In what can only be classified as a TNA Wrestling moment, NBC lets us know what critics are saying about Celebrity Apprentice. AT THE START OF THE SHOW. What is the point of telling us this when we’re already watching? Maybe you should let people that are watching, say, Law and Order know this so that they’ll think that NBC actually has another hit show. (Speaking of which – watch Chuck!) I suppose it’s reasons like this that NBC is the number 4 network. Well, that, the whole Leno debacle and crap like The Marriage Ref.
…I really have to stop listening to Bryan Alvarez’ podcasts. Regardless, I have no idea who these critics are, but suffice it to say they must have watched how wretched last season was and realized that this season, by comparison, is not all that bad. But then again, this season does not have Joan and Melissa Rivers to anger me – we only have the usual Trump shenanigans.
We get a recap and see Curtis and Clyde Drexler prepping food and giving $20,000 to a food bank. Right Guard actually matches the donation, so that means $40,000 raised by Curtis and apparently 280,000 meals (as they take $1 and create 7 meals from that. That’s crazy, but all things considered, that’s probably the same level of budget for the schools on Jamie’s Food Revolution).
Back to the show, we have Trump, Don Jr and TRACE ADKINS, who Trump later takes the credit for getting him over as a star. Shockingly this is one of those times where it’s probably not much of an exaggeration. Anway, the teams are tasked with doing a makeover of a country singer, with three criteria – press kit, interview with People Country, and overall impressions from People Country, a “well known” DJ (bear in mind that a) I live in Canada and b) I’m a satellite radio snob, so I have no idea who the guy is), and the guy who runs the Grand Ole Opry. It is decided that the Project Managers will be Cyndi and Goldberg. Everyone is surprised that Goldberg is PM here, but the logic is that everyone should have a chance to win money for their charity, so it’s his turn. Similarly, I would guess that Sharon Osborne would’ve been the PM here, but she’s still sick.
The country singers turn out to be Luke Bryan (who just won the CMA award for best new artist) and Emily West. It works out that RockSolid gets Bryan and Tenacity gets West. And basically, it becomes the Bret and Cyndi show, as they do the bulk of the work here. Cyndi actually does it to the point where she shuts down everyone else’s ideas. Except Sharon, who has returned to the show looks about 500 times better than she did when she was sick. This does allow for a great line from Trace about Sharon having to work with difficult people like Piers Morgan. Trace at this point is now the second-best advisor EVER on this show. Behind George, of course.
So Luke and Emily get makeovers, they do the interviews, and do the performances. Luke apparently always performed with a baseball cap, and was quite uncomfortable without the cap and with wearing a chain. And again, we got goodness from Trace who noted that if he was uncomfortable with this then he probably has bigger problems.
During the Boardroom we got conflict between Maria and Cyndi as Maria notes that Cyndi really doesn’t pay attention to anyone else when she’s focused on the task. And Holly agrees with this with the caveat that Cyndi was the PM so she did have the final say on things.
In the end it doesn’t really matter as the women win the task due to the industry experts thinking that Emily has more upside, being a new artist and all. But since Luke Bryan WON A CMA AWARD, they may have been wrong there, and clearly this will not stop Trump from taking credit for that, despite the award being given out on the same night as this episode.
Anyway, to noone’s surprise, Goldberg is fired because Bret did all the work, although Trace didn’t agree since he thinks it was a collective failure by RockSolid to not make Bret the PM. Did I mention that Trace is great?
Next week, Maria and Sharon head over to Rocksolid.
Money Earned [Total (Current Task)]:
Bret Michaels – $100,000
Curtis Stone – $40,000
Selita Ebanks – $20,000
Maria Kanelis – $20,000
Cyndi Lauper – $20,000 ($20,000)
Summer Sanders – $20,000
Carol Leifer – $10,000
Holly Robinson Peete – $10,000
Project Manager Standings:
Maria Kanelis (1-0)
Bret Michaels (1-0)
Curtis Stone (1-0)
Summer Sanders (1-0)
Cyndi Lauper (1-1)
Holly Robinson Peete (0-1)
Selita Ebanks (1-0)
Rod Blagovich (0-1)
Bill Goldberg (0-1)
Michael Johnson (0-1)
Sinbad (0-1)
Carol Leifer (0-0)
Darryl Strawberry (0-0)
