The Apprentice (American TV series) season 2

Season changes

The candidates

Teams

Weekly results

Elimination Table

Weekly summary

Week 1: Toying with Disaster

• Air date: September 9, 2004
• Apex project manager: Bradford
• Mosaic project manager: Pamela
• Task: Develop a new toy for Mattel. The product deemed most viable would be the winner.
• Judges: Donald Trump; Carolyn Kepcher; George H. Ross
• Trump monologue: Be Quick But Be Careful – To be quick and not careful is a bad decision. Trump prefers when his employees carefully take their time and make the right decision; but a good decision made quickly is the best combination.
• Result: The team with mostly men developed a line of mutated animal Transformers called "Crustacean Nation". The team with mostly women developed a radio controlled car called the "Meta-morpher" with parts that interchange.
• Winning Team: Apex
• * Reasons for win: The Mattel executives felt that Apex's product was more innovative, and would generate more money over time due to potential sales of add-on packs containing new parts.
• * Reward: Dinner with Trump and Melania Knauss.
• Dramatic tension: When deciding on corporation names, Raj clearly disliked his team's name, as he wanted to name the team "Empire," and thought Mosaic was a "fruity toot" name; the name was also criticized by Trump. Trump was also puzzled that Raj decided to carry a cane during the first task. On Apex, Bradford struggled to fit in with his otherwise all-female team, and Stacie J. completely alienated the members of her team during the wait before a winning team was decided. On Mosaic, Pamela makes fun of the weight and haircuts of the children in the focus group, which offended Carolyn.
• Losing Team: Mosaic
• * Reasons for loss: Trump felt that their toy was generic and lacked a unique selling point, and that their presentation was inferior to Apex's.
• Sent to boardroom: Pamela, Rob, Andy
• * Firing Verdict:
• **Several team members claimed that Rob did not contribute as much as he could have, but Rob claimed he was underutilized. He also curtly cut off Carolyn in the boardroom when she interrupted him to ask a question.
• **Although he came up with the "Crustacean Nation" concept, Andy insisted that he was brought into the final boardroom simply because of his youth.
• **Ultimately Trump was not impressed with Rob feeling he could've contributed even though he wasn't asked and decided he would be the first to be fired
• Fired: Rob Flanagan – for not being assertive in the task, not coming forward with his ideas, and being very disrespectful towards Carolyn. While Pamela led the team to defeat with the poor presentation, and he questioned Andy's youth, he felt both had potential and decided Rob's failure to step up and contribute along with his poor enthusiasm were enough to justify his dismissal.
• Notes:
• * On September 14, 2004, Mattel announced that they would produce the winning toy under the name Morph Machines. It debuted in early 2005 at a retail price of $30.
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• * Read the at Yahoo!'s Apprentice 2 Website

  Week 2: Scoop Dreams

• Air date: September 16, 2004
• Apex project manager: Ivana
• Mosaic project manager: Kelly
• Task: Create, develop and market a new flavor of ice cream with the Ciao Bella Gelato Company for the Trump Ice Cream Parlour.
• Judges: Donald Trump; Carolyn Kepcher; George H. Ross
• Trump Monologue: Get Organized – A lack of organization is a lack of leadership and without leadership, success is impossible.
• Result: Mosaic developed a flavor made of various types of doughnuts. Apex's flavor was based on Red velvet cake.
• Dramatic tension: Although both teams initially struggled to find a place to market their ice cream, Mosaic made a critical error when they left their business plan in the open for Apex to read. Pamela irritated her teammates asking too many questions about the ice cream production, and then with a lackluster sales performance. The men also struggled dealing with John, after he demanded that the team forgo any sort of lunch or snack breaks so that they could sell ice cream all day and not spend any profit. When Raj stated that he had hypoglycemia, which would be grievously aggravated by not eating anything during the day, John started yelling at Raj, accusing him of being lazy and making up excuses. Kelly then told the team that every man would get $5 to buy some food during the day, and when John tried to argue against this, Kelly simply told him "Got it. It's noted," and then gave everyone the petty cash.
• Winning Team: Mosaic
• * Reasons for win: They made almost $250 more than the other team. Although they had to buy their own ingredients, they opted to give a portion to the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society as a marketing gimmick, which successfully boosted their sales. Kelly also selected a good location, which was near the Times Square branch of Toys "R" Us, because he remembered Trump describing it as the country's busiest toy store. Raj also suggested that the men wear bowties in the style of old-fashioned ice cream men. After they won, project manager Kelly asked Trump if their entire winnings could be donated to the charity, to which Trump agreed.
• Reward: Dinner at the Petrossian
• Losing Team: Apex
• * Reasons for loss: Apex started somewhat later than Mosaic, and were forced to move from their original sales location near the TKTS center when existing street vendors demanded to see their permit. In the process, Apex became separated, and their carts lost contact with each other for several hours. Apex tried to bring the carts back together, but Stacie J. misidentified their location as the junction with 7th Avenue, when they were actually standing at the junction with Broadway. Though they eventually got the carts back together, and Jennifer C. made a bulk sale to a restaurant near the end of the day, the time lost when the carts were separated ultimately proved too much to overcome.
• Initial Boardroom: Ivana was castigated for her disorganization and loose leadership. Bradford mispronounced Carolyn's name, which visibly irked her. Ivana stated that Stacie J. was responsible for losing the cart for as long as they did and that she needed supervision. George was puzzled that the team couldn't see each other, as 7th Avenue and Broadway are only half a block apart. Trump asked Bradford to be frank about Ivana's performance, noting that he was the only person in a position to do so, thanks to his immunity. This led to Bradford offering to waive his exemption, and he stated that because he felt like he performed to the best of his abilities, he did not need his immunity. Even though Apex collectively agreed that Ivana was a poor leader, they unanimously decided that Stacie J. presented a bigger liability.
• Sent to boardroom: Ivana, Stacie J., Jennifer C., and Bradford. Ivana selected Jennifer C. and Bradford to go into the boardroom so they could advocate against Stacie J., and believed that because they had been the strongest performers on the task, this would give Trump no choice but to fire Stacie.
• *Firing Verdict:
• **While Bradford was happy to advocate for Ivana, Jennifer C. became angry at being brought back, and focused most of her criticism on Ivana rather than Stacie.
• **Trump didn't like Ivana's indecision, particularly about which contestants she would bring to the boardroom.
• **Trump also felt that Jennifer C. should not have been brought to the boardroom, given her help in securing sales, but became annoyed, and considered firing her, when she repeatedly interjected.
• **Overall, Trump was especially concerned with Bradford, and that his impulsive decision outweighed Ivana's bad leadership, Jennifer's interruptions, and Stacie not working well with the team, because Trump believed that Bradford would be able to instantly destroy a business with a careless decision such as his.
• Fired: Bradford Cohen – for his rash decision to waive his exemption and volunteering to come back to the Final Boardroom, despite being deemed the strongest in the boardroom. Trump felt that Bradford's mistake was worse than any other mistake made.
• Notes:
• * Bradford became the first candidate to ever leave Trump Tower without his luggage, not having packed his bags due to his exemption. He presumably received his luggage from crew members sometime after his firing.
• * As a result of his firing, Bradford has the dubious honor of lasting the shortest amount of time of any successful first-episode project manager.
• * Despite her error over the cart's location, Trump did not hold Stacie J. accountable for the loss, and heavily implied that Ivana would have been fired had Bradford not surrendered his immunity, as Carolyn repeatedly criticized Ivana's leadership.
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• * Read the at Yahoo!'s Apprentice 2 Website