Another week, another episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. The episodes this season have wildly oscillated between ho-hum and terribly, terribly over the top. Last week was a distinctly ho-hum episode, and this week followed in its footsteps.

Tonight's task was to create a four page photo layout advertising a new type of Dial body wash for Redbook. Omarosa jumped all over being project manager… at first. As soon as Trump stated that PMs have a greater likelihood of being fired, Omarosa not so graciously backed out, thrusting Tito Ortiz into the role. Hydra had no problems choosing, Carol Alt ran the show.

Carol instantly sat down with her team and the executives from Redbook and Dial. She and Lennox wanted to do a four-page thing on the four important moments in a woman's life. Piers was mostly on board, but was absolutely convinced that the fourth moment had to be sex-related. His teammates weren't quite as sure as about that, but they let it slide for the moment. Empresario had their meeting, and clearly the advantage of having Trace Adkins, who the Redbook executive explained was just absolutely loved by the magazine's readers.

When the time came to actually begin shooting the photos, Piers balked at using female models in their young 20s. He felt they were just too young and offered up Carol Alt as an alternative. She wasn't into the idea at first, figuring that she was already going to be doing too much what with being project manager and all, but eventually agreed. The pictures with Carol ended up looking great, and Piers even got his more sex-based shots.

Over at Empresario it was Baldwin running the photography shoot and really the entire task. Omarosa didn't think the team's idea was any good, but she was actually smart enough to realize that the guys had been winning with weird ideas the whole season and so she let them go with it. Seeing though that most of the photos had naked or half-naked women, she did push for some half naked men, including Trace, to appear. I don't know if the pictures they took had anything to do with body wash, but they didn't have a bad look to them.

The win tonight was going to come down not to the pictures that were taken, but which exact shots were used and how the entire ad was put together. Hydra opted to use their more sexual shots without any sort of hesitation. Empresario had a discussion about it before making a decision. Omarosa pushed for the team to use the half-naked Trace shots, and Stephen took the opposite side of the argument. He quoted the Dial executives as using words that argued for a safe, conservative look. It was the exact opposite thing that Piers heard during the meeting his team had with the execs, but he was going with the Redbook executive's words, not what the Dial one may or may not have said.

During the presentation Hydra, and Piers, really seemed to be on the right track, right up until they showed their last shot, a picture of Carol in bed and a male model biting her. Up until that point, it definitely looked like they were going to be unbeatable - they had great text (including an explanation of why the yogurt in the body wash was a good thing), good pictures, and a wonderfully clean look. However, if they were going to lose, it was going to be that last shot that cost them. Upon seeing it, one executive looked distinctly pale.

Empresario's ad looked good, but seemed to lack the descriptive text. They opted against the half-naked Trace shot, but instead of spending their time on that discussion they should have used it to find someone besides Tito to give the presentation. He did an horrific job. And, when I say "horrific" I mean truly and utterly disgraceful. He was clearly very nervous and had trouble forming coherent sentences and getting his thoughts out. It was actually a little painful to watch him deliver the presentation.

In the boardroom, Trump showed each team the other team's ad. Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), both teams believed their ad to be better. Trump thought Empresario's layout was better than Hydra's, that the biting-Carol shot was too much, but, as he said, what he thought didn't matter, the executives chose Hydra.

After Hydra left, Trump started off asking the losing team if they should have had Omarosa as project manager. The Dragon Lady took that opportunity to lie. She stated that she wanted to be the project manager, but that she bowed to the wishes of Tito and her team. Tito called her on the lie and things in the boardroom did not start off heading in the right direction for the She-Devil tonight.. Sadly however, she was able to change the tack the discussions took. She argued that the problem was that the team had no concept, which wasn't exactly true, but certainly moved the discussion away from her faults.

It finally came down to either Stephen (the man with the losing plan) or Tito (the PM without any plan whatsoever) getting fired. Trump opted to lose Tito, but seemed to regret doing so. The Donald even went so far as to give $50,000 of his own money to Tito's charity, but I really have no idea why.

More concerning to me though is why the episode felt so lackluster. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it. The task seemed run of the mill, which is just fine, but the amount of time spent on putting the ad together terribly brief. The final ads felt like they came together by magic. And, are the boardrooms running longer, with less happening in them, this season or does it just seem like it?

One aside and one more question tonight:

• Did you notice at the beginning of the show, immediately after the opening credits, when they did one of those place-setting montages of New York, they showed, allegedly, a sun coming up. However, the sun went from our lower right to upper left as it rose. The sun, at least in New York, doesn't do that.
• Trump kept claiming that Tito was a great competitor and did a wonderful job, but frankly what has made the air this season didn't quite show that. What we saw was a very quite guy who offered up a few small ideas here and there but pretty much stayed out of the fray. So, why did Trump like him so much?

Well, if Trump likes Tito, I just know he'll love The TV and Film Guy's Reviews.

Comments

Gee, left out the part where both Tito and Trace said Omarosa worked the hardest.
I wonder why?
At least she didn't call Tito "scaredy-boy" for being nervous during the presentation.

