The Apprentice 4, Episode 2 Extras: Accept Your Ego

This week we start the extra footage on the NBC website with the women organizing themselves so they can work on the Lamborghini task. Alla, Felisha, and Kristi are in charge of marketing, and Rebecca and the two Jennifers are working on concepts. Toral is helping them out, but I’m not sure what her assignment really is. She wants to do something with a jet in the ad, but Kristi is uncertain exactly where they’d get a jet. Darn you and your logic, Kristi! Rebecca comes up with the tagline, “Make luxury weep.” Jen W. likes it. Alla thinks that, since she’s rich, she can understand the mentality of a rich person who would want to buy a Lamborghini.

Kristi, Alla, and Felisha are in another room, brainstorming. Marshawn interrupts to tell them that she wants to meet with them and discuss what they’ve come up with. Kristi tells her that they’re right in the middle of an idea and need a few more minutes. Marshawn says that the idea doesn’t have to be finalized. She interviews that Kristi is whiny and self-centered. As usual, I must request some evidence to back those claims, because I haven’t seen any of that. Marshawn says that Kristi thinks she’s still the project manager. Kristi asks for five more minutes, asking if that’s okay with Marshawn. Yeah, that self-centered Kristi, demanding more time and not caring what Marshawn thinks. Because she’s so self-centered, you see.

Marshawn says that Kristi always wants what she wants when she wants it. Felisha tries to get Marshawn to give them more time, which she finally does. Kristi thinks that Rebecca and the Jennifers are upset because she, Alla, and Felisha are also working on concepts. Everyone meets up and pick out a concept. The women discuss taglines and Alla comes up with the idea of showing different components of the car, then asking if the consumer could handle each one. Marshawn likes this.

The men get together to brainstorm. Josh says that this task is “sick.” I have a feeling we should get used to this slang of his. Markus says that he looked at Aaron’s (the executive) list of what the company wants, so they have an edge. Clay brings up the Italian concept and asks if they can get a definition of what “Italian” means. I’ll help you out, Clay: “from Italy.” Clay concerns me. Randal explains that he and Chris both facilitated the meeting and they had some good organization.

Markus contributes something about the rebirth of intimidation which, surprisingly, everyone likes. Clay amends it to the “rebirth of Italian intimidation,” which everyone likes more. Wouldn’t Italian intimidating be the Mafia? I mean, I can’t think of what else that would mean. Markus isn’t sure the “Italian” part is necessary, because how dare someone mess up his precious, precious concept? He complains in an interview that when someone comes up with an idea, everyone else compliments him like he discovered a new world. However, when Markus comes up with an idea, he’s ignored. Except that they all said they like his idea, and Clay incorporated it into his own. Shut up, Markus.

Chris decides on the tagline. He’s drinking Trump Ice, by the way. The guys do more brainstorming. Mark comes up with the idea of the car going through a tunnel. Brian thinks that the ad is “agency caliber.” Josh calls the brainstorming session “sick.” Oh, by the way, since Betsy has already claimed Josh, I’m trying to decide whether I should pick Brian or James to be my TV boyfriend. Let me know what you think. (I would pick Rolly from The Amazing Race 8, but I’m 23, he’s 14, and it’s illegal.) Mark is confident enough to guarantee his team’s victory. Poor, dumb Mark. Doesn’t he know he’s jinxing himself?

For some reason, we go back to before Excel’s meeting with the executives. I hate when they show these clips out of order. Chris doesn’t want anyone to go in with preconceived notions, but Markus already has one. Chris doesn’t want any clichés. Yeah, because “green with envy” is completely original. In the meeting, Markus is annoying. Chris says that he throws the team’s synergy out of focus and he’s ticked off about it.

For some reason, we see Trump’s Lesson of the Week again. We’re supposed to adapt. There’s nothing new here.

Alla, Kristi, and Jen W. work on their video. Alla says that Marshawn is okay, but she should be overseeing their portion of the task, and she’s not. Kristi complains about Marshawn. She, Alla, and Jen have been working for ten hours without any sign of Marshawn.

Jen, Alla, and Kristi brainstorm. Jen comes up with the question, “Do you need permission?” Alla loves it and says that if she has to, she’ll fight Marshawn to keep it in. She interviews that when someone challenges her on something, she’ll do it anyway. However, she knows that Marshawn is the project manager, so she calls her to run the permission idea past her. Marshawn isn’t sure about it, since they’ve already finalized the other statements and wants to keep them all the same.

