The Apprentice LA

So does anybody still watch The Apprentice?

I've been watching it, but have been somewhat disappointed. Last night, I heaved a deep sigh and said, "I wish this was like it used to be: a little less game show and a little more job interview." The Apprentice was unique because it was all about the job, and less about reality/game show. Donald Trump wasn't letting producers tell him what to do or how to do it. Now it's just gotten out of hand.

The losing team has to sleep, cook and bathe outdoors while the winning team stays in this glamourous mansion. They are constantly moving back and forth, and weather conditions aren't exactly conducive to a good night's sleep for a productive work day.

The challenges have been somewhat bizarre, and the winning team's project manager remains the project manager on the next task. In fact, they remain PM until they lost a task. The losing team gets to pick a new PM. I don't like it - and I don't think it's a good way for Trump to know what his applicants' skills are.

This bizarre game has caused a tribal element to each team. There wasn't any corporate re-shuffling until a couple weeks ago, when one person (Surya) was asked to move from one team to the other. He went over to the losing team (who hadn't won a single task) who had developed this tribal element. They immediately didn't like him because he was an outsider, and began to pick on him in the most elementary of ways. It has progressively gotten worse, until he was fired last night. During the board room, he suggested he should step down and let someone else be PM, bc the team would work better that way. That's what caused him to get fired, not his performance. (The team began winning when Surya came over and became PM.) Trump and Bill Rancic (who was his 'eyes and ears' on this task) were totally calling out this team for picking on Surya.

It was at the very end of the episode that one of the other teammates began to recognize that it wasn't all about Surya being annoying, and that they weren't being fair. (And trust me, he is annoying, but he's a smart guy and a good task manager and worker.) In fact, I swear I almost saw a tear come out of this guy's eye at the end. I said to myself, "I don't want to be mean, but I hope this team watches this episode and is appalled at their behavior." It was like junior high male "pick out the guy we don't like and publicly tear him apart." Another good word for Surya is he handled all that pressure unbelievably well. For the most part, he ignored it and was still able to function quite well within the group.

You go, Surya, for being the bigger man and letting these fools' true colors come out on national television. =)