The Apprentice 6: Los Angeles (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyC]

I usually hate people who quit on reality shows, but I have to give kudos to Michelle for not allowing herself to be degraded on national television because of some lame "Tent City" gimmick.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I'm not liking the tent gimmick at all. It just isn't working.

 

[Brent M]

I agree. While I don't necessarily believe the girl should've quit last night, I do see her point that this isn't what she signed up for. They've never done this in past seasons of the show and it just doesn't add anything as far as I'm concerned. Scrap the gimmick and let the teams compete on a level playing field.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

This was one of the best hours of The Apprentice I have ever seen.

First, we get Sean back on the show. He is quite insightful, and he speaks his mind well.

We also see a little bit of payoff for the Tent City concept. I knew that the first switcheroo would have some delightful moments, and I was not disappointed.

The energy and flair of Arrow was a joy, and they were clearly the better team on this task. I'm so glad that Frank is still around. How else would we get stories about Sunday dinners of pasta with meatballs while listening to Bocelli?

The marketing for Kinetic had the patented Apprentice awkward moments and missteps, and I was shouting at my TV for Marisa to shut up about the Bravado Bowl. I was a little surprised that the mango/pineapple/chicken combination was not slammed even more in the boardroom. Sure, no one was coming into the restaurant, but even if more did, it's tough to sell a niche product like that.

Wurlitzer got just a little product placement tonight, didn't they? Why not provide Mr. Bocelli with a NASCAR-esque outfit with the logo on both sides while you're at it?

I can't say I'm looking forward to the show in two weeks as much. It's February sweeps, and the best they can do for a teaser is showing bees? This isn't Fear Factor, people.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> While I don't necessarily believe the girl should've quit last night, I do see her point that this isn't what she signed up for.

What about Trump's point that if she wants to work for him and be successful in business, she should be willing to put up with some inconveniences like the tent? If living in a tent in the backyard of a mansion is the worst experience of her career, she's pretty lucky. She seems like a true quitter; I know I'd never hire her after she pulled that stunt.

The first thing I thought of was all the people in the military who have to sleep in tents or worse, don't have the showers like the people on the show, have people trying to kill them, and oh yeah, they don't complain about it.


> They've never done this in past seasons of the show and it just doesn't add anything as far as I'm concerned.

Where would they have pitched the tent in NYC? Central Park? The lobby of Trump Tower? If you hadn't noticed, they try to change things up on these shows.

I have a theory that maybe the house doesn't have enough bedrooms to hold all the people, so they came up with the tent idea... wouldn't surprise me if they scrap the tents halfway through.

> Scrap the gimmick and let the teams compete on a level playing field.

It IS a level playing field. The winning team lives in the mansion. The losing team lives in tents. That is about as fair as it gets, based on performance.


Something nobody mentioned with the Pollo Loco- what about the normal differences in volume between the 2 stores?

 

[Brent M]

It's still a gimmick and it's still stupid. This isn't Survivor. The reason they didn't use this idea while they were still shooting the show in NYC is because THEY DIDN'T NEED TO as ratings were still fairly good. Now that the show is going downhill fast ratings-wise they're resorting to stuff like this thinking it will draw in more viewers.

 

[Andres Munoz]

I also think the tent was a dumb gimmick. The losing team had to pack all their stuff and move to the tent. And if they win next week, then they need to pack all their stuff all over again and move back to the house. And if they lose the week after ...

Really unnecessary, not to mention exhausting to watch, lol.

BTW, I think Trump fired the right person (Melissa is it?). She tried to contribute, you gotta give her that but there was something about her that didn't scream "apprentice material". She was just annoying.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Finally caught an episode. The tents make the playing field uneven because the team staying in them and eating crap food is not going to have the energy or stamina of the team staying in the house and eating well.

Remember the people from past seasons who complained about getting absolutely no sleep during the competition, many of whom seemed relieved to get fired and go home.

As for this week's challenge, the idea that two people in business suits standing by the drive-thru line would drum up more business for a fast-food place called "El Pollo Loco" than people in chicken suits flagging drivers at intersections was one of the most hilariously absurd decisions I've ever seen on the show!

I always have mixed feelings when someone who wasn't responsible for the current loss gets fired because the rest of the team doesn't like him or her. Them's the breaks, I guess!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> The losing team had to pack all their stuff and move to the tent.

You realize in previous seasons that they had to pack every time before going to the boardroom, I hope. Doesn't seem to be any more packing required now.


> The tents make the playing field uneven because the team staying in them and eating crap food is not going to have the energy or stamina of the team staying in the house and eating well.

That must be why the team that had been living in tents won.

Cmon, they are just sleeping in a tent, not running a marathon every night, and they are all pretty young. It's not that big a disadvantage, more of an inconvenience. I don't remember any of them saying "we can't win because we're sleeping in a tent".

Again, how do our troops manage to survive living in tents or worse for months, without the showers these people have, and so on?

 

[Andres Munoz]

Hey Chris, so how do you really feel about the tent gimmick?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Hey, I didn't say it was a BIG disadvantage.

 

[Brent M]

If you like the tent idea and don't think it's a stupid gimmick(which I still contend it is) then that's fine, but to keep drawing a correlation between what's going on in a reality show and our troops at war is pretty ridiculous IMHO.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

At the end of the day, this is still supposed to be a job interview right? Doubt you would ask any interviewee if they would mind sleeping in a tent for a week just for shits and giggles.

But who are we kidding, this is just tv and it is Trump who still believes he has the #1 show on television.

why can't I stop watching

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Hey, just because the Celtics are having a bad day. . .week. . .month. . .season. . .decade. . . :frowning:

What a genius.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> to keep drawing a correlation between what's going on in a reality show and our troops at war is pretty ridiculous

It's no more ridiculous than comparing this show to a standard job interview.

I realize troops aren't popular around here, but they do have it a little tougher than people on The Apprentice.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Let's drop the correlations and move on to the actual show content.

 

[Bruce Patterson]

Just watched Sunday's episode. I have to tell you, I used to really like this show. At the end my wife and I looked at each other and thought - why are we watching this? The "tasks" are meaningless - collect honey and sell it? Shouldn't the tasks be real-world tasks that Trump would ask of his employees? With the bees, I kept thinking of Fear Factor which I didn't like. The boardroom segments are just bad, and loud. Screaming and conflict means ratings, though, which is why Trump allows it, I guess. I actually miss George and Carolyn! They would keep some sense of order, and the questions they would ask meant something.

Ah well - first season where I'm not impressed with this show at all. Or any candidate for that matter. Bad idea moving this to LA, methinks.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I get the feeling that they were trying to kick things up a notch with the tents and bees and all that crap due to sagging ratings. They should have just stuck to the format that got them ratings in the first place -- a focus on relatively serious business tasks.

I wonder how "encouraging" the producers were towards the contestants who are going to make out in the hot tub next week (Trump's subtlety was most impressive when he asked the guy if he'd marry the girl in the boardroom!).

 

[Brent M]

I agree with everything you just said 100%. I almost just turned it off in the middle of the show the other night because I was so disinterested. I don't think the show has ever been as good as it was in the first season, but this year has hit an all-time low. I honestly don't know if I'll even continue to watch because it's almost not even worth bothering with anymore.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Actually, I think the second season was better than the first because of the sex issue. Not that I didn't enjoy watching season 1, of course (hubba hubba), but the female sales advantage turned the competition into a joke.