The Apprentice 2, Episode 13 Extras: The Quality of Ivana is Quite Strained

Darn, Betsy used all the good Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory jokes in her episode recap. I guess I’ll avoid a gimmick this week, considering what happened to Ivana when she employed one.

We start out with Kelly answering the phone in his boxers. If it were Kevin answering the phone in his boxers, I’d make a comment. But it’s not, so I’m just going to move on. The final five arrive for their assignment and Trump says that he wants to take a moment to congratulate Sandy. He was going to fire her last week, but her “spunk” won him over. Unlike Lou Grant, Trump does not hate spunk. The teams get their assignment and are told about six times that good quality will be key.

Kelly is reminded that he’s automatically in the final four. Trump asks Jennifer and Sandy who their project manager will be; Jennifer replies that they were waiting until they heard the task. Ivana says she’ll do it for Apex and Trump warns Apex to be careful about Mosaic. Sandy volunteers to be the project manager for Mosaic. I have to hand it to Jennifer and Sandy – they worked together extremely well this week. I was waiting for them to have a huge catfight over which one of them was going to be the project manager. Trump says that, after this week, there will be no more exemptions.

Mosaic is at their factory, figuring out who is going to do which tasks. Sandy calls Jennifer a mannequin and I giggle again. Not too far along in the process, Sandy tells Jennifer to stop making chocolate because there’s some sort of problem. Apparently the M&Ms are the wrong temperature and the chocolate is screwed up. Past the halfway point, Carolyn talks to another employee and learns that Sandy and Jennifer have only made ten bars. Sandy says that they’re working too slowly.

We see Sandy slip and watch the two trays of bars fall into the bin under Carolyn’s watchful eye. Carolyn: “Genius!” Maybe I like Carolyn so much because she talks like me.

Sandy and Jennifer get a rhythm going, where Jennifer takes the bars to the freezer and Sandy oversees the production. Okay, once again – these two hated each other last week. They were almost ripping each other’s hair out. And this week they’re working together without fighting. They’re not even glaring at each other. I can’t believe it. The inspection team arrives and okays the majority of the bars.

Apex gets ready for the task, suiting up in safety gear. They’re told the number they should call if there’s a medical emergency. Strangely, the number isn’t 911. Apex gets a tour of the production plant. Kevin doesn’t see Willy Wonka or Oompa Loompas. I’m kind of sad for him. To her credit, Ivana double-checks to make sure that she understands the steps of the process. We see Apex producing their bars. Kevin starts taking charge and Ivana doesn’t do anything to take the reins back. At one point, she tells Kelly that she and he are on the same page but Kevin isn’t. Good to see you’re trying to do something about that.

Also to her credit, Ivana calls in a quality control inspector before the inspection team is to arrive. This was a good idea on her part, as Apex is having a glossing problem and their bars wouldn’t pass inspection. They decide that they haven’t completely cooled and are able to fix their problem before the final inspection.

In the morning, Mosaic gets ready for the selling portion of the task. Jennifer and Sandy make sure they look the same. Sandy talks about heading into the final four and says that they have to “bring it or go home.” I like Sandy, so I’ll refrain from the “it’s already been broughten” response that her comment normally would have evoked. In the van, Jennifer says that they should be “willing to do just about anything. Within reason.” I’m glad she draws the line there, because a certain someone else didn’t.

Sandy and Jennifer spot some male construction workers on the street and tell their van driver to pull over. They sell some bars for five bucks each, which is just insane, despite the fact that people are going for it. One guy buys one and says that he’s not even allowed to have chocolate. He does make Jennifer and Sandy take off their sunglasses. Sandy interviews that they weren’t sure about selling the bars for five bucks each, but after they sold to the construction workers, they knew they could do it for the rest of the day.

