A Dose of Reality: The Apprentice Season 6 - Episode 06: Come Sail Away

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A Dose of Reality: The Apprentice Season 6 - Episode 06: Come Sail Away
by Andrea Maclam
Published: February 20, 2007

It's week six of the toughest, longest job interview on the planet, and so far, no sign of anyone going postal. Last week, we said goodbye to nice guy Aaron, as Surya lashed out about the "lies" that were told in the boardroom.

With an explaination this week, we understand why he was upset (although Aaron wasn't lying, but Surya doesn't see it that way). His thoughts are that they have to go back to the real world after this is over, and continue on with their lives. Any maligning that occurred could have a negative effect on their reputations. For whatever reason, Surya is made Project Manager for the next task.

The teams meet Donald at LAX where he's getting ready for a day trip. With him are the Executive Vice President of Travel Services and the Chief Marketing Officer for Priceline.com. The task is to venture into the malls and promote Priceline's "Name Your Own Price Sweepstakes". The team that has the most sign ups will be declared the winner. Due to Kinetic's win last week, Aimee remained as PM.

Kinetic

Aimee delegated tasks almost immediately. Angela would be responsible for "in store" marketing, with assistance from Muna, who was also given the task of keeping the timelines. It appeared that she was overwhelming a few and underutilizing others. Derek and Jenn met their mall contact for the tour of the facilities. During the tour, it was revealed that the main demographic for the mall, due to it's location, was Hispanic. The team decided that they would be giving out $1000 vouchers every half hour.

Once again, it looked like there was no direction from Aimee at all, as the team decided on a theme, set up the booth, and decorated. Her only input that we saw was to put the kibosh on a 12" inflatable octopus on the top of the booth. In loud Hawaiian shirts, with leis and straw hats, the rest of the team ventured out into the mall to drum up "sales", leaving Muna and Derek at the stand to explain how customers could enter the sweepstakes. It was a good idea, since they were the only two on the team that could speak a word of Spanish.

It appeared to be very difficult for the team, given their lack of leadership and lack of Spanish skills, but they managed to the best of their abilities and had a fairly successful day.

Meanwhile....on the other side of town......

Arrow

Arrow decided on a similar promotion to Kinetic. The idea came from Tim to do draws every twenty minutes. During the marketing meeting, it became clear that Frank wasn't taking Surya seriously, drawing a cartoon of him on a napkin and passing it around as Surya remained oblivious to his teammate's subdued patronizing attitude.

In the mall, they positioned themselves at entranceways, and led customers to their booth. Frank was on fire -- he was friendly, accommodating, and overall charming. Surya disappeared from the team to walk the mall and direct people to their booth. Everyone he met (that they showed on camera) turned him down, and he ACCEPTED that. What kind of sales is that? There's the drive to succeed... ummm... maybe not.

When the promotions were completed, the Priceline executives had praise for Muna, Derek, and Frank. Don Jr. joins Donald to relay the results to the teams. When asked if they thought Aimee was a good project manager, Kinetic was suddenly mute. Surya thinks his team did amazingly well (no thanks to him). The results - Kinetic signed up 329 people, while Arrow signed up 356, sealing the win and moving them back into the mansion. Their reward is a professional surfing lesson from pro-circuit surfers at Santa Monica Beach, and then dinner at Gladstone's. During the lesson, Nicole hurts herself and the team loads her into the van, goading Tim into going with her to take care of her.

At the hospital, while the team is dining in luxury, Nicole is told that it's more than likely that she was stung by a jellyfish. She was amazed, as being from Chicago, she'd never encountered a jellyfish before. Meanwhile, Surya is convinced that he was the reason his team won -- he LED them to victory. Little does he realize that his team has other ideas. Back at the manse, once Tim & Nicole get into the hot tub, the rest of the team bails, leaving them alone, and finally, they kiss (they are so cute together, in my opinion).

In the boardroom the next day, Aimee tries to blame Derek and Jenn for not informing her of the percentage of Hispanics in the mall. However, she is quickly put in her place when both Donald and Surya mention that all she had to do was look around the mall and see. Jenn admits that it might have been a mistake, but if Aimee had been a good leader, she would have noticed immediately that there was a communication problem and hired translators. Derek blurts out that it's all a "red herring" and the team lost due to Aimee's lack of leadership skills, which the rest of the team readily agrees with. Aimee brings Jenn & Derek back to the boardroom with her.

Don Jr. asks Derek why they didn't bring the Spanish population to Aimee's attention. Derek replied that it was obvious to anyone who was paying attention. Aimee admits that she wasn't.

Her lack of leadership, assertiveness and general spacey-ness (my word, no one else's) led Donald to make a quick, but firm decision in firing Aimee.

This was the right decision. She was a lousy PM both weeks, and it was lack of foresight and lack of attention to details that lost this task for the team.

Last week, I commented that I thought Surya would be a great project manager because he would take control, delegate responsibility, and be a vocal presence in the boardroom; and, yes, he was all of these things. But he wasn't a good motivator and, in the end, that's what you need to be.

Like my wishes for Aimee last week (which didn't come true), I hope his team can bail him out next week.

Until then kiddies, I'M OUT.

Past Recaps

Season 6: Episode 01: "It's about the haves and the have nots" | Episode 02: Sun, Sand, Surf and the Boardroom | Episode 03: A Lone Arrow | Episode 04: From Outhouse to Penthouse | Episode 05: You catch more flies with honey...

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