The Apprentice 3, Episode 6 Extras: She’s Just, She’s Just Tara from the Block

Once again, the candidates not in the final boardroom are up in the suite, waiting to see who will return. Alex says that Stephanie will hold a grudge if she stays; she has an “entitlement attitude.” Stephanie and Bren return sans Michael, and Stephanie assures her teammates that she’s not taking anything personally. Group hug!

Once the task has been assigned, the teams start working. John is probably very happy that part of the task includes playing a video game. In a scene that probably should have been left in, since most of the discussion later on is about this topic, Angie (I think) asks how many different city scenes are in the game. John replies that they should only worry about the one they’re looking at right now. Oh, and everyone on the team is sitting right there. So take that into consideration when everyone starts talking about who knew what and who decided what. In addition, Craig suggests that everyone on the team play the game so they know what it’s about. It’s impossible to know for sure, but from what we’re shown, they don’t listen. John says that his personal knowledge of the game is irrelevant on this task.

Net Worth starts talking about the game, which leads Tara to start talking about Harlem. The team meets with the Sony executives and Tara declares herself to be “the hip, urban demographic.” In an interview, Craig disagrees – “she is black, and she has a weave, but she’s not urban.” He says that Clinton is more urban than Tara, because at least he plays the sax and has rhythm. Ooh, Tara, you just got schooled! Wait, am I saying that right?

Over at Magna, Alex wants to brainstorm about the layout. He interviews that he decided to step up because he’s sick of losing. I’ve liked Alex from the first week, so I’m glad that he’s taking some initiative. He seems to be very organized and definitely wants to make sure everything goes well on this task. He sends Bren and Stephanie to meet with the Sony executives while he, Erin, and Kendra meet with the artists. “Mint” has been around forever and wants something that will appeal to the general public. Kendra interviews that the general public is their target, so they need to find an artist who appeals to a broad audience. They need someone who paints for him- or herself but also has others in mind.

The three then meet with Erni, the artist Net Worth wound up with. Kendra says that she put herself in the shoes of a person who knows nothing about art but responds to colors and things that are visually stimulating. She doesn’t think that Erni suits them. Lady Pink, however, does. She says that when she paints, she keeps beauty in mind, as well as doing something that’s fun and that will enhance the community. Alex says that the task is about what the viewer thinks and sees, and Lady Pink is the only artist who considered that.

Net Worth rushes from their meeting with the Sony execs to meet with the artists in the park. As they talk to “Crash,” Chris (who? Oh, yeah) interviews that Tara didn’t want anyone questioning the artist too much. She wanted to be more involved in picking the artist than anyone else. Since the group is short on time, they rush from artist to artist, only spending a minute or so with each. Tana even jokes to one that they would shake his hand but they don’t have time. Tana wins another point from me. Chris thinks that they’re moving too quickly and aren’t getting to know the artists well enough.

The team meets with Lady Pink, who says that besides painting, all she does is play video games. I know someone like that. Lady Pink says that she can teach on the job so that everyone feels comfortable painting. Tara interviews that she doesn’t need to learn how to paint – that’s why Lady Pink is there. I’m wondering if Tara thought that the artist was being hired to do the entire ad. What, then, did Tara think she would be responsible for?

Net Worth meets with Erni, who Tara is impressed by because he has 27 years of experience, he’s laid back, and he’s familiar with the neighborhood. Everyone agrees on this choice and Erni is hired.

Magna brainstorms for their ad, because they’re supposed to start painting but don’t know what to do. Alex interviews that he’s leading by consensus. The other members of the team ask him for his opinion, saying that he always has good ideas. Alex says that they should just start painting and see if they get inspired. He interviews that everyone is waiting for him to do everything and he worries that they’re sabotaging him. Oh, Alex. Paranoia is so unattractive. Stephanie is worried about losing, because she thinks she’ll go back to the boardroom.

Net Worth toils away on their ad. Tara asks Craig to supervise and he says something about her just announcing to everyone what needs to be done. Audrey sarcastically refers to Craig as the “commander in chief” and says that she’s lost respect for him. She tells him that he has a big mouth, but I think he thinks she’s kidding. He interviews that she wants to run things the way she does at home. Craig assumes a lot about Audrey’s home life, doesn’t he? Audrey and Angie, by the way, seem to be having a lot of fun. Craig tells Audrey not to assume what Erni wants her to do. My biggest pet peeve is condescension, and it sounds to me like Craig is being very condescending. Like Audrey, I wouldn’t put up with it.

