The Associated Press is reporting that reality TV maven Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth will be studying at United Theological Seminary starting Monday.
Great quote here: "Ivan Hicks, the school's associate dean for African-American studies, says ... Omarosa's reputation for both good and bad will help her as a minister, because people will relate to her."
Um, OK. My hope is the seminary will keep her busy -- and OFF MY TV.
Randal Pinkett, who won The Apprentice in 2005 -- and generally came across as one of the most stable contestants that show has ever seen -- is apparently on the short-list as a possible lieutenant governor candidate in New Jersey.
N.J. Gov. Jon Corzine has to announce a running mate soon, and the Associated Press is reporting that Pinkett is interested, but an offer hasn't yet been made.
Interesting. Usually reality TV contestants crop up in the news again for DUI arrests or deciding to go on other reality TV shows. It's nice to see someone using their fame in a positive way, but at the same time, it's a little odd to consider having a lieutenant governor who is otherwise best known for being on a television show. Stranger things have happened, though.
(AP Photo/Mike Derer)
... totally contrived. Annie Duke and Joan Rivers are the Celebrity: Apprentice Top 2? Really? Joan Rivers who walked off set last week?
You know the only reason she is back and in the finals is because they think having the two people who hate each other the most square off will cause the most drama. And it probably will cause drama, but will it be watchable? I guess we'll see next week during the (ugh) three-hour finale.
I really think Jesse James should have been in the final two. I don't care that he didn't force his wife's Hollywood friends to give money during the fund-raisers; I just think he's really capable and interesting and hard-working. I'm down with low-key (last week's rant at Clint Black excepted).
I'm just really afraid that Annie Duke is going to win, and then her head might straight-up explode with self-importance. Did you see how excited she was about beating Clint in the jingle-writing competition? I mean, she deserved to be happy, but she would not get over it, and she would not give anyone any credit. (Like, say, the MUSICIAN who worked it out with her. Grr.)
This has been a really annoying season, but we're this close to the end, so I guess I will stick it out.
What did you think about the episode?
I haven't been posting much about Celebrity Apprentice because it really hasn't been that exciting -- it's just a clash of egos week after week, and there are only so many ways I can say "Annie Duke annoys everyone" or "Clint Black annoys everyone."
But last night, Melissa Rivers got fired, and she went ballistic. So did her mom, Joan. Don't believe me? Check out the video above.
Did you hear that Dennis Rodman melted down on last night's Celebrity Apprentice? Major! Meltdown!
At least according to all the ads on NBC, ads on the Web, Tweets from Annie Duke, etc.
Then when it finally happened, it was weird but not very surprising or interesting.
Anyway, the task this week was to create a "stage show" for a product launch. The product in question was a new video phone system. (I felt kind of bad for the company since it seems like most people who want to talk via video these days probably just use Skype, which is free.)
At the very beginning of the task, when the teams were negotiating which would go first and which second, Dennis wandered over, screamed at Clint Black, ripped off his microphone and walked out. OK, then.
Team Athena was in total chaos during brainstorming. It seemed like someone was always on the phone at the table, interrupting the process. Then Claudia Jordan, who was project manager, and Melissa Rivers had a total communication break down. Melissa was trying to help come up with ideas, but Claudia felt like she was interrupting, and they clashed a lot. Melissa backed down and let Claudia instruct her on what to do. She ended up handling the production of the show, but not any of the creative side. (Which -- spoiler! -- was probably a bad plan.)
Continue reading "'Celebrity Apprentice': another oversold meltdown" »
When I first heard that Donald Trump was forging ahead with a second season of Celebrity Apprentice, I was shocked -- and I thought, "No way I'll watch that." Then I saw the cast list, and I thought, hmmmm, I might have to check it out.
Last night was the debut, and I was more entertained than I would have predicted. The teams are again divided into men and women, and it's a strange brew.
Mostly it was the men's team that got my attention -- I mean seriously, can you imagine Dennis Rodman, Andrew Dice Clay, Herschel Walker, Brian McKnight, Scott Hamilton, Jesse James, Tom Green and Clint Black hanging out in a room together? (Jesse James is the only one I needed an identifier for -- he's from Motorcycle Mania and Monster Garage). Now you don't have to imagine.
