Celebrity Apprentice Episode #8

[suzieq]

Episode 8 ~ Episode reviewed at the same time the show aired (not retrospectively)

Kicked off the show with the recap and the men that were spared headed back to the celebration room. NeNe is not in a celebrating mood. So she sits the champagne out. John Rich points out the fact that there are 3 race horses left in this race.

Hope is shown bowling with her “best buddy” for charity. Then the presentation of her winnings for her charity.

Trump SoHo: next task is given. 4 page spread featuring the Trump Hotel Collection . John Rich is project manager after much discussion about who has a clue to luxury high end hotel expectations. They are at a disadvantage per Donald Trump. John is willing to try, so he stepped up. Star Jones wanted to take the reigns straight up for this task.

Both teams meet with the execs seperately….who happen to be Ivanka and Don. The teams get the overview of the company to give them some form of direction for their pictorals. Star jumps out of the gate with her lavish lifestyle and fancy words, delegating the portion of the task and directing traffic. John is collaborating with Meat and Lil Jon. And Meat is pitching an idea of looking into a mirror as the future. John is beriddled with Meat’s layers and complexity.

Star’s concept is going for a Ladies who Lunch photo shoot and a luxurious spa type shot with Hope. LaToya and NeNe work out their differences a little bit and ends in a hug fest. Who knows how long that will last? At least until they run errands together.

Backbone is working out their creative angle. They meet with Eric Trump who spot checks how they are doing. Creative and concept is going a little slower than the ladies, but they cut away to quick for me to figure out exactly what they were saying. I still think it had something to do with mirrors….and a butler.

John Rich and Lil Jon work out the verbage to the ad while Meat is in charge of photo shoot. Exit Meat to get a globe and he has 15 minutes to work the lens. Meat’s giving the butler a pep talk about how awesome he is and how he is the best of the best. Then CAPTURE. Meat’s got the shot he wants. Let’s move on….

The ladies are shown shooting the spa scenes and the beginning of the Star/NeNe battle begin. Star is trying to hurry the shoot and NeNe took exception. I believe this may be just the start. The team is shown on graphics with their photos. My impression (besides my rear end on my couch) was that the artwork was too cluttery and busy. We’ll see if I’m off base later.

The men receive the photos back from Meat’s shoot. It’s not what the men were looking for. OMG! John Rich hints to the fact that if this is the deciding factor for the task, that Meat might be in trouble. Now my palms are sweating. They go for the look of chopped off head of the butler. Meat feels like he’s faultered in some way.

On the way to presentation, John Rich does the pep talk for Meat and Lil Jon and he was spot on IMO: where he was saying they were going straight into their strengths on presentation day. Each member of Backbone had a piece to present and it was a luxurious presentation. I thought it was a strong showing for team Backbone.

Second to present were the ladies. They go for business formal and their presentation was “indecisive” on which adjective they wanted to highlight for the campaign. IMO. Star read a narrative and the ladies highlighted several key words during the narrative.

The execs weigh in on the presentations, both team fail on different criteria. After listening to them, I saw the errors of both retrospectively. The men had the better pitch according to the execs….but it’s a case of the lesser of the two evils. UGH! Not what you want to hear.

To the boardroom….NeNe decides to clear things up by going into a rant about two members of her team are kissing Star’s a$$. Later defining that she indeed does not kiss ass, anyone’s ass. So with that out of the way, Trump addresses the men. John Rich elaborates on the unit of a team he has and that they have a very good chance of doing well on the task. Trump lets the teams know that the execs didn’t like either of the ads….and not only did he say it once, he said it three times, three different ways I guess so that if anyone misunderstood the first two times….it was clear. Lol. I’m holding my head at this point.

The ads were swapped…more negativity about what was wrong with each ad. It was brutal actually. The final outcome was the men’s team was spared but it wasn’t a victory really. I’m sure they felt like they lost after shown what they did wrong on their ad. I really felt for the team. The men can breathe a sigh of relief.

The women were given the hash over by Trump and Star picks LaToya and NeNe to come back into the firing squad. Latoya ends up getting the axe but it wasn’t an easy feat for Star. NeNe really didn’t want to pick LaToya. However, Trump decided it was her time to go to give the women’s team the best chance to fight against the stronger Team Backbone.

And next week: the fireworks go off between Star and NeNe.

