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The Apprentice Finale

John Crichton

First Post
23 Million viewers and you know you were one of them. Fess up. :)

Me? I enjoyed it just as much as Survivor - the only other reality show I watch on a regular basis. The Donald is hilarious. He was the best part of the show. I started watching about halfway through the season and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining the show was.

Looking back at it, I shouldn't be surprised that I liked it. Mark Burnett produces Survivor.

Thoughts?
 

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John Crichton said:
Me? I enjoyed it just as much as Survivor - the only other reality show I watch on a regular basis. The Donald is hilarious. He was the best part of the show. I started watching about halfway through the season and was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining the show was.
I did the same as you, started watching in the middle when my ex-gf got me into it. It's boatloads better than any Survivor.

The only bad thing about it was I knew Bill was going to win. It was just too obvious, what with his glowing reviews by the interviewers, and Kwame's pick of Omarosa, and then her blatant lying. I was thinking the same thing Trump was... why didn't Kwame just get rid of her, tell her to get lost? I do think Kwame had the more difficult task though, having to deal with a star, let alone Jessica Simpson, dumbass of the music industry.

What I liked: Amy, Nick, and Katrina really being behind Bill despite him being a bit nervous; Carolyn and George fighting; George's comment about Jessica; the car... especially the color.

What I didn't: Why wasn't Kwame told he could fire Omarosa... reeks of ratings; the whole aftermath was pure cheese; too much emphasis on Kwame's team, not enough on Bill... again, reeks of ratings; the employees' opinions... no point.

And what the hell was with the set just magically coming apart? I mean, I figured they used a nice room in Trump Towers, not a stage. Kind of took a bit of the flare out of it, in my opinion.
 

I believe they did use a Trump Towers room during the season, but then did the mock-up just for this episode.

Anyways, watched it with the girlfriend, and it was decent. The Bill choice was not unexpected, and the right one. Whether Kwame knew he could "fire" Omarosa or not, he was a complete coward with how he mis-handled her. I disagree with LightPhoenix and think that Kwame had the easier task, he just blew it by being so hands-off. How difficult is it to pick someone up at an airport and schedule a breakfast?

The Carolyn / George spat was funny, I would have enjoyed more of them and their commentary during the season. There also should have been a reward or something for the people like Amy, Nick, and Katrina doing a good job supporting Bill. Like maybe let Bill choose a VP to win with him or something... I don't know.


I sincerely hope that teaser at the end does not mean Omarosa is back next season. If that is the case then I don't think I'd watch. That just ruins the concept of the show being a real competition and turns into into a corporate "Real World", where bad people are deliberately thrown in to cause conflict.

Also Trump is really burning his '15 minutes of pop-culture fame' candle at both ends right now. By the time the 2nd season comes around people may be sick of him.
 
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LightPhoenix said:
And what the hell was with the set just magically coming apart? I mean, I figured they used a nice room in Trump Towers, not a stage. Kind of took a bit of the flare out of it, in my opinion.
They did use a real boardroom for the show. The mock up was just so they could do a live finale with an audience.

Great show. One of the best in years, in fact.
 

LightPhoenix said:
The only bad thing about it was I knew Bill was going to win. It was just too obvious, what with his glowing reviews by the interviewers, and Kwame's pick of Omarosa, and then her blatant lying. I was thinking the same thing Trump was... why didn't Kwame just get rid of her, tell her to get lost?

Looked like he didn't realize that was an option - it certainly wasn't on any of the previous tasks. My pet theory is that the job was Kwame's to lose for a long time (the only way he could get so far is if Trump was protecting him), and the last challenge was largely about finding out if Kwame could handle a problem employee. He failed, and Bill won by default.

LightPhoenix said:
And what the hell was with the set just magically coming apart? I mean, I figured they used a nice room in Trump Towers, not a stage. Kind of took a bit of the flare out of it, in my opinion.

The stage was for the finale, previous episodes did use a room in Trump Tower. However, the room used in previous episodes was also a specially built set, just located in Trump's building. TV Guide says it's actually on the same floor as the suite the contestants stay in, the "going up to the suite or down to the street" line is just for show.

It'll be interesting to see how the next batch of contestants reacts to the lessons from this series. Neither Kwame nor Bill had an especially good record as team leader, and both flew under the radar when they weren't the leader. Might make the next season a bit less spirited.
 

DMScott said:
the last challenge was largely about finding out if Kwame could handle a problem employee.
This is a point I think a lot of folks miss. By giving Bill the first choice, Kwame was pretty much guaranteed to be stuck with Omarosa.

I can't believe I got sucked into this show. I blame society.


