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WEEK TWELVE


Viva Las Vegas

 

"I am completely crazy about you, even if you jacked me completely," said a smiling Nicole, when reading Tim's hitting-the-road love letter he had left for her to Heidi and Kristine. Tim was ousted because Arrow felt his allegiance was divided between the team and his crush, Nicole. But his untimely departure was just the beginning of the loyalty juggling challenges.

Trump announced that he was dissolving both teams and instructed the candidates to split into three new teams of two. In addition, there would be no more living in tents for anybody. Arrow cheered loudly and immediately moved back into the mansion, eager to select new teams.

Regarding the changes, James noted, "The hardest part is ending Arrow." Nevertheless, he kept Arrow's spirit alive by teaming with former Arrow colleague, Stefani. Meanwhile, Nicole wasn't thrilled about reuniting with the team that had recently cut her loose. When Frank asked Nicole if she was having trouble coping with the emotion of Tim's exit, Nicole retorted: "Are you retarded?" Kristine, hoping to step out of Heidi's shadow, promptly joined up with spunky Nicole. This left Heidi and Frank as the third and final team. The original PMs from this season's first task would now join forces.

The next day, Trump assigned the trio of duos their task: creating a sales and marketing presentation for the new Trump International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas. The teams would fly to Sin City to visit the building site and gather information, then sky back to Los Angeles to prepare and present their proposals to the mogul and Don Jr. As always, the losers would be fodder for firing.

En route to Vegas in Trump's opulent private jet, the teams prepared for their mission. Experienced teammates James and Stefani meshed well as did the odd couple of calm Kristine and energetic Nicole. But Frank seemed a bit too pumped up, taunting the other teams, even as Heidi tried to rein in his enthusiasm without raining on his parade. They already appeared to be a troubled team. Of course, in Vegas, as in business, everything's a gamble--and long shots sometimes pay off.

After all the available units in the first Trump Tower in Vegas rapidly sold out, Trump doubled his bet with a second tower. Always thinking big, Trump's two towers would be the tallest buildings in Vegas. Thinking big may be contagious. Even before Stefani and James reached the construction site, she wrote a killer concept line: "The Height of Luxury." James knew just what to do with it. Weeks in the boardroom seemed to have given James a window into Trump's mind: "He's not looking for a gimmick. He wants something solid." As a result, they focused on the big picture, kept things simple and stayed on the same page.

In contrast, Kristine and Nicole were torn in opposite directions. Kristine worked on the brochure and DVD while Nicole directed her energy toward the presentation. Nicole felt Kristine was lost in the details. Kristine felt Nicole wasn't doing much of anything. Indeed, during production, Kristine stayed up late with the designer while Nicole snoozed. Though less conflicted, Frank and Heidi's team also experienced production problems. Frank hogged the designer's time assembling the video, while Heidi struggled to create a coherent brochure.

When it came time for presentations, Stefani and James led the way with a polished performance that wowed Trump, and even Heidi, who was "100 percent impressed." The same couldn't be said for Nicole and Kristine's effort. Nicole's computer froze, prompting James to step in and help. In the end, it wasn't worth the wait. "This is the most choppy, broken-down technical thing I've ever seen," said Trump. "I liked the brochure, but I thought your presentation sucked." Unfortunately, even that blunt, semi-compliment was negated when it turned out Kristine got the Trump phone number wrong on the pamphlet.

It looked like Kristine's number was up, until Frank and Heidi took the floor. "When I saw Frank and Heidi's presentation, I had a glimmer of hope," smiled Kristine. The usually poised Heidi flubbed the pitch, Frank's video was awful and their brochure was even worse. Heidi agreed it was terrible, but predictably blamed much of it on Frank. After some give and take with Frank, and some waffling trying to cover her failings to Don Jr., Heidi admitted that it was the worst performance of her professional life.


 

LESSONS LEARNED