The Apprentice LA

I watched The Apprentice last night because I know one of the contestants. I played baseball with and against Aaron through high school and college. He played baseball at a neighboring HS, then at a rival college, and during those times we played on the same summer team. I saw last week in the local newspaper that he was going to be on the show so I Tivo-ed it.

I have watched most of the previous seasons of The Apprentice, and I think he has a shot to make it pretty far. Normally the crazy/psycho/strange/unique people go home first, a trend that continued last night. The guy who got bounced was well educated, but just didn't fit in with the rest of the contestants. The losing project manager, Frank, was perhaps the most annoying candidate I can remember. He is frustrating loud and talks far too much (I know I hate those kind of people) at the wrong times. Then again, he he has a lot of energy, although I think he came off as being desperate.

Last night, while watching, I was reminded of the reality show strategy. Trump was asking each team member who they would fire. Half of the candidates said one guy and the other half said the project manager. Well the PM is the person who selects the other people that will go to the board room. AKA, its in a candidates best interest to not be selected for the board room. Which means being on the good side of your PM. So even though you might think he is responsible, you need to be careful what you say. If you call him out in front of Trump, there is a chance that he will bring you into the boardroom. Whereas if you defend him (even if you think he was responsible) you increase your chance of sticking around. So its a tough balancing act of providing meaningful responses to Trump's questions (he will call you out, he knows whats up) but managing the relationships with your peers.

In any case I will continue watching at least until Aaron gets eliminated. I never was in school with him but I think he was a good student. I know he is a hard working and down to earth guy, and he is very likeable. The one thing that will be interesting to watch will be if/when he goes in the boardroom.