'The Apprentice 6: L.A.' - Ep. 6 -or- "The Corporate Octopus"

Yes, it sure is the corporate world, although some of these candidates (and often Trump himself) exhibit behavior not fitting of the arena.

Oh, but tonight's show certainly contained some of the elements I've experienced as folks try to crawl to the top of the corporate ladder over the dead bodies of their co-workers. Cat fights, office romances, backstabbing, and eye-rolling. I know I sound cynical, perhaps a bit jaded. But I am. I'm better behind a computer than playing office politics.

The show opened with Arrow awaiting the return of those not fired in the boardroom from last week's show. Frank and company went on and on that if Surya wasn't fired (they thought he should be), then he must be made Project Manager and "step up." Meanwhile Surya (who wasn't fired) was telling Trump he wanted to step up his game and, when he returned to Tent City, he insisted on being Project Manager. So, around it goes. Aimee was still the PM for Kinetics as her team won its last task, no thanks to her leadership from what I saw.

Donald Trump once again was off jetting around and left the teams to be observed by bigwigs from the company involved in the task. This time around, the task itself looked like it could be fun and challenging at the same time. The teams had to promote a Priceline.com sweepstakes in a shopping mall. Whichever team had the most sign-ups wins. It sounds pretty easy to me!

At Arrow, Surya, who really gets way into the analytics of things, did his thing while Frank and James passed around a caricature of him. Yes, I do agree with them that he can be a bit too intense. But I also think Frank can be too much of a clown and, while he hasn't said "at the end of the day" in the past two episodes, he's now referring to himself in the third person. "Frankie likes that!" He's beginning to remind me of the annoying character Bob in the Becker series.

At Kinetic, Aimee was boasting how she had learned from her errors in the past. She started delegating away not even realizing that some of her delegation had one person in two places. [Insert a lot of eye-rolling from her team here.] She's not a good leader. I see it. They see it. She doesn't see it -- she thinks she's driven, passionate, enthusiastic... but where is her leadership?

At the mall, Kinetic belated realized that most of the customers didn't speak English and suffered for it in their sales. They had two team members, Derek and Muna, who spoke Spanish. But had they noticed before it was too late, they had plenty of money to hire translators. Instead of focusing on anything important, it looked like Aimee's only corporate decision was the fact she didn't like a little pink inflated octopus on the counter. [Insert my own eye-rolling here.]

Surya wasn't a heck of a lot better as he wandered the mall not getting results when he should have been manning his counter. His team members noticed his absence and it certainly did nothing to endear him with them.

Before the initial boardroom, the two Priceline Bigwigs told Trump that the ones they noticed in a good light were Derek, Muna, and Frank. To Frank's credit, he did sell well. Arrow won the right to move back into the mansion with 359 sign-ups against Kinetic's 326. Did Arrow credit Surya for the win? Nope. Did Surya credit himself for the win? Yes, but he also mentioned teamwork.

Arrow's prize was surfing lessons (oh, wow) and brunch at Gladstone's in Malibu. Alas, poor Nicole got stung by a jellyfish and her knight in shining armor, Tim, accompanied her to the doctor's office. So, both of them missed the brunch. Later they would smooch in the pool. Yes, it all sounds like an office romance to me!

Don Junior (The Trumpling) sat in the boardroom with Surya and the Big Donald. So much for Sean Yazbeck or someone un-Trump. The big boardroom turned out to be a bit of a cat fight as Aimee's whole team (rightfully) turned on her lack of leadership in the task. She chose to bring Jenn and Derek into the boardroom blaming them for her not realizing that most of the customers in the mall didn't speak English. Oh, geez. How could she not tell? Oh, wait... she was too wrapped up in wondering if they should have a committee to decide if the inflated octopus should be banished.

With little other choice, "Aimee, you're fired."

I still say, "Trump, step up. Your show is sinking. New York, no candidates living in tents, no need for candidates to be in bathing suits for a serious corporate job, bring back the business lessons."

Do you think he'll listen to me?