My take on Meat’s participation: I’m not gonna’ sugarcoat…but I believe Meat was still mentally working out that Busey had left and he could resume his creative self. Although he did take a shot of the butler that had the wrong facial expression, his strength was clearly on presentation. I didn’t like that John Rich and Lil Jon’s condescending remarks towards Meat, but whatever….I’ll take it with a grain due to edits ya know kids.

Suzieq

[Wario]

My take on Meat’s participation: I’m not gonna’ sugarcoat…but I believe Meat was still mentally working out that Busey had left and he could resume his creative self. Although he did take a shot of the butler that had the wrong facial expression, his strength was clearly on presentation. I didn’t like that John Rich and Lil Jon’s condescending remarks towards Meat, but whatever….I’ll take it with a grain due to edits ya know kids.

my stance with lil jon and john rich sort of went down a few notches after hearing their condesending remarks. "Take meat loaf out of the equation and we have a very unified and focused team" was little tuff to swallow.

[Elijah's way]

Gary is right it should be called team Backstab because there talking shit about Meat now...:roll: I'm really worried that he won't win.

[suzieq]

Ok before this goes down the spiraling path of Backbone destruction. Let's remember that Lil Jon, John Rich, Mark McGrath and Meat are recording a song for charity and that they are great friends. Perhaps this is one week that Meat was recovering from all the mental strife Gary had caused him. Let the episode breathe and perhaps "good TV" happened again. I know what they said, you know what they said, let's just keep this on the back burner and see how the shows develop. I think he already bounced back with his presentation skills. They know where his strengths lie. But, let's just keep an eye on them eh?

[carole]

Thanks for the great review Suzie. Glad to hear Backbone won. I look forward to watching it myself. I did see the preview clip of John Rich and Lil Jon saying that about Meat, and was disappointed at them saying that as they are meant to be mates. But I will reserve judgement till I watch the whole show. Looking forward to the big showdown next week between Nene and Star, they are both bitches, so I will be on no one's side.

Carole

[BostonAngel]

Ok before this goes down the spiraling path of Backbone destruction. Let's remember that Lil Jon, John Rich, Mark McGrath and Meat are recording a song for charity and that they are great friends. Perhaps this is one week that Meat was recovering from all the mental strife Gary had caused him. Let the episode breathe and perhaps "good TV" happened again. I know what they said, you know what they said, let's just keep this on the back burner and see how the shows develop. I think he already bounced back with his presentation skills. They know where his strengths lie. But, let's just keep an eye on them eh?
I agree with you Suzie. They are working together now and have said they are great friends. And due to editing the comment was probably taken somewhat out of context. I am looking forward to another great job and a win from Team BackBone for next week. Great recap of the night. I was surprised to see LaToya go.

[nikox1]

yeah, we cant get carried away by those comments, but im not liking what they both said as im sure you all will agree. to be honest i think John Rich and Star want to win it the most!!! that seems to be what they are there for, Lil John is more real i feel, Meats so down to earth.

[carole]

Interesting episode. I'm glad Backbone won, yeah their brochure had a few mistakes, but their presentation was very good, way superior to the women, who just parrotted words over and over, the men spoke from the heart and were very passionate. Star should have been fired. Trump changes the rules to suit himself every episode, though I suppose he can do whatever he wants, since it is his show. He woudn't fire Gary for weeks, despite him being the weakest link and all the men wanting him fired, but then fires Latoya even though they clealy wanted Star to go. Every other Project Manager took responsibility when they lost and said they should be fired, but not Star. No one can argue with her, even when she's not Project Manager she takes over and acts like she is. She is a loud mouth bitch. Can't wait for the big showdown next week, looks like it happens before the show even begins.

Carole

[Vickip]

Thanks for the great recap Suzie :-)

[CarylB]

Overall impression .. Backbone was hampered by not establishing at the outset a completeness of shared vision and how best to take that forward. ASAP was hampered by following Commandant Star's vision without question or challenge.

