The Apprentice Los Angeles: they really ARE in tents

Ouch! Was I ever wrong. I couldn't believe The Donald would really allow smart professionals to camp out in a tent, with inadequate bathroom facilities, to say the least. It seems there really is a tent. Some of the contestants have been looking downright scruffy. Interviewed after the show, one woman said, "Of course we looked awful! I hadn't washed my hair in days." The tent experience was created to make some good television. In theory those in the tents will be more motivated to work hard and get back into the mansion. In reality these kinds of motivations often backfire. You're tired and dirty. You realize some outcomes are almost random. Winning a task sometimes comes down to a single extra sale or a fortuitous location. The show makes a difference: where are the cameras focused? But I see another concern. Job interviews are supposed to be two-way. Applicants are not supplicants. They're people with dignity. If you're good, your employer needs you and you are having a business conversation about what you can contribute. I'm lucky. I left corporate America before the widespread use of background checks, lie detectors, drug tests and stress interviews. Never had any. I was background-checked for my current apartment and declined a telecommute job that required one. Even in this environment, you have to decide what you'll accept in order to get a particular job. Sure, if you decline a drug test or refuse to give information for a background check, your employer assumes you have something to hide. As far as I'm concerned, that's their problem. Trump candidates have been through background checks, psychological tests, physical exams and a whole lot more. And now they're sleeping in a tent if they lose. Maybe The Apprentice is like Mount Everest. It's there. It's a challenge. So go do it. Apart from the tent, Trump insults the candidates. He refers to their "ass" and their "stinking tent" and sneers on camera. To be sure, he bestows compliments: he admired the golf game of four women who golfed with him after winning a task. But he's still more than a little patronizing. Why put up with it? That's the question I hope more viewers are asking.