The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Week 12 Extras – “Deep, Deep Doo-Doo”

Hello, all you people with impeccable taste in reading! I’m assuming you missed me last week, and for that, I must apologize for my absence. (You did notice I was gone, right?) Whatever the case, it seems there was a technical mishap and my article never made it through. Unfortunately, I saved my article on my classroom computer, and since I’m on spring break this week, I won’t be able to retrieve it for you. Now, now- dry your eyes. There’s always this week’s recap to enjoy, and with no further ado: here it is!

This week we begin, as ever, with a voiceover from Der Trumpster, whose infamous coif is safe and sound, thanks to his wrestler’s victory over that of WWE chief Vince McMahon in the much-hyped “Battle of the Billionaires.” For those of you out of the loop, Trump and McMahon each chose a wrestler to represent him in a match. The losing mogul would have to get his head shaved by the winner. Unfortunately, Trump’s hair “don’t” is staying. I suspect he might have brought along some items from his shiny object collection to distract McMahon’s contender, Trump watches, anyone? But as usual, I digress.

Trump begins the webisode by reminding us that this week, he revamped the teams. He finally did away with the tents and invited the remaining three members of Arrow to move into the mansion. No one is more excited about this than Stefani, who tells us in an interview that if she ever wanted to go camping, she’s gotten it out of her system. Her idea of camping now is to stay in a hotel (a Trump one, no doubt).

As she, Frank, and James prepare to leave camp for the last time, they reminisce over their experience. Frank tells us he has a lot of memories of both good times and bad, and admits that at the end of the day, (a cliché I loathe) the camp’s not that bad- it has character! James tells the other two that the saddest part is that Arrow is no more, since Trump will be splitting them up. He says that whatever happens from here, it’s been a pleasure, he appreciates everything they’ve done, and that they are awesome!

The teammates form a small huddle, with their hands in the center. Frank says for every member of the team who’s been fired, this is for them, and with that, they give a final “1, 2, 3, Arrow!!” cheer. As they head to the mansion, they promise to be friends forever. I’d really like to know how many of these contestants do stay in touch. Is it a “Will you be my bridesmaid?” kind of friendship most of them develop, or is it more of a “Here’s a card; Happy Holidays” thing?

The Donald instructs the candidates to divide themselves into three dyads (my word, not his…..shocking, I know!) and reminds us of the task, which is to develop a promotional campaign for the Trump Condos in Las Vegas. While we know how the candidates divided themselves, Trump does not, and in a deleted scene, he gathers with them in the Boardroom to ask how this process occurred.

James tells him he wanted to work with Stefani and she with him, so that was an easy decision. Trump asks if they feel good about that, and James says yes, very good. Stefani nods in agreement. He asks Frank how he went about deciding to work with Heidi, and Frank says he wasn’t sure how Nicole’s emotions were (assumedly after Tim being fired) and once Nicole picked Kristine, he said he told Heidi, “We started this; let’s finish it.”

Trump interrupts to ask Nicole if it’s true she picked Kristine over “his superstar Heidi” and Nicole confirms this to be true. She explains that she and Kristine worked amazingly well together on the last task, and Kristine adds that she’s happy to work with Nicole. Gosh, I just love a good love-fest. Trump declares that he thinks there are three really great teams.

He reminds them that there are no more PMs (oops, Stefani—you’ll never get your chance to lead; hope this doesn’t come back to haunt you.). He says they’re on their own and must lead each other and follow each other, and with that- he sends them off!

After all the candidates are flown to Vegas via Trump’s jet, we see James and Stefani making a number of wise strategic moves, such as meeting first with Trump’s business partner, and then with his Las Vegas sales team. Throughout both of these meetings, James and Stefani gather an abundance of information through careful listening and by asking intelligent, relevant questions. Unfortunately, such thorough research makes them late for their final appointment, in which they were to go up to the building site.

Upon meeting the contractor, they are told there isn’t enough time to go up because they were late. He seems more than a little annoyed, throwing in a comment about how the other teams were on time. (Yes, Mr. Contractor, but the other two teams stank, so it’s all good.) Stefani asks if there’s anything they can tour on their own, but she is told no.

James interviews that missing out on the construction site could cost his team later, but he feels that if their presentation is a “wow”, then they’ll be okay. Having been blessed with the gift of foresight, I think they’re okay.

We shift away from James and Stefani (“Jeffani”) and on to Frank and Heidi (“Fraidi”). Like Jeffani, Fraidi hired videographers to take footage of the buildings. In one replayed scene, we see Frank instructing the videographers to ignore Jeffani, referring to them as “the bad guys”. In this scene, Frank says he isn’t worried that his competitors have decided to hire professionals as well. He feels confident that he and Heidi will prevail.