The Apprentice (U.S. season 6)

The Apprentice: Los Angeles is the sixth installment of the US version of The Apprentice reality television show. It was confirmed on November 30, 2005. Like the other Apprentice seasons, Donald Trump is the executive producer and host in his quest to hire a sixth apprentice. In a departure from the previous five Apprentice shows, this one was shot in Los Angeles, California. As with seasons 2-5, The Apprentice: Los Angeles features 18 contestants (whom Trump calls "candidates"). Ivanka Trump made her debut as a full-time boardroom judge this season (replacing Carolyn Kepcher, who was recently fired).^[2] Donald Trump, Jr. also made his debut as a full-time judge this season (replacing George H. Ross, who didn't make an appearance due to the show's LA filming schedule, but made a cameo appearance on the Season 6 finale).

Season 6 changes

In addition to the change of locale, the following changes (including some "Apprentice firsts") have been made in the show's structure for the sixth season as described herein:

• Candidates must earn the right to live in the provided Beverly Hills mansion by simply winning the weekly task. Otherwise, the candidates will live in "Tent City", a location across the hedge from the mansion's swimming pool.
  • Tent City will not have any access to electricity for common living tasks and will sleep in tents, outdoors.
  • Tent City does have access to two tents, private (cold) showers, fresh water, alcoholic drinks, and food (and a grill on which to cook it).
  • Tent City also appears to have access to an indoor "business center" adjunct to the mansion, with computers and Internet service, though the use of this room has only been shown during one task (Week 3).
  • Candidates appear to be able to communicate to each other over the hedge separating Tent City from the mansion's pool, based on footage from Week 5.
  • This season at the request of Trump is a battle between the "haves" (in the mansion) and the "have nots" (in Tent City).
• The candidates will be living next door to Trump's Los Angeles office mansion for this season.
  • The scenery and the elevation allows Trump to watch the teams in the top floor of his office mansion (both Tent City and the pool area) and observe the teams.
  • Trump, at his discretion, may also visit the teams while they are at the mansion to see some of the dynamics on the teams directly.
• The project manager from the winning team will continue to be the project manager for that team until the team loses.
• The project manager from the winning team will be allowed to attend and participate in the boardroom firings for the losing team.
• The final task was not between the final two candidates like in the previous five seasons. The final task involved the final four candidates instead. Stefani and James competed against Nicole and Frank, and neither team was fired during the episode. All four were invited back for the live season finale, where Frank and Nicole were ultimately fired first because they lost the final task. This was also different as four candidates had a chance to win on the final day, opposed to just two the first five seasons.
• This season is the only season to feature 8 men and 10 women competing instead of the usual 9 men and 9 women.

Candidates

The following is the list of candidates for this season, with their original team placements after teams were selected on Week 1. Some contestants did not have to audition but were recruited by the casting members.^[3]

Olympic candidates

During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Donald Trump announced that 12 Olympians (eight men and four women) from Team United States 2006 would be vying for a spot on this edition. Voting continued throughout the entire Olympics concluding on the Closing Ceremonies.^[5] Although not all of them made it to the "interview process", the 12 Olympians are as follows:

• Allison Baver, short track speed skating
• Travis Cabral, freestyle skiing
• Casey FitzRandolph, speed skating
• Todd Hays, bobsled
• Chad Hedrick, speed skating
• Danny Kass, snowboarding
• Joe Pack, freestyle skiing
• Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, freestyle skiing
• Angela Ruggiero, ice hockey - Confirmed as an Apprentice candidate on May 30, 2006 ^[6]
• Katie Uhlaender, skeleton
• Seth Wescott, snowboarding
• Chris Witty, speed skating

Team picks

• Using feedback from the candidates, Donald Trump picked the first project managers for the first task.
• Heidi and Frank were selected and picked their respective teams using alternate selections, one at a time.

Weekly results

^Note 1 : Kinetic was exempt from week 3 as a result of their win in week 2. Arrow was split in two factions (Team Aaron and Team Michelle) during week 3.
^Note 2 : As there were no more project managers or team names for the final task, each team was identified simply as "James & Stefani" or "Frank & Nicole." However, an Arrow sign could be seen in the background of James' and Stefani's editing room, while a Kinetic sign could be seen in the background of Frank's and Nicole's editing room. For the final task, the final four candidates were directed to split into two teams, and each team was asked to choose two previously fired candidates to assist them. James and Stefani chose Angela and Aaron, while Frank and Nicole chose Tim and Surya.
^Note 3 : Trump fired three people during the course of the live finale. Frank and Nicole were fired in the middle of the finale, while James was fired at the end of the finale.

     The contestant was on the losing team.

     The contestant was hired and won the competition.

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.

     The contestant was called at the final boardroom.

     The contestant was fired.

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.

     The contestant quit the competition.

     The contestant didn't participate in the week 3 challenge.

