The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 5 – A Honey of a Task

As Heidi, Marisa, and Aimee fight in the Boardroom, the rest of Kinetic hopes Marisa gets fired. They’re in luck, and Trump gives her the axe. The team cheers when Amiee and Heidi return. Heidi says it was strange to be on the losing side. She notes that Aaron didn’t say much in the Boardroom. Over the hedge, Aaron says that he did not at all enjoy his experience. Heidi laughs and says now he knows how she’s felt all these weeks.

Aaron tells the team about how Trump admonished him for being quiet. He tells the group that it honestly wasn’t much fun being on the other side of the table. You don’t want to put your neck on the line, he adds.

The next morning, Trump tells last season’s winner Sean that he’ll be out of town and will need Sean to watch the task. Trump tells Aaron again that he wasn’t very vocal in the Boardroom. Aaron says that he let Trump take the lead. Trump goes into his traditionally long transitions about the task, including a claim that he loves honey. Right. Anyway, the candidates will work with Sue Bee Honey, harvesting, bottling, and selling honey in Ralph’s supermarkets. The team with the most money wins.

Stefani admits that she is “scared out of her wits” of the bees. She can’t believe that a tiny thin suit is the only thing separating her from the bees. Frank freaks Stefani out further by talking about how bees smell fear. But, she tries to stay calm and works with the rest of the team. Frank gives Stefani a thumbs up (literally) for facing her fears and getting right in there.

Aaron, Surya, and James brainstorm as to how to sell the honey. Surya feels really confident that he can contribute, since this is so similar to his normal job as a brand manager. Surya says that the packaging needs to show versatility and an “RTB” or reason to believe. James thinks that Surya is making everything too complicated – he’s robotic and uses too much business jargon. James says all they have to do is make honey and sell it. “Revenue maximization,” answers Surya. James looks at him incredulously and says, “Making money?” I like James.

Aimee is the Project Manager for Kinetic. She and Jenn review packaging while the rest of the team harvests the honey. They have worse luck with it than Arrow did – Derek gets stung through his suit. Ouch. The team was away for quite a while getting the honey and expects Aimee and Jenn to have accomplished a lot. Then they arrive and discover that the two of them have stalled out on naming the honey. Come on, people. Like James said, just make it and sell it. Ooh, or maybe name the honey “Bravado” to really rankle the departed Marisa. Kristine is incredulous and thinks that Aimee needs to step up and get things done. In about two seconds, they come up with the name Bee More. Kristine is not impressed with Aimee so far.

Over at Arrow, Frank explains how the team works the production lines. It’s very I Love Lucy and Tim keeps clogging up the production line. Nicole thinks that Tim’s poor honey managing skills and subsequent argument with Frank, are adorable. Of course, Nicole seems to think pretty much everything Tim does is adorable. She says that they can have a good time anywhere, a testament to their team’s passion and spirit. Frank and Tim continue to tease each other, and Tim threatens to “pour honey on your ugly fat face.” Frank cracks up.

Kinetic heads to Ralph’s, completely unprepared. They don’t even have pricing. Derek notes that Aimee hasn’t delegated anything. He and Muna frantically unload honey while Heidi and Angela hang a sign announcing that it’s honey day. Aimee stands in the aisle aimlessly. Kristine notes that if they win, they’re stuck with her as Project Manager. Derek shudders at the thought.

Meanwhile, Arrow has their act together. Not only do they have a price on the honey, but they also have a lovely sample tray with honey on different foods. Stefani gives a soft sell to a customer, and Frank hugs another. Stefani is doing this thing where she wears her glasses down low on her nose, and it makes her look like a naughty librarian. She happily reports that they are selling honey three bottles at a time. But then, Surya joins her at her chef’s station and completely disrupts the flow of what she was doing. The naughty librarian selling you honey does not need some random guy standing with her. Stefani is frustrated.

While the rest of the team works at Ralph’s, Tim and Nicole go out to do bulk sales. Tim says that they are going to focus on gas stations and bakeries. What, really? Gas stations? Bakeries, sure, that makes sense. They’ll either use it or sell it to their customers. But a gas station? I know, they sell groceries, and there may well be a bottle of honey at my local gas station’s convenient mart, but something tells me that’s not the kind of thing they move too quickly. You might pop in there after you get gas because you’re running low on milk or bread, but honey is not such an emergency. That one bottle of honey is gathering dust, would be my guess.

Anyway, Tim says Nicole is a lot of fun and that he’s attracted to her. They work well together, he says. The fact that they are wearing matching black suits can’t hurt. They go to several places, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere. No doubt because the gas stations they went to just dusted off the bottle of honey they’ve had since 1985 and figured they didn’t need anymore. Tim tells the rest of the team to sell their hearts out, because they’re not having much luck.

Stefani sends Aaron out with a tray of food, saying he has the face for selling. He says that he hates sales, then explains that he does it every day. Stefani is frustrated, saying that he didn’t seem to be doing much, just overseeing everything. Well, he is the Project Manager. He should be overseeing everything.

Sean comes by to check things out. James tells him that Aaron has a “laid back” management style. Sean doesn’t seem impressed, and we see a shot of Aaron staring aimlessly in front of a sample tray.