The women's team called a little less "whoa" and a little more "who?" to mind: Joan and Melissa Rivers (yeah, yeah, we know them), poker player Annie Duke, LPGA player Natalie Gulbis, Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick, reality star Khloe Kardashian, Deal or No Deal model Claudia Jordan and T-Boz from TLC.
First up, the teams had to choose names and project managers. After a lot of back-and-forth, then men went with Kotu (for Kings of the Universe), which was a little too Survivor. The women chose Athena, citing every single mythical attribute of the goddess (beauty! waging war intelligently!). Herschel was named PM for Kotu, and Joan Rivers for Athena.
The teams then met up with the Donald and learned that their first task was to ... make cupcakes. Ha! A bake sale! How awesomely mundane for these egocentrics.
Continue reading "'Celebrity Apprentice' has a fighting chance" »
I missed the finale (sometimes even I get to leave my house on weeknights!), but it looks like Piers Morgan pulled out the victory on Celebrity Apprentice.
Did you watch? What did you think of the decision? I think Trump was too enamored of Piers' attitude to have given it to anyone else. But that's without seeing what happened last night.
And is it just me, or is the weirdest part of the video clip above Trump telling runner-up Trace Adkins that he will love him forever?
Are you ready for tonight's finale of Celebrity Apprentice?
Or did you even realize that was happening?
It's down to Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan, who have to each do part of a charity event. (Also, Trump basically decided that even though everyone thought Carol Alt deserved to be in the final two, he wanted to see the two men battle it out. Wow, that's not sexist at all. *eyeroll*)
Anyway, if you missed last week, check out NBC's two-minute recap above, if for no other reason than to watch Trump's totally bizarre firing of Carol.
The live finale is tonight at 9 on NBC.
Finally trying to get caught up on The Celebrity Apprentice. I gather that Piers Morgan hasn't been getting along with a number of people, but the combination of him and Omarosa was not pretty.
Check out the clip above to see just one of their fights. This doesn't address the parts where she repeatedly made comments about his children and said in interviews that she was purposefully hitting him below the belt. (Yeah, she's a great person to have on your team. Especially when you're playing for charity.) Piers tried to fire Omarosa, but that didn't work too well. She's good at working a situation -- as soon as Ivanka showed up to gather information, she said nothing about him, and he went on and on about her being a piece of trash.
In the end, despite the madness, Piers' team won, beating out the new Empresario, all of whom worked very well together.
Trump was flummoxed and couldn't figure out what to do and finally decided that since this is for charity, he wouldn't fire anyone.
Next week, Omarosa and Marilu Henner are swapping teams to keep O away from Piers. Probably a good plan.
I finally caught a full episode of Celebrity Apprentice last night, and, well. What is there to say except that Gene Simmons has an ego even bigger than that of Trump. And he's been "fired."
It was all pretty strange. The women's team lost the first two challenges, so Trump basically appointed Simmons as the new leader of their team. For the challenge, the teams had to create a traveling booth in a trailer to promote a new Kodak all-in-one printer.
The men's team all attended the meeting with the Kodak executives and got the point: Since film is kind of going away (though this was never stated), the company is all about ink and allowing customers to create their own affordable digital prints.
Gene decided that he was too important to meet with the execs and sent Nely Galan and Carol Alt. Nely talked all over the executives and totally didn't get the gist of the importance of ink. Not that it mattered, since Gene had already decided that "It's a Kodak World ... Welcome" was all anyone needed to know.
Continue reading "'Celebrity Apprentice': when egos collide" »
I missed the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice last night. Perhaps it was an act of subconscious self-preservation? It doesn't look that good, although the claim that it will be somewhat less commercial did intrigue me.
But since I didn't end up catching it, it matters not now.
If you saw it, what did you think?
Guest blogger John-John Williams IV is back again, helping me get through the post-DWtS madness:
While watching Bryan “B” get kicked off The Biggest Loser night before last (the red team has now been eliminated from the show), I saw a couple of trailers for two new reality shows on NBC.
The first, Celebrity Apprentice, left me extremely intrigued because of the mention of one contestant. The other, Clash of the Choirs, left me lukewarm.
