The outcome of the final episode of The Apprentice was what I wanted and what most people expected after last week: Kendra got hired. The process of getting to those two little words, however was nothing short of excruciating. Geez. It was worse than sitting through Ryan Seacrest's meaningless babble on American Idol to get to Bo Bice. Usually we DVR Idol so we can fast forward past the commercials and Ryan's blathering, and I try to do the same with The Apprentice. It cuts greatly back on my viewing time to eliminate the commercials and filler crap.
Unfortunately, tonight I was watching The Apprentice in the emergency room, where I had to take my son because he impaled his foot on a shard of glass. That's how dedicated I am folks - for you I sat through all the fluff permeating the final episode, while sitting in an ass-numbing emergency room chair, just so I could serve you. I'm a giver that way.
I found the set design annoying to no end. They had it set up like a courtroom, with Trump, Carolyn, and George, and Season One and Two apprentices Bill and Kelly, up on the dais like a group of capitalist justices. Over in the jury boxes sat the other members of Tana and Kendra's team, ready to sit in judgement. There was the live audience, laughing, cheering and clapping so mechanically they might have been driven by cue cards. And there were the commercials. The endless commercials, that seemed to come every two minutes.
Tana was defensive and edgy through the entire episode. Clearly, she knew that she was going into the finale as the longshot. Trump immediately attacked her for her treatment of her teammates last week. I think what really hurt her on this is that she didn't really accept responsibility for it. Oh, sure, she admitted she made a mistake in talking about them like that, but it lacked sincerity.
For one thing, she tried to make it sound like she was only berating them at the beginning, based on their past performance, when she was bad-mouthing right up until the end, when she snuck out the building after them. She was still bad-mouthing them in the Boardroom, for pete's sake!She tried to downplay her sneaky exit after her event, claiming that she just left after them because they could afford a limo and she couldn't. The other stupid thing she did was to claim that it was just a misunderstood sense of humor that nobody got.
She did apologize to her team later, sure - after she realized their feedback was going to be crucial to her success. Kendra, no doubt, realized this all along, but even so I never got the sense that she was playing nice with her team to manipulate them into liking them. She understood that she needed them to succeed, she managed them adroitly, and she was genuinely touched at the kind things they had to say about her. Kendra shone with sincerity, whereas Tana came across like the popular girl from high-school who plays nicey-nice to your face while she plots to pour pig blood on you at the prom behind your back.
Tana trying to take credit for the Pontiac brochure was the final nail in her coffin, I think. Does she not realize that Trump actually knows everything that went on? Okay, so the circular shape of the brochure was her idea. Big deal. Her manic excitement in trying to take credit for the success of that whole project because of the circular shape bordered on the ridiculous. Kendra stayed calm, pointing out that there were many elements to the brochure - the photo choices, the color choices, the writing - that made it work, not just the shape.
What I wanted to see was Kendra bitch-slap Tana right there in front of everyone. She should have been more assertive, pointing out that it was her idea to take advantage of the photo shoot as an opportunity to glean marketing ideas from the crowd gathering to watch the shoot. Kendra understood that the decision to purchase a car like the Pontiac Solstice is an emotional one, and she focused on finding out what people's gut emotional reaction was to the car. Tana and Craig never understood what she was doing, not for a second. They did not "get" it, Kendra did, and it was the context of the brochure, the way that Kendra pulled together the emotional responses of real people to the car into the brochure, that wowed the folks at Pontiac. The shape was a nice touch, but it was like a cherry on top of a banana split.
However, I have to say the way Kendra played it was smarter. She knew that the single biggest black mark against Tana was the way she treated her team last week. So rather than lay out Tana's failings, she gave her credit for the shape of the brochure while still pointing out her own contribution. When Trump asked her why she let Tana and Craig take credit for her work, she replied that when they were in front of the Pontiac folks, it was important to look like a unified team focused on the project - that in business you don't air your team's dirty laundry in front of the client. It's unprofessional. Trump clearly liked her answer.
Kendra wasn't intimidated by Trump, either. When he brought up her crying in the board room last week, she got all up in his grill. "It was an emotional moment with my team," she shot back. "I've seen 300 pound linebackers holding up the Super Bowl trophy with tears streaming down their faces." The audience roared and applauded her, and Trump had to concede that one to Kendra.
