Apprentice L.A.: Episode 10

Customers aren't keen on buying things from roller skating women wearing Kevlar vests. Go figure.

Trump kicked off the latest episode of The Apprentice by forcing one of the members of Arrow Corp. to join the women of Kinetic. When no one volunteered, Trump told Project Manager James to choose someone. Quickly.

James explained that, because of whatever talents Stefani and Frank purportedly possess, they were indespensible. That left the love birds, Tim and Nicole, and James picked Nicole to join Kinetic's coven.

There was much eye rolling from his fellow team members -- as in, "How can you separate them? They're in love!" Yet no one objected aloud or volunteered to take Nicole's place. Not even Tim.

The reorganized teams met with Trump and Ivanka to received their task. At Universal Studios, teams would be responsible for using a new, mobile sales technology (basically a wireless credit card reader) to peddle discounted season passes to patrons as they entered the theme park.

Upon arriving at Universal, Nicole adopted a "take no prisoners" mentality and vowed to crush Tim and her former teammates. She (correctly) predicted that Arrow would erect a large tent with flashy signage in order to attract customers, and she set about crafting a plan to undermine their efforts.

Nicole's winning sales strategy? Roller skates. The skates would allow the the girls to be more mobile than tent-bound Arrow, and who wouldn't want to buy passes from four hot babes on wheels?

Apparently, a lot of people.

The babe effect was substantially lessened by the bulky vests that supported the portable digital display/credit card machine. The bulky, black kevlar-like floatation devices didn't pair well with the retro black roller skates.

Arrow's tent gave them an air of legitimacy, which they used to undermine their competition. They offered free bottles of water to their customers, and James even broadcast over a bullhorn that the women on roller skates were charging more for the passes (which, as far as I could tell, they weren't).

Arrow was able to sell $30,000 worth of passes, beating Kinetic by more than $7,000. That makes me wonder: who the hell are these people buying these freaking expensive annual passes? I like the Jurassic Park boats and Mummy coaster as much as the next reality show recapper, but how many times a year do you want to see the Waterworld show or break your neck on that Back to the Future ride?

Back at the mansion, Tim learned the hard way what a bad idea it is to get romantically involved with another Apprentice candidate. As Frank and all of the women of Kinetic listened on, Nicole confronted Tim through the hedge that separates the pool area from the tent compound.

Nicole said, "I didn't think you and Frank would've let me go."

Tim responded, "You wanted us to say something?"

As the Kinetic gals tried to explain that Nicole had just wanted Tim to speak up in her defense when James suggested her, Tim countered with some reasoning that, by not saying anything, he was really doing what Nicky would've wanted: displaying loyalty to the team.

The conversation didn't last very long, once Nicole realized that Tim's loyalty was not to her. But Tim still couldn't reconcile why she'd be upset by that, and he didn't make the connection that, as a member of the losing team, Nicole was in serious danger of being fired.

In the Boardroom the next day, Project Manager Angela did go after Nicole for her roller skate idea. But everyone else on the team blamed Angela for not considering anything beyond the roller skates.

Trump, who's been impressed with Angela's Olympic medals all season, tended to agree with the majority. Reluctantly, he fired Angela. She was sad not to have won, but said she probably learned more through the experience of losing. It figures that a high-level athlete would understand how to put losing in perspective.

Next week, one of the teams screws up big time. Even bigger than usual, apparently.