Episodes

Episode 1 - To Have and Have Not

• Airdate: January 7, 2007
• Prologue: The applicants were required to construct a tent as so they could determine how they worked along; this also served to determine which two candidates were to be the first project managers (Heidi and Frank). Heidi and Frank subsequently picked their respective team members using alternate selections, one at a time.
• Task sponsor: None
• Task scope: Each team was assigned a car wash to run for a day. The teams could use any method to try earning the most sales.
• Kinetic project manager: Heidi
• Arrow project manager: Frank
• Winning team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for win: The team immediately got to work, using signs on cardboard boxes and arranging for a free lunch (hot dog and soda) with every car wash. They also took advantage of the demographics of West Hollywood, hiring shirtless guys to hold the signs and to attract customers.
  • Reward: Dinner at Spago with Wolfgang Puck, Donald, Melania, and Ivanka.
• Losing team: Arrow
  • Reasons for loss: Frank ran off early with another team member to attempt to make signs, leaving the rest of the team short on manpower. The price point of $10 for a basic wash, set by Frank after a brief discussion at the start of the task, may have been too low, as the team only lost by less than $120. Martin was shown to not contribute as much as other members of the team.
  • Task epilogue: "Team Frank" had to set up a second tent after their loss was announced.
  • Sent to boardroom: Frank, Martin, and Tim
  • Firing verdict: Tim was told to go back to the losers' tent after Trump announced Tim not responsible for the loss. Most of his team felt that Frank did not make some smart decisions but agreed he had the drive and the passion for the show. Martin was found to be annoying and a poor contributor by most of his team.
    • Ivanka was a heavy contributor to his decision to fire Martin, pointing out his inability to work well with others and her not seeing him ever being able to fit into a business like structure that the job would require in addition to a couple of unprofessional flaws Ivanka spotted during the first 5–15 minutes of the show (stating that he had to use the bathroom during his introduction). Trump agreed.
• Fired: Martin by process of elimination. Trump determined that both Frank and Martin performed poorly and contributed to the loss with their fatal mistakes. Trump stated that Martin would fit better within the fields of a professor or lawyer as opposed to a business executive for the Trump organization.
  • Postmortem: While deciding between Frank and Martin, Trump remarked that this was one of his toughest decisions in the history of the show.
• Notes
  • The season premiere aired for 90 minutes.
  • Although the teams at the time the episode aired were identified by names of their inaugural project manager, the team names were identified throughout the opening credits.
    • Kinetic, at the time the episode aired, was called "Team Heidi."
    • Arrow, at the time the episode aired, was called "Team Frank."

Episode 2 - Pink Is the New Black

• Airdate: January 14, 2007
• Task sponsor: Trina Turk
• Task scope: Each team was tasked to create a line of swimsuits (3 women's, 3 men's) for Trina Turk. The team with the most sales following a runway show (with the contestants as their own models) of the swimsuit line would win.
• Kinetic project manager: Heidi
• Arrow project manager: Nicole
• Winning team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for win: The team stayed with a conservative line of swimsuits as noted by the buyers, in contrast to Arrow's line, and primarily won due to Arrow's missteps. Kinetic earned $20,011.
  • Reward: An opportunity to meet up with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and enjoy a pool party with his girlfriends and several of the Playmates at his Mansion.
    • Playmates that appeared during this episode's pool party reward are as follows: Alison Waite, Christine Smith, Cassandra Lynn, Athena Lundberg, Karen McDougal, Holly Madison and others.
  • Apprentice first: As Trump promised, all of Kinetic will be exempt from the third task.
• Losing team: Arrow
  • Reasons for loss: Arrow actually sold more women's swimsuits than Kinetic, but fell down badly when it came to the men's products. Carey, in charge of the design of the men's swimsuits, insisted on making them too short and in colors and prints that would only appeal to gay men, as noted by many of his teammates; one particularly was pink, very short, and revealed "too much information" when worn by Carey himself. As a result, the buyers at the fashion show bought less than $400 of the male swimsuit line (out of a total $19,616 in sales).
  • Sent to boardroom: Nicole, Carey, and Michelle
  • Firing verdict: Nicole brought up Carey's insistence on his designs and the lack of their appeal to the majority of the population. Other team members noted that Nicole, as PM, approved of Carey's designs despite her own questionable opinion of them. Carey defended his design selection, alluded to in the episode title, "Pink is the new black", and also pointed to Nicole's poor management and Michelle's disagreeable personality.
• Fired: Carey for his critical design flaws and poor decisions throughout the task.
  • Trump permitted Carey to keep the pink swimsuit he wore for the show as a parting gift before Trump fired Carey.
  • While James and Ivanka raised concerns that she had failed to properly supervise Carey, Nicole was not considered to be primarily responsible for the loss since she motivated her team, met task deadlines, and held the team together.
  • Michelle was not held responsible for the loss as per the final boardroom.
• Notes:
  • Both Derek and Carey revealed that they are gay during this episode. Despite Carey targeting the gay market with his swimsuit designs, Derek admitted that he didn't find them appealing.
  • For the first time, the team names seen prior in the opening credits were officially used in this episode. Unaired footage available from the Apprentice web site shows the teams selecting their respective names after the return of Frank from the boardroom last week (Week 1) and prior to the start of the task this week.