I think Meat was closest to grasping at an outline concept that would have fitted the key differentiators of the Trump Collection .. inspiring, uncompromising and newness of perspective, with his "stepping into the future". But the pressure of working as a 3 man only team, and JR's clear need to get moving, meant it fell by the wayside and imo became a lost opportunity as JR worked on developing a text that missed the mark, using words/phrases like "unpretentious" and "home away from home" .. ones I would never associate with the kind of hotel experience they were seeking to promote, and forgetting vital contact info. The idea of being Trump for the duration of your stay was a strong one, but didn't make it to the printed page. ASAP just got bogged down in Star's vision of "ladies-who-live-for-luxury" .. but a luxury of the kind matched by all Trump's competitors .. and, if the judges are to be believed, by strip clubs. Perhaps they visit more up-market ones than I can imagine .. :lol:

Backbone's presentation beat ASAP's comfortably .. the latter's was shot in the foot by Star's own ideas, with the women for all the world looking like those whack-a-mole machines as they barked out the single words she'd scripted.

Star's decision to put NeNe and LaToya together to "maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses" struck me at the outset to smack more of maximising her own position should she find herself in the boardroom firing line, which finally proved to be the case. They were the pair she brought back in a rather obvious strategy, rather than say, LaToya and Hope, both of whom are arguably lesser contributors than NeNe. That also tempered my giving her kudos for halting things to have the issue between NeNe and LaToya confronted during the task. How far was that to promote teamwork, how far was that to be able to point out in the boardroom she had done her sterling best to bring two warring team members together and resolve their differences? I don't know, but I have my suspicions.

In the boardroom I thought NeNe's perception that to agree with or support someone is "kissing ass" speaks a lot to her personality .. rang some bells also .. ;)

Star can organise and give orders, but is hardly imo an inspirational and motivating leader, and more an individual performer than a team player. She puts her mark firmly on every task, and if it's off kilter it leads the team to failure, which was the case this time. But her pre-planned strategy worked, and Trump departed from his usual MO of decision making to date. So instead of firing Star, who was just as responsible for failure as Mark had been (arguably more so as it was her stamp on both concept and presentation that brought them to fail), he axed LaToya. But one thing we can't accuse CA of is featuring fair and consistent boardroom decisions ;)

As to the "lesson" Star said to NeNe she had learned at the end? .. as with Gary Busey when talking of his response to Meat's apology, it was only in the eyes! She has her game strategy imo, plays to it, and will stick to it.

Nice to see Meat enter the boardroom smiling, and not needing to hug his emotions and frustrations in :-) .. something we haven't seen for a while. The numbers are getting more equal now, and I think Backbone are strong enough to learn from this week and next time get, and hold constantly in front of them, a clear shared vision of concept. Plus perhaps invest in a spoll-chicker? .. :lol:

Caryl

[nikox1]

its important to stay as a team, the last thing you need is for somebody to come in and take over.

[RSG]

team = together everybody achieves more,

gary busey

[CarylB]

team = together everybody achieves more,

gary busey

Better if he'd walked the talk ;)

Caryl

[RSG]

any publicity... ;)

[robgomm]

This was an interesting episode. i did feel a bit sorry for the women because they obviously had sorted all their problems out and then they had to pick who to fire. They didn't want to fire Latoya but they had to pick someone.

I've got to be honest and say I was a bit dissapointed with Meat during this episode. He didn't really explain his concept of looking into the future clearly enough that Jon Rich got it, and that picture of the Waiter wasn't good. The Waiter looked like the living dead, then again I guess you have to work with what you're given so it's not all Meats fault.

But I thought he was really below par when you look back at his contribution over previous weeks. And to me he looked really tired and like his mind was on something else. So I think there were reasons his performance dipped but hopefully he's recovered by next week.

[CarylB]

By the time the show is edited the boardroom has taken place and Trump's decision has been made. Was it as simple as Meat being unable to explain his concept, or were two people who just wanted to get on with doing stuff because they were worried about their limited numbers, unwilling to let hm explain further? Can't tell from an edited version of events imo, and one whch has been edited to fit the boardroom session and the final decision. A few tearful hugs and seeing two women talking together rather than fighting doesn't convince me all their problems are sorted. But imo Star had NeNe and LaToya ready to be wheeled in should she find herself in the firing line.

Had NeNe and LaToya really bonded they might have had the wit to act together in the final session to get Star thrown off; it could well have worked because Trump's shown himself to be pro LaToya, and he threw enough lines that NeNe could have grasped. But from the last but one scene, perhaps it was only then she realised that she'd been a pawn in Star's gambit. And if she festers sufficiently about it she's likely to be unco-operative and explosive on the next task .. could get her in the firing line, in which case someone who may be a noisy, volatile pain in the ass, but makes a contribution and could be seen to a point as a contender would bite the dust .. and another bit of Star's strategy will fall into place imo.

