Once again, it took me almost a week to get around to watching The Celebrity Apprentice (two hours is just too long!) but it was worth the wait just to see Donald Trump sweat over trying to justify keeping Gary Busey around. I love that Trump tries to keep up the charade of this being a fair competition, when we all know that big personalities stick around over actually competent, level-headed people.
The competent, level-headed person to get the axe this week was Mark McGrath, a guy I’d actually liked over the course of the show. But he couldn’t throw anyone other than wacky Gary Busey under the bus in the boardroom, so he had to go. With that, let’s get to The Five Wacky Wonders of The Celebrity Apprentice:
- “Make it fun”. The task this week was for each team to create an experience promoting Australian Gold sunscreen, using a giant see-through box. LaToya Jackson stepped up to the plate and acted as Project Manager for the women, but she offered no leadership. All she could pony up for a concept was “fun”, and she made the completely questionable decision to keep Playmate of the Year team member Hope Dlkjoihgbgpo (oh come on, that’s got to be close to her last name) fully clothed. Who hires models when they have the Playmate of the Year on their team? Come on! Even the buttoned up Australian Gold executives said “”It was a disappointment that Hope was wearing a jacket.”
- Ahoy, Mateys! Mark and the guys decided to go with a pirate theme for their promotion, and I actually thought it worked a lot better than whatever tropical snowglobe thing LaToya had going on. It was more interactive, more memorable, and more fun. Even Two Foot Fred showed up to offer a helping hand! The problem was that they passed up the koala bear suit at the prop shop, and the Australian Gold people really wanted their Sydney the Surfing Koala Bear mascot represented.
- Gary goes gaga. Gary Busey really went off the rails this week, making blunders wherever he went. He made an awkward comment during a meeting with the Australian Gold execs. Lil Jon had to babysit him while they went to the prop shop, which couldn’t have been an easy task. As they waited in the truck, Busey provided a running commentary of traffic on the street, sang about pirates and did the robot. Later, at the actual event, he hijacked the Australian Gold execs and rambled on and on about how he liked their products so much that he’d even offer them a great rate on working as a spokesperson. Yet despite all of this, there’s still something endearing about Gary Busey. Am I alone in sometimes wishing that he was my crazy uncle?
- “If we win, that means the guys sucked.” NeNe Leakes was in full opinionated form this week, and she knew their event was a jumbled disaster. Unfortunately the Australian Gold execs didn’t know that, and awarded the women with the win. I really thought the guys did a better job, but I guess their brand integration was lacking. When the women left the boardroom NeNe laid into LaToya, calling her “Casper”, “ghost” and “old”. Honestly, it was uncalled for. I still think NeNe is funny, but there was no need to get mean. I mean, they won! Just let it go.
- Shape up or ship out. The Donald did everything possible to ignore the guys’ pleas to cut Gary loose, and in the end convinced Mark to take the blame for his failed pirate theme. Before Gary left the boardroom, Trump practically begged him to “shape up”. It’s hilarious how badly Trump does not want to fire Gary, and how Gary just keeps supplying reasons to be fired. I’m curious to see how long they can carry on the charade.
Favorite quote of the episode: “Look inward, Gary. Take a big swim in lake you and see what you find.” – Mark
Bonus Moment: Trump calling Mark McGrath out on having a tattoo. Like no one else on The Celebrity Apprentice has had tattoos before.
What did you think of the episode? Were you sorry to see Sugar Ray go? How long do you think Trump can keep Gary around? And why does he keep sucking up to LaToya?