Audrey says that Craig doesn’t like the fact that she asked Erni what he wanted her to paint. She thinks that Craig is telling her what to do because she’s younger. Audrey claims later that she didn’t realize Tara had asked Craig to supervise, so it’s entirely possible that at this point, she thought Craig was bullying her for no reason. The two of them have some fight about rollers and Audrey tells Craig to stop being bossy. Craig goes to Tara and tells her that he doesn’t want to have to deal with children on this task. At another point, Audrey goes to Tara as well and complains about having too many cooks.

Back at Magna’s spot, Alex says that his team over-thinks things, which is why he wanted them to just start painting. I decided last week that Alex is the whitest person in North America, and he proves it by using the phrases “mad props” and “bling bling” while talking about his impromptu focus group. Bren suggests the fist with the ring and Alex pronounces it “tight.” Fo’ sho’. (Just pencil me in as runner-up for Whitest Person in North America.) Alex comes up with something to do with the jungle vines they’ve already painted – turn some of them into cacti and some into sagebrush. This will take the scene from the jungle to the desert to the mountain and show how the game goes everywhere around the world. Erin says that it’s going to look “hot.” It’s funnier if you imagine her saying that like Paris Hilton. If she had, I’d have given her a point, too.

Alex says that after they came up with the mountain idea, everyone started gelling. They’re happy now that they have direction. Stephanie tells Alex that he rocks. I could’ve told her that.

As Net Worth works on the ad, Tara tries to decide between two taglines – “Buckle Up” and “Tear It Up.” “Buckle Up” probably would’ve been good for a racing game, but if you put “Buckle Up” on a wall, people will think it’s an ad for driving safely. Chris doesn’t like “Tear It Up”; he thinks it’s inappropriate. I don’t want to assume anything, but I highly doubt that Chris knows what “tear it up” means. I myself used that phrase for the first time ever just two weeks ago, and, honestly, I’m not sure I used it correctly. Tara notes that the ad is “tearing through the wall.” She also uses the phrase “outside of the box.” Can we please call a moratorium on that phrase? It’s lost all meaning.

Tara’s still going on about “tear it up,” which she calls an allusion. In an interview, she talks about how it’s a hip-hop phrase and is the chorus to a song. Is she talking about the Yung Wun song or the Andrew W.K. song? What with all her talk about being urban, I’ll go with the Yung Wun song on this one. She says that “tear it up” is common slang in urban areas; it refers to doing something “to the max.” I’m pretty sure you lose your credibility – excuse me, “street cred” – when you say “to the max.” You should, at least. Tara tells John that “tear it up” is action-oriented like their ad. Craig okays the phrase and says that it’s consistent with the ad. Chris, however, is mostly confused. John reminds him that they got killed with regards to their slogan last time. He interviews that “Tear It Up” is okay, but not ingenious or… wait for it… thinking outside the box. Oh, John. You of all people should be above that. He thinks that Chris should just suck it up and work. He tells Chris that he hates getting “out-sloganed.” Okay, creating a word makes up for saying, “outside the box.”

Fast forward to Magna’s reward. Alex says that Patrick Demarchelier charges the price of a Porsche for a session. Erin says that it’s an honor just to be in his presence. Stephanie loves getting her hair done. Raise your hand if you’re surprised. Bren recognizes that, outside of this setting, gorgeous, tall models would never give him the time of day. I’m worried that after seeing him drool all over the gorgeous, tall models, Bren’s wife will no longer give him the time of day. Trump shows up and Stephanie says that it’s nice to see him in a different setting. He’s talking to them like winners instead of losers.

Back at the suite, Angie tells the other members of Net Worth that their artwork was better, they just failed in the ad portion of the task. That’s still a pretty big failure. Audrey says that no one listened to her when she said that she knew what she was doing. Tara and John have their discussion about who knew what about the game. John doesn’t think that Tara will take him to the boardroom, since his knowledge of the game wasn’t connected to the outcome of the task. He says that Tara and Craig claimed to know the market, which is where the task was lost. Tana tells Tara that John and Audrey should have told everyone what they knew about the game. Tara says that their loss was due to a communication failure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Tara. Tana promises Tara that she’ll tell Trump that Tara shouldn’t be tired. That sentence was brought to you by the letter T.

It’s boardroom time! Tara immediately starts in on Audrey and John. John tells Trump that he was in charge of logistics, which took him away from the site of the ad. When he got back, the design was already done. The design was from the game, so he figured it was okay. John has an alibi! He can’t be blamed! Leave him alone! (Incidentally, Betsy, I know you call him your boyfriend, but I’m willing to fight you for him.)