Episode 3 - Hollywood Walk of Shame

• Airdate: January 21, 2007
• Prologue
  • Kinetic didn't have to participate in this task since they earned the show's first-ever team exemption from week 2.
  • Since Kinetic didn't have to participate, they spent an evening at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
  • Arrow was split into two teams, with Aaron voluntarily and Michelle on Trump's discretion stepping up as Project Managers and to select their teams. Aaron's team included James and Stefani, while Michelle's team included Nicole, Frank, and Tim.
• Task sponsor: Starline Tours of Hollywood and Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
• Task scope: Each team was to design a unique Hollywood bus tour. The winner would be the team that had the best approval ratings from the tour bus customers.
• Team Aaron project manager: Aaron
• Team Michelle project manager: Michelle
• Winning team: Team Aaron
  • Reasons for win: The team came up with a plan to use the Los Angeles Laker Girls to entice people onto the bus, and based on a pre-tour evaluation of the tour, offered water and snacks and provided a well-rounded tour experience with a high approval rating of 82% from the customers. Much of the credit for the win went to Stefani, who took over as the tour guide after James put in a very poor performance in the role at the start of the tour (coming across as hyperactive and incomprehensible), earning her much praise from the tourists and Ivanka.
  • There was no reward for this task since both factions had to compete against each other and were required to remain in the tents regardless of the outcome.
• Losing team: Team Michelle
  • Reasons for loss: Michelle and her team did not sleep the night before the tour, which made the tour route not well-planned and highly repetitive (based on customer comments). Problems with the microphone arose, which annoyed the customers. The team received an average approval rating of 58% from customers.
  • Sent to boardroom: No boardroom sessions
    • Reasons for foregoing a boardroom session: Michelle tendered her resignation immediately after the task results were revealed. Trump initially decided to carry out a boardroom session anyway, and told Nicole, Frank and Tim that they would return to the boardroom and one of them would be fired, meaning that two people would have left this week. After some discussion with his advisers though, Trump cancelled the end-of-task boardroom sessions, figuring that Michelle's resignation meant that she was primarily responsible for the defeat, thus sparing the rest of her team from judgement.
• Quit: Michelle at her discretion. Michelle determined that she did not care anymore about the job interview, and thus decided to tender her resignation after the results were tabulated. She stated that she did not expect herself to sleep in tents when her team loses and she cannot stand it anymore. Trump lectured Michelle about how quitting was an extremely bad decision but accepted Michelle's resignation.
• Notes:
  • No special team names were given to the sub-teams of Arrow, and thus are identified by their project managers.
  • This is the second time that someone quit, and the first time as part of the normal Boardroom sequence. The first resignation occurred during Season 3.
  • This is the first appearance of Donald Trump Jr. as a Boardroom member this season.

Episode 4 - Drive-Thru Duel

• Airdate: January 28, 2007
• Prologue:
  • Trump called both teams and instructed Kinetic to select volunteers to go over to Arrow in order to balance the teams. Surya, Aimee, and Marisa volunteered to join Arrow. Arrow decided on Surya as their new team member.
  • Sean Yazbeck, Season 5 Apprentice, filled in for Ivanka for this task.
• Task sponsor: El Pollo Loco^[7]
• Task: Each team was to create a new menu item for the El Pollo Loco chain, and then run an El Pollo Loco store for a day to promote that item. The winning team was the one with the most sales (by dollar amount) of their new item.
• Kinetic Project Manager: Heidi
• Arrow Project Manager: Aaron
• Winning Team: Arrow
  • Reasons for win: Arrow promoted their store with balloons and banners and also attempted to make "bulk sales" outside of the store; as a result, the store was constantly busy during the day, with one boss ordering 23 of their products for his employees. Their total sales were $488.
  • Reward: A private performance from Andrea Bocelli on the beach followed by a fireworks show. Tim received praise from his teammates for his own piano playing.
• Losing Team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for loss: Unlike Arrow, Kinetic had nearly no marketing advertising their dish and never saw a crowd similar to that gathered by Arrow. Potentially, their dish, combining chicken and fruit, may have also been considered unappealing, as stated by Trump. Their total sales were only $314.
  • Sent to boardroom: Heidi, Marisa, and Aimee
    • Key firing points: Marisa was blamed by her team for seemingly sticking to a single idea of having two people in chicken outfits to advertise their item, and for being unable to come up with any other marketing plan. Sean, as viceroy, also noted that the task was lost by marketing, which Marisa was in charge of for Kinetic.
• Fired: Marisa at the recommendation of Kinetic due to her being the weakest link in the team. And even she came up only one idea for the marketing.
  • Trump stated that while Marisa's firing was a hard decision, he admits that he sometimes has to listen to the recommendation of others, mirroring what he did during the one-on-one interviews in the first 3 seasons.
• Notes:
  • When finding out there was both dried fruit and chicken in Kinetic's creation, Trump said, "I wouldn't eat it."
  • This episode shows a connection between Tim and Nicole.
  • Trump had to tell Marisa to shut up in the boardroom.

Episode 5 - To Bee or Not To Bee

• Airdate: February 11, 2007
• Prologue:
  • Sean Yazbeck, Season 5 Apprentice, filled in for Ivanka for this task again.
  • Donald Trump was away on business for the bulk of the task, including hearing the results and announcing the reward while in front of a crowd in Minnesota, but was back for boardroom sessions.
• Task sponsors: Sue Bee Honey and Ralphs Supermarket
• Task: To harvest and package honey for Sue Bee Honey brands and to sell the harvested honey through assigned Ralphs supermarkets locations. The winner was the team that sold the most honey.
  • Cliffhangers: During the harvesting event, the teams had to put up with angry bees to "grab" the honey needed for the actual sales of the honey. Kinetic was faced with having a couple of bumps on the road with some honey not on shelves while Arrow was bogged down by lacking honey sales.
    • Derek got stung by a bee when he went harvesting honey with his team members
• Kinetic project manager: Aimee
• Arrow project manager: Aaron
• Winning Team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for win: Kinetic had a good marketing strategy, with Derek creating a buzz with the bee suit, Angela with the slogan "Olympic Gold honey" since she was an Olympic winner, and Aimee's signage outside the supermarket labeled "Today is HONEY DAY". The price of each honey bottle is $4.99, buy 2 for $5. The team sold a total of 345 bottles and earned $836.48 in sales.
  • Reward: A basketball game against and training with basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, and player Brian Cook.
    • Correction: In actuality, the Lakers are second to the Boston Celtics in NBA championships. (The Celtics have won 16, while the Lakers have won 14.) Trump, apparently unaware of the Celtics' record, inaccurately claimed that the Lakers had won more NBA championships than any other team.
• Losing Team: Arrow
  • Reasons for loss: Aaron performed poorly as a project manager, there was no marketing strategy (such as signage) which Aaron claimed was Surya's responsibility, and Tim and Nicole were unsuccessful at any bulk sales. The offer of the honey bottles was "buy two, get one free." The team sold a total of 217 bottles and earned a total of $775.48 in sales.
• Pre-boardroom: Derek tells Aimee to help Surya in the boardroom
• Initial Boardroom: The developing relationship between Tim and Nicole was announced by Frank to everyone at the first Boardroom, including Trump.
  • Sent to boardroom: Aaron, Surya, and Nicole
    • Boardroom tension: Aaron reveals that Surya was a brand manager for Procter & Gamble and he blames Surya for the loss due to the lack of marketing strategy
    • Key firing points: Trump reflected Aaron's lack of input in the previous week's boardroom in addition to a couple of key flaws Trump and Surya pointed out. Although Nicole was brought to judgment, was not held liable for the loss since she did her best as far as bulk sales are concerned.
• Fired: Aaron for leaving the tasks to his subordinates intentionally, poor leadership, poor strategy, not helping the team during the supermarket portion of the task, and having inability to control over Surya and his team.
  • Surya did poorly due to his marketing strategies, but Trump decided to give Surya a second chance.
  • An additional factor in Aaron's firing was the fact that he contributed virtually nothing during the previous week's boardroom discussions (which he attended as the winning project manager). This, together with his lack of leadership in this task, led Trump to conclude that Aaron had nothing to offer the Trump Organization.
• Notes:
  • Unless Trump forbids, the opposing teams are apparently allowed to communicate with each other over the hedge that separates Tent City from the pool area that is part of the mansion, as shown by two scenes during the show.

