The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Episode 4 MVP and LVP – Lord of the Bees by Jennifer McBride -- 02/16/2007 Two episodes ago Jennifer blasted Heidi for letting too many of her teammates wander around during their task. But this week, both Project Managers did plenty of wandering themselves. Is that enough to brand either Aimee or Aaron the LVP? Or does someone else deserve it more? Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Aaron went from A-list to taxicab in a few unflattering minutes. Where was your spunk, Aaron, my love? You were willing to step up to lead when Trump called for leaders, but all that oomph seemed to vanish this episode. It was an implosion of magnificent proportions for a guy who seemed like he had the guts to go far. Both teams this week performed horribly. Watching The Apprentice was almost like watching a certain Superbowl game - only without the Colts. I wonder if Trump realizes that he’s become a caricature of himself. “You will harvest… THE HONEY.” “You will bottle… THE HONEY.” “You will sell… THE HONEY.” I wonder if he keeps the same rhythm when it comes the dirty talking with his lovely wife? He reminds me of a high school cheerleader, the way he likes to gossip about relationships in the Boardroom. I tip my hat to people who have obviously realized that they are no longer in high school. Team Thinker, perhaps because they thought they were coming back to the tents, left their dishes sparkling clean. Team Thinker Both teams thought they were going to lose this week, and there was some good reason. I never thought that Aimee’s NBC nickname, “The Thinker,” could actually be a backhanded slap in the face. Her role this episode was to sit like a prettily carved boulder with her hand on her chin. I can understand wanting to clear things for her team, but what was she doing for four hours? She should have had a name and some plans all mapped out when the team came back from their bee hunt. Did I hear correctly that she hadn’t even decided on a price point before she got in the store? Next time, delegate important PM duties like “watching the cart” and “making coffee.” In the boardroom, Aimee proved to show a tigerlikeness that we didn’t see on film during the task. While she probably shone better in Trump’s eyes for her enthusiastic stick-it-to-‘em attitude, her blatant protection of Surya probably made her advice worthless in Trump’s eyes. If Aimee, miracles of miracles, gets propelled to Trump’s side next week, she should really consider looking up “subtlety” in a dictionary. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Thinker stepped up to the plate. Somewhere, Marisa is watching Derek’s performance and saying, “SEE? SEE? Chicken suits are where it’s at!” In this case, I think Derek’s use of a bee costume was appropriate for the task. Dressing up in a chicken costume on the highway probably isn’t going to pull in many sales, but having a person dressed as a beekeeper’s suit (oddly enough, more rare than a chicken suit) going person to person in a place where said people are already buying things and might miss the honey otherwise is much more likely to generate sales -therefore, less stupid. I wouldn’t be surprised if the $70 difference came from pity purchases for a man who looked like he walked out of a sweltering biological weapons lab. Derek also won some points for negotiating some protection between Surya and Aimee. Was he doing it just because Surya was a friend? If that’s true, he should consider picking up a can of killer instinct. Friend or no friend, if Surya’s strong competition, feel free to try and throw him under the bus. If he’d prefer to face Surya’s weaknesses than some unknown’s weaknesses when it comes to a Boardroom showdown, then Derek earns some bravos for his subtle tactics. Whatever Aimee’s claims of being fair, Derek sure made her dance to his tune. In other news, Muna’s work ethic made me ashamed to be a blonde. Go, chick, go! Angela did do an okay job representing the blondes. Way to use your assets, girlfriend! And for once, “assets” mean something else on the show besides breasts. If I were Angela, I’d wear my gold medal out on tasks and offer to let people touch it if they bought my stuff. On another interesting note, the winning team still had their honey uniforms on in the boardroom. Maybe a yellow shirt would have helped Arrow sell more. Team Adaptor Aaron doesn’t like sales? He had seen this show, hasn’t he? Not chiming in during the Boardroom is actually not a cardinal sin, in my book. Certainly, it’s a sin, but not one of the seven deadlies. Trump’s hard to interrupt - he loves to listen too much to the off-key quacking of his own voice. Additionally, Arrow only beat Kinetic once, so Aaron probably knew that he didn’t have much room to criticize the other team considering the “skin of his ass” got handed to him so many weeks before. Oh well, Aaron. You’re better off not dealing on a daily basis with this loudmouth and his pet toupee. Come down to my place and we can not talk all night long. Feel free to leave your armpit hair behind at the door. Oddly enough, from the footage, I thought Adaptor had this one hands down. People buy more when the person selling is having fun, and this team did give service with a smile. Stefani, Frank, and James looked like they were firing on all cylinders when it came to sales. I suppose, then, the difficulty was foot traffic. My guess is that it might have been a location problem. They could have and should have signs advertising, but how many people see a “ONE-DAY ALL-OUT HONEY SALE!!!!” banner and think, oh man, I gots to get me some of that? Considering the show’s experience with Kinko’s, however, Aaron should have known he needed to delegate the job of marketing. Since we never saw him actually do it on camera, it’s a good guess that he never made who was doing what precisely clear. I think that sending two people out to manage bulk sales was a bad idea. One could have done the job if it needed doing at all. It’s not like buying today’s lunch - buying honey in bulk to sell to customers is a whole different shindig that could be stepping on other people’s vendor contracts. Sending Tim out to be a door-to-door honey salesman would probably have the exact same effect - zilch. Nice try, though. If Surya left his accustomed spot to “help” someone who didn’t need his help, then he should be prepared for a quick and unceremonious exit. It sounds like Trump doesn’t like him so much if he only got away despite Trump’s frustration with Aaron’s reserve. Frank and Tim cracked me up. They made a sticky, close second to Lucy and Ethel in terms of entertainment value. I think I understand some of Frank’s loudness. Did you see how often he talked when he was helping with the bees? I blabber when I get nervous, too, my friend. Tim also did a good job schmoozing Trump in the Boardroom with his coy responses to his plans with Nicole. Turning the questions back on Trump was nothing short of brilliant. He gave Trump the chance to talk about the subject while projecting the illusion that he actually cared. James also turned Surya’s market talk into entertainment without being directly insulting. Less entertaining was Surya. When it comes to branding, what does honey have to do with versatility? One day is not enough time to get people to believe in your branding. Getting Aimee on his side was a good idea, as she constantly kept Aaron on the defensive. Next time, Surya is going to have to be more prepared to fight his own battles. So who’s this week’s MVP? Light streaks softly through gummed-up machinery, past the stricken face of Tim to a new holder: DEREK! Finally, you get rewarded for something other than a Shamu impression. You are funny, intelligent, and not very attached to your dignity - all prime prerequisites for being an Apprentice! You would have won for sheer screen time alone this week. You were there unloading boxes, getting stung, and selling. You masterminded the alliance between Aimee and Surya, devaluing both in Trump’s eyes, as he doesn’t much like alliances. I struggle to find your fingers through the fabric of your glove, lifting you up to sit in the chair next to my Reality Television Goddess throne. In close contention for this week’s award was Stefani, for overcoming her fear and attacking the bee boxes with both high heels. She also sold well and became de facto product manager, throwing Aaron into action despite his inclination to sit and pout. On the other side, it would be easy to blame Aaron for his team’s loss, and I do, but I think the person who lost the most cache this week was Aimee. If Derek and the others hadn’t covered for her, her pretty face would be crunching pavement. To top it all off, her antics in the boardroom were over the top. Yes, she didn’t want to make Aaron’s mistake, but she did too little to be that arrogant. Aimee’s hard boardroom efforts guaranteed two ousters: Aaron’s and her own. I predict she will be the first Apprentice wannabe to receive smacks of the Reality Television Goddess’ scepter two weeks in a row, as her bungling leadership next week will lead her to a precipitous exit. Unless things get shuffled, Aimee is about to be buried under a pile of dead fish.