The April 24 Celebrity Apprentice started where the last one left off … with NeNe Leakes being hurt and wondering why La Toya Jackson would tell Donald Trump she would not keep in touch with NeNe once the show ended.
The men were all jubilant after the boardroom for having finally gotten rid of Gary Busey. Star told the men that they had rid their team of their weakest link and are now a strong team (be careful what you admit to Star!)
For this week’s task, the teams had to create an ad campaign for the Trump Hotel Collection. Star Jones and John Rich were the project managers of their teams.
John admitted, “I don’t know what the hell it means to promote the Trump Hotel Collection. When I am out on tour, I probably would not stay there myself because it is so high end. This is outside my range of expertise and that is a disadvantage right off the bat!” Star on the other hand told The Donald she has stayed at “several” of his hotels.
After meeting with the execs, Star, the self-proclaimed connoisseur of luxury, came up with the concept of “Individual elegance, collective luxury.” La Toya thought the idea was not creative enough but told the camera that Star is too strong-headed to be told that her idea isn’t good enough.
John felt severely challenged since his team is down to only three men. Lil Jon felt he didn’t know enough about the luxurious world because he just sleeps in hotels and doesn’t know much about anything else. Meat Loaf tried to convey the vision of his concept to the team but confused everyone. John told the camera Meat Loaf is like a “riddle wrapped in an enigma” – meaning, there are too many layers of complexity to his thinking which ends up confusing people. The men finally came up with concept of “Live the life.” BORING!
Star told the camera that La Toya is useless when it comes to making things happen so she asked NeNe and LaToya to run errands. NeNe knew the odd pairing of her and La Toya was strategic planning by Star. So, NeNe spoke up to Star and said, “I have a bit of an issue that you put me and La Toya to work together. That’s a bit of a problem. It’s very difficult for somebody like me to work with fake women. I’m very real and I cannot work with somebody that as soon as Donald Trump asks a question, suddenly, you throw one of us under the table. It’s not cool.” [I think NeNe meant under the bus…and this accusation is coming from the woman who, unrequested, hopped over to Don Jr. in a koala costume to tell him how awful La Toya was as project manager. Sorry, NeNe, that’s just me keepin’ it real.]
La Toya asked NeNe to explain herself. And NeNe said it was “unfair to sit in front of Mr. Trump and say NeNe ‘doesnt like me.'” La Toya said the only reason she did not name NeNe as someone she would call after the show ends is because she felt NeNe does not like her. “That is very wrong,” NeNe interrupted. “I don’t like it and it really pisses me off.” La Toya explained, “I truly felt yesterday that if I called you, you would hang up the phone…” NeNe asked, “I don’t know where you got that from.” La Toya said, “I felt that there were eyes rolling, talking behind my back. Girls, I am human, that hurts. It hurts me to see people rolling eyes. That day you just cursed me out, that hurt me so badly, but I tried to remain strong and I said she doesn’t even realize what she is doing.”
NeNe told the camera that La Toya’s explanation helped her to understand her more. But she still didn’t get the big picture and placed blame on La Toya. “I understand she has issues and I need to be more sensitive and not so rough around her.”
La Toya said she had no animosity against NeNe and that she thought NeNe has a good heart. “Actually, I love you and with that said, I’d like to give you a hug,” La Toya said. [GOD I LOVE YOU La Toya for being such a lady and class act!]
With all that, NeNe agreed to work with La Toya but still told the camera she doesn’t fully trust La Toya because it’s hard for her to trust anyone. Star said the boys are in trouble because now she’s rid the team of negativity and has nothing left but five woman working together with nothing but love.
The woman got manicures and had their hair done so they could represent the luxurious life in their photo shoot. Of course the men did no such thing. Instead, they worked on their project and John felt he and Lil Jon worked really well together.
While running errands, La Toya and NeNe continued their reconciliation with La Toya doing all the mending and saying how NeNe is sensitive and that she does not want to hurt her. The two were acting like old BFFs and La Toya told NeNe she better have a guest room ready when she goes and visits her in Atlanta.