Episode 6 - Travel Sweepstakes Smackdown

• Airdate: February 18, 2007
• Prologue: Irritated at the false testimony from the last boardroom, Surya opted to step up as project manager for the next task. The teams arrive at Los Angeles International Airport to receive their next task.
• Task sponsors: Priceline.com
• Task: Teams were required to set up a kiosk at their assigned Westfield Shoppingtown malls, and then to get people to sign up for Priceline.com. The team with the most sign-ups over a 2 hour period (during lunch hours) would win the task.
  • Change of judges: For the first part of the task, two Priceline.com executives observed the teams.
• Kinetic project manager: Aimee
• Arrow project manager: Surya
• D-Day prologue: After the two Priceline.com executives gave Trump feedback, Donald Trump, Jr. took over the executives' place as the "close-of-task" judge.
• Winning Team: Arrow
  • Reasons for win: Tim came up with the idea to stagger their prize money into many separate prizes, which proved effective. During the task, several members, particularly Frank, were very aggressive on driving customers to their kiosk. They were able to sign up 359 people.
  • Reward: A private surfing lesson with professional and world-renowned surfers (Pat O'Connell and Lisa Andersen) on Santa Monica beach and brunch at Gladstone's of Malibu.
    • Apprentice first: While Nicole was thought to have suffered an ankle injury due to increasing waves, a hospital visit concluded that Nicole was stung by a jellyfish. Tim escorted Nicole to the hospital, prompting the two to skip their visit to Gladstones. This eventually led to a romance between Tim and Nicole after the reward as Tim and Nicole of Arrow were showing each other affection near the pool.
• Losing Team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for loss: Though Derek and Jenn were told that the mall had about a 50% Hispanic consumer base from a mall executive, they did not relay this number to Aimee figuring that the demographics of the mall were obvious to anyone that was walking through it. As a result, they were not prepared to handle both the verbal and written language barrier at their kiosk, despite Derek and Muna being able to help with the language. They were only able to get 326 people to sign up.
• Pre-boardroom: Trump asked the executives' opinion on the task (whether who should get fired or who stood up). Both executives' compliment Derek and Muna's use of Spanish since many people at the mall do not understand English. Also, Derek revealed that he is half-Latino since his father is from Colombia.^[8]
  • Sent to boardroom: Aimee, Derek, and Jenn
    • Key firing points: Trump took time to bring up a couple of issues including but not limited to the following: Aimee not understanding the mall demographic, Derek and Jenn not making Aimee aware of the mall demographic, the fact that Aimee refuses to hear from her subordinates during certain times, and Aimee's weak overall leadership.
• Fired: Aimee for not understanding the demographics of the mall's frequent visitors, and not listening to her team for suggestions. Although Derek and Jenn didn't relay the important demographic information to their Project Manager, Aimee was eliminated instead for her lack of leadership qualities.
• Notes:
  • This is the first time a sponsor served as an in-task judge before Donald Trump Jr. took over as verdict judge.

Episode 7 - Life in the Luxury Lane

• Airdate: March 4, 2007
• Prologue: Randal Pinkett, Season 4 Apprentice, served as a substitute boardroom judge.
• Task sponsors: Lexus
• Task: Teams were to create an event for Lexus VIP customers to present the features of the new Lexus LS 460. The team with the best rating from the event customers wins the task.
• Kinetic project manager: Jenn
• Arrow project manager: Surya
• Winning Team: Arrow
  • Reasons for Win: The team promoted the concept of luxury properly and allowed their guests to either take a look at the Lexus LS 460's features or to just simply take a test drive of the LS 460. Arrow received an overall rating score of 94 points (out of 100) from the attendees.
  • Reward: A chance to participate in creating a freestyle rap with Snoop Dogg.
• Losing Team: Kinetic
  • Reasons for Loss: The team had a horrendous idea of the go-karts. Randal thought the banners were awful. The presentation was shaky and flawed. They received an overall rating score of 84 points (out of 100) from the attendees.
    • Randal, who admits to owning a Lexus vehicle in Yahoo's uncut boardroom battle clips, brought up the go-kart blunder.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom.
    • Reason for not holding a final boardroom session: Trump indicated that he "did not want to waste time." Despite Jenn earning her team's respect, Trump had enough information to hold her liable for the loss (regardless of whom she would have selected to accompany her in the final boardroom).
• Fired:
  • Derek for his unprofessional behavior before the final intermission (he jokingly referring to himself as "white trash", to which Trump took offense)
  • Jenn at the end of the show for poor decision-making throughout the task, allowing ideas like the go-karts to be approved.
  • After Jenn's firing, Trump commented on his displeasure with Angela's poor performance in this task.
• Notes:
  • Effective this episode, The Apprentice 6 moved to 10 pm ET/PT, 9 pm CT/MT on NBC.
  • This is the first time that a candidate was fired in the middle of an ongoing boardroom session.
  • The commercials for this episode indicated that two words would get someone fired. This, of course, was a reference to Derek's comment in the boardroom ("White trash").

