The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 6 – Hasta Luego

Hi everybody – sorry I’m late. On Sunday night, my two-year old came down with an ear infection, or as he put it, “Ear hurts.” He was in a lot of pain, so my husband and I took him to urgent care, or as he put it, “Open mouth, say ahh. Get Elmo sticker.” He’s fine, but when it was all over and done with, I was home late and had completely forgotten that The Apprentice was even on. Luckily, my trusty Tivo took care of it. And since you have all be so lovely and patient, I’ll throw in a Betsy Lesson Of The Week. That is, urgent care centers cannot be counted on to have Elmo stickers. Best to bring some of your own. My little man scored an entire sheet of them, he was so brave. He declined to wear one himself, but his stuffed tiger/best friend wanted both Elmo and “Elmo goldfish” on his paw.

And now, on with the show. Aaron, Surya, and Nicole face the Boardroom. Meanwhile, Stefani says that Aaron was attacked unfairly. Furthermore, the next PM should be Surya. Stefani says, “If he’s such a great salesman, step up. Go ahead.” She is about to get her wish, because Trump fires Aaron, and Surya says he’s going to volunteer. He and Nicole return, and Nicole says she hates the Boardroom. The other team spies and figures out that Aaron is gone.

Surya rants and raves to the team, saying that Aaron lied about what happened during the task. He says they all have reputations to uphold in real life, so what Aaron said was wrong. In an interview, Tim says that Surya was really fired up, eyes bugging out of his head, hair bigger than usual. James tries to calm him down, but to no avail. Tim says that he didn’t know what to do about him. Surya says he wants to be in charge next. Stefani hugs him and says that sounds like a good idea. In an interview, Surya says he likes to be the underdog. He will prove himself “in a big way.” The dude is totally fired up, all big gestures and volunteering to “bleed for this team.” He says they will win.

The candidates meet Trump at the airport in front of his big giant plane. Aimee, Trump reminds us, will be PM again for Kinetic. This week’s task is to promote Priceline at a mall. The team that gets the most people to sign up for a sweepstakes will win. Trump promises an “unbelievable” reward.

Kinetic goes to the mall. Aimee puts Angela in charge of marketing and Muna in charge of timelines and helping Angela and helping Derek with creative. Aimee says in an interview that she learned from the last task and will do better. Muna feels like she’s being pulled in too many directions, since Aimee has assigned her to be in three places at once. Kristine, looking extra gorgeous this week, says people aren’t being utilized well. Muna’s got a ton of different assignments, but her own day is far from full. She says it looks like they’ll have to manage themselves.

The team arrives at the mall. Derek and Jenn get a tour of the mall to choose a location for the kiosk. They learn that the customers are about half Hispanic.

Arrow plans raffles every ten minutes. Tim says everyone loves the idea – there will be a new winner very frequently, so there should be a lot of excitement. Surya puts Frank in charge of external marketing – pulling more people in. Surya says each person will have a defined scope of responsibility, which they’ll present to the group. This is instead of their usual technique of having everybody think about everything. It’s a good plan, especially if Surya assigns people well. Frank suggests they have people in front of each store. Surya wants to know the strategy, not the execution, which frustrates Frank. Frank says in an interview that Surya does not have the “spark” that motivates people. He draws a doodle of Surya on a napkin and giggles like a fool. He passes it to Tim and the napkin makes its way around the conference room as the rest of the team cracks up about it. Surya is as oblivious to this behavior as my 8th grade history teacher, Mr Ybarra, always was.

Kinetic is at the mall setting up their kiosk. Aimee tells us that their plan is to raffle off $1,000 vouchers for Priceline every half hour. Jenn designed the kiosk, and the team looks very tropical in aloha shirts and straw hats. There’s a pink inflatable octopus on top of the kiosk, and Aimee doesn’t like it. She suggests that they take a team vote on removing it. Jenn really doesn’t care and tells her to just take it down. In an interview, Jenn comments on the ridiculousness of it all. The only thing Aimee seems to be willing to lead on, apparently, is a 12” plastic octopus. When Aimee tries to take authority, Jenn says, “she ends up looking bossy and dumb.”

Arrow arrives at the mall, and James and Nicole start telling everyone about the giveaway. The team goes all over the area passing out flyers at coffee shops, on cars, and so on. They also take the mall’s ad spaces to promote it. The team talks up the promotion and hustles hard to get people in while Surya wanders around aimlessly. In an interview, Frank says that he is a selling machine. Where is his PM, he doesn’t know. “All I know is that Frankie Suits is on fire.” Okay, Frank is kind of growing on me. Maybe Surya is scoping out the sales or finding out if this mall has an Orange Julius. Man, I could go for an Orange Julius right now. Anyway…

James and Tim are trying to find Surya to make sure someone is at the kiosk. They have no idea where he is or what he’s doing. What’s he doing? Surya is wandering around the mall, making half-hearted attempts to promote the giveaway. It would have been awesome if he were also eating a soft pretzel and holding an animal from Build-A-Bear, but suffice it to say, he’s phoning this in.