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BATTLE OF THE SEXES
A new season of The
Apprentice brings with it new faces, new challenges and a surprising new
twist that reshapes the competitive landscape. (Click
here to meet the candidates!)
Eighteen job applicants from across the USA gathered at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey--all vying to be The Apprentice. The impressive new collection of young business minds had Trump all pumped up: "These candidates are by far the most talented group I've ever assembled."
Setting up a battle of sexes, Trump split the candidates into men's and women's corporations, put them up in a luxurious Manhattan Suite, and set them to the task of creating and marketing a one-day exercise class for a Bally Total Fitness club. Trump also introduced a new exemption rule: the winning Project Manager would only get an exemption from firing if the corporation specifically voted for him or her to receive the free pass.
With a trip to the boardroom at stake, the two corporations immediately set off on vastly different paths. The men got the head start and went straight to the Chelsea location, while the women made their way to the less affluent Spanish Harlem location. The men marketed to existing gym members, the women prospected outside for new customers. But as always in business, the unexpected can disrupt even the best laid plans. A family emergency challenged the men; a loose cannon personality threatened to derail the women.
The first task showed a little bit of everything: group profit and personal loss, solid character and squalid bickering, unlikely cooperation and blatant betrayal --and this is only the first week! Buckle up, the road to Apprenticeship has already turned bumpy.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Standing in the verdant New Jersey hills
of Trump National Golf Club, Donald divided his new candidates by gender
into two corporations. He then sent the fashionably attired job applicants
dashing over the fairways to find where he'd stashed his helicopter. The
first group to the chopper would earn a five-minute sky-ride into Manhattan
where they would begin their first task: To create a new Fitness Plus
class for Bally Total Fitness, then make as much money as possible by
holding the class. Mark was first to the chopper, arriving just before
the golf cart-riding women. As a result, the gents got back to NYC in a
hurry and snagged the club in upscale Chelsea, leaving a slightly more
down-market Spanish Harlem location for the ladies.
The women dubbed their corporation "Capital Edge" and made accomplished
amateur athlete Kristi their Project Manager for this sporty task. The men
called their corporation, "Excel," with inventor Markus taking charge as
Project Manager. When Trump called to learn the corporation name the men had
chosen, Markus went into a long explanation of his team's very short name.
Trump put meandering Markus on mute and smirked to his advisers, "This
guy talks a lot." Markus' nervous chatter was understandable. After all,
the winning corporation would score a rich reward, while the losers wind up
in boardroom peril, where Trump has the last word.
CAPTIVE AUDIENCES AND INNER CONFLICTS
Led by Project Manager Markus, Excel focused marketing their workout class
on the captive audience of existing Bally Total Fitness club members. In
contrast, Kristi's Capital Edge Corporation took to the streets of Spanish
Harlem with flyers to drum up new business.
Primed with a helicopter head start, Excel was poised to turn sweat equity
into an easy win. But Markus' consensus-seeking management style seemed to
throw some of the candidates off their stride, especially when Markus paused
in mid-task to ask Excel to critique his leadership. Josh boiled down their
general impression in an interview: "Mr. Trump would absolutely never
turn to his employees and say, 'Do you think I'm good enough? Do you think
I'm smart enough? Do people like me?' Get some balls." Another minor
glitch for Excel: Randal suffered a personal tragedy when he learned that
his grandmother has passed away. Randal soldiered on gamely.
Capital Edge seemed to encounter even more turbulence. Outspoken Melissa
created conflict with Project Manager Kristi from the get-go. As the only
Hispanic member of the corporation, Melissa claimed a special insight into
the Spanish Harlem community. Melissa argued strongly that the price point
for their workout class should be lower than the $20 Kristi proposed. But in
the end, the Project Manager stuck to her guns. Melissa couldn't let it
drop, however, and badmouthed Kristi as "unorganized" and hapless to anyone
who would listen, including Trump's right-hand woman Carolyn. Still, there
was a potentially bigger problem than Melissa's combative disruptions. The
flyers Kristi designed to promote the group's "Triple Threat" class featured
three X's that suggested an adult entertainment workout.
LUNCH DONALD STYLE
With unblemished records, (though not
for long), the two corporations gathered for their first meeting in the
boardroom with Trump, Carolyn and George to learn the results of the task.
Both teams were confident about their performances, but Excel squeaked past
Capital Edge: $527 to $516. The women would return to the dreaded boardroom
while the men savored the spoils of victory.
Before moving on to the reward, Trump dismissed the candidates and took a
moment to console Randal about his grandmother's passing. Trump said it
would be understandable if Randal wanted to drop out, but Randal chose to
stay in the interview process, and said, "I want to embody her spirit and
honor her memory by continuing to do what she would have wanted me to do."
Sympathetic to Randal's plight, Trump lent him his personal helicopter to
attend the funeral in Philadelphia.
In a more celebratory mode, Trump treated Excel Corporation to a cozy lunch
at the venerable Friars Club, a New York institution of comedy and
conviviality for nearly a century. The genial mogul and Josh both needled
Markus about the winning Project Manager's tendency to be longwinded. Trump
told a worried Markus not to sweat it, and added, "...People don't really
change." Had Markus made a negative impression on Trump? For the time
being he was safe, unlike the women of Capital Edge, who were headed to the
ominous confines of the Trump Tower boardroom.
MELISSA, WE AREN'T GOING TO MISS YOU!
It was immediately clear in the
boardroom that Melissa's abrasiveness had alienated her from every member of
Capital Edge. But Carolyn swiftly steered the discussion to Kristi's
provocative marketing flyer. She questioned the "XXX" theme of Kristi's
marketing copy: "We're going to make you sweat." But the real heat
was on Melissa. Just before the showdown in the boardroom, Kristi said,
"This isn't Kristi vs. Melissa. This is Melissa sucks and she needs to be
fired." Nearly every woman at the boardroom table lined up to criticize
Melissa's negativity and obnoxiousness.
When it was time to choose which two people would return with her to the
boardroom, Kristi boldly asked to bring back only Melissa. The strategy
nearly backfired on Kristi. But Melissa shot herself in the foot, when she
told Carolyn that she doesn't work well with women. To make matters worse,
Melissa was also argumentative with both George and Trump, so the Donald had
no choice but to send her packing. "Melissa, you can't get along with
anybody. You're a disruptive force-you're fired."
When Kristi smiled smugly at Melissa's dismissal, Trump roared at the
Project Manager "I was not happy with your leadership. You should not be
proud of yourself. You did a terrible job." Can the women of Capital
Edge recover from this inauspicious start and turn the tables on the men of
Excel?
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