Episode 8 - Bend It Like Donald

• Airdate: March 11, 2007
• Prologue: Realising that Kinetic has been decimated, Kristine opted to step up as project manager to bring the team back to its winning track, hoping that herself, Muna, Heidi, and Angela will be the final four.
• Task sponsor: GNC
• Task scope: Each team was to create a short halftime show promoting the GNC brand at a Los Angeles Galaxy soccer game. The team with the best show, as determined by GNC's vice president of marketing, would win the task.
  • This halftime show took place during the Los Angeles Galaxy's confrontation with the Houston Dynamo on June 24, 2006. This game happened to be during the World Cup and both teams were without star players.^[9]
  • Based on reports of people that attended this game, the crowd was asked after both presentations to indicate which show they preferred using colored placards underneath their seats.^[10] These reports also indicate that the performance from both teams was not well received by the fans.
  • Bill Rancic, the original Apprentice, filled in for Ivanka as a substitute judge.
• Kinetic project manager: Kristine
• Arrow project manager: Surya
• Task cliffhangers: Muna started to lash out against Kristine at certain points of the task. Surya started to lose the respect of his entire team.
• Winning team: Kinetic
  • Reason for win: GNC's vice president of marketing said that Kinetic promoted the GNC brand closely, and the crowd apparently liked Kinetic's show.
  • Reward: To golf with Trump and the head of TaylorMade Golf, Mark King, at Trump's own golf course in Los Angeles (Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles).
    • Supplemental reward: A full set of golf clubs from Taylor Made based on the Donald J. Trump signature collection.
    • Trump thought that Angela was the strongest golfer, since she had a background playing hockey. Trump was surprised that Kristine, Heidi, and Muna did well.
    • Trump also commented that the last time he went golfing with the contestants from The Apprentice 5, he commented that the team weren't stars due to their losing record.
• Losing team: Arrow
  • Reason for loss: GNC's vice president of marketing said that Arrow did not promote the GNC brand well, and presented a difficult boxing story to follow.
  • Pre-boardroom: Surya said he regretted leaving Kinetic for Arrow, and communicated through the hedge with Angela and Muna. The executive from GNC thought that the project manager should be fired for this task. Bill thought that Surya would be a target in the boardroom but James and Tim should be held partly liable for the loss since Tim came up with the concept and James made it difficult for the team to focus.
  • Initial boardroom tension: Although Surya defended himself by repeatedly mentioning his 5-2 team record, Arrow felt he was not functioning well as a leader or a team player.
  • Sent to boardroom: Surya, James, and Tim
    • Firing points: Surya said that he's a good follower, but Trump said that the Apprentice would have to be a leader rather than a follower. Tim was responsible for coming up with the losing idea for the project. Surya held James liable for being disloyal and very hard to work with during this task. Tim did agree with Surya's decision that James tended to make things difficult, but (Tim) would still fire Surya over James.
    • Bill acknowledged the fact that James always "covered his butt" by changing his ideas at the last minute.
• Fired: Surya for contributing as a follower rather than a leader, losing respect of the entire team, and basically not doing a good job on the task.
  • Trump believed that it was a very tough decision to make, because every single person on Arrow thought that Surya should be fired. He also said that James could not be held liable for the loss. Nonetheless, Trump said with the fire and attitude Surya possesses, he will have great success in the future.
  • Surya commented that 95% of the time he felt like an outsider and this show shows that the best person does not always win.
• Notes:
  • This is the first episode of The Apprentice 6 in which Bill Rancic appeared.
  • This is one of those rare occurrences where Donald Trump said "sorry" right after a firing.

Episode 9 - Soap Gets In Your Eyes

• Airdate: March 18, 2007
• Prologue: James becomes Arrow's project manager due to his belief that it's either "now or never."
• Task Sponsor: Dial Soap
• Task: Each team was to create and direct a webisode soap opera featuring a new Soft Scrub bathroom cleaner. The best webisode as determined by Dial Soap executives would win the task.
• Kinetic project manager: Kristine
• Arrow project manager: James
• Winning team: Arrow
  • Reason for win: Although Arrow had a weak cliffhanger, they explained the product well.
  • Reward: A private flight via Blue Star Jets to Sacramento to meet California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for tea and to hear his story of his success at the California State Capitol.
• Losing team: Kinetic
  • Reason for loss: The executives said that Kinetic had a great cliffhanger, storyline, and webisode. But they couldn't get a lot of information out of Muna's dialogue of her heavy accent and Kinetic's product strategy in their webisode. Kinetic had to cut out some of the scenes entirely because it was too difficult to understand what Muna was saying about the product.
• Pre-boardroom: Muna was seen reading the Bible whereas Kristine was reading Trump's book, Trump: The Art of the Deal. Kristine commented on how Muna should not be reading the Bible since God is not the one making the decision in the boardroom. Then, Heidi said to Muna, "If I would have one person, it would be you to be on my team." The executives said they only watched Muna and Heidi. Then, they also concerned about the person from the directing. And that led the person to the loss. They felt like the person in the monitor of directing should be fired.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom
    • Boardroom risks: Muna asked Heidi if Heidi would rather keep Muna or Kristine on the team. Heidi hesitatingly would take Kristine as a strong team player. Ivanka was questioned of why would Heidi take a weaker player of Muna.
• Fired: Muna by process of elimination. Most of Muna's dialogue was inarticulate and incomprehensible in the team's final webisode product.
  • Trump acknowledged that Kristine's absence during the early part of shooting and the general resulting effort of the team made his choice difficult between firing Kristine or Muna. Muna herself asked her teammates which of the two should not be fired. Trump declared this to be a risk by Muna. Both Heidi and Angela selected Kristine, though with some hesitation.
• Notes:
  • After Muna's firing, Heidi said that choosing between Kristine and Muna was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life.
  • Donald Trump rarely says sorry after firing a candidate, and in this episode it was one of the rare occasions he did.
  • When Muna and Heidi were in the mobile house in camera, Heidi thinks it's not wise to be the P.M. to leave in about 15 minutes of filming. Kristine should have be in the mobile house in those critical moments. Kristine was gone from getting the props for their webisode.