Seriously, how exciting can a choir competition be?
Who cares if Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick Lachey, Kelly Rowland and Blake Shelton go back to their hometowns to handpick and mold a choir? It’s not like the celebrity singers are going to be belting it out against each other. (For the record, Patti would win that battle.)
Choir robes can only generate so much heat in the middle of December. (The four-night event runs consecutively from Dec. 17 to Dec. 20.)
I almost had the same reaction about Celebrity Apprentice until I saw that pseudo-celebrity Omarosa was going to be a contestant. That’s right, she’s back!
Omarosa has to be one of the most controversial reality television stars ever. (See the YouTube video.) I mean she's right up their with Survivor: Borneo’s Richard Hatch, The Real World: Back to New York’s Coral and Survivor: The Australian Outback’s Jerri Manthey.
The rest of the “celebrities” – I seriously have to use air quotes for a couple of these people – are semi-interesting.
Actor Stephen Baldwin, actress Marilu Henner, former-model Carol Alt, softball player Jennie Finch, America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, Sopranos star Vincent Pastore, rocker Gene Simmons, country music star Trace Adkins, Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Nadia Comaneci, Playboy Playmate of the Year Tiffany Fallon, heavyweight boxing champ Lennox Lewis and Ultimate Fighting Champion Tito Ortiz highlight the crop of "celebrities."
Nely Galan (who?), a former entertainment president of the Telemundo network and executive producer of Fox’s extreme makeover show The Swan rounds out the list of “celebrities.”
Check out this AP story for quotes from some Apprentice contestants.
Apparently the contestants will be battling it out for charity. Nothing like a couple of notables cheating, screaming, and scheming their way to win in the name of good will…
My predictions:
Celebrity Apprentice: A- with Omarosa; C+ without Omarosa.
Choir: C- (I’m being generous because it premieres near the holidays…)
Sad to say, but I haven't seen The Apprentice the past two weeks because I watched Entourage instead. Or rather, I saw the second half of last week's, but I was so confused (especially by the firings of Heidi and Kristine, who I had pegged as the final two) that I couldn't figure out what was going on. Sounds like no one got fired last night, so I guess I will catch up next week.
And speaking of not watching things, I completely forgot to watch the Dancing With the Stars results show on Tuesday (but House sure was good). I caught up with it on ABC.com this weekend and saw that Leeza Gibbons was voted out and that John Ratzenberger was in the bottom two with her. I'm not shocked by either of those developments -- though I really did think that Clyde Drexler would probably be at the bottom, too.
I am all caught up with The Amazing Race, at least. That show is down to the final four teams -- adorable Oswald and Danny, contentious but competent Dustin and Kandice, always-fighting Eric and Danielle, and Charla and Mirna, the Towson cousins who think this is a morality game. (Note to them: The Yield is a part of the game, not a grand double-cross. Yes, it can be bad karma, but it's not against the rules. So dial down the outrage, mmmkay?) I still can't believe how much of the airtime of the past four episodes has been spent in airports and how many airport difficulties people have had, especially when Eric and Danielle and Joe and Bill got more than an entire leg behind.
I also watched part of the second episode of The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman this weekend, and all I have to say is: That guy is creepy. On the surface, he seems like a "catch," but whenever he talks (especially about how attractive all the women are), he seems to lack a filter, and it's very off-putting. I think I'm done with that one.
And (the rain lent itself to a weekend by the TV and computer, OK?) I saw Shear Genius' premiere episode. It's just like Project Runway, Top Chef and Top Design, but with hairdressers, in case you haven't heard of it. Like those shows (except maybe Design), it was great fun, although I was surprised who got voted out and also couldn't figure out why Jaclyn Smith was there. I guess because she has great hair? I do hope the contestants will be able to cut real people's hair soon. Watching them cut mannequins' coifs and create "hair art" was interesting for the first episode but won't hold my interest for an entire season. (But I do have to share this. My friend Erika and I were discussing the show, and I told her that Theodore, who won the first challenge, reminded me of the guy from Greatest American Hero, and she responded with: "Believe it or not, he's working on hair ..." Maybe you had to be there, but to me, that is genius!)