Audrey says that she made it clear that there were different scenes in the game. Tara says that Audrey said there were different themes in the game. And what did she think that meant? She adds that she thought Audrey was talking about the third version of the game; she didn’t take the time to clarify. George asks Tara why she didn’t ask for clarification. Tara: “Because then I wouldn’t be able to blame Audrey.” No, just kidding. Tara says that Audrey makes comments, and if people don’t hear them, she sulks and won’t come back or give information. Except everyone was there when Angie said that there were different scenes in the game, so it’s not like no one knew.

Audrey and Craig get into their problems and Audrey says that no one told her Craig had been asked to supervise. Craig says that he told Tara to tell everyone that he was in charge. Tara explains that she chose Craig to supervise because he has a background in graphic design. Trump asks if it wasn’t because he’s a leader. Tara says that Craig is strong and may rub some people the wrong way, but he’s a good leader. Chris is asked for his opinion, because he hasn’t yet filled up his five minutes of allotted screen time this week. Chris says that Craig can be “overpowering,” but he’s a good leader and Chris enjoys working with him. He’s even told Craig that he’s overpowering. Trump wants to know how Craig is overpowering and Chris explains that he’s “not extremely polite” all the time. However, he’s good, and Chris is inspired by him.

George asks about the concept and this leads to the “Tear It Up” discussions. Tara says that she wanted to offset the impact of the ad with something positive. Ah, see, that’s one of those things people say when they don’t want to go into details. They just put a bunch of words together and hope that no one asks them any more questions. Seriously, does that mean anything? Tara says that she wanted something that would benefit the execs, but she also wanted to make sure the community was comfortable. Jill points out that the ad was for Sony, not the community, which is where Tara went wrong.

Angie says that Tara was a good leader, but they missed this one. She adds that Magna’s impromptu focus group was a brilliant idea. They did a great job and had a better ad. Trump asks if everyone agrees. Chris doesn’t – Magna’s investigation was better and their ad was better, but…. George points out that that was the point. Chris seems to have had a different idea of what the focus group was there for. I think Chris fell asleep at some point during this task and no one filled him in on the blank spots.

Trump starts asking who would fire who. Chris would fire Audrey. John would fire Audrey. Audrey’s upset and thinks that Chris is the weakest link, since he sits around and waits for someone to tell him what to do. Craig would fire Tara. Tara says that she’s not the only one on the team, though you wouldn’t think that to remember what she was saying at the beginning of the task. She says that she can’t be expected to think of everything. Oh, right, you ran such a democracy. Trump reminds her that she was the leader. Tara picks Audrey and Craig to go to the final boardroom. (Phew, John’s off the hook! No, not the hip-hop off the hook. Well, actually, he’s that kind, too.)

Trump chats with Jill and George, then calls Tara, Audrey, and Craig back in. Tara says that Craig and Audrey’s problems were distracting. Audrey says that she’s not a child. Craig goes into his little discussion of Audrey’s husband and home life, which makes no sense and has nothing to do with anything. Trump recognizes that Audrey wasn’t the biggest problem on the task; Craig agrees and repeats that he would fire Tara. She owned her idea and always said “I.” There was no room for creativity because she’d already made all of the decisions.

Trump asks Tara if she wishes she’d brought John in. Fortunately, Tara says she doesn’t, since she didn’t give him the bulk of the responsibility. Craig denies that she gave him the bulk, either. Tara points out that she asked him to supervise, but she says that she asked him about that back in the suite and Craig says that she didn’t give him the order until they were already working on the task. Trump says that it doesn’t seem like there was much Craig could do, since the concept had already been formulated.

Tara says that she made a miscalculation with regard to the concept, but it wasn’t bad. However, Trump says that the marketing was all wrong, and that was more important. Tara’s fired.

In the cab, Tara calls her firing unfortunate. She wishes Trump had looked at her overall performance instead of just this task. Doesn’t her overall performance consist of about 10 minutes all together? She thought the ad was good and that Magna’s ad wasn’t as impressive. Even though she brought him into the boardroom, she hopes that Craig wins it all. She thinks that Audrey is talented but has maturity issues. She hopes that Audrey learned from this experience and can figure out how to separate business and personal issues. Tara says that she lost the battle, but she thinks she’ll win the war. I still have no idea what she’s talking about.

Next week: Clowns and secrets and meltdowns, oh, my!

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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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