The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 8 – Frustration!

As the ladies do some more driving, Trump is impressed that they all have good swings. He says the last group of people from the show who were taken to play golf were “a fricking disaster.” I can’t recall for sure, but wasn’t Raj in that group?

Angela tells us she likes seeing this side of Trump, as he’s wailing on golf balls – he’s a really good golfer. And she’s saying this out of his presence, so she’s not even kissing up.

Back at the mansion, Surya has his head stuck through the bushes to talk to his old team. He says dealing with Arrow is not like Kinetic, where he trusted them completely. Angela tells him to push the claim that his ideas and implementation have resulted in wins. He asks if Kristine knows that and sulks (even with a big frown) that he wishes he would have never left. Quite a turnaround from his earlier speechifying. Angela says it’s obvious that they won twice in a row because of him. No, what’s obvious is that she has no idea what’s been going on at Arrow. Surya says he’s glad she sees that, because his teammates definitely don’t.

Heidi and Muna join the discussion, as Surya says he’s going to bring Tim and James in, and then James will be fired because he’s always out to protect himself. Well, as long as he has it all planned out. Muna says he needs to get the group to realize they will be better off keeping him instead of James. Uh huh. Wow. Clueless. Of course, all this is going on while James is laughing and joking with the rest of the team and Surya has separated himself, as usual. Do we really think they will pick James over Surya? Please.

One thing Surya does have going for him is that, as he points out, nobody else on the team has ever been project manager and won. The question is whether he can get that point across to Trump. I don’t think he can.

Before Arrow arrives at the Boardroom, Steven from GNC explains to Trump that Arrow lost because their concept didn’t tie to the brand and it was too difficult to understand. Steven would fire the project manager because he should have led the team and the concept. Bill says Surya will certainly be targeted, but it was “Tim’s confusing concept and Surya also had to deal with James,” who made it tough for the group to focus.

The Arrow members come in and sit down. Trump joins them with Kristine on his right and Bill on his left. He immediately asks Frank to explain the concept of their show, “because people didn’t get it.” Frank says they wanted to bring across a positive message about GNC. Well duh, but that doesn’t really explain what the concept was.

Frank continues that the problem was their show was “boring.” Trump asks Surya if that is true, and Surya says they needed to get it just right to strike the right tone of inspiration and— Trump cuts him off to ask whose idea it was if everybody was against it (where he got that idea, I dunno). Surya says at first everybody was for it. Time came up with the idea and Tim says the concept was good but they didn’t execute it well.

Trump asks James if Surya is a good leader. Gosh, I wonder what he’ll say. He surprises me by complimenting him a bit, saying Surya was good in the first task, it broke down a bit in the second, and this one was equivalent to the Lexus task, where they won, but not because of Surya. Tim agrees that there were problems with Surya’s leadership in both of those tasks. The team is not inspired by his leadership because he is not connected to the rest of the team.

Nicole loves Surya as a person, but he hasn’t seen Surya lead – though she admits this is not the easiest group to lead. Kristine says Surya came into a difficult situation, as Surya stares across the table with a sad puppy-dog look on his face that should, frankly, get him fired immediately.

Surya says he has a five-and-two record, which is the best record there. He also has two wins as project manager. Trump points out that the others said they didn’t win because of him. But Surya continues, noting that before he came to them, the team was winless.

Trump asks Surya who the biggest problem on his team was. He hesitates not at all before naming James, who he says creates a climate of “cover your ass,” only thinking ahead to the Boardroom.

James is asked why they lost this task. He says it’s because Surya okayed the idea – Surya voices that everybody loved the idea (which, to be fair, did appear to be the case). Surya says it’s “disloyalty to the nth degree,” though James denies it.

Surya reiterates that he didn’t get a five-and-two record by accident or win two tasks by accident. When Trump asked somebody to step up, it wasn’t an accident that he volunteered to go to a team where, as he can see, things aren’t all roses.

Trump asks if he likes his original team better, and Surya says he got along with them a lot better. Talk about disloyalty to the nth degree… Trump asks if there was more talent on the other team, and Surya avoids answering the question by saying he trusted them. Trump again asks if they were better, and Surya says a team that clicks on all cylinders is always better.

When asked, Stefani says based on this task, she would fire Surya. And if asked who is the least competent overall, she sticks with her answer. Tim agrees. Nicole too. Trump asks if it could have been Tim’s fault for coming up with the idea. Nicole says somebody should not be reprimanded for a brainstorming session. Ha! Tell that to Derek. She doesn’t think it’s Tim’s fault even though it was his idea.

Frank says Tim stood behind his idea, and he’d have to fire Surya based on him not keeping the team in check. Surya tells Trump that he is only concerned about what he thinks, since he is his future employer, as far as Surya is concerned. Trump says that’s a hard statement to make right now, given all that’s going on.