Speaking of Bravo series, it is so sad watching Work Out right now, as the staff learns more about trainer Doug being ill. We already know that he passed away several months ago, so many of the interviews with him and particularly about him have proved extra poignant. I haven't seen every episode of that show, but the ones that I have seen, Doug always stood out as a legitimately nice and caring person.
Local Apprentice candidate Aaron (of Columbia, Md., but currently in Fredericksburg, Va.) is no longer up for the job. He was sent packing at the end of last night's episode, which didn't paint him in a particularly positive light.
Though Aaron got his team out of its losing streak, in the task last night, marketing a limited edition Sue Bee honey, he appeared to have faltered. The team only lost the task by $70, but he was often shown standing around or deferring to others. Once they got to the boardroom after the loss, Trump fixated on the fact that he hadn't spoken up much when representing his team in the previous week's boardroom. Though everyone agreed that he is a super nice guy, he never really stood a chance after that.
On the other hand, the other team's project manager, Aimee, went on a rampage asking tough questions in the boardroom, when she'd actually been so weak as a leader that her team expected to lose. But since the weakness wasn't shown in front of Trump, she might still be OK.
Only time will tell.
Just got a sales pitch on a thing called Trump Institute, and if you care about such things, last season's Apprentice winner Sean Yazbeck and the previous winner Randal Pinkett will be giving presentations. They're at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor Feb. 17, Sheraton Columbia Hotel Feb. 18 and Sheraton Baltimore North Hotel in Towson Feb. 19. See trumpinstitute.com for more info.
The Apprentice starts with Trump calling and asking someone on Kinetic to go to Arrow. Amy, Surya and Marisa say they are winning, and Aaron chooses Surya. This interrupts Kinetic's staff meeting and Arrow's goofing off around the fire.
Surya immediately has to move outside. They picked out Surya because he seemed laid-back, something they had very little of on their team. He says the team needs some structure and discipline. He says he has some "rules" he had been thinking about because he had determined there was a 5 percent change he would be moving over to the other team earlier in the day -- reassurance and chain of command and more and more. His buzzed colleagues seem kind of flabbergasted.
Now it's time for the stupid "Get Rich With Trump" game, which names five people you can choose from who "deserve to be sent to Tent City." This is stupid for several reasons. First, no one gets "sent" to Tent City. It happens when the team loses. Also, it gives away who is going to have a negative experience in the episode. Grumble-worthy.
The next morning, Trump meets the teams at the Hollywood Overlook, and Sean, last season's winner, who I had completely blocked from my memory is with him. So are execs from El Pollo Loco, the president/CEO and the chief marketing officer. The task is to create, promote and sell a new version of their signature pollo bowl. Heidi and Aaron are the project managers.
Arrow develops the Chicken Tortilla Bowl, mainly having lots of chips for crunch as the difference.
Kinetic's Christine added mango and pineapple to the bowl, and the team loved it. They call it the Paradise Pollo Bowl. Marisa goes for Bravado Bowl. Heidi says, "I would definitely say no to that; executive decision." Marisa suggests people in a chicken costume in the intersection. Heidi says no. Then she calls again to come up with some more Bravado slogans. Derek says she is annoying the team. She calls again to say they need to call it Bravado.
Back at Arrow, it's time to sell. They're pretty psyched. They used balloons and "signage" and James to get people in. Frank and Tim go out to try for bulk sales.
At Kinetic, it seems pretty empty. Folks don't seem interested in the mango-pineapple idea. They're doing samples at the drive-through, which seems like a great idea, except that the traffic at the drive-through is minimal. Marisa is mad that they don't have chickens at the intersections like she suggested.
Arrow is overrun with customers, some of them angry, at least according to the horns that might be edited in. They're hoping for Frank and Tim to get back soon. They sell 22 for one bulk sale, and Aaron is psyched. Surya doesn't look that psyched.
Boardroom time. From the editing, I predict an Aaron win, Marisa piling on Heidi about marketing but ending up getting sent home. We shall see.
Sean said Kinetic had a limited marketing strategy, as opposed to Arrow, and Arrow definitely wins, which means they get to move into the mansion and out of Tent City. For the reward, they are going to Malibu to listen to Andrea Boccelli at a live, beachfront concert.
