The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 10 Performance Reviews

Last week I mistakenly opened my article saying that the teams are running out of deadwood to pick on. Tim and Nicole showed me how wrong I was, as this week they lost both their focus and their minds. Let’s look at the “Performance Reviews” for more on all the remaining applicants.

The Task:
This week’s task was another “Marketing 101” task: outsell the other team. Using new Ad Walker ticket-selling technology, the product being sold was Universal Studios Theme Park passes, with the winner being the team making the greater sales. This task had a twist from its many similar predecessors in that both sides were working the same turf.

But really, this episode was always all about the Showmance. The topic even dominated the webisode. I yearn for the good old days when the show was about a lengthy job interview and they performed real estate-oriented tasks.

Arrow Corp.:
Team Arrow did very well. They were as aggressive in their sales efforts as Trump himself would have been. Sales is a dog-eat-dog world, and this week Team Arrow did the majority of the eating.

Frank:
This was Frank’s second strong performance in the post-Surya era. Right from the start, Frank had a solid view of the project. He was the first person on Arrow we saw verbalize the complication of both teams selling on the same turf.

The webisode told us Frank was in charge of the budget and per Nicole, tends to be very free-spending. The clip continues and shows him being over-budget at one point in the planning. I think they cut out some extra labor to correct the situation.

Quoting Trump, Frank said, “If you care about the other team, you’re going down,” and, “Crush your enemies.” That’s the kind of focus Trump is looking for, and the kind of focus that won Arrow this task. Although I’m a little amused that Frank didn’t know if the chopper was airborne or not while it still stood on the helipad, he still gets a GOOD rating this week.

James:
James started out this episode with a horrible task – having to select a teammate to go over to the boring loser team. There was no obvious choice, so James was forced to choose among his new friends. In the end, he did well identifying Nicole as the one to change teams. That was the best move for Team Arrow, and for James. Breaking up that Tim-Nicole dyad was important, and yes Nicole, you are the weaker link. Trump put pressure on James, and showing proper leadership and initiative, he stepped up. I don’t think James has received enough credit for getting it right.

James did well in the Boardroom when the results were announced by pointedly crediting his team for their efforts. Trump likes loyalty.

In the Kinetic Boardroom, James did well again. He defended his decisions without making the Boardroom about Arrow. He also called Angela on her poor attempts to rationalize a one-sided shellacking and turned the focus back on her. James’ rating is GOOD as well.

Stefani:
In a kitchen gathering before the Boardroom, it was good that Stefani was vocal in telling James that they have to be here to play the game. In reality, she was also addressing Tim.

But the biggest plus for Stefani this week was when James identified her as one of the two people he could not do without on his team. She may be working behind the scenes a lot, but this confirms she’s making real contributions toward Arrow’s results.

Stefani gets a SATISFACTORY rating. I can’t go higher because we just don’t have visual evidence to support it this week.

Tim:
Tim was also placed in a tough spot when James had to send someone to Kinetic, but he handled it correctly. It would not have helped the team to cause a fuss, nor would it have changed the result. Perhaps one day Nicole will see this.

Tim helped plan the task well, suggesting the kiosk that would legitimize their presence and imply they weren’t just a one-day operation. And in the first Boardroom, it was alert of him to point out to Trump that the stars of the show really are in Arrow Corp.

But in this episode, Tim’s positives were dominated by his unprofessionalism over the Showmance and further, for spilling information pre-Boardroom to Nicole. In real time, they’ve known each other for half a month at this point, he has even told us viewers he knows he’s making a foolish mistake… yet he continues down that same path! I’m going all the way down, to an UNACCEPTABLE rating for Tim, who I fear has forgotten exactly why he’s in Los Angeles. It’s too bad; Tim consistently generates clever ideas and avoids pitfalls, and he ought to be a frontrunner for the title.

Team Kinetic:
For a team of four young women on roller skates to lose a sales task to a team that’s predominantly male is a pretty sad tale.

Again in the Boardroom Trump gave undeserved kudos to Kinetic, saying, “I hope you win.” I think after this episode and with Tim’s prompting, he finally figures out what this season is all about.

Heidi:
Heidi made one clever gameplay move this week. When Nicole was expressing her displeasure with Tim at the hedge, Kristine was present but Heidi was primary in goading them on. Although they gave their teammate the guise of being supportive, to the original members of Kinetic Nicole is expendable anyway, so it’s all right if she’s distracted, and anything that puts Tim off his game also benefits them.

Heidi wasn’t a major player this week, so I’ll assign her a SATISFACTORY rating.

Kristine:
In the war room, Kristine took on the role of the timelines this week, though if there were ten tasks on her list I’d be surprised.

Kristine had one quote this week where she compared Arrow Corp to used car salesmen. To me this highlighted the lack of killer instinct in Kristine in particular and Kinetic in general.

While selling, Kristine got tired of Arrow undercutting them and frustratingly offered to buy a potential client a bottle of water herself. Maybe she could have heeded her own hint and recognized they had to sweeten their offers a little? Surely the rental of skates didn’t kill the whole budget. Seeing problems and not reacting to them is a constant theme this season.

It may be a tad generous, but Kristine’s rating is also SATISFACTORY.

Nicole:
Nicole also started off well. In the war room she correctly identified for her teammates what Arrow’s strategy would be. Then she came up with the well-received roller skates idea that gave them superior mobility. Reviewing the tape, everyone seemed to love the idea and apparently, no one ever came up with anything better.

Nicole thought the team should use their sex appeal on this task. I ask myself, what’s sexier than women in conservative shorts and tee-shirts with sales devices strapped into their form-fitting (I joke) flak jackets? Well, there are actually a whole lot of answers to that one!

In one deleted pre-Boardroom scene on Yahoo, Nicole told Kristine she respected Angela and wasn’t intending to attack her in the Boardroom. Good plan, but the gloves correctly came off after Angela took the first shot.

In a Boardroom clip, Nicole revealed that every member of Kinetic said she “brought a lot of energy and good ideas to this team.” That was a very nice piece of ammo to be able to report to The Donald.

Alas, the good times were interspersed with too many childish moments. Between her silly expectations for Tim to try and save her on Arrow, to the repeated nonsense at the hedges over the next 24 hours, and then her talking to Trump after Angela was fired… ridiculous. Sour grapes never leave a good taste in anyone’s mouth.

Nicole took a business decision in an emotional manner and was not in control of herself for most of the episode. I actually can keep writing about this Junior High nonsense, but I do know it’s not proper business behavior so I’m going right to an UNACCEPTABLE rating for Nicole as well. We’re moving on.

Angela:
Angela stepped up to be PM. She doesn’t get a load of credit for it though, as all the others have had a turn already. Angela started off well, knowing that in a common selling area, they needed to distinguish themselves from Arrow.

In the Boardroom, Angela got off to a bad start trying to blame Nicole’s roller skate idea for the loss. That’s pretty hypocritical, because when she first heard the idea, Angela was absolutely gleeful. Of itself, it was a fine idea and Angela just didn’t recognize that it was one component of a winning plan and not the whole solution.