Episode 10 - Girls on Rollerskates

• Airdate: March 25, 2007
• Prologue: Trump directed James to send a member of Arrow to Kinetic since Kinetic was "decimated." With no volunteers, and with James stating that Frank and Stefani were invaluable to him, he selected Nicole. Nicole felt this choice was personal to send her to team Kinetic and said she will do anything to win this task to show James that he is wrong. With Tim and Nicole now on opposite teams, the two had several discussions throughout the episode over the hedge separating the pool from Tent City. The teams meet up at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre with Trump and Ivanka.
• Task sponsor: Universal Studios Hollywood
• Task: Teams had to sell special on-the-spot front-of-the-line passes and discount season passes at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park using Adwalker, an advertising and media platform worn by its operators. The winning team would be the one with the most sales.
  • As noted by James, this was the first task in this season where both teams had to compete in the same area for sales.
• Kinetic project manager: Angela
• Arrow project manager: James
• Winning team: Arrow
  • Reason for win: Arrow used a fixed booth with signage and offers of free water bottles with the sale to draw customers at the entrance to the park. They also aggressively went after customers that were waiting in line to talk to Kinetic players and were able to take the business away from Kinetic. They earned over $32,000 in sales.
  • Reward: A private helicopter ride above Los Angeles
• Losing team: Kinetic
  • Reason for loss: The members of Kinetic, while using some sex appeal and being more mobile by being on roller skates, lacked credibility and a selling presence due to virtually no signage and were not as aggressive as Arrow in soliciting customers. The team sold approximately $7,000 less than Arrow.
    • Nicole predicted correctly that Arrow would be using large signs and sales pitches during Kinetic's brainstorming session for this task, and argued they needed to do something to counter it. This eventually resulted in the idea for using roller skates to increase mobility.
• Pre-boardroom: After James told his team that he will be going after the person who came up with the roller-skates idea (Nicole), Tim told Nicole that through the hedges so she could be prepared. This discloses some possible disloyalty in Tim's part.
  • Boardroom tension: After both teams heard the results, Kinetic was upset with Arrow's aggressive tactics of "stealing" customers away, but Trump dismissed this as being strictly business. Angela continued to argue this in her defense during the boardroom, though admitted that it would have not countered the entire $7,000 difference in sales.
    • Angela pointed out that Nicole was the one who came up with the roller skating idea.
    • James said that Nicole was the weakest link in his team out of members from Arrow.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom
• Fired: Angela for poor quality leadership and for not defending herself properly per Ivanka. Trump ultimately held Angela liable for the loss since he could not fire anyone else.
  • Postmortem: Nicole told Trump to request Tim to transfer over to Kinetic, but Trump said Tim was disloyal and that Nicole should dump him.
• Notes:
  • This was another rare occasion where Donald Trump said sorry after firing a candidate. This could be due to his immense respect for Angela as an Olympian, and that she was arguably just as strong as anyone else in her team.

Episode 11 - Shut Your Smartmouth

• Airdate: April 1, 2007
• Prologue: Tim's loyalty has been questioned in the eve after the elimination of Angela.
• Task sponsor: SmartMouth
• Task: Teams were to create a supplement for the Los Angeles Times newspaper for SmartMouth with photo access, studio, and graphic designer. The team with the best supplement as being judged by the executives will win.
• Kinetic project manager: Heidi
• Arrow project manager: James
• Winning team: Kinetic
  • Reason for win: According to the executives, the team used an eye-catching shape to their insert, focused on the use of the product throughout the day, and kept the message clear and simple.
    • Solid performance recognition: The SmartMouth executives used Kinetic's insert as their ad in the next run of the Los Angeles Times.
  • Reward: An in-mansion visit with their significant others (Kristine's husband, and Heidi's and Nicole's mothers), including a meal prepared by Kristine's husband, Ludovic Lefebvre, who is a well-known chef in the Los Angeles area ^[11]
    • This was the first time Heidi's mother went to California.
• Losing team: Arrow
  • Reason for loss: According to the executives, the team had a complicated and ineffective brochure. The front page made the people look like they were tired (as opposed to needing mouthwash), and the scientific chart was difficult for people to understand.
• Pre-boardroom: Tim met Nicole and her mother through the hedges, with Nicole commenting that her mother is the most loyal person Nicole has ever met. Nicole asked her mother for advice about her relationship with Tim, and her mother told Nicole to focus on the work tasks. The executives thought that James was a good leader and that Stefani was confident and presented herself well.
  • Boardroom drama: Trump told Arrow to compare their ad with Kinetic's ad. In addition, Trump and Ivanka jointly grilled Arrow due to a number of errors.
    • No action: Both James and Stefani are not the reason they lost.
    • Disciplinary action: Frank made a number of critical errors during the making of the supplement, and Tim displayed disloyalty per James.
    • Verdict: Trump asked James who would he want on his team either Tim or Frank. James had selected Frank.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom
• Fired: Tim for being disloyal of the team and for allowing his relationship with Nicole to distract him during the tasks.
  • Per Trump the whole team performed poorly in this task.