Arrow is ecstatic, to put it mildly, and ready to move into the mansion. Kinetic is not exactly excited to go camping in Tent City. The trading of places is a tad awkward. Arrow acts like the kids on The Real World, looking all over the house and screaming and jumping in the pool. Tent City, on the other hand, is totally nasty. Muna is way upset about the filth.
Aaron calls Andrea Boccelli possibly the, if not the, most famous musician in the world. The beachfront concert begins, and it's gorgeous. Frank says his family listens to Boccelli every week before the family dinner, and his mother is going to be so excited. The team then enjoys a fabulous dinner, intercut with footage of Kinetic having a nasty camp dinner. Back at Arrow, Tim plays the piano for his team, and Nicole is definitely impressed. Next, they get a fireworks show of huge proportions that makes me wish I was there with my camera and tripod.
Back at Kinetic, Heidi is already talking about who to bring to the boardroom. She is leaning on bringing in some marketing people. The team starts deciding to target Marisa, but of course, she is the only one who can claim to have thrown out some marketing ideas that got ignored, as annoyingly as she shared them.
Trump talks to the execs, and they target the marketing folks, which would be Marisa and Derek. In the boardroom, Aaron and Sean are Trump's help. Christina says she was responsible for the fruit and meat, which Trump says wouldn't appeal to him. Sean says Arrow sold the heck out of the bowl at the counter. Marisa brings up her chickens in the intersections idea, and Sean said the other team created a spectacle. She says, "Sean Sean Sean Sean Sean, I wanted to create that." Muna says Marisa is intelligent and sweet as pie, but she needs to learn to listen, that she has interrupted everyone. Trump finally tells her to shut up. Marisa says no one was listening to any of her ideas. Amy says Marisa is the weakest member of the team, that you have to tell her things over and over. She can't stop saying, "TWO CHICKENS! TWO CHICKENS WAS MY GREAT IDEA!" Marisa says Amy should be fired because she was the weakest link. Amy says Marisa is disruptive. Everyone says Marisa is the weakest, too. She accuses them of ambushing her, and Muna acts outraged at the idea, but they totally did talk about it ahead of time. We saw the footage!
Heidi chooses Amy and Marisa to come back to the boardroom.
Sean says he likes Marisa's spirit and passion, but it's hard. Aaron says it comes down to sales conversions, but they can't tell who was in charge of sales. Heidi says she brought Amy back because she was on the drive-through, but she says no one was in charge of sales. Marisa brings up the two chickens again, and says she shouldn't be there. But Trump disagrees because the whole team said she should. Trump says he cannot reconcile the fact that she was in charge of marketing, and that she came up with only one idea that she can't let go. Then he fires Marisa.
I think she had a good point, but her delivery of the point only proved the team's point, that she is disruptive and doesn't listen. Oh well, at least she doesn't have to live in Tent City!
In her exit interview, she says the team would have won if the team had listened to her. She only mentions the chickens one more time, thankfully.
In two weeks, the task appears to have something to do with bees.
The playoffs last weekend threw off my whole reality TV viewing schedule, but I should be caught up by the end of the evening. At least for now.
First up, last weekend's Apprentice (reairs on CNBC on Saturdays, by the way). Team Kinetic didn't have to participate in the task at all, thanks to their win the previous week. Arrow had to split into two teams and create a theme tour for Starline tours in Hollywood. Aaron (the Columbia, Md., contestant) stepped up to be one of the team leaders, and Michelle kind of got steamrolled into it. Here's how it went down.
On Aaron's team (which also includes hyper James and Melania lookalike Stefani), they decide to hire some Lakers Girls to jazz up the crowd and pick a theme of "Famous Places, Beautiful Faces," which focuses on famous movie locations. James takes ones of Starline's tours and decides what he does and doesn't like -- deciding that snacks are good and goofy jokes aren't. At the end of the first day, the team sets up a makeshift office outside, works hard and quiet for a few hours and heads to bed. During the task the next day, they have a huge, happy crowd, and they get going. James is on the mike, and his energy (and nonsensical statements) is off the charts. After a while, Stefani takes over and starts talking about the actual sites, saving the day.
