The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 7 Performance Reviews

Team Kinetic:

Before this task was even assigned, Kinetic was in a defensive posture and Derek was ready to cut out more of the “riff-raff.” If Kinetic put the effort into the tasks that they did into blame avoidance, they could take over the game.

Kinetic had a pretty good score – 84 – so these Lexus customers must be a pretty generous lot! In fact, that mark doesn’t square up with the negative-only remarks Randal read out.

In the Boardroom, Jenn said their setup was luxurious, yet Randal called the presentation “sparse.” That’s a world of difference, and I really think Kinetic missed the whole picture. According to Randal, there was just one couch, two TVs, three signs, and a bar. There was no mention of food. Toss in a go-cart track and it’s woefully underwhelming.

Possibly excepting the sale of honey, we rarely see anything innovative or energetic from Kinetic. In her exit interviews Aimee said all the “idea people” were gone from Kinetic, and although I took it as sour grapes at the time, I’m beginning to believe her now.

Angela: Angela was lucky this week not to be fired. Primarily, she was put in charge of marketing, yet in a three-hour period could not generate a single idea. Unsatisfactory!

Then her indecisiveness regarding graphics design led to a critical deadline being missed, and substandard signage resulted. That’s bad time management. Even when the part-delivery of signs was made, she seemed confused by what had occurred. Did Derek sandbag her on this by refusing to offer his opinion? Yes, but Angela didn’t confront him. Unsatisfactory!

Even forewarned by Jenn, Angela stated her case poorly in the Boardroom. Her oral presentation skills and even her preparation need work. Unsatisfactory!

Morally right or wrong, as a game play move, once Derek was gone she ought to have dumped more responsibility for the problems on his absent shoulders. He deserved much of the blame anyway.

As the team left the Boardroom, Trump put her on warning, and although Frank has survived a similar fate so far, that’s never a good sign. Surely that signifies her “Olympic Brownie Points” are used up by now? I’m sure it will be no surprise when I give Angela an UNSATISFACTORY rating. Had it been up to me, she’d have ended this episode in a cab as well.

Heidi and Muna: I’m rating these two together this week because they were paired in all their tasks and performed similarly.

I was getting a little worried when the Lexus guy was showing them the vehicle. Heidi said they were both detail-oriented, and it seemed like they were making too much of this task. Taking the time to review the mysteries of the gearshift and identifying hi-tech materials such as… wood? However, they were later given credit for knowing their material well, so as long as meaningful time was not lost from other tasks, I’ll have to assume this was indeed time well spent.

Most importantly, both the Lexus execs and Randal gave them kudos for their performance on the task. Even though Trump hinted to Heidi in the Boardroom that her own “Brownie Points” were dwindling, both ladies receive a GOOD rating.

Kristine: The team had a lot of trouble generating ideas this week. The one I thought that may best have indicated the “magic” of the new Lexus was Kristine’s idea of hiring a magician. However, with that big budget and a large crowd to entertain, why not hire half a dozen of them? I’ve been to events where these guys are present and despite the lame trick we saw on camera, they usually command their share of attention.

Kristine was also the first to point out that go-carts detract from the luxurious image of Lexus that they wanted portrayed. Not making one’s opinion known has been a problem on this team, so I was happy to see this.

The web clips tell us that Kristine hired models and controlled the budget. Certainly we are not aware of shortcomings in either area. I’d have liked to see more of what she did, but Kristine’s rating is unquestionably GOOD for this episode.

Derek: Derek started out just like he’s been in the last couple of episodes – playing the game more actively than accomplishing the tasks. He was a ringleader in the group’s unsupportive sniping of departed boss Aimee, and after Jenn stepped up as PM, informed us he was going to send her home as well. His teamwork skills must be brought into question.

Derek gets minor credit for quickly admitting his idea of go-carts was a bad idea, but not putting that idea out there in the first place would have been a whole lot better.

I did like Derek’s suggestion of getting a tarot card reader, but it seemed to be ignored by the group. Do any of you remember Candida from Branson’s Quest a couple of years ago? She generated so many ideas that good ones got lost in the mire. For an upscale Lexus event, the go-cart suggestion is “mire.”

While working with Angela, he steadfastly refused to give an opinion. In my world, when a task leader asks me for an opinion, I can only say “I dunno” so many times. Further, he knew the 9 PM deadline was being missed but made no attempts to save the situation. In fact, he pointedly complained to Jenn later on to try and distance himself from the situation.

Derek saw his opportunity, that he could undermine Jenn by holding back in supporting Angela. However, that is not a behavior rewarded here. At this point I’d usually be set to rate Derek as UNACCEPTABLE and move on.

But then we got to the strangest, wackiest Boardroom I can remember. Derek made a weak self-deprecating joke about “white trash” and immediately took it back. The Donald responded by losing control of himself and firing Derek immediately. Ridiculous! Why, even the ever-loquacious Randal was afraid to say anything! Let’s just call it the dumbest firing to date.