Welcome, friends. Let us suffer through another Omarosa-ridden episode after LaToya Jackson made one of the dumbest decisions in the history of the Apprentice boardrooms and now we must all suffer.
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I also must apologize for mixing up the teams in the previous recaps. As innocuous and irritating as the team names are, I will strive for accuracy nonetheless from now on.
Stephen presents a check to his mother’s Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund. And this is significant because Carol Baldwin is the only living woman who has gone on record calling Donald Trump “sexy,” and swearing that in her youth she would have given Trump’s wife a “run for her money.” Get it, Carol.
Said sex pistol Donald Trump meets the celebs in the lobby of Trump Tower to tell them about their next task. Each team is going to set up an interactive experience inside a glass truck for Farouk CHI hair products. The teams will be judged on creativity, brand messaging and overall experience.
Team Power
Team Power (aka the team Omarosa is on because she is so power hungry — thanks HappyMango for that helpful pneumatic device) is creating an experience for CHI hair styling tools. Omarosa bullies Claudia into taking the project manager position, but she does seem to be the most appropriate person for the task.
Claudia is positive that she can get Miss USA to come to their presentation. Their idea is to set up a makeover station outside the station and then a professional photo shoot for participants inside the truck. Lil Jon also comes up with the idea of dressing as Uncle Sam with the slogan “CHI wants YOU to be beautiful!”
Claudia sends Omarosa and Dennis to shop for costumes and props, and they proceed to take their time and eff around while Claudia, Lil Jon and Brande do all of the work back at the workshop. But don’t worry, Omarosa is making sure she is doing everything she can to cover her tail in case she has to make a case in the boardroom.
On the day of the task, Team Power wears all red to match their product, except Lil Jon who dresses as Uncle Sam. They find out Claudia was unable to book Miss USA because she was mysteriously booked by another elusive Celebrity Apprentice team (more on that later). But they do manage to get some other beauty queens as well as Jaslene Gonzalez from America’s Next Top Model and a Joan Rivers impersonator because … celebrities?
Don Jr., Arsenio and Farouk seem impressed with their setup. They especially enjoy Lil Jon, because he is indeed a joy and possibly the best dreadlocked grill-wearing Uncle Sam ever. The participants also seem to have a great time being made over and then having their pictures taken like models. All in all, the day seems like a success.
Team Plan B
Marilu offers to take the lead as project manager on this task even though she knows little about the product, which is Biosilk hair product. And this task starts off like any other task, with the project manager struggling to find a use for Gary Busey. Marilu assigns him the role of accountant and he assigns himself the role of “silk angel.” Makes sense.
Then Marilu comes up with the brilliant original idea of using Miss USA in their presentation. Annoyingly enough, it’s through Stephen’s publicist’s contacts that they are able to snag her up right before the other team does.
Speaking of Stephen, he seems to have some kind of personal vendetta against Marilu. It’s uncomfortable to watch and borders on disrespect.
On the day of the task, they set up a makeover station inside the truck and a lounge area outside. Trace stands on top of the truck playing guitar and Penn juggles fire. Marilu seems a little distracted when the execs come by, but pulls it together and walks them through their display. Farouk seems especially thrilled at the large crowd they manage to bring in.
Boardroom
Of course, since Trump is an old lech, he comments on how fabulous Claudia looks before they can get down to any real business. But I have to agree with him on this one, I’m still not sure who Claudia is but she sure is stunning.
Team Power is confident that they won the challenge. Everyone, including Omarosa, agrees that Claudia was a good team leader. Claudia is hesitant to say who she would bring back to the boardroom in case of a loss, though, even though she told Don Jr. earlier that it would surely be Dennis and Omarosa.
Once again, Team Plan B is in agreement that Gary Busey is the weakest player on their team. I don’t know, maybe it’s because he is a crazy person who thinks he can see fart gas? Just a thought. But even Gary agrees that Marilu was a good team leader. Stephen disagrees because he’s strangely anti-Marilu Henner. And she says if their team loses, she’ll bring back Trace, because the execs didn’t much like his slogan of “Experience the Silk” and Gary because of pretty much everything.
Donald tells them that Team Plan B is the victor and they win $50,000 for Marilu’s Alzheimer’s charity, plus a dollar for every like they get for their product on Facebook.
Claudia is legitimately shocked that their team didn’t win and continues to defend her decisions as a project manager. She seems to be coming off pretty well, like she still may have a chance of survival. That is until she pulls a LaToya and brings back two irrelevant people to come back to the boardroom with her that aren’t Omarosa. She chooses Lil Jon and Dennis to come back.
The most surprising thing to the advisers on the board is that Claudia disclosed to Don Jr. during the task that it was Omarosa, not Lil Jon, who was a weak link. They take Claudia’s inability to pull the trigger on Omarosa in a battle in the boardroom as a sign that she fears Omarosa. Not only that, but the executives pointed specifically at Lil Jon as being one of the stars as the challenge.
At least Claudia had somewhat of a plan. When the three of them are waiting to go back into the boardroom, she approaches Lil Jon and tells him she needs his help to gang up on Dennis back in the boardroom to get rid of him.
Unfortunately for Claudia, Lil Jon is not eager to be a pawn in her little scheme and he refuses to throw Dennis under the bus. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Like LaToya, Claudia dug her own grave by refusing to even attempt a battle with Omarosa, and she’s fired.
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(Image courtesy of NBC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
