The Apprentice, Episode 4: The Bar is Lowered

Back at the suite, the women tell the men about the lecture they got. Kristi says it was embarrassing to be told they had crossed the line. Amy tries to lighten the mood, saying, “If being attractive is wrong, then we did something wrong.”

Speaking of doing something wrong, Bill and Troy debate the ethics of the Kwame Jackson autograph plan. Bill and Nick think that it was wrong for Kwame to misrepresent himself as someone famous, especially to kids. Kwame shrugs it off, saying, “I didn’t sell the kid crack.” Nick walks away in a huff, and Kwame compares his grandstanding and storming off to the dearly departed Sam. Nick is pretty sure Kwame will choose him to face Trump and has a defense prepared.

Here’s my take on the Kwame scandal. Technically, they did not lie to anyone. If anyone asked who Kwame was, the guys told them the truth. If people just assumed that Kwame Jackson was somebody famous, well, then caveat emptor, I guess. It’s a decent argument, but I don’t agree with it. Planet Hollywood is known for being a restaurant owned by celebrities. Sometimes the celebrity owners come to the restaurant for events, so if you saw someone there signing autographs, you would not be dumb to think he was someone famous. Misleading people to get their business is just wrong. What’s more, the men’s dishonest technique didn’t even work. They didn’t generate enough foot traffic to significantly increase sales, and they didn’t even sell much merchandise. It was a bad plan all around.

The men worry about who will go next. Bowie says, “Nick was not motivated.” Bill says that Bowie didn’t do a good enough job on the merchandise. Bowie blames Kwame for their failure, saying that someone should have been in charge of the bar.

It’s time to face Trump. Kwame says that he won’t offer any excuses or explanations, though of course he does just that. He says that because the men’s team is smaller, they didn’t have enough resources to go around and thus weren’t able to devote someone to working the bar. He says that their strategy was executed well, but that it wasn’t good enough. George says that being short-staffed should have just made them work harder; Nick, for example, didn’t work hard at all in the end.

Nick defends himself, saying that he worked very hard passing out coupons. Carolyn says that not many coupons were redeemed, so coupons were not effective. She says that they should have used their seed money to hire someone else to promote the restaurant, maybe with a sandwich board, rather than having management handle it.

Trump asks Bill who did the worst job. Bill says that because he was alone in the restaurant most of the night, he can’t really judge. Nick fingers Kwame, citing in particular his unethical behavior. Troy blames Nick because he had no smile or enthusiasm. Bowie agrees that Nick was not motivated or positive. Nick says that because of Kwame’s shenanigans, he was deflated. Kwame says that what he did was no different from the women using sex to sell. I guess I can agree with that, since both practices are embarrassing and repugnant.

It’s time for Kwame to choose the other two members of his team responsible for their failure. He picks Nick for checking out, and then Bowie, saying that even though he did “A” work, he still underperformed compared to the other two, who were “A+.”

Trump, Carolyn, and George deliberate. Nick mentally checked out of the game, but Kwame was a bad captain. On the other hand, Bowie failed at selling the merchandise. It’s a tough decision. They send in the three men. Trump gives each of them a chance to explain why they should stay. Kwame says that he did better than Nick. Nick thinks that the other guys are deliberately trying to get rid of him because he is the strongest. Bowie says that he was on the fence about the autograph thing.

Trump says that he thinks Kwame has real potential, that Bowie failed miserably at selling the merchandise, and that Nick just gave up. He says that he’d like to see Nick lead next week to see what he can do. Bowie is fired. Nick looks a tad smug. Trump says that he liked Bowie, but that he didn’t present himself well.

I was surprised at this outcome. Kwame was in charge, and he failed to make effective use of his team. Plus, he behaved unethically by implying he was someone famous. I thought he might be the one to go. But Nick gave up on the task, and I’m sure Trump does not appreciate quitters. I was sure one of them would go – I never thought it would be Bowie. A cynical side of me also notes that Kwame and Nick apparently hate each other, which makes for good television, but no one hates Bowie. But I think that the biggest reason Bowie went home is that one of the biggest lost opportunities for the men was in merchandise sales. Bowie was in charge of that, and the men didn’t do well. He seemed like a good guy, and I’m sure the other guys will miss him.

Next week: Because the men’s team is down to just four guys, it’s time for some “corporate reshuffling.” Two mixed gender teams will compete in the next task, someone will betray someone else, and the announcer promises that we will be shocked when we find out who is going home next. I guess that means Omarosa will stay for another week, because if she leaves it would shock no one.

Betsy is the Assistant Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com.

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