Episode 12 - Las Vegas, Baby!

• Airdate: April 8, 2007
• Prologue: Trump conducted another twist: Frank, James, and Stefani were told to move back into the mansion. Trump also directed that the six remaining candidates divide themselves into three teams with two members each. Henceforth, there would be no more project managers and, fortunately, no more "Tent City".^[12]
  • Teams: Frank and Heidi, Kristine and Nicole, and James and Stefani
  • Kristine thought that she was in Heidi's shadow, since the two always worked together. To prove to Trump that she had her own strengths, Kristine chose to pair up with Nicole.
  • Both Heidi and Frank were the original project managers from week 1.
• Sponsor: No sponsor - internal promotion involving the second building of the Trump Organization's Las Vegas Hotel and Tower
• Task: Each team was to prepare promotional materials for selling condominiums for the second tower to be constructed as part of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas. Teams had access to the demonstration suite and were given graphic artists to assist them. Trump would decide which team(s) would win and continue to the next task, and which would lose on this task.
  • Donald "Don" Trump, Jr. assisted his father in judging this task.
  • Trump initially stated that he would fire both members of the worst team on this task.
• Who succeeded at the task: James and Stefani
  • Reasons for success: As their presentation was first, Trump noted that both the presentation and additional material would be tough to beat by the other teams. Their theme was "The Height of Luxury." After the presentation, Heidi complimented it by saying she was "100% impressed."
• Reward: There were no rewards, except that James and Stefani were guaranteed slots in the final two weeks of the job interview, and were able to assist Trump in deciding which two of the other four to fire.
• Who failed at the task: Frank and Heidi, Kristine and Nicole
  • Reasons for Frank's and Heidi's failure: Frank's and Heidi's presentation did not have any sales point, unlike the other teams. Heidi stumbled and rushed through the two-minute oral introduction before the video, and she failed to mention their sales point. Their brochure did not contain any photographs, but only long text passages which Trump compared to a book that no one would read. Trump also noted that their video was poor in quality. Heidi seemed to lose her confidence in this task. When they were asked what the theme of their presentation was, Heidi said "World Class Luxury" but later contradicted herself by saying it was "World Class Amenities." However, Heidi forgot to articulate this theme during the presentation. Lack of a theme was a major criticism of the presentation.
    • Heidi and Frank engaged in heated argument, and Frank accused Heidi of changing the subject and being dishonest to Trump and Don, Jr. Heidi revealed that the brochure was done 15 minutes prior to the boardroom session.
    • Don, Jr. stated that Heidi was contradicting herself and he also stated that Heidi lied in front of Mr. Trump about 4 times in the boardroom.
  • Reasons for Kristine's and Nicole's failure: Nicole had difficulty activating the powerpoint presentation, prompting Trump to ask James to help her. Their theme was "Las Vegas is Turning Gold." Trump noticed that the contact telephone number on the brochure of Kristine and Nicole was different from that on the brochure of James and Stefani. Trump requested that James and Nicole step out of the boardroom to verify which telephone number was correct. After calling both numbers, James and Nicole verified that the brochure of James and Stefani contained the correct number of 6711, while the brochure for Kristine and Nicole had the wrong telephone number of 9933.
    • Trump noted that getting the wrong telephone number was a fatal mistake. Kristine admitted to this mistake.
    • While Nicole was outside, Kristine argued to Trump that Nicole slept while Kristine designed the brochure. Kristine displayed lack of teamwork by talking poorly of her partner behind her back. Kristine thought of herself, and not of her team, by picking Nicole over Heidi to work with in this task. Kristine thought that she would be the star player of the team composed of herself and Nicole.
  • Change of heart: With both the Frank/Heidi team and the Kristine/Nicole team failing the task, Trump changed his mind and opted to fire one candidate from each team, holding the one fired liable for the failure of the task.
• Fired: Heidi for giving a terrible presentation and excessive dishonesty in the boardroom, and Kristine for utilizing the wrong telephone number on the brochure. Trump thinks Kristine's and Heidi's horrible individual performances convinced him otherwise.
  • Heidi stated that the task failure was the worst in her career and that she would agree with Trump 100% if Trump chose to fire her solely based on this task. Trump fired Heidi immediately after she made this comment. Heidi immediately looks shocked and shakes her head.
  • Without warning or preface, Trump then immediately fired Kristine. Kristine protested that she was not given a chance to defend herself. Nonetheless, Trump considered her publishing a wrong telephone number on the promotional brochure to be the critical reason to send Kristine home without delay. Trump also said that had Kristine not put the wrong phone number on the back of their brochure that he would have most certainly fired Frank and Heidi immediately
• Post-episode Apprentice firsts:
  • The final two members from the original Kinetic team were fired. As a result, this is the first time that the final four candidates consist of members from one original team, Arrow.
  • Stefani becomes the first person to reach the final four without once serving as project manager on a task.
• Notes:
  • After being fired, Kristine and Heidi were offered an opportunity to appear in a pictorial for Playboy magazine. Kristine accepted the offer (while Heidi refused), and she appeared in the June 2007 issue.^[13][14][15]