Marshawn adds that the other women have created another tagline, “Accept Your Ego.” Alla doesn’t like it. Neither do I. Marshawn tells her that they don’t have to use it in the video. Alla and I agree that it makes no sense. Kristi thinks the permission one is better. She jokes, “Accept the Boardroom. Accept the chopping block. Accept failure.”

Mark and Brian work with the print design executive assigned to help them. They decide to change the “I” in Italian. Nothing new here, either.

Before the presentation, Clay does the other guys’ hair and puts together some outfits for them. Adam (who?) says that Clay thought they should go with a “bad guy” image. Apparently this includes jeans, colored shirts, and blazers. How does that equal “bad guy”? Marshawn teases one of the guys about his appearance. Clay says that if the women go into the presentation in three-piece suits (they make three-piece suits for women?), they’ll be wrong about what people who like Lamborghinis wear. Because apparently everyone who drives a Lamborghini wears jeans and blazers.

After the guys leave, Marshawn, Jen W., and Alla discuss their sartorial mistakes. They don’t think the clothes fit the presentation. Alla says that stripes are last season. Jen W. says the guys’ clothes were “not Lamborghini.” Marshawn thinks the situation is like a lion before the kill, and the prey has no idea.

Fast forward to the women getting their reward. Mostly we just see them falling. Kristi says that it was a lot of fun, despite all of the bruises she has. She thinks this was the best reward ever. That’s because she didn’t get free jewelry like last season. Kristi notes that she’s not very good at stopping in her skates.

Excel heads to the Boardroom. Chris blames Markus for the loss. George says that the whole team is responsible. Markus and Clay are the only people who admit that they thought the team could lose. George tells them that fear was the best thing they could have had. If they were afraid of losing, they would’ve done something exceptional. However, only their cockiness came through, so the rest didn’t matter. Josh says that the slogan was Markus’ idea. Markus argues that the guys ignored his idea, then used it in a different format. Then that’s not ignoring it, is it?

Chris wants to know if Markus came up with the words “rebirth” and “intimidation.” Markus tells him that he’s not a lawyer; he’s there to answer Trump’s questions, not Chris’. Trump asks the same question and Markus claims that, yes, he did come up with those words. Chris challenges him and Markus admits that he got the words from Aaron, the executive, but put them together. Words are a puzzle, and it’s important to put them in the right syntax. The next time I say something stupid, I’m just going to say, “Sorry, I meant to put that in a different syntax.”

Trump brings up the little I in “Italian.” Mark admits that this was his idea. George mentions the “green with envy” issues and Mark takes responsibility for that as well. Carolyn thinks that the guys did too much explaining in their presentation. Chris explains (heh) that they were pointing out the subtleties of their ads. Should ads be subtle? Shouldn’t you make your point known pretty clearly? Carolyn tells Chris that she thought their ad was boring.

Trump says that he’s heard that Chris gave a good presentation. The other guys agree, but Markus says it was just okay. Trump asks who said it was okay, and when he learns it was Markus, he says, “Oh, Markus, I’m shocked.” I like Trump when he’s sarcastic. He does it so well. He asks why Markus thought Chris was only okay, because, like it or not, Chris “called it right.” Trump criticizes the guys’ choice of photos, since one of them was taken at a strange angle he doesn’t think was compelling. He thinks the women’s shots were must more compelling.

Trump asks Josh who he would fire. Josh names Markus. Trump asks Markus why everyone dislikes him. Markus doesn’t think they do; he says that everyone else is in a clique. Trump asks if they disrespect him. Markus doesn’t know why they would. Because you’re annoying, maybe? He says that there was chaos on the team. Trump says that there’s only chaos when a team loses. If they win and didn’t do that well, there was no chaos. He thinks the guys did a “fairly good job,” but they still lost. He adds that people hate losers, as does he, and there are so many losers in that boardroom. That’s why there was chaos.

Chris says that they lost the battle, but he’d go to war with his team any day. Trump tells him that the competition wasn’t even close. The men see the women’s ad and are impressed. Markus calls it “smashing.” Trump asks if he’s being disloyal to his team, but Markus says that they ignored him. No, they didn’t! They took your idea! They said it was good! Every time Markus starts complaining about this, I can’t help but give a Napoleon Dynamite-like “gosh!” Shut up, Markus.

Trump asks Markus who did the worst job. Markus names Chris. Chris says that Markus doesn’t do well with responsibility. Trump says it doesn’t matter and Chris shouldn’t bring him back to the boardroom. Carolyn asks who was responsible for the creative portion of the ad. Chris says it was himself and Mark, but he’s not bringing Mark to the boardroom. Gosh!