Caryl

[JaysScout]

yeah, we cant get carried away by those comments, but im not liking what they both said as im sure you all will agree. to be honest i think John Rich and Star want to win it the most!!! that seems to be what they are there for, Lil John is more real i feel, Meats so down to earth.

I tend to agree with the statement that John Rich and Starr Jones want to win it the most. In a situation such as this, it often comes down to what you are willing to do to win. Or, perhaps the better phrase is "what you're NOT willing to do to win". It's obvious to me that Ms Jones is willing to do ANYTHING to win. She accepts no blame, takes credit whenever she can, and never thinks twice about throwing a teammate "under the bus", if it will suit her agenda. I like John Rich, however, I believe he comes closer to Starr than the other two men when showing the attitude that it may take to win.

That said, I'm still rooting for Meat. However, his decency may cost him in the end. I've noticed that Meat, more so than any other contestant, accepts responsibility IMMEDIATELY when he does something wrong, or makes a mistake. While that is truly an admirable trait to have in real life, I'm not so sure that it helps him on CA. Getting back to a prior point, I believe there are too many things that Meat may "NOT" be willing to do to win, that others, such as Ms Jones and John Rich may be willing to do. THAT, may keep him from winning CA, but would certainly not affect the respect he has won from his fans.....for being what he is.

[CarylB]

It's obvious to me that Ms Jones is willing to do ANYTHING to win. She accepts no blame, takes credit whenever she can, and never thinks twice about throwing a teammate "under the bus", if it will suit her agenda. I like John Rich, however, I believe he comes closer to Starr than the other two men when showing the attitude that it may take to win.


Agreed .. actually I think Ms Jones designs strategies to throw people under the bus ;) And yes, I like JR who plays mostly a straight bat, but as it gets tougher and more competitive to hold onto your seat at the table, there are signs he's ready to line the pieces up if he needs them.

I've noticed that Meat, more so than any other contestant, accepts responsibility IMMEDIATELY when he does something wrong, or makes a mistake. While that is truly an admirable trait to have in real life, I'm not so sure that it helps him on CA.


Yes, a level of integrity that I, too, admire. One that would also preclude him running for any high office too :lol: As you say, in the final event this might prevent him emerging as the winner, but will ensure our respect remains. And smetimes, just sometimes, the better man wins ;)

Caryl

[Wario]

I've got to be honest and say I was a bit dissapointed with Meat during this episode. He didn't really explain his concept of looking into the future clearly enough that Jon Rich got it, and that picture of the Waiter wasn't good. The Waiter looked like the living dead, then again I guess you have to work with what you're given so it's not all Meats fault.

But I thought he was really below par when you look back at his contribution over previous weeks. And to me he looked really tired and like his mind was on something else. So I think there were reasons his performance dipped but hopefully he's recovered by next week.

i agree with you about meat. but....
EVERYONE's performance dipped ;) not just meat's

it was nobody's best week.

I think both teams were very disappointing. John rich and lil jon did an even bigger sin and forgot to put contact info in the package.

This weeks episode is my least favorite episode thus far and that probably wont change.

Everyone was disappointing, their was nobody on either team that was fantastic.

Im gonna forget ths week happened and move on.

[Julie in the rv mirror]

Agreed .. actually I think Ms Jones designs strategies to throw people under the bus ;)

Don't forget that Star is/was a lawyer- she's a shark by nature. :twisted: ;)

She mentioned on last night's show that Johnnie Cochran was one of her mentors; he was the lead counsel for O.J. Simpson (in his murder trial) and Michael Jackson...make of that what you will.

[CarylB]

Don't forget that Star is/was a lawyer- she's a shark by nature. :twisted: ;)

She mentioned on last night's show that Johnnie Cochran was one of her mentors; he was the lead counsel for O.J. Simpson (in his murder trial) and Michael Jackson...make of that what you will.

lol .. no, I hadn't forgotten :-) She's screamed shark since she started. As to the rest .. I guess her mentor (and I make of him what I suspect you sense) would be proud of her ;)

Caryl

[nikox1]

well lets hope next week is better for Meat:D, hes doing great and we are all proud of him:D,, but be wary of JR imo = i wanna win so bad!!!