Hmmmm, interesting perspectives as to boardroom blunders. I would say from an employer's as opposed to the audience POV counting up in reverse order:
#4. Instructing Maria to call back all the remaining Apprentices to boardroom and deciding whether Tracy J. Upchurch was crazy without medical diagnosis.
#3. Interviewing Heidi Bressler post-boardroom alone and seeing the human side to Trump asking about the health and status of her mom and whether Heidi wants to stay or go home to visit mom in hospital surgery.
#2. Firing Brian McDowell for surprisingly owning up to team mutiny and who singlehandedly assumed entire construction project on compresssed time of 36 hours, being MOST competent in real estate construction out of 48 Apprentices from all 3 seasons.
#1. Not selecting Kwame Jackson and hiring Bill Rancic. As Raj Bhakta would say: "No chutzpah" either Kelly or Bill, two from the same old boring leadership persona as "yes-men."
What happens with boardroom blunders if sponsor ad goes south?Last week we saw Domino Pizza not so happy because Papa John bought network NBC advertising on The Apprentice TV slot to directly compete their better tasting meatball pizzas. Trump at the team reward segment at his Penthouse breakfast said that Domino was going to go with Manga Meatball's promotional idea. Boy was Trump assessment way off.
This week in the intro to episode #11 of American Eagle, Trump tells us and the Apprentices that Domino rather sell Cheese Burger Pizza and both Magna's "Manga Meatball" and Net Worth's "Meatball Masterpiece" were off the mark. The corporate sponsors pay a hefty fee to get an entire episode plot written around them. They want their name advertised. The outcome and consequences are unknown. Anything and everything goes under the watchful eyes and ears of Trump's two advisors. Almost a half dozen camera keep shooting around the Apprentices, not knowing what will happen or come out of their mouths. Sometimes the ad can be either good, bad or indifferent.
Chris and Alex work together to make Net Worth's mobile kitchen stand out.
Domino's left with pizza pie on its faceBy Andy Dehnart - MSNBC contributor- April 7, 2005
While giving the teams their instructions, which involved working with clothing retailer American Eagle, Donald Trump offered a few curious words of advice. "And speaking of last week's task, here's something you didn't know," he said. "Both teams created meatball pizza. But if you'd done your market research like Domino's did, you would have discovered that customers don't want meatball pizza. What they want is cheeseburger pizza. The lesson: Always pay attention to your customer."
"The Apprentice" was paying attention to its customer all right: Last week, featured company Domino's Pizza was humiliated by Papa Johns, which bought advertising time during the show in more than 60 markets, advertising its new meatball pizza. Domino's used its time to advertise a new cheeseburger pizza, even though the episode featured Donald Trump talking about his love for meatballs, and the teams both sold meatball pizzas. Thus, featured sponsor Domino's rejected the teams and Trump, while competitor Papa John's coincidentally embraced their suggestions.
That explains Donald Trump's outrageous Domino's-boosting lecture, which was curiously and conveniently edited so that we never saw Donald Trump's face as he spoke. Similar to the odd boardroom voiceovers from season two, his voice noticeably changed when we next actually witnessed words coming from his mouth. This segment was followed by a new Domino's pizza commercial that stars Donald Trump; in the rather witty ad, he mocks his overblown persona and orders a cheeseburger pizza and then pretends to come up with the idea for the pizza himself.
The ad would be just funny on its own if it didn't seem to be kissing Domino's pepperoni for last week's product placement-related problems. This has happened before, when both teams created awful ads for Dove body wash; Trump appeared at the beginning of a commercial break to introduce Dove's real ad for its new product, mitigating, slightly, the effects of the teams' poor work. "The Apprentice," it seems, was looking out for its partner.
HECK said this in post #2 : To me, Bradford waiving the exemption was universally stupid. Andy laying down was weak, but he was on his way out, regardless.
-HECK!
See, I always thought of Bradford's actions as him showing that he was confident in what he had done that week and that he was being a team player. I see the exemption thing as really dumb anyway, it gives the exempt an excuse to be lazy, like Michael was. I hope that goes away if there is an Apprentice 4. Make everyone work hard every week as a team.