Trump revealed what the two job choices for the winner were: running the Miss Universe pageant, or overseeing the renovation of his $100,000,000 Trump Mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. Tana picked the pageant, Kendra, naturally, picked the Mansion gig. Trump interestingly, seemed a little miffed that Tana preferred the beauty pageant to his Mansion. The Mansion is in Florida, Kendra's home turf, and it's in real estate, her field of expertise. It's almost as if Trump chose that particular job knowing that Kendra was going to be his hire.
Trump was surprised that Tana's team didn't nail her to the wall and frankly, so was I. I wanted to see them crucify her for her shabby treatment of them, but all we got to hear was Chris, being much nicer than one would expect him to be, politely saying he was "bothered" when he saw the tapes of how Tana talked about her team, and that he personally thought Kendra was a better choice. When Tana attacked him, saying he'd never even worked with Kendra, he shot back that he lived with Kendra in the Tower and that they were working on some stuff "outside the boardroom", which a blushing Kendra quickly clarified was about real estate in Las Vegas, not any Apprentice hanky-panky.
As much as I like Kendra, and as much as I'd far prefer to work with her than Tana myself, I have to say that as much as Kendra won The Apprentice, Tana lost it for herself. She had been a consistently strong performer throughout the process - stronger than Kendra, overall. She had the likeability factor going for her - everyone thought she was nice, even Carolyn. Quite simply, Tana blew it for herself on the final task with the way she treated her team. All Kendra had to do after that was hit a home run with her own task, which she did. Kendra deserved to hear "You're hired", and Tana deserved to go home to Iowa.
Kendra's new job is perfectly suited to her talents, and I have no doubt that she will excel in her new job. The show ended, most fittingly, with Kendra driving off in her shiny new Pontiac Solstice, the car for which she designed her awesome brochure. Now we just have to sit back and wait for fall, which will bring us Season Four of The Apprentice and the new Martha Stewart Apprentice show and, or so Trump says - the Broadway musical version of The Apprentice. Wow. Not sure about that one.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Dan said...
My only observation on this is that those were 2 very "girly" jobs that trump offered. There was no golf club, billion dollar development, giant office tower..... It was a "dog with fleas" pageant and HGTV home reno.
D
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Man said...
Tana reminded me of a stage mom that everyone's annoyed with but her children can't see why. That's why her team didn't slaughter her. Kendra on the other hand was prettier, while muting the Tv and not thinking of how anyone performed just looking at them side by side Trump would pick Kendra.
I say this not being shallow but my hospital experience interfered with my shows, some woman walked into the ER across the street of my place claiming to be infected with anthrax it was on the news on all NYC channels and I was trying to be all ghetto and jump in front of live feeds.
Trump was right though picking a failing, low-rated venture like the Miss Universe pageant is just dumb. Picking what to work on was the last test.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Guido said...
I think the pressure really got to Tana over the last few weeks and last night was the pinnacle. The blowup over the shape of the brochure was just unreal and childish, especially when you consider it was that task where she *quit* on Kendara and went home, while Kendra pulled the whole thing together.
To say she was "joking" and it was her sense of humor the way she treated her team was just ridiculous. She can't think everyone is really that stupid, here treatment of the team was very accurately portrayed. Bottomline is her image was very tarnished the last couple weeks, or "crunch time" as Trump puts it. Out of the 2 Kendra has more raw potential for the future. Tana I think has reached her peak and in reality is probably better off losing and going back to being her only employee.
As for the "girlie" task, I disagee. The manison project is huge, especially if it turns into Marilogo II. That place could be worth a Billlion dollars when it's done. Although I will agree the Miss Universe task was a bit dumb, not to mention extemely hectic.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Ed said...
It appeared that Trump picked projects that were tailored to the 2 women. It made me start wondering if he's been doing this all along. Bill from Apprentice 1 gets to work on his home turf, too.
I think it's a smart move, giving each "Apprentice" winner a job that they're more likely to be successful in.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
B said...
Kim, I just want to thank you for being so dedicated that you sat in an uncomfortable emergency room chair and watched the apprentice for you, while you son was (I imagine) screaming and crying. Not only that, but you've given quite a report about the show. What will you (and the rest of TV Squad, and me) do with all your free-time now that rerun season is upon us?
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Man said...
This is the age of cable, Stargate and sci-fi channels other summer shows from USA, HBO, SHO and on going late night talk shows. Mini-series and movies of the week.
But if you stop watching TV for the summer we wish you and your kids health and happiness in your summer real world adventures.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Erik said...
Kim - Lol, that's classic. It's one of those moments in life when you know you made the dinner table. By that I mean the Dr. went home and told her significant other 'guess what this patient made me do...'. It's clear Tana was way ahead until the last task. The disrespect she showed was beyond something that could save her, even when it was revealed that she did the Pontiac design, something nobody seemed to know.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Mary Beth said...