Back at the ladies’ headquarters, the photo shoot got delayed because Star misjudged how long it would take for NeNe and La Toya to run the errands. As soon as the new BFFs got back to their team, Star told NeNe and La Toya they had five minutes to get ready which pissed off NeNe. “Bitch, what you talking about we have five minutes,” NeNe complained to the camera. She continued, “Star is definitely setting me up.” She told the ladies they think she and La Toya are “superfly,” expecting them to get ready in super speed. Star and NeNe kept fighting over how long NeNe’s directed shots of Hope were taking. Even with all the fighting, the women were somehow still able to finish the photo shoot in time but the finished brochure looked crowded and busy.
Meat Loaf “screwed up” on his one task by taking a picture of the hotel butler without him smiling. John definitely wanted a friendlier vibe for the ad and came up with yet another one of his verbal gems by saying, “It looks like an outlaw picture of a guy that got murdered and stood up in a casket in the middle of town and they took a picture of him.”
The men spent a lot of time trying to ensure that their extremely wordy promo brochure was proofread well and was devoid of spelling errors. But they failed to heed the words of the execs to stay away from the age-old concept of hotel and butler images in the brochure.
Each team presented their pitch to the exec judges. The men put on an engaging presentation whereas the women just spewed out word after word of attributes and adjectives such as “best of the best” and “sophistication,” which they felt described Trump hotels. They kept going on and on and on…It was “corny” as aptly described by La Toya to the camera.
The execs compared the women’s brochure to the junk flyers for “sleazy clubs” which we all find underneath our car windshield wipers. They liked that the name “Trump” stood out well against the crowded pics. They also said the women’s “jack in the box” style of spitting out attributes made them “cringe.”
But the execs didn’t like the men’s brochure either, finding it too wordy and demanding too much time to read. They also found many misspellings despite the care the men took to avoid them. The men also used a photo of a butler and an image of a hotel that the execs had specifically hinted at staying away from to avoid being mundane. The execs felt that the men’s brochure lacked a “call to action” – there was no 800 number listed, nor a website address or contact info. The execs did like the enthusiasm and energy of the men’s presentation and felt the men were coming from a place in their heart. As to picking a winner they said, “This is no easy discussion with Trump or an easy decision to make.”
The execs met up with Trump and told him the two teams were “not good at all,” and that they felt there was a “real disconnect” between the assignment and the end product. The execs felt the men really understood what the luxurious hotels were about but did not talk about the end product. The execs also felt it was terrible that no contact info was provided by the men in their brochure. As for the women, the execs felt the word “Trump” jumped out on their brochure but felt the photos in the ads were a mess. They picked the men as the better presenters and felt women were too “scripted.” As for a winner, they picked “the lesser of two evil” and said, “There really is no winner. The loser is…”
The women seemed united in the boardroom. Hope said Star is the most impressive team member. NeNe was asked who the strongest person on the team is other than herself and NeNe named Marlee Matlin. NeNe said she made up with La Toya but sort of threw her under the bus by saying the girls had felt La Toya was phony.
Now that NeNe doesn’t have a feud with La Toya, she picked on her next victim. She said she felt a couple of the girls were “crawling up Star’s ass.” She continued, “I felt even Hope or Marlee…I feel like they could be strong players if they just be strong players.” What was the response of our possible next President to this bizarre comment? Trump said, “By the way, much nicer now that she lost all the weight.” WHAT?!? Seriously?? Did Trump just comment on the size and nicety of Star’s post-weight loss ass?
This conversation did not end there. Star took it upon herself to comment on the hypothetical situation of her teammates actually crawling into her more cushiony old ass. She explained, “It would not have been very comfortable for you back then.” [Disturbing string of conversation — then again, it’s moments like this that make THIS SHOW one of the best reality shows out there.]
Back to the men — John said his three teammates took on Herculean tasks and there was no individual star but felt his team had done well.
Trump then dropped the bombshell that the judges disliked both of the team’s outputs and had even called the women’s efforts a “Greek tragedy.” So, Donald announced the loser as the women’s team. With that, he sent the men back to their suite.
