The Apprentice Asia

[Recap] Brainy questions, stupid move

Each team was given the chance to ask an Expedia Asia director a few questions before starting on the video.

Worried about sounding dumb, Jon convinced The Mavericks to ask big business strategy questions – all of which were laughably irrelevant to the task – and wound up getting shot down by the Expedia Asia director.

Apex, on the other hand, sailed through their meeting.

Talk, talk, talk

But when it came to brainstorming, Apex’s true team dynamics (or in this case, their lack of team dynamics) finally surfaced.

Ning, Andrea and Celina out-talked everyone else, constantly interrupting the quieter Dee, Dian and Nik.

So loud and aggressive were they, that a horrified Kathleen declared that if she ever worked with them, they would drive her wild!

Dee and Nik gave up trying to contribute ideas, while a sulky Dian clammed up and – strangely – started gesticulating to herself.

Sam the future Oscar-winning director

A very enthusiastic Sam saw the chance to live his childhood dream of being a film director, and he volunteered to be project manager and Director.

And boy, did he take the role to heart! He barreled his way through all creative decisions, and insisted on his own storyline – one missing the fun element that’s so essential to viral videos.

On the day of the shoot, Sam was in a world of his own, taking all creative control, and refusing to listen to his teammates.

Unfortunately, the only thing he gave in to his teammates on was his big Branson idea: Since Virgin boss Richard Branson had to cross-dress as an AirAsia stewardess after losing a bet to Tony Fernandes, Sam wanted to play into the hype around it. Sam’s big idea was to have Alex act as a cross-dressing Branson in a scene.

The Mavericks, however, spent their entire brainstorming session trying to convince a very stubborn Sam that his idea was bad.

Eventually Sam gave up on the Branson idea – a move that Tony disapproved of, since he actually liked the idea.

Hanzo the grouch

On the other end of the enthusiasm-scale was Hanzo. Hanzo was made the Production Runner – a role that he thought was at the bottom of the film-making food-chain.

Throughout the project, he was surly and unmotivated, and at one point, even snapped at Sam to “just shut up” – much to the shock of his teammates (who of course gleefully ratted on him in the boardroom).

Who’s your director now?

On Apex, Dee had volunteered to be Director, with Andrea as Co-Director.

But mid-project, Dee relinquished the role of Director to Andrea – a move that Andrea thought was calculated to take the pressure off Dee’s back.

Surprisingly, once on location, Dee decided to take charge instead. Meanwhile, a brattish Andrea whined and sulked her way through the shoot.

The result Apex produced a mediocre video.

But Tony had this to say about The Mavericks’ video – “You guys must be on another planet if you think that was gonna be a viral video. You guys missed the brief completely.”

The Mavericks lost. Again.

Boardroom Blow-up

Because Sam refused to take his team’s input on anything else, he was picked to face elimination.

Sam chose Hanzo and Jon to face elimination along with him.

It ended up being an all-out yelling match between Hanzo and Jon, complete with jabbing fingers and banging fists (with Sam sitting between them, trying to stay out of the way).

Jon accused Hanzo of not trying to contribute at all, despite having better ideas. Tony agreed. Hanzo was fired for not being part of the team.