Will Kelly or Jenn become ‘The Apprentice’?

The second season of "The Apprentice" was a crazy one, for sure. Much has been made over The Donald's boardroom wackiness, including his penchant for seemingly random firings or for changing his own rules mid-stream.

That's fine, it's his show (kind of), and he can do whatever he wants about that. But it seems to at least some viewers that his scattershot firings only hurt the show. I mean, Jenn and Kelly in the final two? Are they really the best two candidates?

They're certainly not the liveliest or the best-spoken. Pamela, Andy, Raj and even the short-lived Bradford were much more interesting to watch. Although maybe we should be thankful for small favors: At least we're not stuck with a Maria-Stacy final. Now that would have sent viewers running away from their sets in droves.

Kelly:
Gael says: Kelly seems to have impressed millions of viewers much as he did Trump's panel of four business executives, who said the ex-military man was a leader who also knows how to take orders. Said one exec "Kelly would have to do something wrong for me not to hire him." He's also proven himself in the various challenges, and was 3-0 as a project manager. Although admittedly, Sandy's expertise as a bridal-shop owner won the wedding-gown task. All Kelly had to do was stay out of her way.

Kelly's also been lucky: He delegated some tasks to untrustworthy people, and it could have burned him. Remember Maria forgetting (or editing out) the bridal-shop's phone number from an e-mail that went out to thousands of New York brides? She lied straight to Kelly's face about it, and he  let that pass. (Although Kelly's far from the only person who was unable to deal with Maria — remember her snarling at project manager Wes to "Back off!"?)

Kelly's team, Elizabeth, John and Raj, is a talented group. But they know that they have absolutely nothing on the line. Raj has bluntly said "I have no interest in Kelly's victory or defeat." And it appears that Kelly was never very popular with his fellow contestants even before making the finals.

Kelly's task, a charity polo classic, is similar to the golf tournament that won it all for Bill Rancic last year. Like golf, it relies on weather, which is pretty much out of Kelly's hands. But maybe he should have learned something from the bridal-shop challenge after all: Every engaged couple planning an outdoor wedding has some form of a back-up plan. It's unlikely the polo classic could be moved inside, but could the date be changed or another event substituted? Kelly is in a good position to win it all, but as we all know, when it rains, it pours.

Jenn
Andy says: What do we know about Jenn M.? She’s been project manager once, and she won that task, which involved dog pampering. Although she was on a losing team a number of times, she’s also only been brought into the boardroom once, prompting Trump to ask during her sole boardroom appearance, “How come you seem to keep, sort of, sliding by — barely?”

She’s given what Carolyn labeled “a safe answer” and what one of the executive interviewers said were “general” answers. Ivana once commented that “she’s all talk, and a lot of lies.” Kelly said that working with her prompted him to “[send] her away because I didn’t think she performed well.” Sandy said “Jenn kind of flew under the radar.”

Although Andy did praise her during one of her rare boardroom appearances, saying she was smarter and more creative than Sandy, most of her fellow candidates clearly can’t stand her. Trump, too, has gotten annoyed with her on more than one occasion. But Trump “loved the attack” when she jumped on Sandy, and that explains a lot. Jenn steps up when she has to.

Early on, she seemed like she would take the whole thing effortlessly, her experience and confidence combining to create the ideal “Apprentice” candidate. Later, it seemed like less of a sure thing, as she became more annoying and arrogant (remember when she apparently took credit for Ivana’s design wheel?), but she kept avoiding the boardrooms and thus elimination. There must have been a reason, and that reason is probably her competence.

Perhaps we can blame the editors for manipulating us, for showing us parts of Jenn that worked with that week’s storyline.

Even if she is some sort of dastardly, manipulative, chameleon, she of the impressive resume and strong presence is one of the final two candidates. Sixteen others can’t say the same thing, no matter how much they may despise her.

Who will win?
Gael says: This is a tough one. Neither of the contestants is doing a stellar job controlling his or her team, and neither seems to have complete control of the many tasks that make up the two charity events.

Kelly has the weather to deal with, a factor that could be totally out of his hands. When we last saw Jenn, she seemed on the verge of losing Sacramento King Chris Webber, who was supposed to emcee her charity basketball event. You've got to think she can either convince his agent to force Webber to fulfill the commitment or find another player to fill in.

That said, my money is still on Kelly. Trump seemed to savor Jenn's ability to pounce on fellow players in the boardroom, but that's not going to help her plan the basketball event. She's falling into the trap of delegating vital pieces of the task, namely communicating with the NBA. As nice as it would be to see a woman named Trump's Apprentice, Jenn's not even the most talented  or smartest woman this season (that honor goes to Pamela). I suspect Kelly's experience and years of military organization will come into play and help him corral his lackadaisical team, rain or no rain.

Andy says: “You are both winners,” Trump said to Kelly and Jenn. But are we winners? Both of the two finalists are kind of, well, boring.

Last year it seemed like a toss-up between two charismatic, talented, strong candidates, Kwame and Bill. This year, it seems like a toss-up between two competent but dreadfully uninteresting finalists who only show personality when they’re shoved up against a wall. What would the final two look like if Bradford hadn’t arrogantly given up immunity, or if Pamela had priced differently, or if Trump hadn’t made some pretty bad decisions? Alas, we have these two to work with.

Given this toss-up choice, there’s an obvious question: Will Trump again pick a white 30-something male to be his apprentice? For all his eccentricities, Donald Trump is a savvy guy, and while he can certainly handle criticism, he might not want to reinforce the idea that he’s not an equal-opportunity employer.

Thus, given a relatively even outcome in the two charity events, Jennifer will win. More than likely, Trump will identify a strength in Jenn’s performance on her final task and use that as the reason to hire her, or find something wrong with Kelly’s performance and use that as the reason not to hire him, much as he did with Kwame last year. Jenn’s success with the task plus her ability to be the rabid attack dog when necessary give Trump all the reasons he needs to say, “Jenn, you’re hired.”

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Television Editor. Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news

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