Star tried to save her team by arguing that no one should be fired but Trump said the team had done so badly that she had no leg to stand on for such an argument. Donald said the men won because they had the better pitch. THAT ALONE should have gotten Star fired because the pitch was entirely her idea. But somehow, things did not work out that way.
Donald Trump Jr. said the bathtub shot directed by NeNe was cheesy and contained many mistakes (such as an uncorked bottle but a glass full of wine and Hope being in a bathtub…with a towel on!). NeNe would not say who should be fired but La Toya said it should be Star because she was the project manager. Marlee said she would fire La Toya because based on all tasks to date she does not deem La Toya a leader. Donald Jr. jumped in and said the same thing could be said about Hope but Marlee disagreed. NeNe cut in and said moving forward La Toya would be the weakest link.
Donald Trump said on two previous tasks the execs had picked La Toya as the best team player–a statement that shut the women down. Even so, Star picked La Toya and NeNe to come back to the boardroom to face the firing squad with her. Star admitted she was taking NeNe back with her so the two of them could team up against La Toya and get her fired.
While waiting to be called back into the boardroom, NeNe told the camera she felt she was being manipulated by Star. “La Toya and I just made a connection yesterday, so I just have to figure out what I am going to do.”
The women were called back in the boardroom. Star put the entire burden of her argument on what NeNe had to say about La Toya which should have been another reason why Star should have been fired. The star attorney actually made someone else make her argument for her? Really? And Trump let her get away with that? Anway, after some hesitation, NeNe said, “La Toya is not a strong player. Period. It’s just what it is. She’s not a strong player.” NeNe then threw her arms in the air as to indicate that’s all she was going to say.
La Toya begged to differ and explained why all losses in the past were directly Star’s fault. Star blamed La Toya as the cause for Star having had to “stop the progress” of the team on this task. Star claimed that at La Toya’s request (that never happened–it was NeNe who wanted to talk things out), Star stopped everything to have a “come to Jesus” meeting to resolve issues between NeNe and La Toya.
Trump said the men’s team is strong [They are?? They had lost three tasks in a row and barely ‘won’ this one] and the women need to get along to be able to keep up with the men. He also said that her teammates do not want La Toya on the team moving forward. So, to give the women’s team “the chance to fight” he fired La Toya.
Come again, Donald? Are you kidding me? The women did such a horrible job on this task that the execs called it a “Greek tragedy.” Who else could you blame for such a complete meltdown and failure on a task other than the team’s project manager? Donald surely kept Gary Busey around at the expense of the likes of Mark McGrath even though Gary’s entire team wanted him gone much earlier. But he fired La Toya for the same reason despite La Toya having kicked ass on two assignments including a win as a project manager? It sure looks to me that Trump wanted to keep the trouble makers on the show around for the ratings.
Star should have been the one fired because she was the project manager. As the self-proclaimed connoisseur of luxury, she failed miserably when her final product conveyed the look and feel of sleazy strip bars. Star wasted time getting a manicure but blamed time wastage on a bitch session started by NeNe and not La Toya. Star’s pitch was horrible and the execs specifically said the men won because their pitch was better. Star also failed to argue well for herself in the boardroom and delegated her field of expertise (lawyering) to NeNe instead. La Toya was just too sweet and too drama-free and so she suffered as a result.
After the boardroom, the usually outspoken and confident NeNe was shocked at the tactics Star was willing to take to win. She rightfully felt that Star had “orchestrated” the whole firing. She told the camera that Star “is willing to cut your damn head off to win. I did not know the competition was that way.”
NeNe told Star that her friendships meant more to her than “any of this.” “We have to be a team,” NeNe said. Star responded, “I don’t like losing.” NeNe finished, “You have to listen to other people.” Star said this was a learning experience for her.
On her limousine ride to who knows where, La Toya said Star is manipulative and thought Donald had made a mistake.
Next week’s previews make for a doozy of a show. Looks like we will finally get a great showdown between Star and NeNe – probably making Trump very happy with his decision to keep the outspoken ladies on for a final fight.