There is going to be an Apprentice 4 and 5, unless NBC decides to back out. 4 is filming right now.
I hear you about Bradford showing strength, but Trump made it out like it was a liability. Too big of a risk. Personally, I think it shows balls. But, I'm not a billionaire.
The exemption only really comes into play when someone abuses it. I don't see it being useful.
03-04-2005 06:35 AM
Hmmmm, interesting perspectives as to boardroom blunders. I would say from an employer's as opposed to the audience POV counting up in reverse order: 
#4. Instructing Maria to call back all the remaining Apprentices to boardroom and deciding whether Tracy J. Upchurch was crazy without medical diagnosis. 
#3. Interviewing Heidi Bressler post-boardroom alone and seeing the human side to Trump asking about the health and status of her mom and whether Heidi wants to stay or go home to visit mom in hospital surgery.
#2. Firing Brian McDowell for surprisingly owning up to team mutiny and who singlehandedly assumed entire construction project on compresssed time of 36 hours, being MOST competent in real estate construction out of 48 Apprentices from all 3 seasons.
#1. Not selecting Kwame Jackson and hiring Bill Rancic. As Raj Bhakta would say: "No chutzpah" either Kelly or Bill, two from the same old boring leadership persona as "yes-men." 
What happens with boardroom blunders if sponsor ad goes south? Last week we saw Domino Pizza not so happy because Papa John bought network NBC advertising on The Apprentice TV slot to directly compete their better tasting meatball pizzas. Trump at the team reward segment at his Penthouse breakfast said that Domino was going to go with Manga Meatball's promotional idea. Boy was Trump assessment way off. 
This week in the intro to episode #11 of American Eagle, Trump tells us and the Apprentices that Domino rather sell Cheese Burger Pizza and both Magna's "Manga Meatball" and Net Worth's "Meatball Masterpiece" were off the mark. The corporate sponsors pay a hefty fee to get an entire episode plot written around them. They want their name advertised. The outcome and consequences are unknown. Anything and everything goes under the watchful eyes and ears of Trump's two advisors. Almost a half dozen camera keep shooting around the Apprentices, not knowing what will happen or come out of their mouths. Sometimes the ad can be either good, bad or indifferent. 
Chris and Alex work together to make Net Worth's mobile kitchen stand out.
While giving the teams their instructions, which involved working with clothing retailer American Eagle, Donald Trump offered a few curious words of advice. "And speaking of last week's task, here's something you didn't know," he said. "Both teams created meatball pizza. But if you'd done your market research like Domino's did, you would have discovered that customers don't want meatball pizza. What they want is cheeseburger pizza. The lesson: Always pay attention to your customer."
"The Apprentice" was paying attention to its customer all right: Last week, featured company Domino's Pizza was humiliated by Papa Johns, which bought advertising time during the show in more than 60 markets, advertising its new meatball pizza. Domino's used its time to advertise a new cheeseburger pizza, even though the episode featured Donald Trump talking about his love for meatballs, and the teams both sold meatball pizzas. Thus, featured sponsor Domino's rejected the teams and Trump, while competitor Papa John's coincidentally embraced their suggestions. 
That explains Donald Trump's outrageous Domino's-boosting lecture, which was curiously and conveniently edited so that we never saw Donald Trump's face as he spoke. Similar to the odd boardroom voiceovers from season two, his voice noticeably changed when we next actually witnessed words coming from his mouth. This segment was followed by a new Domino's pizza commercial that stars Donald Trump; in the rather witty ad, he mocks his overblown persona and orders a cheeseburger pizza and then pretends to come up with the idea for the pizza himself. 
The ad would be just funny on its own if it didn't seem to be kissing Domino's pepperoni for last week's product placement-related problems. This has happened before, when both teams created awful ads for Dove body wash; Trump appeared at the beginning of a commercial break to introduce Dove's real ad for its new product, mitigating, slightly, the effects of the teams' poor work. "The Apprentice," it seems, was looking out for its partner.
