The Apprentice

NBC has announced the sixth season of The Apprentice will start on my birthday (January 7th). What a bummer for me, because I will be vacationing in Florida. I might miss the season opener…

The season opener will be a 90 minute special Sunday, January 7 at 9:30PM ET/PT. It will be airing regularly in the same time slot as Desparate Housewives (another bummer).

Anyway, to learn more about Season 6 of The Apprenitce you can visit NBC.COM.

Carolyn Kepcher, who was recently fired by Donald Trump was hired yesterday by Microsoft. Carolyn will be working as a judge for a new contest Microsoft is running called “Ultimate Challenge”.

The goal of the “Ultimate Challenge” contest is to find the best business idea in the country. The winner will get $100,000 for the business, free retail space in Manhattan, and software to help start up their business.

Details of the contest can be found here.

I will miss Carolyn next year on the Apprentice, but it’s good to hear that she found something new to work on.

How many times has Carolyn Kepcher blithely agreed with Donald Trump’s decision to fire an Apprentice candidate?  It looks like now she knows how that feels.  Trump’s company has confirmed that Carolyn has been “let go”.  My guess is she’ll have no problem with income or with getting another job, if she wants one.

Former Season 4 Apprentice candidate Jennifer Murphy married Extreme Makeover dentist Dr. Bill Dorfman last Friday night. Their wedding was at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. More details can be found at People magazine.

I don’t remember much about Jennifer except that she got fired in the boardroom when Donald Trump decided to fire 4 people at the same time, because of how horrible the loss was.

Anyway, congratulations to the newlyweds! May they have a long, wonderful, and blessed marriage.

Donald Trump announced that he is starting up a new hollywood production company to produce a monopoly style reality tv show, where contestants try to become rich by developing real estate and at the same time causing other contestants to go bankrupt. You can read about it here.

Donald has hired Andy Litinsky, who was “fired” from the Season 2 Apprentice.

It sounds like an interesting reality show, but I am not sure I like the whole idea of making other contestants go bankrupt.

Anyway, you can read more here.

Season 2’s winner of the Apprentice, Kelly Perdew, is starting a subdivision in Montana. It seems there is some controversy around the project, because of the archeological and historic significance of the land. He intends to keep from developing parts of the land that are historically significant, but not all locals are happy about it.

You can read the full story here.

There’s another interesting interview with Lee posted here that goes into more of his decisions regarding religious practice and the show.

According to an interview with Lee on the Orthodox Apprentice blog:

Right after the show, Mr. Trump asked me to come over, and he told me to give him a call this week so we can meet up and talk about “being hired” by the Trump Organization. It feels great for my work to be validated by Mr. Trump. I started this whole thing so that I could learn from Mr. Trump and further my career. Even though I was the runner up, my goal can still be accomplished.

I for one think this is great news for Lee. Lee was very impressive for being so young. He and Sean are both extremely talented business people and if I were Donald Trump I would certainly try to hire both of them. We will keep you updated and let you know if Lee gets hired.

I know this recap is a little late, but better late than never…

I really liked both Sean and Lee. In fact, I was hoping Donald would hire both of them.

Anyway, in the finale the big question everyone was wondering was,

“What was wrong with Andrea?”

It turned out she had a nose bleed. She came back to the team and that really helped Sean. Otherwise, I am not sure if things would have worked out as well.

Anyway, on to the task.

Lee’s team had to put on a charity celebrity hockey game for the Denis Leary Firefighters Foundation. The preparation for the event was not good. Lee made the worst mistake an apprentice in the finals can make - He didn’t meet Donald Trump on time when Donald showed up to the event. I was very surprised at how unorganized the event planning was. It was really Lee’s worst performance of the show. You would think with all the celebrities the event could have been much better. In the end, the event turned out ok, but I really think it could have been better. It just lacked creativity.

On the other hand…

Sean’s team had to put on a Pontiac charity concert by the rock group “Barenaked Ladies”. The concert benefited the World Wildlife Fund.

There were a few minor glitches in their preparation, but they put on a great show. Their charity auction went better than Lee’s. Sean met Trump at the top of the building when he arrived via helicopter. Donald Trump made a big entrance by driving onstage in a brand new Pontiac G6 convertible. That was a great way to start the event off and things went smoothly from there. Sean can really thank his team for the great work, because if he had Lee’s team things would not have turned out so well. However, they both chose their teams…

George, Carolyn and Donald all expressed how much they liked both candidates, but in the end Donald said “Lee, you’re fired. Sean, you’re hired.”

I think Trump wanted to hire both of them. I even think he gave Lee a chance to be hired, by asking both of them which project they wanted to run. First he asked Sean (which at the time tipped me off that Sean would win) and then he asked Lee. They both chose the project in New York. If Lee had chosen the project in Hawaii, I think Donald would have offered him the job in Hawaii. Then again, after last year’s fiasco I am not sure if Donald would try that again.

The finale’s business lesson was “Take Credit“. I learned this lesson a long time ago at one of my first jobs out of college. Sometimes other people took credit for my work. It wasn’t often but it did get bothersome. I don’t think taking credit for your own work means foregoing humility. In my case, someone I worked with would take credit for my work. So I made sure to let other people know what I did at the same time or before letting that person know. That way, I got credit for the work I did.

