The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Weekly Performance Review, Episode 1

It was a very bad move when Martin announced, “I’m tired!” to Ivanka and some of his teammates during the carwash. Ivanka sharply called him on it in the Boardroom.

I must ask, why did Martin volunteer to be in sales? He had to know that in this group he would have inferior selling skills. Does anyone else think it was so he wouldn’t have to get wet and dirty?

Pre-Boardroom, Martin did well to put the focus on Frank in discussions. His ability to manipulate Frank was rewarded, as Frank reacted badly.

This brings us to the Boardroom. Initially, Martin was doing fine here by again putting the spotlight on Frank’s deficits and letting loud Frank hasten his own demise. But then it went bad. When Trump calls you “a pompous ass,” and Ivanka disagrees with everything you say and calls your arguments “rhetoric,” it’s definitely time to shift it up a notch or three. This Martin was unable to do.

Martin was the master of his own demise and his rating must be UNACCEPTABLE.

Michelle, Nicole, and Stefani: I’m going to address these three together, as they seemed to be in on the same activities. All three tried to attract carwash business at the side of a busy street initially, and had little or no success. They worked hard, but fairly ineffectively.

Nicole even said (back when she still had a voice) to Michelle, “We need, like, a sign.” However, unlike Carey, not a one of this trio actually took steps toward making a sign! Being aware of a problem yet implementing no solution earns the trio a NEEDS IMPROVEMENT rating from me.

I will give some props to Nicole for being the first to vocalize that Martin (only) ought to be the one going home. However, it’s not enough to change her rating.

Stefani made a comment that living in the tents was like living in a third-world country. How wrong is that? Since I don’t expect she was showing off her mastery of hyperbole, I’m going to modify her rating to NEEDS IMPROVEMENT AND A REALITY CHECK.

Tim: Tim had a very good week. In the carwash task, when Frank inexplicably ran off to Kinko’s, Tim stepped up and filled in as the functional PM. He also did well marketing at the carwash. Whatever Frank’s problem with Tim’s sales management was, it wasn’t evident to me.

For his work, Tim gets a GOOD rating. He may have come out better had he not let Frank air all their dirty linen within earshot of the others.

In Conclusion:

Did Trump make the right decision? I think Martin had no chance to become The Apprentice, but Frank’s poor leadership was the primary reason they lost and he ought to have been the one fired.

Next week, the show runs at 9 PM ET/PT for an hour on Sunday night. Here’s a wee spoiler about next week’s challenge and reward. To see the spoiler, drag your cursor between the brackets. Don't do that if you prefer to remain spoiler-free! [ They’ll be designing swimwear for the beach, and the reward involves time with Hugh Hefner! ]

That’s all for this week. It’s a new season, you must be full of opinions out there. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts at the address below.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Apprentice articles:

Brian lives in Toronto where he can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He spent a couple of decades working in middle management at The Prudential, primarily hiding behind the coffee machine to avoid his pointy-haired bosses. He’d like to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email!

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