Donald Trump, The Apprentice Find First Casualty

The new season of The Apprentice kicked off last night on NBC and Donald Trump was back in full effect.  I must say, Donald Trump really was entertaining, interjecting some great lines at the apprentice-wannabes trying to save their lives in the boardroom.  If you watched the show, then it was really no surprise that Martin of Atlanta, Gerogia, was the first to get canned.  After all, since Martin was the last member standing when they chose teams, he went to Frank's team by default….so no one actually ever chose him!  That told me right off the bat that Martin was a squirrel.  The Apprentice stayed on its track, with some fun changes to really mix things up for this season.     

In New York City, Donald "The Donald" Trump is used to being chauffeured around Manhattan, so it's shocking to see Donald behind the wheel of a convertible Rolls Royce, making his way through the palm-lined streets of Los Angeles. But when in LA, make like an Angelino.

However, just because he's in California doesn't mean the mogul has mellowed out. After greeting his 18 new wannabes outside his opulent Tinseltown mansion, Mr. Trump assigned them to pitch a large tent in the backyard. With a lot at stake and a loud clashing of egos, Frank from the Bronx and Heidi from Santa Monica soon took charge and helped focus the jumble of job applicants on the task at hand.

Trump decided that those who had stepped up amidst the anarchy were destined to lead on the first task, so Heidi and Frank divided the candidates into teams. (Heidi chose Muna, Jenn, Kristine, Surya, Aimee, Angela, Derek and Marisa; Frank selected James, Carey, Nicole, Stefani, Michelle, Aaron, Tim and Martin…notice who's chosen last here) Trump then dispatched them to become part of LA's $250 million dollar annual car wash industry with a head-to-head suds off, the first competition in the 14-week interview process.

A Frank Non-Discussion

Rambling Frank dictated the price points to his group, ranging from $10 for a basic wash to $100 for a full detailing. His strategy was to up-sell each customer and max out the profit margin. Frank then assigned roles to his team members and hustled off to Kinko's with Aaron to make flyers. Not everybody was a fan of Frank's frenetic, dictatorial style. "Frank led like a 3-year-old hyperactive kid on grape soda," noted Martin. When Ivanka arrived on the scene to observe, Frank had been gone 45 minutes, leaving his group in chaos. Worse yet, Ivanka commented they were "falling short on signage," which Frank's puny flyers did nothing to rectify.

In contrast, Heidi got her team's car wash up and running fast, luring customers with hand-drawn signs on cardboard. Showing a flair for grassroots marketing, Heidi's group hired a couple of buff, shirtless guys to flash their signage curbside in the predominantly gay West Hollywood neighborhood. Their strategy succeeded almost too well. Heidi's group soon realized they'd over-marketed and that customers were ornery about long lines at the car wash. Nevertheless, everyone in the well-organized group rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to do whatever was necessary to move customers through pronto.

In the end, the real surprise was that Heidi's crew only won by a small margin, $2,463 to $2,345. For their reward, the victorious candidates were feted to a fabulous dinner at perennial LA hotspot Spago alongside the Trumps and legendary chef Wolfgang Puck. As an added bonus, the winners learned that they would get to live in the luxurious mansion next door to Trump, while the losers would be forced to live out back in tents.

Further amping up the differences between the haves and the have-nots this season, the winning project manager will now join Trump as an advisor in the boardroom along with Ivanka, Don Jr., or previous Apprentice winners. Winning project managers will also retain their management mantle until they lose. This gave winning PM Heidi a chance to gain an advantage for her team (and herself) by observing the competition and perhaps gaining Mr. Trump's confidence.

Loudmouth vs. Mealy Mouth

The first boardroom under the new rules quickly became a blame-game between energetic project manager Frank and laid-back Martin, who was well-liked by his colleagues but seen as somewhat of a slacker. Martin asserted that Frank lacked a strategy, while Frank countered that Martin lacked initiative and caused the group's defeat by failing to up-sell as many customers as the other salesmen. Though a majority of the team thought Frank should go, the boardroom isn't a democracy and Mr. Trump and Ivanka soon turned their unwelcome attention to Martin. Ivanka found him temperamentally unsuited to the Trump Organization, while Trump put the hammer down by saying, "Martin's a bit of a pompous ass."

Martin even found himself defending his inappropriate potty-break request at the candidates' first meet-and-greet by saying, "I had to go." Little did he know how prophetic that comment would be. Trump told Martin that, "I think in life you're going to be great." But on The Apprentice he was just plain grating. With that, Trump gave him the bad news: "Martin, you're fired." Now go! — Watch the idiot Martin get fired!