Things took a very bizarre turn tonight on The Celebrity Apprentice. Now, in-fighting among teams is not a new phenomenon on The Apprentice. But, when it comes from somewhat well-known celebrities, it can be a little weird. The fact that tonight’s celebrity in-fighting came about because of some espionage gone bad, it gets even weirder. Tonight’s episode was at times both hysterical and pathetic.
The episode begins with Omarosa hoping, desperately, that Carol Alt will be fired instead of Jennie Finch. When Carol comes back from the boardroom, Omarosa is shocked and disappointed by the result. Vinnie gives the $50,000 check he got for winning the last task to his ex-wife, whose husband recently died from pancreatic cancer.
The first task this week has both teams creating an in-store receptacle at Macy’s department store for used Crocs. The Crocs co-founders explain their Soles United campaign – they take used Crocs and recycle them, making footwear for the needy. Donald Trump appoints Carol Alt the Project Manager for Empresario. Piers Morgan takes over the helm for Hydra. Tito Ortiz is gone this episode – he’s at a UFC fight – so the teams are fairly equal.
Both teams head to their boardrooms, their headquarters for the task. In the Hydra room, Trace Adkins comes up with a great slogan: “Wear them. Share them.” As they talk about how great a slogan this is, the men suspect that the ladies are spying on them. In retaliation, Piers tells Vinnie to go out and spy on the ladies. To make it believable, Piers and Vinnie stage a loud fight culminating in Piers ordering Vinnie out of the room. The ladies hear this and think it’s for real. Vinnie, later, busts in and tells the ladies that he’d like to work for them. He’s going to work as an informer. The ladies agree to take Vinnie in – he’s going to rat on them.
The ladies decide to go with “Share the Love” as their slogan. They also decide to make the receptacle look like a big upside down Croc. As the teams are nailing down there designs to take to the receptacle makers, Vinnie throws Stephen a crumpled up piece of paper in the hall with the ladies’ secrets on them. Stephen refuses to pick the paper up because he’s a man of God. Oooookay. Stephen takes offense to the use of insider information. He thinks it’s cheating.
Vinnie starts thinking that he may want to stay on Empresario. He feels useful over there. On the car ride over to the builders, he tells Marilu the truth that he’s officially flipped. Trace and Lennox are the Hydra members sent to Brooklyn to meet with the designers. Ivanka comes and meets with Hydra p she likes their sabotage plan. Trump’s son shows up at the design center and is a bit shocked by Vinnie’s appearance with Empresario.
Lennox and Trace are done at the design center and leave to go back to the board room. Next, we get a lot of Stephen and Piers time. Stephen then says that Piers needs to give his life to Jesus. Piers says that he grew up a Christian. In a side interview, Piers takes offense to the constant preaching. Stephen is a nut.
Carol is the cover girl for their receptacle pictures. Carol is a damn attractive older lady. Stephen and Piers decide to witness Carol’s shoot. She’s used to the distractions. Later, Piers tells her they know their slogan. He justs rubs it in their face. Nely puts it together that Vinnie may be a snitch. Nely is pissed and thinks Piers should be fired.
Carol calls Marilu that Vinnie might be a rat, but Vinnie tells Marilu just to stay on track and that he’s with them. Omarosa then calls Vinnie and demands the truth. Omarosa then fires Vinnie from the team. Ha. Vinnie tries to explain himself to Marilu. He now has no place to go – he’s not sure if Hydra will take him back. He’s mad at Piers for blowing his cover.
Vinnie goes back to the men’s board room and gets mad at Piers, after the rest of the men have a good laugh.
The next morning the ladies come back and find their receptacle. It’s pretty col – a giant green Croc that you can toss shoes into. They are all quite proud of each other. Hydra’s receptacle isn’t nearly as cool. It’s a giant box which they put the pictures of Lennox on. It’s still pretty cool. It might even be a little more practical than the ladies. Vinnie is upset still and won’t work. He tells everyone that he was playing both sides. Piers tells him that he’s happy that Vinnie was the creative brain behind Empresario’s design. Vinnie storms out and leaves Hydra.
Vinnie runs into Donald outside the board rooms and asks him for some advice – he’s a man without a country. The teams then give their presentations to the executives. Empresario gives the first presentation and it’s well-run. The receptacle is a little unwieldy, but it’s impressive nonetheless. The executives really like it. Next ,the men give their presentation. Piers heads up the presentation. It’s quite impressive, but mostly because Piers is a very good speaker.
Trump talks to the Croc founders alone in the boardroom for their decision. In the for real boardroom, everyone recounts the whole Vinnie story, how he’s a double agent. Ivanka tells everyone that she’s disappointed with ladies that they took in Vinnie, that they couldn’t do it on their own. Piers lets it be known that his goal was sabotage, not espionage. Piers and Vinnie really get into it at the boardroom. Vinnie makes himself look like an idiot. Don Jr. asks everyone on Hydra who they would take with them between Piers and Vinnie going forward. Stephen and Trace says they’d take Vinnie, Lennox takes Piers. Empresario wins the task.
Vinnie, after the results come in, asks Trump to resign from the show. He tells the ladies to leave – he doesn’t want to do whatever he’s going to do in front of the ladies. Vinnie says he doesn’t like the environment he’s been put in with Piers. Trump does his best to give Vinnie a way out, but Vinnie won’t take the bait. Finally, Vinnie says that he’ll stay if Piers is fired.
After much deliberation, Trump accepts Vinnie’s resignation. They play Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” as Vinnie walks out….and then they cut to black.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
