Fayetteville resident Kelly Smith Beaty’s run on “The Apprentice” is over.
Fresh off of a week where Kelly looked like the star, she became Fortitude’s project manager in a task involving establishing 15-minute pedi-cab tours of somewhere in Manhattan. Now I don’t know if she was employing strategy (volunteer for project manager while your previous success may still be fresh in everyone’s mind) or if she was urged by others to step up, but it backfired. The women were destroyed in the task by Octane (the men) who set up a chariot-themed pedi-cab tour around Trump Tower and Fifth Avenue.
There were a number of things wrong with Fortitude last night. First off, Kelly and Mahsa couldn’t pass their pedi-cab driving test. I’m sure it was harder than just riding a bike (you are toting a carriage that can fit a family after all) but then again, it is just riding a bike and everybody else passed the test. So, Kelly didn’t get to sweat it out with her teammates and instead had to work to generate sales. The women also picked a disastrous location – Wall Street – upon the suggestion of Stephanie who is quickly becoming as insufferable as Mahsa. Her logic was that all of the men with money would want to hop on the pedicabs of Babes on Bikes (the women dressed sexy and pedaled around the neighborhood). It didn’t pan out that way. The guys were selling and riding right away while the girls hung around until there was some interest around lunch.
Ultimately, Kelly just looked out of her element in the task. The sales were so poor that it looked like no one was really selling and without riding the bike and trying to make everything work better Kelly appeared to be doing not much of anything. We don’t know what was in the footage that wasn’t used, but it doesn’t really matter. If you’re the project manager and your team loses, you are on the chopping block and unless you have somebody you can directly link to your failure (i.e. Gene and his stumbling m.c. work the previous week), you’re doomed.
Kelly played the game well and was very nice. It will serve her well in doing more PR work, especially since she wants to work with non-profits and charitable organizations. Had her team found a way to win the task, I think she would have easily gone forward a few more weeks because David (I know, I’ve been saying this for weeks now) has to be gone soon and Mahsa is going to wear out her welcome too.
Oh well, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts….
As much as I liked following Kelly, I will be glad to cancel my DVR timer and stop watching this show. I find it hard to root for any of the other cast members. There are a few I have no antipathy towards, but I find most of the cast to be either abrasive and rude or smug and annoying. I may keep an eye on who goes home in the coming weeks and tune back in if I like the last few survivors, but I doubt it. I’m just not cut out for a show like this. I like escapism and when I watch “The Apprentice” I feel I need to escape from the cast members and their shrill whining and blame games.
Business lesson of the week – When you are the project manager, don’t let anyone outwork you or appear to outwork you. Kelly may have over-delegated during this task and when they didn’t win, there was no way she couldn’t take most of the blame. Even though you still might fail, people should be able to look back and say you tried everything you could and didn’t give up.
