The Apprentice 3 Episode 7 Recap: Who's the Fairest of Them All?

How Mark Burnett sees Audrey ... as a fragile beauty ... who swears a lot (the thorns?)

No opening credits this week -- perhaps that would have required editing out Chris charming youngsters as a loudmouthed, tobacco-chewing clown. The first shot is of a rose, a "subtle" reference to Audrey. Ah, the rose, so ... dewy? Sweet-smelling? Oh, right. So pretty. Of course it is not just a bed of roses being, uh, a rose. There are also the thorns! Pricking you with their thorniness. Well, maybe not so much if you're the rose. But it still ain't easy.

At least not if there's a rival flower in your rosebush. Particularly a bitter one like John, dropping "sweeties" and fake compliments like-- okay, that's probably more of a problem for humans than flowers. Telling a woman she will make a lot of money because she is "gorgeous and a sweetheart" is not praise. It is sexist and condescending to attribute a woman's success to her looks and/or personality. Spending the rest of the episode calling Audrey a gnat, a baby, and an idiot, and undermining her authority at every turn helps remove any lingering doubt as to whether John might secretly have respected her much. During the hotel renovation task, John called Brian a "silly little man" so John apparently also considers height a valid basis for belittling someone. He might not be merely sexist but also a bully.

It must be difficult for a candidate to work under a Project Manager they don't respect, knowing if they succeed at the task, the Project Manager will win an exemption and look better in Trump's eyes. But John's Michael-esque approach to the task does not seem wise. Hey, at least Michael didn't scare any children while passing out flyers. He stuck to frightening adults. Adults-a-go-go even. Regular clowns horrify children enough, did Net Worth really need a giant and surly one "attracting" customers?

Naturally there was another option. Like John, Kendra did not see eye to eye with her Project Manager. With the two courses right next to each-other, Kendra thought the task would come down to marketing, and was not sure her Stephanie understood that. Her response was obvious. Say nothing, pass out a few flyers, call her Project Manager an idiot, and object to everything she does, so you can more easily blame her for the inevitable loss. No, wait. That was John's approach.

Kendra suggested working out deals, possibly with discounts, with places such as skating rinks where kids took lessons nearby. Stephanie okayed that with not much enthusiasm, but Kendra was not shown calling her an "idiot." Along with Erin she set up exclusive cross-promotional marketing with flyers tailored to several different venues. Carolyn later cited these flyers as instrumental in Magna's win.

John might have sacrificed his chances of being hired to the short-term goal of ousting Audrey. Kendra came up with the idea (and did much of the subsequent work) that gave her team the win, although the exemption went to Stephanie. John helped eliminate a rival by essentially sabotaging his own team. In terms of your team's best interests as well as your own, it seems smarter to emulate Kendra. Even if it was vital that Audrey go as soon as possible, that was going to happen soon. Her teammates had identified her as a weak team player and as soon as she led, she would be revealed as an ineffectual leader. Carolyn even rolled her eyes at Audrey's explanation of why she should be Project Manager.

It's ability and performance that should count here and not looks. Yet Trump seemed to think John's reference to Audrey's appearance was a compliment. At least Faux-George Ashley Cooper was properly appalled by John's statement that Audrey "is what she is ... a 22-year-old girl." After firing Audrey, Trump remarked, "At least they can't say I picked the best-looking one," as though he sure had showed the mysterious "they." The viewers did not need to know that Trump considers every remaining candidate less attractive than Audrey. Does Trump usually discuss whether or not he finds potential new employees attractive? Odd that he was comfortable mentioning something so irrelevant on television.

Audrey was horrible, and this week, John was too. He should have been called out for his significant failures. Once Audrey revealed her backstory, and John's ego was raging out of control, he had the advantage when it came to storyline potential. Perhaps more significantly, he also has won as Project Manager and until this episode has always seemed competent and rarely malicious. The same can't be said for Audrey. So the man who compared himself to a lion will get a thorn in his paw another day; it just won't be left there by a so-called rose. Or a gnat, as the case may be. Audrey was a weak leader, her storyline potential was exhausted, and most likely, so was she. Her boardroom performance was "a complete disaster," and she gave Trump little reason to not fire her.

We're stuck with Trump for at least two more seasons, so his failures are much more disappointing.