After their win, Jennifer and Sandy fly to Chicago and meet with Bill. He congratulates them on making it to the final four. Jennifer notes that Bill is doing well in Chicago and jokes that Trump sent them there to check on him. Bill says that they had a big win and Jennifer and Sandy tell him that it wasn’t even close. Bill shows them a model of a building. Sandy asks if he’ll get to live there and she and Jennifer joke that he should get his application in. The three of them seem very comfortable with each other, but they’re still keeping it professional. They’re kind of nice to watch together.

Bill, Jennifer, and Sandy head into a model home (which makes me think of Arrested Development) and talk about strategy. Bill says that from this point on, the competition is about “heart, passion, and desire.” Jennifer and Sandy ask some questions and get some advice. Bill says that this experience is life-changing; they’ll learn things that they’ll be able to use for the rest of their lives. Sandy interviews that she and Jennifer now have information that the members of Apex don’t. Bill tells Jennifer and Sandy to focus on their successes rather than others’ failures. In other words, be more like Kwame and Troy than Omarosa and Heidi. Bill tells them to enjoy the ride. Jennifer is happy with the reward and calls it a “good surprise.”

Back at the suite, Kevin tells Ivana that he and Kelly wanted her to win. They promise not to pick fights with each other in the boardroom and tell each other how much they like each other. This can’t last. Kevin doesn’t know what will happen.

On the balcony, Jennifer and Sandy want to know who Kelly thinks should be fired. Kelly says that he’ll tell them afterward what he said in the boardroom. He says that Kevin and Ivana both have strengths. Sandy says he’s skating around the issue and she wants an answer. Nice Trump imitation. Kelly confirms that he’s prepared for the boardroom. He’s comfortable going up against Jennifer and Sandy, but he doesn’t think that Ivana and Kevin deserve to go. He promises to be honest with Trump about his feelings. Apex departs for the boardroom.

In the boardroom, Trump asks Apex how they were beaten by, again, two women who used to hate each other. He asks about their pricing strategy. Kelly replies that they just underestimated Mosaic. George calls this a flaw. Kelly accuses Ivana of being unable to control Kevin while they were selling the candy bars. This leads to the whole price discussion. Kevin is ultimately blamed for the lower price, and there’s not much he can do to get that blame lifted.

Carolyn says that Kevin should have consulted with Ivana on the price. He says that he did and that she gave him permission. Ivana doesn’t protest, so I’m guessing that this actually happened and we just didn’t see it. If she hadn’t given him permission, she probably would have spoken up. Trump asks Kelly who’s more creative. Kelly says that Ivana is. Trump asks who is smarter; Kelly says that Ivana is. George asks Kelly who should be fired. On a roll, Kelly says that Ivana should.

Trump and Carolyn are both confused about Kelly’s decision that the smarter, more creative Ivana should get the boot. Kelly says that Kevin is a better leader. He has respect for both Kevin and Ivana, and thinks that the three of them are the strongest three in the game. Trump points out that Jennifer and Sandy did better on the task.

We get the whole discussion about Ivana’s flashing incident. Ivana gets defensive and Carolyn tells her to stop addressing people with “look.” Trump asks Ivana if she’s happy with her decision. Ivana admits that it wasn’t a great decision, but it did work. Carolyn tells her that she wasn’t selling candy. Trump confirms that Ivana has a fiancé and asks if stripping in public was worth it. Ivana says that they needed to make more money. Desperate times, yada yada yada.

Trump asks Kevin if he was surprised by Ivana’s gimmick. Kevin says that he was. Trump asks if he was happy about Ivana’s decision. Kevin says that he had mixed emotions. Trump points out that Kevin could have done the same thing as Ivana and made some more money. Heck, yeah, he could’ve! Kevin admits that he wasn’t “vehemently opposed” to Ivana’s choice (and bonus points for using the word “vehemently”) but he also wasn’t supportive. Afterward, he did bring up the possible “long-term implications.” Carolyn says that she blames all three members of Apex for what happened. Trump sends them all out of the boardroom.

