The Apprentice 2 Weekly Performance Review, Episode 14: Education is Great, Unless You Have Too Much

Kelly: No, I still don't like you and don't think I would hire you. You interviewed well, but the problem with the interview process is that you can't get an idea of how someone works in the field. So the executives are impressed? Big deal. They don't see your bad attitude.

I DO like your confidence. I just wish you'd tone down the swagger when working with other people. And you're brutally honest, which is a good quality for an executive to have.

That said, you're doing a horrible job on the task so far. You're not motivating your employees, you seem to be more interested in your laptop than anything else, and you don't have a backup plan for rain. In fact, you're letting Elizabeth run the show. Kind of like when Sandy won you the bridal show task, huh?

Jennifer: No, I still don't like you either. And for the last time, to the people who keep telling me I'm a misogynist: I don't hate women. I hate THESE women on the show this year. As I've stated numerous times, I loved Heidi last year and would have been fine with either Twila or Scout winning Survivor: Vanuatu. But the women on The Apprentice 2 give businesswomen a bad name, and Jennifer is right out there leading the pack. Why? Short skirts, slides by on her charm, doesn't seem to understand simple concepts, and takes credit for the work of others. As for the other women, it seems they could be broken down into clichés. Maria the scary control freak. Pamela who acts like she wants to be a man. Stacie the psycho. Jen C. the catty bitch. Ivana the jealous. And so on.

But while Kelly has at least shown business acumen (even if he is a jerk) I still am not convinced Jennifer deserves to even be on the show in the first place, let alone be in the final two. People email me and try to convince me otherwise, but I'm just not buying it. You've graduated law school, which IS impressive. I lived with someone while they went to law school, and I know secondhand how hard the work is. It takes dedication. But I also know a lot of stupid lawyers.

You're also lucky - how stupid was it to bring up your education minutes after Kevin was fired for having too much education? Yeah, different animal, but Trump has hardly been rational in some of his firings. Why would he keep you for arguing better? Is that actually something he puts in classified ads? "Must have excellent people skills, show initiative, and argue well." How many people work for Trump? Do you know? Why should I care? Sam probably could have rattled off Trump's high school Senior English term paper, but he didn't last too long, did he?

As for the task, you seem to be doing a decent job. You're having your share of problems, but at least you're delegating - perhaps OVER delegating, but still - and willing to take charge and get nasty with the NBA star if you have to. I'll be interesting to see how the rest of the task goes, because so far your job is reminding me of Bill's from last year - absolute CHAOS right up until the end.

Sandy: Who would have guessed that your lack of experience would eventually get you fired? Oh, yeah, everyone. Why do they even put people without degrees on this show (and brag about the wide range of experiences) if they're going to fire you for it is beyond me. It's a tease - you (like Troy before you) never had a chance. If winning the apprenticeship is your goal, I would be extremely irritated about it.

I've said it before, I'd prefer to hire someone WITHOUT a lot of experience, so I could teach them to do things MY WAY. Experience isn't a bad thing, and seeing things from different perspectives is a plus, but we're talking about an apprentice here. Work experience, to me, is more important than an education. Just because you have a degree means nothing.

Kevin: And on the other end of the spectrum, you were fired for having too much education. Trump told you to stop going to school and start working. So what exactly does he think you were trying to DO on this show, win a scholarship? KEVIN WAS APPLYING FOR A JOB.

In this season, filled with ridiculous people doing ridiculous things, it seems the only good people on the show (Kevin and Andy, and presumably Bradford) were fired for ridiculous reasons. While last season was a grand experiment which introduced us to some tremendous, interesting people legitimately trying to win a dream job, this season was filled with silliness. It seemed there was more interest in showing off how many corporate sponsors Trump could get and how many cool friends he has than actually seeing who is the best business person.

In the end, this entire season seemed like an incredible waste of time. With a show with a premise as interesting as this, there's no excuse for having such a large majority of your contestants prove themselves to be totally unworthy of actually being on the show. Every show has their share of duds, but this is ridiculous.

Kevin and Sandy would have made a much better final two. I'm not impressed with either Jen or Kelly. Who will win? I can honestly say I don't really care.

Mike DeGeorge has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, and has almost ten years of management experience. He is also Associate Editor of RNO. Email Mike at mikmaria@charter.net.

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