Daniel
 

Pielorinho said:
This is a point I think a lot of folks miss. By giving Bill the first choice, Kwame was pretty much guaranteed to be stuck with Omarosa.
But he didn't need to pick her second, and that's what Trump counted against him. If he's stuck with her, he's stuck with her, but for the love of God don't go out of your way to insure it!
 

DMScott said:
The stage was for the finale, previous episodes did use a room in Trump Tower. However, the room used in previous episodes was also a specially built set, just located in Trump's building. TV Guide says it's actually on the same floor as the suite the contestants stay in, the "going up to the suite or down to the street" line is just for show.
Sounds about right. The room seemed "too right" to just have sitting there. I was thinking that it was a recently renovated room. Either way, next season there will be a new boardroom - at least that's what the preview looked like.


DMScott said:
Looked like he didn't realize that was an option - it certainly wasn't on any of the previous tasks. My pet theory is that the job was Kwame's to lose for a long time (the only way he could get so far is if Trump was protecting him), and the last challenge was largely about finding out if Kwame could handle a problem employee. He failed, and Bill won by default.
I actually didn't catch this right away until I thought about it later. The best thing about this show is that they do play favorites and tip the scales on purpose. Just like in the real business world.

I like how Trump cuts right to it. There were plenty examples through the only show but the best example was in the interviews in the finale. People were all ready to schmooze and talk about things, just like it was a Survivor finale. He cut people right off and got the answers he was looking for or at least answers.

My one criticism was Trump live. He was a little stiff (I don't blame him) and things seemed to crawl at the end but it wasn't bad. It just stood out because the rest of the show went so smootly.


LightPhoenix said:
What I didn't: Why wasn't Kwame told he could fire Omarosa... reeks of ratings; the whole aftermath was pure cheese; too much emphasis on Kwame's team, not enough on Bill... again, reeks of ratings; the employees' opinions... no point.
Of course it reeks of ratings, it's TV. ;) Considering all that was at stake, he should have known that the rules all along were being made on the spot. Meaning that he could have dismissed Big O. On the show she was a liar and whiner. She had some charm but she was annoying and basically useless to Kwame. He should have shoved her to the side or just had her stand next to him and look pretty after the stunt she pulled.

Since we are talking business: I'm a manager with over 100 employees (even if useless none of them are easy to fire because of the union). One of the key parts of the job is knowing who I can trust and who is hurting things. It's very easy to shove one of them aside or just keep them right under my nose. At the very least he should have told her that she was to be Troy's assistant or something like that. Just get her out of the way - don't let her be on her own with anything important any more. Kwame was being too nice. Some more time in the business world will help him with that. I am curious to see how Bill would have handled it. I suspect he would have done something along the lines of what Trump said.

As for the employees opinions - I'm sure we all saw that coming a mile away. I'm a little surprised that they basically took sides at the end but I guess Bill & Kwame both did a great job so they earned their employees respect. The only person I could see saying something negative was Heidi. I thought for sure she would have said something about the Omarosa thing. Oh well. Trump caught it and that's all that mattered. :)


LightPhoenix said:
And what the hell was with the set just magically coming apart? I mean, I figured they used a nice room in Trump Towers, not a stage. Kind of took a bit of the flare out of it, in my opinion.
It's a Survivor thing. Burnett did the same thing there: constructed a live set that looked just like the show, had everyone done up just like they should look after 39 days and revealed the live audiance only after the winner was announce. I saw it coming a mile away when they announced the finale would be live.
 

John Crichton said:
It's a Survivor thing. Burnett did the same thing there: constructed a live set that looked just like the show, had everyone done up just like they should look after 39 days and revealed the live audiance only after the winner was announce. I saw it coming a mile away when they announced the finale would be live.

I didn't see it coming, and thought it cheapened the whole show. It was like Bill won the Price is Right. Then with the questions of everyone, why why why. Blah, wish I had turned it off after Bill won, but was glad to see the job choices, and that he chose the Chicago building project.
 

Kai Lord said:
But he didn't need to pick her second, and that's what Trump counted against him. If he's stuck with her, he's stuck with her, but for the love of God don't go out of your way to insure it!
I dunno. Were I him and were I a really quick thinker, I would've chosen her second, too. Which would be worse:
1) Get stuck with an Omarosa who was also the last person picked and who would therefore have a petty and obnoxious and oh-so-fourth-grade reason to be resentful and vengeful toward you; or
2) Get stuck with an Omarosa who got picked before her rival Heidi and therefore would have a motive to suck up to you?

Neither is a great choice; but I'd go for door number 2. Coincidentally or not, that's the choice Kwame made: he had to pick her, but he didn't have to pick her last and engender resentment.

Daniel
 

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