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'Apprentice' Chris Gets Canned

By Liz Scott

Thursday, September 29, 2005

07:01 PM PT

Donald Trump and his capitalist minions are back for week two of "The Apprentice," season four. For this week's challenge, teams Capital Edge and Excel meet on the Trump Park Avenue terrace, the same building where flying plaster was responsible for Omarosa's brain damage. This time, there's no body count.

Instead, the Donald simply announces that the next challenge is about pure luxury: create a 30-second commercial and a print campaign to promote "the beginning of the rebirth of Lamborghini," the ultimate in automotive phallic symbols. On hand to help out and judge the winner of the challenge is the Ad Agency Lady, who offers up a video crew and the assistance of some of her staffers, and the Lamborghini Guy, who is dressed like a wealthy mental patient. The men of team Excel immediately start with the high-fives and chest bumps, certain they've got this one in the bag thanks to their collective testosterone level.

Almost immediately, Excel personalities clash worse than the Lamborghini Guy's outfit. Chris, the self-appointed Project Manager, former football player and current ad sales dude, is not down with the blatherings of Markus, the old windbag with floppy 'do, downturned mouth and bad ideas.

Ultimately, the men folk decide to rent a vintage Lamborghini and film it burning rubber down public city streets, all without the benefit of actually blocking off the road to traffic. Then, through the magic of video, they'll morph it into the bright yellow cheese ball Lamborghini has just unveiled. There's a chartreuse version of the car, too. Markus is in charge of directing the driver on the shoot, but fails miserably, causing chaos in the process and forcing Chris to confiscate his walkie-talkie.

The guy's print campaign is a bit of a puzzler, especially grammatically speaking. In an apparent tribute to Mussolini, the tagline on the poster for the yellow car reads, "Rebirth of italian [sic] Intimidation." Whaaaat? "Green with Envy. [sic]" is the line on the ad for the green car. Markus points out both that the "I" in "Italian" should be capitalized and that there should be a question mark after "Envy" but is shot down by Mark, Chris' figurative frat-brother-in-arms.

Meanwhile, the ladies of Capital Edge are working on their own version of the ad campaign. Marshawn is in charge and clearly understands the concept of delegation, as she assigns Jennifer M., Alla and Kristi to handle the video and the rest of the crew to print duty.

In a classy maneuver, stuck in the middle of all of this is footage from Randal's grandma's funeral, whose inclusion I can't even comment on. Suffice it to say Randal returns back to the game after three days of wearing the same outfit he left in and looking none the worse for the wear.

Time for the ad presentations. Capital Edge thoughtfully coordinate their outfits, picking "black" as their theme. They form a kick line in the front of the room and take turns sternly saying words like, "Power," "Prestige," etc., then show their campaign. Somehow, Ad Agency Lady and Lamborghini Guy manage to stifle their laughter and view the team's commercial and print work, deeming it a job well done.

Excel shows up in casual attire (think exposed t-shirts under button downs with blazers, Alex P. Keaton-style) and explains in minute detail the concept of their campaign. Lamborghini Guy is nonplussed. Markus points out his grammatical superiority by stating that he tried telling the team about that pesky "I" and "?".

In the end, it's Capital Edge who takes the game, winning an evening of playing ice hockey with the NY Islanders as a prize. Kristi tries macking on the team, while frail Rebecca promptly twists her ankle and hobbles off the ice and on to see the medic. Marshawn is having a better evening: with the exception of Kristi, her team has voted her exempt from termination next week.

Soon, it's boardroom time. Big Daddy Trump breezes in wearing a tux (on his way to the gold-plating of his cat, or some damn thing) and joins George and Carolyn for deliberations. Someone on team Excel is going home. George points out that they lost the challenge on the terrace by being overly confident of their victory. Carolyn blames the mess on a "lack of creativity." Chris is gunning for the un-athletic Markus to get the boot and most of his team agrees. Donald, however, points out that Markus was the only one who pointed out the team's mistakes -- mistakes which cost them the game and mistakes which Mark with the blindingly white teeth has admitted to.

Finally, Donald asks Chris for the names of his victims. Chris chooses only Markus and the two go head-to-head. While the Donald agrees that the loquacious Markus could use a muzzle, it's Chris who eventually gets bounced. "I asked you to make a smart business decision," says Don, "and you made an emotional one." That'll learn ya, Chris.

-- Liz Scott lives in Philadelphia. Her hobbies include listening to Prince, watching "Cops" and reading about celebrities.

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