Week 7: Create a backers’ audition for a musical

My two cents on The Apprentice
Week 7
Task : Create a backers’ audition for a Broadway musical.
Judged on:

• Marketing material
• Overall presentation of the backers’ audition

As Week 7 starts, it’s clear that both teams are just sick and tired of all the sideshows that keep distracting them from their tasks each week. Will we be saved from David the virus? Will Mahsa’s overbearing personality finally wear out everyone’s patience? Honestly, each week I look forward to what Liza is going to be accused of and what ridiculous thing David is going to do.

The teams are tasked with creating a backers’ audition presentation for a musical. All they have is a score and the script.
Brandy and Mahsa declare war on each other. Hopefully this will distract the rest of the team from Liza. It’s about time. Just let the poor girl compete please. Mahsa says Liza is incompetent. Wow! Mahsa should look in the mirror.
I am happy that Liza stepped up to be the project manager, unfortunately she has no idea what a Broadway musical is. This might be a disadvantage for her. However, this being a team project, the rest of the team should bring her up to speed on what a Broadway show is.At this point, it might seem obvious that the ladies will sabotage Liza as PM so that she can get fired. Unfortunately for the ladies, I do not think Liza is getting fired just yet.
As Fortitude works on their project, it is clear that Stephanie wants to take the main responsibility of the task. She says she has studied with the royal conservatory for over  30 years. Is she not the same person that said she is done carrying the whole team on her back? She also goes on to say that Liza has no culture. Excuse me. There is no one that has no culture. That's like saying someone does not have a heartbeat or a brain. Just because my culture is not similar to yours does not mean that I have no culture. I am sure that if Stephanie traveled to another country, she would find things that she has never seen before. Does that mean that she has no culture?
Liza looks like she is managing the project well. Getting Mahsa and Stephanie out of the room and tasking them with the design was a very smart move since you do not want these two creating chaos in the task.
I love Liza’s introduction of their presentation. It grabs your attention and prepares you for the presentation. Their presentation was great too except that it felt like the narrations were interrupting the flow of the show. Another huge mistake was failing to include a list of the producers. This is the main purpose of the task; Get sponsorship for the production of the musical.
Steuart steps up to be the PM for Octane let’s see what he is made of. David shocks me with his good points and creative ideas about the actual presentation. It’s interesting that Steuart has already decided that if David’s ideas do not work out, then David will be under fire. The men have a great presentation unfortunately, at the end, Steuart overshadows the this by his lackluster closing shot.
Enter the boardroom...
At this point, it’s not clear who won this task. The judges agreed that both presentations were great, the marketing material was to the point and easy to understand.The ladies lost because they did not include a list of the producers.
Mahsa and Stephanie were tasked with the design. However, Stephanie is trying to defend herself by saying that she does not think her musical background was exploited to the fullest. I think it was though, because she helped choose the five songs for the presentation and the general flow. Didn’t she say that she did not want to shoulder all the responsibilities anymore.
In a very interesting turn of events, the focus of the boardroom shifts from the tasks to Mahsa’s theatricals. Mr. Trump, Ivanka and Don Jr. all agree on how unprofessional she is. Mahsa was portrayed as a liar and a dishonest contestant. Her lack of loyalty to her team was also questioned. Unfortunately, the ladies’ loss was overshadowed by Mahsa’s theatrics that have been building up to a climax throughout the weeks. And it all came back to haunt her. I love the way Brandy said “it’s all coming down.”

It’s time for Mahsa to take a bow.

Stay tuned.