You’re Hired! – Live From New York, It’s The Apprentice 3 Finale by Carrie
The final tasks are complete. We’re down to two candidates, Tana and Kendra; one will be fired and one will be hired. It’s down once again to Book Smarts versus Street Smarts. But most importantly, this Apprentice finale is only an hour long. After last season’s three-hour snooze-fest, this is good news.
We kick things off with a rundown of the season, complete with Trump voiceovers pointing out where Tana and Kendra shone along the way. Tana finished the season with a record of 2-1 as project manager, while Kendra is sitting pretty at 3-0.
The Final Boardroom
“Let’s get to work” says Trump, and we are welcomed to the live finale. The boardroom is set up with Trump, Carolyn and George in their usual spots, flanked on either side by previous winners Bill Rancic (who is still so darned cute!) and Kelly Purdew. Trump jumps right in and tells Tana that he hated the way she treated her teammates on the final task.
Tana tries to defend herself, saying that she knew she was wrong to call them the “Three Stooges”, and that they really came through for her in the end. She explains that she has apologized to all of them for the things she said. Tana feels that she motivated her team and that they came together to help her pull off a great event. She does admit that she made a mistake in cutting them down, and that she will learn from that. Trump tells her that she has an uphill battle here.
Turning to Kendra, Trump says that he hates crying. He wants to know how she justifies her tears in their last boardroom session, when she cried after being asked about her team. Kendra replies that she has seen huge linebackers cry while hoisting the Super Bowl trophy, and that’s how she felt at that moment. She truly did motivate her team, and they surrounded her with support and love.
The Teams Weigh In
Trump asks Kristen what it was like to work with Kendra. Kristen (who is now blonde, by the way) looks confused for a moment, and then says that she never had the chance to work with Kendra. Welcome to live television, Mr. Trump. Kristen goes on to say that she is impressed that Tana was big enough to apologize for her errors, and that some of the athletes who participated in the NYC 2012 event were very impressed with how well it went.
Now it’s over to Erin, because apparently Trump wants to really squash those rumours that he doesn’t like hiring or working with women. At this point I’m a little annoyed – we saw Danny working on the task, and Michael was the champion who set up the PlayStation room and cinched the PS sponsorship for the event. So why are we hearing from Erin, who was almost invisible during the task? Anyway, she says that they had no motivation to do well on the task until Kendra brought them together and made them want to win it for her. She says they weren’t “stooges”; they were valued employees.
Choosing a Job
Trump tells the women that there are two jobs that the winner will be able to choose from, and this season he wants them each to make their choice before the winner is announced. The first job is to work on the Miss Universe Pageant, helping to go through the bids to select the host city and then working towards planning the event itself. The second job is the renovation of a huge mansion in Palm Springs, Florida. For what, I’m not sure. I would assume resale, but with The Donald one should never assume.
Tana is all over the Miss Universe gig, while Kendra says that she’s from the same county where the mansion is located and her background in real estate would make the Palm Springs job a perfect transition for her into the Trump organization.
Innuendo From Chris
Trump asks Chris who he thinks would be the better candidate for him to hire. Chris says that Tana lacked the ability to motivate her team, and he’s rooting for Kendra. When Tana quickly points out that Chris never worked with Kendra, Trump says that he did “live” with her. Chris adds that he and Kendra have been working on “side projects” since the show ended, causing the audience to giggle. Realizing what everyone must be thinking, Chris hastily adds that they are working together, not romantically involved.
Kendra says that she and Chris are looking into real estate deals in Las Vegas.
Input From Trump’s Eyes and Ears
The Donald finally gets to Carolyn and George, asking them what they think. Carolyn is impressed with both of the finalists, and says that Tana was strong throughout the entire series, but she doesn’t think that a “bad sense of humour” is a good enough excuse for her performance in the final task. She liked how Kendra came through in each of her tasks where she was project manager, but is put off by the fact that Kendra didn’t step up earlier in the competition.
George says that he agrees with Carolyn for the most part, and is glad that he isn’t the one who has to decide who to hire. He didn’t like Tana’s performance on the final task, and also didn’t like that, during the Pontiac task, Tana said that she was exempt and therefore didn’t have to work as hard as the others. However, Tana has great ideas and has more enthusiasm than anyone he’s ever met. George thinks that Kendra stayed under the radar for far too long, but once she stepped up to the plate she hit the ball out of the park.
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Trump asks Kendra why she shared the credit with her team on the Pontiac task, when it was obvious that she did the bulk of the work. Kendra says that she had to put on a team face when presenting the brochure, because the client doesn’t care that they had disagreements or problems. Tana jumps in and says that the reason the brochure was such a hit was because of its shape – which Tana herself suggested.
Trump asks Kendra if this is true, and she says she has to give credit where it’s due – the circle shape was indeed Tana’s idea. Tana starts shouting and waving her fists in the air, saying “They liked it because of the shape! The shape won the task!” Woah, things just got really weird all of a sudden. Kendra throws in that there was much more to the brochure than the shape, and she’s right of course. But Tana says that she’s “freaking out here”, and wanted to make sure that Trump knew of her contribution to that specific task.
You’re Hired
It’s now time to choose the winner, and Trump addresses Tana first. He likes her and thinks she was a star throughout the season. Kendra, over the last few tasks, became a star as well. What impressed Trump the most, however, was Kendra’s ability to take three people who had little respect for her and turn them into a functional, motivated team. Tana was unable to do this, so Kendra … you’re hired!
Anyone surprised? Nope, me neither.
Kendra and Tana hug, and then Kendra goes to shake the hands of the boardroom panel. Trump announces that there is a Pontiac Solstice outside waiting for Kendra, and after hugging her teammates and her family, Kendra seems to have left the building.
Trump says that the next season of The Apprentice is currently casting, and that The Apprentice, The Musical will be out soon. Oh dear, I thought that was just a rumour. He also wants us to watch his good friend Martha Stewart when she brings us her own Apprentice this fall. Oh, you know we’ll be watching that one Donald.
Final Thoughts
We all complained about the three-hour finale extravaganza last season, and this one-hour format was much easier to digest. That being said, maybe we could have done without the 20-minute season recap at the beginning, and instead used that time to catch up with the rest of the cast to see what they’ve been up to.
Just like last season, Trump’s choice was as clear as a bell before the finale even got underway. Yes, Tana blew it on her final task, but let’s remember how fantastic she’s been all season long and give her props for her performance. And congratulations to Kendra, who proved that she is indeed a worthy Apprentice.
Comments or questions are welcome! Drop me a line at carrie@realityshack.com.
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