The Apprentice 3, Episode 14: Teed Off

Magna hangs out in the suite, wondering what is happening to Alex and Bren. As Craig shines his shoes, Tana says she doesn’t think the boardroom will be too vicious. Kendra thinks it’ll be interesting having the two attorneys go head to head. In an interview, she says that she hopes Alex is the one fired because he’s tougher competition for her than Bren. Well, she’s out of luck – Alex is back. Tana gives him a hug, and Kendra says she told him to pack light!

Alex says he’s feeling pretty down. He’s now lost four times in a row. But in an interview, he says that because he now has nothing to lose, he’s dangerous. Strike him down, and he’ll become more powerful than you could ever imagine. He confides to us in an interview that he’s going to let his opponents think he’s weak, philosophy straight out of The Art of War.

Kendra and Tana hang out in the bathroom and talk, as we women do. Kendra figures that there will be a corporate restructure. Tana does too, and wonders aloud what would happen if Alex put her on his team, leaving Kendra and her nemesis Craig together. “Is Alex mean enough to do that,” Tana asks. Kendra says that it would be a smart move on his part strategically. She looks worried.

Craig answers the Trump phone, and the candidates go to meet in the lobby. Poor Alex is standing all alone! Trump, George, and Carolyn arrive. Trump congratulates them on making it so far, and says “there are no losers,” but that the reality is, three of them will lose. He lets Alex choose a new team member, and, being no fool, Alex chooses Tana. Kendra looks visibly unhappy.

This week’s challenge involves Hanes T-shirts. The teams will design shirts celebrating “50 years of T-shirt culture,” using the art of top pop artists. Magna will work with Romero and Net Worth will team with Burton. They’ll produce their shirts and sell them at Scoop. The team with the most money wins. Fantastic- I like challenges that are objective, not some “create the most buzz” nonsense.

Alex says that as soon as he heard that this was a clothing related task, he knew Tana should be project manager, since she owns a clothing business. He also noticed that Kendra looked “crestfallen” when she realized she was stuck with Craig, a fact that makes him laugh.

Alex and Tana design a logo for their shirts. They’re calling themselves Rock Star Couture, which is fun. Burton arrives and shows off his portfolio. Tana and Alex tell him about some ideas they had, which he sketches out in more detail. He draws a star with an American flag motif with wings… it’s kind of hard to describe, but it’s cool.

Kendra and Craig share a cab with their artist, Romero. The tension between Kendra and Craig is palpable. Kendra says in an interview that she needed to be project manager in this task so she’d have some control over what happened. If she let Craig be in charge, he wouldn’t listen to her and “we’d lose.” Smart thinking, Kendra, and since Craig was project manager last week, he really can’t argue with you. They arrive at Hanes, and Kendra has Romero’s assistant email 3,000 collectors of his work to tell them about the sale. Brilliant idea. This guy has a fan base, so why not use it? Romero shows them two concepts – a heart and a star. You’ll never believe this, but Kendra and Craig disagree! Kendra likes the heart, Craig likes the star, and Kendra’s in charge, so the heart it is. Craig is annoyed and says in an interview that Kendra only asks his opinion so that she can choose the opposite. On the upside, he adds, this project is pretty much Kendra’s vision, so if they lose, it’ll be her fault.

And now it’s time for the Trump Lesson of the Week: “Keep your eyes on the prize.” Trump tells us to stay focused on your goal – don’t let yourself be sidetracked. As for the Betsy Lesson of the Week, I had a great idea for a Betsy Lesson this morning and I totally forgot what it was going to be. Of that, this week’s Betsy Lesson is born: use a notebook, calendar, or similar to jot down all of your ideas, plans, and reminders, or you will forget them just as I forgot the original Betsy Lesson.

Tana and Alex check out the art for their t-shirt, and they love it. They kick around the idea of adding some studs to it, and Tana says excitedly, “The Beadazzler is coming back!” She tells Alex that she once made $10,000 using a $10 Beadazzler. I believe it. She starts making phone calls looking for a Beadazzler and is striking out all over town. Probably Maria from Season 2 bought them all up to put studs on her suits. Finally, she finds a place in Staten Island that has the beads but not the machine. The two of them hop in a cab. Alex says, “Dude, that’s hell far.”

Still, why not make use of the time spent in the cab? Alex says that they need to think about marketing. Tana suggests that they hire someone to work the streets. Alex sniffs that that idea is “a bit pedestrian.” It is, but I don’t see Alex coming up with any other ideas. Tana takes a quick phone call, then tells Alex that she will be ready to talk about marketing on the way home. Apparently she needs this time to focus on buying the beads? I don’t know… after the Trump Lesson, I’m a bit worried about Tana. They finally arrive at the store and Tana buys her beads. Under his breath, Alex says that they went to a lot of trouble for such a little thing. In an interview, he says he has been keeping a list of Tana’s “decisions,” decisions that will look like mistakes if they have to go to the boardroom. This trip will especially look like a waste of time.