On Michelle's team (which also includes Tim, Frank and Nicole), it seems like Michelle is petrified to make a decision because if they fail, she will be blamed. This totally backfires and she comes across as confused and spineless the whole time. The team picks the theme "A Day in the Life of the Rich and Famous." But as Michelle and Tim drive around Hollywood, they don't really see much that they like. So she decides Beverly Hills is a better option. But after driving around there, she thinks it's boring. She goes back and forth (several times) with Tim but finally decides Hollywood is the way to go. Frank and Nicole get annoyed and start taking care of things like tux rental and banners. Back at camp, the team starts working on a route and Michelle wants everyone to stay up all night. Nicole disagrees, but eventually relents. On event day, it's kind of a disaster. The mike fails right off the bat. Michelle talks to the crowd and literally makes no sense. Tim points out the hotel where John Belushi died of a heroin overdose and uses the term "speedball" (though in interviews after the fact, he realizes this was a bad, bad idea). He also starts talking about the stars on Hollywood Boulevard while he's still on Sunset.
In the boardroom, before they hear the results, Aaron and his team say they are confident. Michelle and her team acknowledge they had some logistical issues, and Nicole and Frank say she wasn't a great project manager. The results: 82 percent approval for Aaron's team, 58 percent for Michelle's.
Before they leave the boardroom, Michelle "resigns." We all know Trump hates quitting more than about anything, so there is the usual heckling and discussion about how she will regret it forever. She mostly seems to have issues with the living-outside part of the equation, but she doesn't relent, and she decides to leave.
So she leaves, and eventually the rest of the team learns no one else will be fired. So that's the end.
But let me leave you with some of the best quotes of the episode from Michelle:
One last thing: It's vaguely hilarious that the other team constantly listens in on the losing team through the hedges.
=====
On Beauty and the Geek, it's getting a little out of control. The guys seem to be in it for the right reason, but the women? Well, it's looking cattier than the SPCA. Week before last it was the blondes vs. the brunettes, with Sharee and Andrea both sent to elimination. I liked Sharee, but she was out, leaving Angela, who is not nice to her partner, but finally started studying, in the game. She was not getting along with any of the rest of the girls. Which I could have understood, because she wasn't that nice, but the blondes really banded against her, which was rude.
In last week's episode, the guys finally got makeovers, though they had to pick out their outfits themselves based on information given to them by the girls. They all looked pretty great afterward. Poor Mario wasn't too happy because the store they were in didn't have that big of clothes, so he felt uncomfortable. He still looked good, though. Scooter looked so much better with his scraggly facial hair gone. Matt looked more grownup and happier. Drew looked much more confident and modern with his new look, and Niels was thrilled with the outfit he picked out. Nate, losing his giant beard and trucker hat, had the biggest transformation. He reminded me of Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5, after his makeover.
For the competition, the women had to try out their marketing skills, selling the boys in a charity auction. Niels ended up bringing in the most dough, and we followed all the guys on their dates -- on which they all managed some conversation.
Niels and Jennylee differed on who to send the elimination. They agreed to send Matt and Angela, but Niels wanted to send Nate and Cecilia and Jennylee didn't because of her flirtation with Nate. He overruled her, and it got kind of ugly. Jennylee said they had to send Andrea and Matt, and afterward Angela called her on that. They had this horrible interaction that ended with Jennylee saying, "I guess it's because I'm cooler than you." In case you were worried that this hadn't descended to seventh-grade depths.
One of the guys said last week that they are supposed to be learning about social interaction from the women, but that they sure seemed to have a lot of issues with one another compared with the no-drama friendships the guys have all developed with one another. Very good point.
Anyway, in the elimination room, Cecilia got both her questions right, leading her team to victory and sending Matt and Andrea home.
I like all the guys who are left, but I think Nadia might be the only woman who seems to be striving for any depth or to learn anything from the guys. We'll see what happens this evening.
Now we know the team's names. Heidi's is Kinetic, Frank's is Arrow. That's thrown in during the intro to this, the second episode of The Apprentice.
