Apprentice II, Episode 10

Welcome to the better-late-than-never edition of The Apprentice II Recaps, Episode 10. It has been a busy week, and somehow, Sunday night is the first time I’ve been able to sit down and watch the tape.

As always, today’s show started off with a recap of the prior show… we were forced to see Raj’s downfall for a second time. However, it did serve as a good reminder as to why Chris is a project manager this show.

After the credits and the rip-roaring cover of MONEY, we see the gang sitting around discussing who would get fired. Jennifer thought it would be Ivana, hell she HOPED it would be her, and oh how crushed was she.

Nine candidates are left. Who will be fired this week?

Immediately, Ivana started to bitch about Chris and his disloyalty. Chris is proud of himself for putting his head on the chopping block. “We’re not here to be friends, this is bleep business.” Jennifer has no idea how Chris would be a good leader since he is already so negative.

Mosaiic discusses who would lead. Andy and Kelly vie for presidency. They draw names and Kelley wins the role.

The group gets their rally call to meet at 9 am at Tavern on the Green. George is back! This week’s task: take an empty space and create a bridal shop. They have four hours to hold an exclusive bridal sale. The team that earns the greatest profits wins.

Mosaic has Sandy, a bridal shop owner on their team, and they think they’ve got this one in the bag already.

Apex rushes to the space, and Chris decides to “pack the place with vendors”. Offer them the space for free and split the profits.

Mosaic gets to work, letting Sandy help direct. She knows where to go for advertising, who to call, she got do almost all of the planning.

Apex is having a bad time chris starts making phone calls– the bridal vendors are turning Chris down, right and left. And he said he could sell ice to Eskimos! He starts giving up early in the game, and frustrates his team members.

Trump’s inspirational message this week is “Believe in Yourself”. He’s been hanging arund Stuart Smalley I guess. We get to see Trump being excited about the name “Trump Tower Chicago.” What this has to do with believing in one’s self is beyond me.

Sandy, Kelley and Andy go out to get discontinued gowns to sell at the expo. Andy admires Sandy and everything she can do. Wes is upset about the plan, because he and Maria are left with the marketing, and he feels he’ll be blamed if something goes wrong.

Ivana finally gets the idea in her head to quit making phone calls and get into some bridal shops to make deals face to face. They split up into groups and begin meeting with vendors. Ivana gives Chris a pep talk, and boy does he need it. Chris isn’t very good about talking to the vendors, Jennifer does manage to get six vendors.

Kevin and Ivana met with the bridal shop of Manhattan, who answers questions about their task, very smart Ivana! They ask the lady there, Bernadette about marketing, and she comes to look at the space. She gives them all kinds of suggestions about how to do the task, now to set things up… she is a life saver for them.

Mosaic has problems with the marketing. They sent out 2300 invitations out without a telephone number on it. This was Maria’s deal.

Meanwhile, Wes and Kelley go out to pick up the dresses, and Wes turns out to be a really horrible driver! He hit all kinds of things. When they get to the warehouse, they find that the dresses are all over the truck.

Back at the space, all of a sudden, Sandy pulls Kelley aside and starts to BITCH! Everyone is standing around waiting for her to do everything, and she doesn’t like it. She wants to see more hustle! The marketing is crap, and she’s nervous about what that means for the team.
>The next day, Apex is out distributing fliers at Grand Central and Penn stations.

Mosaic has to fix their blunder about the phone number on the ad they sent out as their direct marketing piece. The company that did the emailing of the ads to the brides swore that the email with no phone number was approved by Maria. Sandy believes to have caught Maria in a bold faced lie.

The women are lining up to see Mosaic’s display. Caroline, as usual, looks really unimpressed.

Apex has three ladies waiting to see their display. The team looks nervous. Chris doesn’t do anything to try to help the customers. He sits there, watching.

Mosaic is kicking ass. They have customers everywhere, money flying right and left.

The boardroom comes rather abruptly. Caroline’s report on Mosaic was positively glowing. Great teamwork, they sold 27 dresses and grossed over 12K. Apex sold two dresses, making a $1K profit. Mosaic gets to go to Graff jewelers with Trump’s woman, and they get to get $50k worth of merchandise as a team to buy stuff for themselves.

Apex is crushed. They’ve lost three in a row. Kevin feels Chris should be fired. So Ivana and Jennifer. Chris is planning on fighting in the boardroom. You know he’s fired. He is so gone.

Trump gives Chris a chance to speak. Chris thinks the team jelled, Ivana sticks UP for him, agreeing, but then says that he gives up easily. Chris admits he had trouble with the task. He said Sandy gave Mosaic the edge, and Caroline pounces. “NOT TRUE!” George is pissed that there was no marketing plan. Trump slams the flier idea at Penn Station. Kevin slams Chris for not delegating, as does the whole team. Chris sends Jennifer upstairs, and Jennifer turns around and announces that Chris should be fired. Kevin Chris and Ivana go to wait for Trump to rule.

In private consultation, Trump said he thinks everyone is terrible, and does Caroline. George said there was no fire or spark in any of them. They are disgusted. The first order of business, “why was Jennifer sent upstairs?” He gave a weak answer about her sales skills, to which Caroline replies, “You sold two dresses! How good could she be?”

Then the heat goes on under Ivana. Trump asks her how she feels Chris is as a leader, and when she gives her honest answer, Trump responds, “she has the most unbelievable backhanded slaps I’ve ever heard of.” It comes out that Ivana has been in the boardroom five times. Trump asks Chris if he should fire Ivana over him, and of course Chris agrees with that! Trump is upset that Jennifer got away scott free, because he could have fired her, “She continues to slip under the radar!” As I predicted, Chris is fired.