What are your thoughts about how Pepi was portrayed? I personally think it was out of line. So what he was the second/third person fired. They made him sound like a dufus for getting canned so early. The guy is not all bad....afterall Trump and the show keep saying that the 16 picked are the best a million applicants. Trump kinda apologized to him, but never did attempt to give the guy some credibility back...just said he took some abuse.

I guess contestents open themselves up for this by applying. Still think it was wrong.

• RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,SurvivorBlows, 11:55 AM, 06-06-06
  • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,JoshInSGV, 12:57 PM, 06-06-06
    • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,SurvivorBlows, 03:07 PM, 06-06-06
      • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,JoshInSGV, 04:08 PM, 06-06-06
• RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,reealiteefan, 12:41 PM, 06-06-06
  • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,Wacko Jacko, 03:55 PM, 06-06-06
    • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,JoshInSGV, 12:04 PM, 06-07-06
• RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,dafnaf, 04:18 PM, 06-07-06
  • RE: Pepi - Character Assination????,Deekeryu, 04:28 PM, 06-07-06

I think when Trump, Carolyn, and Sean made their comments, they were intended to be more of an indictment of Lee's questionable decision making than any "character assassination" of Pepi. My guess is that after watching last week's broadcast, Trump et al realized the footage unfortunately didn't do a good job of driving that point home.

As for Pepi himself, many of the folks canned in the first 2-3 weeks of these shows do tend to seem pretty dufus-like (despite Trump's comments, most veteran reality show viewers realize that the contestants on any reality show don't necessarily represent the most qualified applicants but rather the selection that the show's producers feel will result in the best television program. Given Trump has never hired a non-college graduate, half the Season 3 cast was clearly cast for only entertainment purposes.) Anyone that watched his project management of the competition's second task probably had already formed a less than flattering opinion of Pepi. For perspective, it was actually Pepi's Episode 2 loss that gave Lee his first project manager win.

I don't necessarily agree that contestants eliminated in the 2nd or 3rd week are goofy. I season 4, Chris was eliminated on the second week, yet I thought Chris was a decent PM. He was fired for his inability to control Markus, just like Pepi was fired for his inability to manage Brent. Interestingly enough, both Markus and Brent were completelly atrocious and only earned their place in this competition for entertainment/drama purposes. What I found even more interesting about Pepi's representation on the finale is that he never did any confessionals. Why is that? How come all the other Apprentice-rejects got to have confessionals? It just seems a very-one sided depiction of a reality-tv contestant. If someone is going to be categorized as a doofus, then go ahead and show the footage. Let the man look foolish by his own merit.

Are you saying that you formed a positive impression of Pepi from the Episode 2 footage that was shown? His inability to handle Brent wasn't his only problem, he seemed rather ineffectual throughout the task.

I can see making the case that the broadcast footage didn't present an accurate portrayal of his performance, but I'm surprised to see someone trying to make the case that the footage that was shown didn't show him in a negative light.

I'm not saying that Pepi was efficient as a PM. All I'm saying is that he wasn't given the chance to really shine, fail, or even redeem himself in the finale. Lenny was very inefficient throughout most of the tasks, yet he was prominent at the finale, even if it was just to highlight his mistakes. Tarek also had underperformed several times, yet he got a redeemable edit and plenty of confessionals. I'm just wondering why Pepi wasn't given any kind of screen time. If he's inept, his blunders would have served to further amuse the audience. So, why keep him in the periphery?

As for Pepe, I'm torn. All Trump and his minions did was state the truth: Pepe was eliminated in the first few rounds of competition. Yet while they didn't outright say the man is inept, their body language and tone of voice tried to belittle him. It was also rather obvious how the camera trained itself on Pepe at intervals, though he could not be heard saying anything on tape.

I confess I didn't recognize anybody but those who made it to the final five or six in the competition. I guess that makes all those who were first eliminated to be equally forgettable.

LAST EDITED ON 06-06-06 AT 04:14 PM (EST)

They thought it was some kind of joke that Lee took Pepi. He supposedly is one of the 'top 16' in the world. Do they know something that we don't?

Also, I agree - why not ONE confessional from Pepi? or a chance to defend himself on the finale? I know this was the first season no contestent verbally commented on the finale, but it was obvisious with the editing wanted us all to believe Pepi is a joke.

The same went on with Brent, but Brent did a few things to add fuel to the fire.

Not all contestents fired early are buffoons. I can tell you if I could pick a team of all the contestents fired Bradford would be at the top of my list. Trump was trying to make a point with him. He was fired in episode two also.

LAST EDITED ON 06-07-06 AT 12:04 PM (EST)

Thanks for reminding me about Bradford, Wacko. I had forgetten about him. He was definitelly fired for the wrong reasons. As far as I can remember, Ivanna should have been the one fired on that episode, yet she remained on the competition until the final 4, even though she was extremelly incompetent.

So, I dont really think the firing order really determines whether a contestant was a total idiot. In fact, I think we can all agree that Trump can be a bigger idiot than the contestants most of the time. =)

I wouldn't call that an apology.
Here's how it went:
-Stand up, Pepi.
-Sit down, Pepi,
That's enough, Pepi.

Trump just tried to keep things lighthearted. That was a pretty funny scene. Obviously, they realized they were kinda hard on him. Nothing against him, just Lee's weird choice on picking someone that was fired so early, and no one could remember.