sequins, rhinestones and other tacky, Bedazzler-esque ornamentation. (Ironically, The Apprentice Season 3 candidate Tana Goertz is a spokesperson for the BeDazzler.) Stephanie enthusiastically supports Poppy’s vision, while Liza is aghast, recognizing that the brand should be “classy,” “expensive” and “glamourous.” With Stephanie solidly behind her, Poppy sends Liza off to work on constructing the display; Liza is happy to oblige, wanting no part of Poppy’s design concept. When the team reunites to decorate the constructed display, Poppy is extremely pleased with Liza’s work, expressing her approval with a backhanded compliment: “Liza finally did something right!” On the other hand, Liza is even more repulsed when Poppy and Stephanie introduce cheap, fake feathered boas to the design.
Clint is disappointed when he expects Brandy, the only woman on his team, to be a valuable source of input on how best to market a fragrance for women. She’s got nothing: “I’m just not as feminine as the other women.” (That’s not the impression we got on Task 8, when she eagerly played sex kitten for the Donald J. Trump Signature menswear ad campaign). Fortunately, Steuart came through with the idea of building a see-through woman’s vanity, the kind a Hollywood starlet might have, to display the fragrance. Brandy, assigned by Clint to handle the graphics, develops banners, window displays, fragrance strips and an information brochure featuring images of Kardashian. In the meantime, Clint and Steuart handle construction of the vanity, which is designed to be backlit in pink and lavendar, the signature colors of the fragrance; and features video showcasing Kardasian and her scent and multiple displays of the fragrance bottle and logo.
The Result: Octane’s display looks like a high school crafts project. The only positive is that consumers can have their pictures taken with the life-size image of Kardashian. By contrast, Fortitude’s display is elegant and sophisticated, perfectly showcasing the fragrance and its muse–in fact, it’s store ready. There’s no contest–Fortitude wins the task.
Who I Would Have Fired: Poppy was sure that she understood the Kardashian brand. She couldn’t have been more wrong; Octane’s concept was so bad, it was comical. She was fired as soon as I saw Kardashian’s name spelled out in sequins. Blinded by her own bias and swayed by Stephanie, Poppy shut out the one person on her team who understood the brand and could have helped win the task: Liza.
Who Will Be The Next Apprentice?: Clint (2-0 as project manager) despite his blue-collar, country-boy ways, has been consistently impressive–or rather, impressively consistent. He’s likable enough to command respect, loyalty and cooperation from others, but does not hesitate to demand respect (ask David Johnson). Most