Pierssuks | Feb 29, 2008 5:34:20 AM | #

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I think Carole said it best when she said she would rather get fired for stepping up to a challenge than running away from it. Omarosa is one of those left - is she the only one? - who has not won any money for her charity. And she jumped right in and offered herself as the PM UNTIL The D. reminded them that the PM was most likely to get fired; then she foisted off on poor Tito. Omarosa would rather fly under the radar than take a risk that might benefit her charity, just to stay on the show. As far as work - I think everyone on both teams worked hard, tho Tito's presentation was just awful. In fact, most of the athletes just don't seem to have a lot of initiative off the field, ring, court, etc.

Barb L | Feb 29, 2008 5:41:57 AM | #

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Tito was very nervous during the presentation. I thought Carol Alt did a great job, but I do think the last shot was a bit much. ??A better shot would be Carol & male model dancing intimately & he is stroking her arm??

Ben | Feb 29, 2008 6:11:47 AM | #

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Just looks to me like the producers want to avoid firing Omarosa, no matter what she does, because she makes good TV.

Celia | Feb 29, 2008 6:34:47 AM | #

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By my count, the boardrooms are actually much shorter this year than in prior seasons. There is more footage of the project and less of the B.S. in the boardroom. I think this could be good, but the actual boardroom footage has not been very interesting. Case in point: Trump gives the Hydra ad to Emprasario and the Emprasario ad to Hydra and asked them for feedback. Does he really expect honest feedback and how would he reward it if he ever got it? He gets nothing but baloney, which is what such a request deserves in that context. When you waste time with crap like that, there is little time for what's truly interesting.

apskip | Feb 29, 2008 7:40:07 AM | #

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CELIA: I agree that Trump and the producers are trying to avoid the firing of Omarosa. They know that she will create DRAMA and tension. The NBC previews for next week's episode even highlight the "SHOWDOWN" between Omarosa and Piers. The previews may be deceiving, but they seemed to imply that one of them would be the next to be eliminated.

In general, the athletes that competed this season were not very outspoken (Nadia, Jennie Finch), or were not good at being PM (Lennox, Tito). Carol, Stephen and Piers have been fairly good when they were PM, even if there was some fighting among their team members. I think Trump kept praising Tito so much because he favors all of the athletes (especially Lennox)over the actors on the show.

Paige | Feb 29, 2008 8:28:25 AM | #

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The last photo in the Carol Alt ad was HORRIBLE. The guy looked like her SON! Too young! Glad Trace is hanging in there.

Kate 2 | Feb 29, 2008 8:28:28 AM | #

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I think DT praises the athletes more because he's had a couple of Olympic medalists and 2 World Champions. They're all the best in their fields. The actors, on the other hand.... well, I haven't seen Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford make an appearance.

DT likes THE BEST of everything (or at least his idea of what the best is). The athletes on the show meet that criteria, the actors don't. However, he does seem to be impressed with Stephen Baldwin, Marilu Henner, and Trace Adkins, just because of their performances on the tasks.

Cornelius | Feb 29, 2008 9:06:00 AM | #

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Celia - I think the producers just THINK she makes great TV. I don't. The TV Powers that be also think we like to watch Rosie and Trump snipe at each other, Britney shop at gas stations, Beth on The Real World, etc. etc. etc. To me it feels contrived. Give me real drama over someone stirring the pot to get more airtime anyday. In other words, give me Project Runway over any other "reality" shows.

Nonnie Muss | Feb 29, 2008 9:54:32 AM | #

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Celia - I think the producers just THINK she makes great TV. I don't. The TV Powers that be also think we like to watch Rosie and Trump snipe at each other, Britney shop at gas stations, Beth on The Real World, etc. etc. etc. To me it feels contrived. Give me real drama over someone stirring the pot to get more airtime anyday. In other words, give me Project Runway over any other "reality" shows.

Nonnie Muss | Feb 29, 2008 9:55:01 AM | #

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Celia - I think the producers just THINK she makes great TV. I don't. The TV Powers that be also think we like to watch Rosie and Trump snipe at each other, Britney shop at gas stations, Beth on The Real World, etc. etc. etc. To me it feels contrived. Give me real drama over someone stirring the pot to get more airtime anyday. In other words, give me Project Runway over any other "reality" shows.

Nonnie Muss | Feb 29, 2008 9:56:36 AM | #

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Does anyone here think Stephen Baldwin is hypocritical? I, personally, cannot stand the man and I didn't even know he existed until Celebrity Apprentice.

Sue | Feb 29, 2008 10:35:49 AM | #

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I can't wait to see Piers go down in flames!!!

Sue | Feb 29, 2008 11:18:32 AM | #

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Omarosa...what a snake and a liar. Never saw anyone back pedal so fast when Donald said PM would probably be fired. Glad Carol won, just because she did step up, but I thought her last picture was a bit too much also. Could have got the message across with another. Please, fire Omarosa. If she makes it to final two I will not stick around for the ending.

Jo | Feb 29, 2008 2:56:27 PM | #

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Kate2 do not be such a twit, Carol is a beautiful lady and honestly looks younger than most women her age.

And Nonnie posting multiple times does not make up for your comment being mediocre and ignorant. Go read a book.

Alistair | Feb 29, 2008 7:25:15 PM | #

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