Celebrity Apprentice Episode 6
| February 12, 2008 | Posted by Roshawn Watson under Uncategorized |
By: Roshawn Watson
This week’s task was to design a living window display featuring a campaign for a Vera Wang’s new Serta mattress.
Omarosa led team Empressario while Former Heavyweight champion, Lenox Lewis led team Hydra. Stephen Baldwin decided to switch teams (from Hydra to Empressario) due to the Piers Morgan-Vinnie debacle .
The teams were judged on creativity, brand-messaging, and entertainment value.
Team Empressario: Being Omarosa’s second time as a project manager (she also led task number one) and given Empressario’s embarrassing record of 1:4 wins, the stakes were high to bring a win.
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They immediately chose a wedding theme: Vera’s niche. They created a classic and beautiful wedding display. It was gorgeous, and Vera was definitely impressed.
Team Hydra: As Lenox Lewis’s first time as a project leader, he led with an iron fist. He heavily delegated almost all portions of the tasks, which of course didn’t go unnoticed, especially by Piers. Lenox was opinionated and insisted on discipline.
They focused on “A timeless love,” featuring of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony lying on the the mattress but with some modern day gadgets as well. Their theme was “the world’s greatest romance meets the world’s greatest mattress.” Their production was definitely not as aesthetically pleasing as Team Empressario.
The Results: As other tasks, at the end there was no contest. Team Hydra’s creativity and expansion of the Vera Wang brand were undeniable. Once again, team Hydra clearly surpassed Empressario for this task.
The Boardroom: Although Omarosa wanted the team to face the boardroom together, that idea was rejected. Then, Omarosa asked to bring back Baldwin and Marilu. She indicated that Baldwin didn’t contribute much to this task (since he was away on a speaking engagement) and that Marilu had a lot of nervous energy that needed to be managed. However, Trump discouraged bringing back Baldwin since she couldn’t clearly indicate where he failed. Ultimately, she brought back Nely Galan (photo below) and Marilu. Nely’s mouth, by far, was her own undoing. Trump began to point out how the past always matters. Nely told Trump that he needed to “drop it,” stating that he was the only one who had trouble with her and that her teammates appreciated her contributions. Trump said that there was at least one task where she should have been fired but skated by. She told him again to let it go, but Trump wouldn’t and quickly dismissed her stating that she was really in the best position to win due to her experience.
THE LESSONS
Listen to Your Leader- a few weeks ago when Trump tried to help Gene Simmons by indicating who he should likely take to the boardroom, Gene refused his counsel and bit the bullet himself. Omarosa learned from that. A hint to the wise is sufficient. It is great to truly consider how important it is for you to be “right” in any group situation. Sometimes it saves the team, and it may ultimately be the thing that saves you!
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Celebrity Apprentice episode 4
Celebrity Apprentice Episode 5
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I don't know where you get the idea that "most of the [Hydra] team appreciated the change" re: Lennox's unique "leadership" style. They never bought into it (Trace even called it "strange" in the board room), and in fact they named it for exactly what it was — a ploy to evade responsibility for possible failure. Making meeting participants raise their hands like schoolchildren is not a meeting facilitation method for adults. And Piers is right — taking a vote on everything isn't leadership.
I definitely think that there was strategy behind Lenox's leadership style. It is classic for Apprentice PMs to try to cover themselves to prevent being called out in the boardroom. However, I respectfully disagree with Piers comment. Lenox has a different style, and although it was self-serving, it also benefited the team too. Everyone felt a responsibility to produce because he gave it to them. BTW, Piers does a lot of talking, but he failed miserably as PM himself. His Machiavellian leadership style is completely unimpressive (and ineffective) as well.