The teams meet Trump at Pacific Palisades Park at Santa Monica Beach, where they learn that they will be designing swimwear of Trina Turk and putting on a show on the beach for buyers. (OK, Project Runway!) The teams learn that the winning team won't have to participate in the next task at all.
Nicole took on the project manager role of Arrow. Carey was really excited for a design challenge, and drew out some ideas. Aaron (our Columbia-ite) suggests that not all the men's suits be quite so snug and revealing.
Over at Kinetic, they made a suit, and Marisa and Heidi clashed over it -- Heidi thinking it was too basic, Marisa loving it.
At Arrow, the guys were not sure about Carey's male suit. Michelle spoke up, and everyone seemed to turn on her (even though Tim and Aaron had issues with the cut, too). But then she tried to not give her opinion on the pricing and people seemed to think she was avoiding having made any decisions about the task so that if they lost, she wouldn't be held responsible. (However, turning the whole team against you? Not a good plan either.)
Kinetic was up first with three board shorts, two bikinis and a one piece. Arrow's had board shorts, a two-piece, a short shorts, Carey's James Bond shorts, and two more bikinis. No one seemed too excited about Carey's shorts. Arrow sold $19,616 worth of suits, and Kinetic sold $20,511 worth of suits. So Arrow is still stuck outside. Kinetic is exempt from the next task, stay in the mansion, and they're heading to the Playboy mansion for their reward.
I assume Arrow is going to target Michelle for being contrary (even though she was right) and Carey for insisting on the crazy men's suits. We shall see.
First, Kinetic goes to the mansion and meets Hef, where they talk the business of Playboy, of course, and a huge party with Bunnies is next, of course. And, of course, there is the beginnings of anger/jealousy toward Heidi for continuing to be the project manager. (Thanks, Marissa.)
In Tent City, Michelle talks to Tim and Nicole about not wanting to get fired (and ever-classily, the Kinetic folks listen in from the pool area, or at least it appears so).
In the boardroom, Trump dives right in to the idea that the men's bathing suits were a disaster. Carey says they tried to cater to everyone with three different cuts of men's suits. He classifies them as "a gay suit, a more metrosexual suit," and a typical suit. Trump's kind of shocked by this distinction, and Ivanka jumps in to say that the floral brief was "reflective of only your taste." (I would like to point out that if this task had taken place after the Bond movie came out, I bet the buyers would have been more interested in the two "riskier" cuts, thanks to all the promos of Daniel Craig in unforgiving trunks. I don't know for sure that it didn't, but that's my hunch.)
Carey blames Michelle for the loss, saying that her attitude caused the team to not work as well together. Trump asks Heidi for her opinion, but first throws out how she is living large in the mansion. Frank interrupts to say he's claustrophobic, so he's sleeping outside, not even in the tents, and Trump tells him, "Don't worry, you'll be back in the Bronx soon enough." And that, my friends, is why you don't interrupt Trump. Going down the line, it's evenly split between Michelle and Carey, except for James, who pinpoints Nicole. She brings Carey and Michelle into the boardroom, and everyone else heads back to camp. (Sounds like Survivor there for a minute.)
I don't think Carey has much of a chance here since he was wholly responsible for the designs that led to the loss. I hope that Michelle points out that she questioned the designs, and that it was these questions that led the team to get annoyed with her attitude. She was RIGHT. She better start defending herself soon.
Carey opens by saying he took a risk by his team and smartly points out that the team approved them. Michelle says she objected to several of the ideas, especially the pink. Carey says Michelle refused to take part with the price point conversation. Trump holds the pink suit up with a pen because he doesn't want to touch it. Nice. Trump et al says they were targeting a tiny part of the population. Carey says if the team didn't like he would have started over. Michelle says he ramrodding the idea of the suit down the team's throats. It's too late: "Carey, you're fired." I still wish Michelle would have defended herself more, but hey, we'll see what happens next week.
As if you could have missed the news amid all the reports of his stupid feud with Rosie O'Donnell, Trump is back as of last night, with season six of The Apprentice. They've mixed things up a few different ways this time around:
So, things are a little different this time around. And, before we really delve into the recap, it's worth noting that we have a local candidate: Aaron is from Columbia, Md.
