No one is fired in the love fest in the Apprentice boardroom

I’m completely befuddled with tonight’s episode of The Apprentice. I should have realized something was up when at 10:40 we were still watching footage of this week’s task – to write, direct, and produce a 60 second theatrical commercial for Renuzit Air Freshener.

The remaining four contestants – Stephanie, James, Frank and Nicole – were invited to a cocktail party to meet the previous winners of The Apprentice. After some chit chat and schmoozing, the contestants are told to pair up and then had 30 seconds to pick two eliminated candidates to return to help with this task. Stephanie and James pick Aaron and Angela, while Frank and Nicole pick Surya and Tim (big surprise there).

Both commercials were pretty good, but I think that James and Stephanie had a slight edge with their courtroom drama type commercial. Frank and Stephanie did a “day in the life” of a working mom, with half of the commercial having her in a hospital room with her injured son. James was right when he said any parent is not going to find humor in a child being injured. I thought that Trump would give them lower marks for not having a consistent theme – having the working mother in the office or in the hospital, but not both.

In the boardroom it was almost a lovefest. Trump tells the candidates that they are the crème de la crème, that they are all stars, and that they should pack up their belongings and go home, because he is going to pick from these four contestants live on television next week. What the hell is that all about? Where is the crazy final task that tests every last skill and nerve of the contestants to see who truly has what it takes to work for The Donald? I want to see more competition, more tasks. I don’t want to see a lovefest.

Who’s going to be the next Apprentice? Trump has made it obvious that he likes Frank’s attitude and spirit (and Don Jr. also likes him). He has also made it clear that he thought Stephanie was originally the dark horse, coming on really strong as the competition comes to an end. I don’t think Nicole has what it takes when you look at her compared to the other three contestants. Not that she isn’t a highly qualified individual, just that when put head to head with the other remaining contestants she would rank lowest. From there I would put James, then Stephanie, with Frank winning the title of Apprentice.

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