Episode 3: Inactive isn't Attractive

After Kris' firing, the mood really hadn't changed throughout the game. A lot of the contestants were less than surprised with the very second firing -- and a lot of them saw it coming when they noticed Kelley and Scott in there with him.

However, in a fast paced game such as this one, we had to move along. There was no time for mourning over a loss that proves to be not such a great one. With both teams even at 7 members each, it was time for another task.

I prepared the teams, saying that both of them needed a project manager.

Without hesitation, Astute Inc. elected Kevin as their new project manager, and he accepted the position proudly, hoping he could pull out a victory.

Team Shock and Awe had difficulty in the simple task of choosing a project manager. Originally, Regina had signed up to be it, but then the scurrying of people began, and over three different names were submitted officially to be project manager. Once Regina stepped down as PM due to her not being able to be online at the time the challenge was sent, Chris and Dan M. both stepped up. Still confused as to who their official manager was, I sent them an e-mail, delaying the task.

Finally, Regina e-mailed me with one final confirmation. She would be the Project Manager, despite her original thoughts.

A day after the task was supposed to be sent out, I gave them their task.

It was an advertising task. Take the logos that were previously made, and convince as many "webmasters" as possible to put it on their site, along with a link to The Internet Apprentice homepage. The easiest task in the game would be this task.

Kevin and Andrew were the only ones actually doing anything on Astute Inc. Although they both later claimed that Kim helped with the challenge, I didn't see any website contributions from her. Krista contributed her own game's website, Survivor: Cocos Islands, and that would go in Astute Inc.'s list along with 28 other sites.

Regina had a different approach to the task. She found a couple of websites, simply because in the beginning, she realized that Astute Inc. had the lead with eleven sites. So, as any brilliant project manager would do, Regina found a couple of her friends, and asked them to, essentially, spam livejournals with the logo. And that's what they did. Although it was a one-man job in some senses, Chris did offer a couple of websites to help the task run smoothly. Dan M. also tried contributing, as he said in a confessional, but Regina didn't seem to respond to him.

When the time came for the task results to be sent out, Astute Inc. had a total of 29 submitted links. Team Shock and Awe had a total of 57 submitted links. However, the rules of the challenge said that the websites would be checked to make sure the logo was on each of them.

Astute Inc. had one livejournal that was friends only, therefore not allowing us to see the logo. Their final count was 28.

Team Shock and Awe, obviously not making the same livejournal mistake as Astute Inc., came out with 55 links, a good majority of them being from livejournal. Team Shock and Awe had their second win in the bag.

Regina congratulated herself, and everyone else joined in on the praise.

Almost instantly, Kevin knew who he wanted to send to the boardroom with him, due to "inactivity". He chose Mike and Daniel. Although Mike had shown, and still does show signs of activity, Daniel hadn't been around since task 1, therefore making this boardroom even easier than Nina's elimination.

Not even holding the boardroom meeting, Daniel was fired third, due to the fact that we had no communication with Daniel anymore.

Only thirteen remain -- who is going to be fired next?