First up, the candidates were sent to the back yard to put up a tent (not realizing it would be where the losing team would be living). It was pure pandemonium for a while, but Heidi got vocal and explained some of the fundamentals of putting up a tent. Then, though, Frank, a home contractor of some sort, got bossy and loud and talked over Heidi and ordered everyone around until they were complete. He did not help ease the pandemonium, but oh well, they finished.
The group then went to the boardroom, and Trump asked them who had stood out as leaders. Most everyone pointed to Heidi and Frank, so they were chosen as the first PMs and went about choosing their teams, schoolyard style. Martin was picked last, and he was flabbergasted, despite having been standing on a rock watching (I mean, "supervising") during much of the tent task.
The teams then launched right in to their first real challenge: Each group was to run a car wash for several hours, and whoever brought in the most money would win. They seemed to have a staff of car washers/detailers who would help, but the show didn't really go into that at all. At Frank's team, it was once again total chaos, and he ended up leaving to make up fliers at the copy shop without helping the team determine its price points for the basic wash, deluxe wash and full detailing. So they just figured it out without him and moved on. The team started trying to get customers, but without signs, it wasn't going that well. Over on Heidi's team, things seemed much more functional. They immediately found some cardboard and made some readable signs, hired two cute guys to direct people in and offered free lunch. They went for pure volume, and seemed to achieve it, almost to a fault -- at one point, they had so many people there that the washers were way behind.
Back on Frank's team, he finally returned with fliers, but they were not visible at all from the road, so Carey ran and got some cardboard. This team aimed for upselling every customer, selling them on the deluxe wash or detail package once they got them in the place. It didn't seem to be going that well. When Ivanka came to visit, a couple of things happened: First, the two random guys they'd hired to hold the signs asked her if she wanted to also take off her shirt and try to get customers in. (She declined.) Later, Martin told her he was tired. She said it was way too early to be tired, but he walked around sighing nonetheless.
In the end, Heidi's team won, but only by $60, not the landslide I expected based on the number of cars they seemed to have. And at this point, the game turns into the "haves" vs. the "have-nots." The tent people were just starting to get settled in, but they could hear the winning team exclaiming about having champagne. Later, Frank and Tim got into a screaming match about who was at fault (but it was hard to tell since Frank always screams), and the other team was out at their pool and could hear almost all of it. The editors then had a field day intercutting footage of the reward dinner at Spago with the camp-stove dinner in Tent City in the dark. At the reward dinner, Trump was talking with the candidates when he suddenly asked them, "Who did the worst job?" and the boardroom music swelled. The teammates looked panicked, but then Trump backed off. Back at Tent City, Martin, in a pure preservation move, tried to make the team get angry at Frank instead of him. But, besides being totally transparent, it was a silly maneuver since it only got Frank madder at Martin, and Frank chooses who goes to the boardroom with him.
In the boardroom, it was the usual menagerie of screaming, defensiveness, cliches, venom and posturing. Martin and Frank both blamed each other for the failure, with a little tossed at Tim, who was supposedly in charge of sales, as well. Finally, Frank chose Martin and Tim to come with him to the boardroom. On his way out the door, Frank tried to give a big speech about how Trump-worthy he is, and Trump told him repeatedly to save it (literally, for later in the boardroom), but Frank just kept jabbering. When the three returned to the boardroom, Trump quickly dismissed Tim. He seemed to be leaning toward Martin (which, though I'm no Frank fan, seemed like a good plan to me -- the slow-talking and the standing around and sighing didn't bode well), until Frank said he thought Martin was brilliant. This stopped Trump in his tracks. He couldn't believe that Frank would say something complimentary to his adversary at this key point. Frank backtracked as fast as he can, saying Martin is book smart, not business smart, but for a while, it looked like Trump was going to do his trademarked move of seizing on some goofy thing someone said and ignoring actual performance in the task. But he backed off that (with some pushing from Ivanka -- THANK YOU, Ivanka) and fired Martin.
I don't think Frank will last long in this game, but I couldn't handle seeing Martin saved because of one boneheaded comment by Frank.
Next week, it appears the teams will be designing swimwear. That could be interesting.