That said, I believe that giving credit where credit is due is actually much more important than taking credit for your own accomplishments. I wrote about this a little bit in the business lesson titled “Watch Your Back“. I have found that when you give credit to others, they in turn will make an effort to give you credit for your efforts.

Well, that’s the last business tip for Season 5 of the Apprentice.

Sean!

Recap to come soon.

The Apprentice Finale is on tonight. Woohoo. Just like last year I would be happy with either candidate winning. During the season I really thought it was likely that I wouldn’t like either finalist. Somehow Trump managed to wind up with two really strong candidates in the end.

It seemed like last week Lee might be relying on Lenny too much. Lee is a really good leader, but I think his loyalty and respect for Lenny may hurt him in this finale.

I really like Sean, and expect him to win the Apprentice. I don’t think Sean would balk at Trump offering both him and Lee the chance to be part of the Trump organization. I kind of hope that is the way things work out, because I really like both of them.

Time will tell…

Bear with me for a minute, but I’m going to have to take a moment to do a bit of promotion.  Do you see the telescope at the top of this page?  Yes, it’s an ad.  What’s it an ad for?  Well, obviously Trump University.  What is Trump University?  You could just click on the ad and see, but maybe you don’t really want to because you don’t know how it would benefit you.

So, let me tell you a bit about what’s there.  There’s a Trump blog.  See what Trump and his advisors think about the world of business.  There are classes.  You can sign up to take classes in management, real estate, and other areas of business where Trump has excelled. 

There are also self-assessments.  My husband is planning on taking one of the assessments on whether he has what it takes to be an entrepreneur.  I’ll update you after he takes it and let you know whether he thinks it’s worth the money  

Some of the content on the website is free.  Much of it costs money.  But some of it may well make you money or save you money.  So, click on the telescope, head on over there, and see if there’s anything that would benefit you.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, yes, we make money off of any purchases that people make if they click through from our site–  not as much as Trump, but hopefully enough to pay for the site  

I thought that Sean and Lee could expect a visit from The Donald tonight.  But, instead, they were both summoned to the boardroom.  Neither one really wanted to go to the boardroom, and they were confused about what to expect.  Of course, being the fashionistas that they are, they both had to get dressed in suits and ties to make an appearance.  Neither one seems the type to show up in sweats or pajamas.  Once they were in the boardroom, Donald Trump broke the news that they were the final two.  He gave them instructions to return to the loft and pick a team of three for the upcoming challenge.

When they arrived back upstairs, all the previously fired contestants were waiting for them.  A whirlwind round of interviews followed.  Sean immediately picked Tammy (now, there’s a surprise) and Andrea.  Tarek approached him about being on his team, as well.  Before finalizing things, Sean did finish speaking to the rest of the contestants. 

Lee, of course, gravitated immediately to Lenny.  It was a bit odd that he basically allowed Lenny to dictate his team.  I understand the bond the two have and how loyal they are to one another, but I really felt like Lee came off as a bit weak.

After interviewing everyone, Sean and Lee announced their teams.  Sean chose Tammy, Andrea, and Tarek.  Lee chose Lenny, Roxanne, and Pepe.  Pepe, I can hear you saying–  who’s Pepe?  You know, the guy who was fired the first week.  Nothing against Pepe, but Caroline and Donald Trump couldn’t even remember who he was.  But Lenny really recommended that Lee choose him.

The next morning, the new teams met downstairs in the boardroom.  Donald gave the project leaders the choice of two charity events.  In the first one, the teams would be working with a Bare Naked Ladies concert and Pontiac to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.  In the second, they would be working with Pontiac to put on a celebrity hockey tournament to raise money for Denis Leary’s group that supports firefighters, The Leary Firefighters Foundation.  Initially, both wanted the World Wildlife Fund gig, but Lee quickly gave in and let Sean have it. 

Sean headed to the Taj Mahal casino with his team and really looked great–  very organized and on top of things.  He made use of Andrea’s strengths organizing things and allowed Tarek to interact with others.  I’m not sure what Tammy was supposed to be doing, but she sure is cute   My confidence waned a bit when Sean chose to go with Tammy to meet with the caterers, instead of meeting with the executive from Pontiac, who was the main sponsor, but overall I think he was doing a really stellar job.  Things were going along pretty smoothly until Andrea started coughing up blood and bleeding from her nose.  The show ended with her headed off to the doctor’s office, really freaked out.

Meanwhile, Lee took his team to meet with the executive from Denis Leary’s foundation. They seemed a little lost, as though they were expecting her to dictate what kind of ideas they should have. Unfortunately, Lenny is the only one in the group who is truly a leader, and he’s Lenny. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night for Lee. He seemed overwhelmed by the task. He seemed confused. He seemed uninspired.

Unless Sean completely blows it making googley eyes at Tammy, I think this is his to lose.

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donald trump donald-trump TV Reality TV Television the apprentice the-apprentice

I’ll get to the recap, but I have to admit after tonight’s show I’m most concerned about what’s wrong with Andrea.  So, I’ve consulted two of my favorite medical professionals:  Dr. Yahoo and Dr. Google.  And I have a guess.  I think it is false hemoptysis.  Basically, that means that she has a posterior nosebleed (which drains down her throat, instead of out her nose) and is coughing up the blood that is draining down her throat.  Gross, I know, but definitely preferable to tuberculosis or lung cancer, which are some of the other possibilities.