Episode 13 - The Final Four

• Airdate: April 15, 2007
• Teams:
  • Kinetic: Frank and Nicole
  • Arrow: James and Stefani
• Prologue: Trump and Don instructed Frank, James, Nicole, and Stefani to head to The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel for a cocktail party and meeting with four of the five past Apprentices: Kelly Perdew, Kendra Todd, Randal Pinkett, and Sean Yazbeck.
  • Bill Rancic, the winner of Season 1, was unavailable due to business obligations.
  • Perdew asked the final four to split into two teams and then for each team to choose two previously fired candidates to assist them in the final task.
    • Frank and Nicole chose Surya and Tim, James and Stefani chose Aaron and Angela.
• Task Sponsor: Renuzit (Dial Soap)
• Task Scope: The two teams were asked to produce a 60-second commercial for Renuzit that would be shown in a movie theater before the feature film.
• Executives' feedback: The Renuzit executives noted that James's and Stefani's team worked very well complementing each others' strength and weaknesses, while Frank took over while Nicole stayed behind the scenes. They did note that Frank was a very hard worker.
• Twists:
  • Trump made it clear at the beginning of the task that there would be no winners or losers for this task.
  • All four candidates were sent home by Trump after the Renuzit task, and were asked to return for the final live episode, during which Trump will hire one person out of the final four.
• Notes:
  • Dial, with its Renuzit brand, is the second sponsor to sponsor two Apprentice tasks in one given season. ^[16]
  • As there are no more project managers or team names, each team was identified simply as "Frank & Nicole" or "James & Stefani". However, a Kinetic Corporation sign could be seen in the background of Frank's and Nicole's editing room, while an Arrow Corporation sign could be seen in the background of James's and Stefani's editing room.

Episode 14 - Decision Time

• Airdate: April 22, 2007
  • The final episode was aired live before a televised audience at the Hollywood Bowl (except in the west).^[17]
  • It was the first time Trump chose his apprentice from four candidates, given the twist he pulled in Episode 13.
• Apprentice Jobs: Trump gave the four finalists the choice of overseeing the construction of Trump at Cap Cana (in the Dominican Republic) or Trump Towers Atlanta.
  • Stefani and Nicole chose the Trump at Cap Cana
  • James and Frank chose Trump Towers Atlanta
• Fired in the middle of the episode: Frank, for hiring Surya, who disliked him; and Nicole for her nepotism during the final task. In addition, Donald Trump preferred James's & Stefani's ad from week 12.
• The two finalists: James and Stefani
  • Brief appearance: George H. Ross commented on the two finalists.
    • George said that James sometimes seemed to lose focus.
    • Stefani didn't really step up to show leadership as a project manager.
  • An American Idol joke: Surya recommended Trump to hire Sanjaya Malakar.
  • Year of the woman: Heidi and Kristine recommended Trump to hire Stefani.^[18]
  • The importance of technology: Aaron recommended Trump to hire James.
• Fired at the conclusion of the episode: James, since Trump was bothered by certain "things" that James had said, although what these were was never revealed.^[19]
• Hired: Stefani Schaeffer. While she never stepped up as project manager, Stefani won the respect of many people. She was well liked because she doesn't take credit for things and she never made any significant mistakes throughout the interview process.
  • No one pointed out that Trump's "dynasty" rule of recurring project managers essentially made it more difficult for people to step up, even when the PM was not the primary reason for a victory, a reason why Schaeffer was the first to be hired without being a project manager for a task.
  • Task: Schaeffer will oversee the Trump at Cap Cana project on a 1-year contractual basis with a salary exceeding $250,000.
• Notes:
  • Stefani Schaeffer becomes the first practicing attorney and the second woman to be hired by Trump.
  • Stefani also becomes the first person to win the U.S. edition of The Apprentice without ever being the project manager for a task.
  • This finale, as with the third season, was aired only for one hour.
  • About midway through the live outdoor broadcast, it began to rain.

Ratings

The sixth season of The Apprentice was by far the worst-received season of The Apprentice, and also the least watched on its initial run (the tenth season would later receive considerably lower viewing figures). Critics and many fans alike were very unfavorable to the various radical changes the show had made (such as being a Project Manager until failing, or having a winning Project Manager serve in the boardroom and advise Trump on who to fire) and thought the show lost its original appeal. They believed that producers were trying to incorporate more of a sensational edge to the show, rather than focus on the aspects of the business world, and some speculated that the show was trying to specifically mirror Survivor, with having the weekly losing candidates live in tents with no power or running water. Moreover, footage of the actual projects that candidates would work on was substantially cut, after the tasks in this season often took up as little as a fifth of the episode, whereas the tasks in previous seasons took up between a third and a half of the episode's running time. Trump later blamed creator and executive producer Mark Burnett for these ideas, who ironically is also the creator of Survivor. The 90-minute premiere of the sixth season averaged 9.1 million overall viewers and a 4.1/10 rating/share in the Adults 18-49 demographic. The figure for total viewers for the show's sixth season debut was much lower than that of the show's fifth season debut.^[20] The second episode of season 6 averaged 7.3 million viewers. ^[21]

References

External links

• Apprentice 6 Cast Revealed!
• NBC reveals 'The Apprentice 6' contestants, new season twists
• NBC's Apprentice 6 Official Site on NBC
• Armchair Apprentice Podcast
• POHDCC, Columbia University, Teachers College

Candidate websites

• Aaron Altscher
• Heidi Androl
• Derek Arteta
• Martin Clarke
• Nicole D'Ambrosio
• Marisa DeMato
• Muna Heaven
• Jenn Hoffman
• Kristine Lefebvre
• Frank Lombardi
• Angela Ruggiero
• Stefani Schaeffer
• Michelle Sorro
• Carey Sherrell
• James Sun
• Aimee Trottier
• Tim Urban
• Surya Yalamanchili