Clay would fire Markus. Clay is getting on my nerves and he’s barely done anything. Trump says he won’t ask Markus for his opinion because he knows he’ll want to fire Chris. “Um…,” Markus begins. “Just say yes, Markus!” Trump exclaims. Hee. George is as amused as I am. Markus finally says “yes” and Trump says that it’s nice to have a one-word answer every once in a while. My potential boyfriend James says that he would fire Chris. Chris says he’s just bringing Markus to the boardroom. This is when I knew Chris was a goner. But I wasn’t overconfident or cocky about that.

Trump asks for George and Carolyn’s opinions, then brings Chris and Markus back in. Trump thinks it’s amazing that, out of everyone on the team, these are the two guys in the boardroom. He points out that Mark even admitted his mistakes. Chris says that they all moved forward as a team, but he had to reel Markus in. The marginalization issue is discussed and Trump notes that Markus always blames everyone else for treating him badly. George gets Chris to admit that he marginalized Markus. Chris thinks that Markus is a good person, but he has problems working with the team.

Trump tells Markus that he talks too much. Chris calls himself a good leader who can lead his team to victory. Except… you didn’t. Capable or not, you lost. He blames Markus again. Carolyn says that she already told Chris the team failed because of their problems with creativity. She wonders if Chris’ decision to leave Mark behind and bring Markus back was personal. Chris says that it was for the good of the team. Trump says it wasn’t personal, it was business. Chris supports his decision not to bring Mark back because he agreed with Mark’s ideas. Mark’s mistake was also Chris’ mistake. Trump says that this leaves him with a difficult decision.

Markus was a disaster, but Trump asked Chris to make a business decision and he made an emotional one instead. Markus was not the reason the team lost, and, in fact, he was the only one who spoke up that they were making bad decisions. Chris is fired.

In the cab, Chris says that he’s upset. He hates losing, especially when he knew that he was the strongest member of the team. He’s glad to go home and see his wife, but he wishes it weren’t so soon. Chris says that he’ll call Trump on Monday morning and ask if he can be part of the organization. Yeah, that’s the best thing to do after you fail a job interview – call and beg for a job.

Blah, blah, great opportunity, everyone says this. Chris appreciates the comments he got from Trump, Carolyn, and George. He doesn’t think Markus will last. He gives his boat metaphor. Chris thinks that Markus could talk himself to sleep. Okay, that’s funny. He claims that he does like Markus. He’s made some good friends, including Josh, Randal, and James, and he liked the women. He wishes good luck to everyone.

In Chris’ exit interview, he says basically what Melissa said last week about thinking that he is qualified to be the apprentice because he thinks he has all of the qualities Trump is looking for. He learned a lot of those qualities from athletics and became successful at a young age. On the Lamborghini task, Chris thinks that his strength of trying to outwork everyone was evident. Okay, except… YOU LOST! Gosh! Chris says that he likes to take control and be in charge of everything. However, executives have to let go sometimes. He thinks that they lost because they didn’t “keep it simple, stupid.” No, you lost because your ad sucked and the women’s was better. However, he says that “any PR is good PR,” and people would look at their ad because they would want to figure out why the I in “Italian” was small.

Chris says that he and Mark both made mistakes; he couldn’t completely blame Mark, so he turned the blame to Markus. Yeah, that makes sense. The more Chris talks, the more I think he’s an idiot. With an uppercase I. He marginalized Markus because he couldn’t risk the team’s success on giving Markus a lot of responsibility. Markus was the weak link, so Chris brought him to the boardroom hoping that Trump would see that. If he’d brought Mark, things might have turned out differently. No kidding, Chris. Did you just realize that now?

Chris thinks that he’s a better businessman than Markus. Shocker! He wants to spin his loss into a victory. I’m not sure how he’s planning to do that, but good luck. He says that the 18 candidates were like “monkeys in a cage” (fortunately, he doesn’t say that he was the alpha male) and they could either hate each other or love each other. He managed to become friends with everyone, including Markus. Chris wants people to know that he’s strong-willed, driven, successful (except that he LOST!), and honest. He made the honest choice to bring Markus to the boardroom because he wanted to put his team first.

Next week: Why is Jen W. doing push-ups for a grandpa?

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Jenn Brasler is an Associate Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She’s going to try to stop channeling Napoleon Dynamite now.

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