I was extremely disappointed in the options presented to the ladies. After a while though, I kind of wonder if at some point they were surveyed with a question along the lines of, "if you could choose your apprenticeship which would you choose?" and the companies were listed, and then selected.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Mary Beth said...
I was extremely disappointed in the options presented to the ladies. After a while though, I kind of wonder if at some point they were surveyed with a question along the lines of, "if you could choose your apprenticeship which would you choose?" and the companies were listed, and then selected.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Tu said...
Good analysis. I couldn't have said it better. I'm baffled at other analysis saying Tana was the better choice.
One thing that bothers me is that everyone said Kendra flew under the radar. But, she was active and made key moves that secured her teams victory in many early episodes. After Jon got fire, I picked Kendra to win because she was so obviously involved in making good decisions.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
KJ said...
Woah, two very different women:
1) Class vs Tack
Kendra takes responsibility for her mistake (ie when she let Craig down during the Home Depot task). Tana seems to always blame everything on her team and avoids taking any responsibility.
Kendra could have also easily stomped Tana during her "moment of glory", but opted not to.
2) Witty vs Obnoxious
I loved Kendra's responses during the finale (ie"300 pound linebackers" comment)
Let's forget about the final task for a moment. I think Tana is better at managing people (perhaps due to her experience), but Kendra definitely has the more innovative ideas.
Final task:
In this task (and during the Beddazzler task), Tana showed that she was completely out of place. During the Bedazzler task, she failed to see the bigger picture and concentrated on the stupidest thing. She blamed Alex for the marketing, or lack thereof.
In the final task, she showed that she could NOT delegate properly during projects of larger magnitudes.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
turbo said...
I disagree that the final job choices were tailored for women--if the finalists had been guys (or even one of them), the Miss Universe pagent gig would have gotten a totally different reaction from the reviewers! And a choice having to do with real estate is also a no brainer--Trump is, after all, in real estate! The other project choices for previous finalists were also real estate related. Just my thoughts.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
turbo said...
I disagree that the final job choices were tailored for women--if the finalists had been guys (or even one of them), the Miss Universe pagent gig would have gotten a totally different reaction from the reviewers! And a choice having to do with real estate is also a no brainer--Trump is, after all, in real estate! The other project choices for previous finalists were also real estate related. Just my thoughts.
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Ally said...
What a great review! Thank you for taking your time and watching it. I agree with most of it and couldn't say it better.
The only couple of things I didn't quite agree with: 1)I don't believe Tana was a favorite going into the final episode. I think Tana's chances started going down from the Pontiac brochure episode, especially considering Trump's comments about all-nighters. I noticed Kendra during the first episode when she disagreed with the group and defended Danny; then was impressed with her performance during mini-golf task. I thought she was a strong contender ever since her first win as a PM.
2) Task choices. I would've agreed if Bill and Kelly were actually doing what they were supposedly hired to do. But according to the Newsweek article, neither of them is really in charge of construction. So, I believe (actually hope) that in Kendra's case, she may end up with more responsibilities than either Bill or Kelly because unlike them she has expertise in the area.
At any rate, this is a great article!
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6-16-2005 @ 4:19PM
Stuart Fanning said...
Going into the live Finale there was no way that Tana could have won. She must have realised this from watching the episodes on TV. All she did was a damage limitation exercise and hope that Kendra did something to blow it. Trump told Larry King, a couple of days before the Finale, that he knew who he was going to hire. The Finale itself, because of all this, was a damp squib.
Stuart, Epsom, England
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9-13-2005 @ 8:21PM
Kim Voynar said...
Actually, my son fell asleep in the waiting room and never woke up, even when they xrayed him. I think the doctor got annoyed with me, though, when she walked in just as Trump was getting to announcing the winner, and I made her wait until he was done before I would talk to her. :-)
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9-19-2005 @ 5:25PM
ds said...
I don't think Kendra was that much under the radar. I think Trump knew that he had to ad a little drama to the finale so he picked on that (Kendra did everything right except for that). She was basically a silent contributor, but still an important one (marketing during pizza/mini-golf task, negotiating during motel task)
I disagree with the "girlie" task comment too. The Mansion task is HUGE. It's currently worth 100 million dollars (thats what Kendra said during Leno). Bill and Kelly's project were definitely bigger, but they probably have the same amount of responsibilities.
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