Jim away from each other.

Shawn begins by calling a well known wedding cake baker, Sylvia Weinstock. Shawn showers her with compliments, and tells us in an interview that Michael C. Fina is a high-end bridal registry, so they want to sell a high-end cake. She asks Sylvia about a cake made up of tiers of cupcakes. Sylvia doesn’t like them because it’s “not elegant” to fuss with the paper wrappings. Shawn makes a note of that and tells Sylvia that when she gets married, she’ll order her cake from her. David admits that all he really knows about cake is that it tastes good with a frosty glass of milk, so he’s relying on Shawn.