George thinks that Kelly, Ivana, and Kevin all did kind of a bad job, but Ivana at least took a risk while the others did nothing. Carolyn disagrees 100% with what Ivana did, reminding Trump that he’s looking for someone to run one of his companies.

The members of Apex traipse back in. Trump asks Ivana if he should fire Kevin or Kelly. Ivana chooses Kelly. Trump asks Kevin who he should fire; Kevin says it’s close, but he should fire Ivana. Trump asks him why he’s better than Ivana. Kevin thinks that he’s a better leader. Trump asks Ivana if he is and Ivana says no. She also thinks she’s better than Kelly, even though she lost. Though she has losses as a leader, she’s done a good job as a team member. She may have a bad track record, but that makes her “hungrier” to prove herself. Kevin speaks up that he’s already proven himself. Point for Kevin.

Everyone goes through his or her track record. Ivana wants Trump to evaluate her performance on the most recent task. Trump points out that her track record is important. George says that everyone is playing the “coulda shoulda woulda” game, but it all comes down to the fact that Jennifer and Sandy whipped them. Carolyn asks if anyone is going to defend him- or herself.

Ivana reiterates that she thinks Apex contains three strong players. Trump asks if she agrees that Kevin is a good guy. Ivana pauses. You just said he was a strong player! If you pause that long, there’s no point in giving an answer. It’s pretty obvious what you think. She thinks it’s a tough question. What she really means is, “If I say ‘yes,’ Trump will want to know if he’s better than me. If I say ‘no,’ I’ll be contradicting myself. I’ll just keep quiet for once.” Ivana thinks that Kelly is stronger than Kevin, but Trump says that Kelly’s strength isn’t important at this point. Ivana thinks that she’s the strongest candidate and that Trump should take a chance on her. He tells her that he’s not hiring a stripper (hee) and that she made bad decision. Ivana is fired. Darn, I wanted to see her Jan Brady “Jenn, Jenn, Jenn!” moment again.

Wait, I take that back. I shouldn’t ask for any more Ivana footage than is already there. Because you guys? Ivana’s confessional is four minutes long. Four minutes. Maria and Wes’ combined confessionals weren’t even two minutes long. She won’t stop talking. Ivana talks about the fight between herself and Kevin, claiming that she carried him through the Levi’s task. Um, okay. She thinks that she’s creative and should have been more vocal about her strong points. She thinks on her feet and knows that Trump values that; she claims that Kevin and Kelly have a heard time with spontaneous thinking.

Ivana continues that the above, with a track record, is more important than good degrees. Yes, but your track record wasn’t exactly wonderful. She says that she should have mentioned in the boardroom that Kevin bullies people into getting his way. First of all, if you’re so good at thinking on your feet, why do you keep saying, “I should have said this.” Second of all, we’ve never seen Kevin bully anyone. Ivana says that when Elizabeth was the project manager, Kevin intimidated her. I wouldn’t call that intimidation; I would call it giving her a push to make a decision. Ivana calls this bad form because Trump doesn’t like it when people are intimidating.

Ivana’s still talking. She says that if she had to do everything over again, she would disregard the competition and “shoot for the moon.” She had an amazing experience and appreciates the opportunity. She thinks that Carolyn was the hardest on her about the stripping incident (good observation there, Ivana). She argues that she was wearing more clothing than Sandy and Jennifer. No, you weren’t. Ivana agrees that she was bundling a gimmick with the product and wound up selling the gimmick. However, everyone does something to get attention. It wasn’t her proudest moment. No kidding. Ivana has no regrets and thinks that Trump made a mistake in firing her. She’s stronger than Kevin and Kelly. Overall, she’s glad that she had this experience.

Next week, we’re in the final four, and two people will go home. Also, Ivana might still be talking.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Apprentice 2 Episode 13 recap:

Jenn Brasler is an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She’s trying to decide whether to use her powers for good… or evil.

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