Jason Hasselkus

This Sunday April 22nd we will have our new Apprentice. Trump is going to make his decision “Live” from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles California. Are you excited? I sure am, and here’s why. Everything I thought would take place in last weeks show didn’t. I had said before that Stefani is the heads and tails favorite, but I may have been wrong. Yup you heard it here first, I’m admitting I “might” be wrong. Here’s why.
The foursome has the opportunity to get together with the previous winners of The Apprentice (Bill couldn’t make it, he was called away to business), and quiz them on how they felt at this point in the game. During that discussion, Kelly (Season 2 winner) announces that the teams (Stefani & James, Nicole & Frank) have 30 seconds to figure out what two persons they would like to bring back to help them work on their next assignment. Nicole and Frank bring back Tim (of course) and Surya, which is kind of a surprise because Frank didn’t like him at all. On the other side Stefani and James bring back Angela and Aaron. Interesting because both of these players never worked with Angela before.
The task this week is for each team to write, direct, and produce a “mini movie” for Renuzit Air Freshener. A Renuzit executive and the chief creative officer for their marketing firm will advise Trump on their creations. So without question you know what Stefani and James are going to do right? You guessed it; they are going to do a court room drama. The charge is a guy who’s been “stinking up the family home”. Funny but not hilarious, and there are plenty of product shots in the commercial. Not much exciting happened during the filming besides James being a perfectionist and wanting every take to be perfect, which causes them to miss a few shots. Stefani on the other hand is the drill sergeant that keeps James moving right along. In the end, their movies turns out pretty good and as usual Stefani gives a great presentation to the audience at the AMC movie theater where they deliver the mini movie to an audience and the Renuzit executives.
Then there is the two dysfunctional members of Arrow, Nicole and Frank. They decide to shoot their commercial with a hospital setting. Probably not the best location for a product that you use at home. However, to break up the morbid setting of a hospital, they add some comedy with nice one liner’s, and a stinky bum laying in one of the beds. Their presentation wasn’t that great, but people did laugh at their ad. The Renuzit executives seemed to laugh as well, so it couldn’t have been all that bad.
In the end the feedback the exec. give Trump is that Stefani and James worked well together and everything seemed to be smooth, while they said that Nicole and Frank seemed to be a little confused and disconnected at times. In the board room, Trump asks the previously fired employees what their impressions of their team members were and everyone responds positively. So Trump then tells them to go back and pack and meet him in one week at the Hollywood Bowl were the next Apprentice will be chosen Live.
So who’s going to be the winner? It’s anyone’s guess at this point. I still think through it all Stefani is the strongest candidate, but her and James video was so unimaginative, and Nicole and Frank but a lot of creativity into theirs. But I think the bigger question is this? How many Apprentices is he going to choose? My feeling is that he chooses two and that ends up being Stefani and Frank. Here’s my rational behind such a statement; Trump needs Frank to run some of his construction jobs, while he needs Stefani for her ability to present and manage. Why else would he be bringing back four people to the finals instead of just two? The person I am the most split about is Frank. He’s a snake and will undercut just about anyone. I’m sure if his own kid was playing against him he would throw them under the bus, just like he did to everyone else. Like Trump said, he’s a fighter, that’s for sure and Trump likes to take chances, so Frank might be a good fit.
I’m still gonna stick with Stefani though as my choice, hopefully if he chooses two she’s one of them and I end up only being at worse 50% wrong. Do I have any takers on Stefani being the winner?