The Apprentice, Episode 2: Steak vs. Sizzle

The next morning, it’s time for the presentations. The women dress up like flight attendants, saying that they’re not just selling the campaign, they’re also selling themselves, so they want to present a complete package. Their outfits are a little cheesy, but it’s a good idea, and very eye-catching. At the agency, Donny introduces them to Linda and Peter, who will be helping him make his decision.

Omarosa begins the presentation. Their campaign will include the TV spot, magazine ads, newspaper, and direct mail. Donny immediately questions the use of direct mail, saying that people tend to throw it away. Omarosa says they won’t throw this away, because it is truly eye-catching. Donny says it better be. Omarosa looks him in the eye and says, “It’s damn good.” Donny loves her confidence. Omarosa continues with her presentation and Donny immediately recognizes the innuendo in the ads. With taglines like “Do You Measure Up?” it’s hard to miss. I was impressed with Omarosa in this segment. She gave a strong and confident presentation, and you never would have guessed that she didn’t agree with the strategy. She really came across as a team player. She turns the presentation over to Heidi.

Heidi leans against the table, showing off her cleavage, which Donny points out. She says that their campaign has both sex appeal and shock value, and will be a bold direction for the client. Donny laughs, but says, “You set the women’s movement back!”

The men are much less unified over in Versacorp land. They bicker over how to set up the presentation, but finally come to a decision. Nick gives Kwame a crash course in public speaking.

The men’s campaign is much more traditional. The TV spot features a town car driving up to the plane, with a voiceover from a woman saying how when her husband travels for business, she prefers that he fly with his Marquis Jet Card. The tagline for the campaign is “Redefining First Class.” The presentation is strong and even includes projected media costs of the campaign, a great detail. In the end, the men pass out luxury cigars (no doubt courtesy of cigar maven Bill) as an example of the kind of service one can expect from Marquis Jet.

Donny, Linda, and Peter compare notes. Linda thinks the women’s presentation was much sharper – the men were generic by comparison. Peter disagrees. He thinks the women had the sizzle, but the men had the steak. Donny says he’s torn, but has made his decision.

The candidates gather into the room and Donny gets Trump on the phone. He says that both presentations were good, but that the men lacked a big idea. He suggests that if they had talked to the client, they might have known that they could be bolder than they were. When you hire an ad agency, you hire the people, and in his case, the women were the better choice. They win. Trump tells the women that they’ll be flying to Boston for dinner. As for the men, “There won’t be any dinner. There won’t be a private jet. One of you is going to get fired.”

The women are thrilled. They climb into a stretch Hummer and toast their win. Amy says that they triumphed over distress and disorganization. Kristi toasts the fact that the men tried hard and still lost.

The mood is very different back at the penthouse. Sam asks Jason who Jason thinks “Mr. Trump” will fire. Nick says, “Sam, can you just shut up a minute?” Nick tells him in no uncertain terms that he does not intend to tell anyone who he thinks is going home or which two men he plans to choose to face Trump with him. I don’t blame him; Nick does not owe him an explanation.

The women head for the restaurant and Kristi says that she intends to embrace the good life so she’ll continue to aspire to it. As the women have a wonderful gourmet meal, the men cook dinner at home, dumping a bag of salad into a bowl and burning hamburgers. Bowie jokes that they’ll burn down the house while the women are away.

After dinner, the women head back home. Omarosa says that she hasn’t gotten much sleep and has a splitting headache. She begs everyone to please be quiet. They ignore her, and I can understand why. They’re all having a great time, and now they’re supposed to stop because one person has had enough? Sorry, Omarosa – suck it up.

Omarosa falls asleep in the limo. The women get out of the car, and Ereka notices that Omarosa is still sleeping. She says that she tapped Omarosa on the shoulder to wake her up, and Omarosa completely flipped out. She tells Ereka not to ever, ever get in her face again. Ereka says that all she was trying to do was wake her up, and that she is done trying to get along with her. Ereka yells, “Being a bitch is going to be your problem, and you’re going to have to live with it for the rest of your life.”

The fight continues on the plane ride home. Omarosa tells Ereka that she’s being a baby. Ereka scoffs, “That is like the pot calling the kettle black.” Omarosa spits back, “There you go, with your racist terms!” Ereka is shocked that Omarosa thinks that remark was racist, and I was too. As I’ve been writing this recap, intrepid editor David Bloomberg did some research on the phrase and confirmed in three places, one of which was the Merriam-Webster website, that it has no racist origins. Omarosa goes on to accuse Ereka – and the rest of the group – of being intimidated by strong African-American women. In an interview, Ereka says that the group would be much stronger without Omarosa.

Meanwhile, Sam is still fishing for information from Jason. He begs, “Give me something I can really use.” Jason refuses. Sam says that he’s afraid that Trump will fire him on a whim. I can assure you, when (not if) Trump gives Sam the boot, it will not be on a whim. Troy says that Sam is so geared up he’s liable to have a heart attack.