Apprentice Blog

So here we are! Down to episode 12 of Celebrity Apprentice, all waiting to see who the final two will be. And as we wait, let me first start out by saying that if you think there are no real lessons in business in this show, you are dead wrong! I have been doing my business coaching for over five years now and I have built a great business, all on the lessons and errors being shown with these celebrities. So pay close attention, you just may learn something yet!

The show opens with all four contestants going through a barrage of interview questions from Mr. Trump’s henchmen Cramer and Burnett, who he had picked to ask the questions to the remaining group about why they think their charity is the best.

After the nail-biting and tongue-twisting questions, the interviews are over and Mr. Trump has to make his decision between Carol, Lennox, Trace and Piers.

In a question-and-answer stage in the boardroom with Mr. Trump himself and the four on the other side, there seem to be two who shine through. They show Mr. Trump it’s all about good ole fashioned hard work and PT. No not Physical Training, but yes Pearce and Trace!

Mr. Trump, in his own words, just needs to see the two of them go at it. So he fires Carol and Lennox and decides to pit the USA against the UK - or as he says, good vs. evil.

The next morning both men get their task and assignment.  But as they are listening to the assigned task, they are told this is so big they will need help so Mr. Trump brings back some old faces, and some not so old. In come Stephen, Marilu, Carol and Lennox back from the firing hell hole they were sent to. Each man can have two people on his team and of course, Trace takes Lennox and Marylou and the other two reluctantly go on the side of Piers.

The task is to generate auction items to be sold off to the highest bidders, and to organize a concert for, well I hate to say it, but for the Backstreet Boys. I know what you’re thinking, because Trace said it himself: “Are they the Backstreet Men now?”

Needless to say both Trace and Piers take the task on full force and head off in their separate directions to start the completion on the mission at hand.

There is no question in anyone’s mind that Piers will raise the most money. But will he organize his half of the task well enough to impress Mr. Trump? If you have been watching all this season, you know what it all comes down to in Mr. Trump’s mind - Does he want a great money-maker like Piers, with lousy leadership and management skills? Or does he want a proven leader, loyal to a fault with strong management skills, but not as great at raising money? I say we should poll this one. Which is better in your mind, and why?

Anyway, back to the task. Piers goes on a favor-calling tour to contact as many celebrities as he knows to donate their time, services and efforts to be auctioned off at the event. Of course, as always, he lands a big one in the Duchess of York who agrees to help a fellow Englishman in his attempt to win.

Meanwhile, Trace is back at the war room going through the list of requirements the Backstreet Boys have sent in for the event. Trace seems a little taken aback by all the requirements and decides he should meet them in person to ask if they really need all the things they are asking for.

As he gets there and starts talking to them, you quickly see both Trace and the boys are from two different worlds. Trace is from earth and the boys are from a world of “used to be and once was.” The boys not only refuse to back down on their requests, they even ask Trace if he can supply them with wheatgrass for energy before the show . . . The look on Trace’s face says it all. Trace decides the time spent with the boys was lost time that he will never get back, and he moves on in contacting his friends and celebrity list to come to the auction.

The cliffhanger is, who will win, and how bad will the loss be? You’ll just have to stay tuned and watch next week when it’s down to the bull or the bullies.

I smell a rat!

Wow, what can I say about this episode of Celebrity Apprentice, other than it was amazing. Bar none, the best single episode I have ever watched out of all the seasons including mine, which for most was considered the best season ever (the first season).

So here I am a veteran of the Apprentice clan from season one, so I have a little insight on what to watch for and boy, how did we see it all last night! Corporate sabotaging, double agents, and even a possible hit man!

The show opened with Mr. Trump meeting the two teams in an open forum. The girls were on one side and the men on the other. Tito Ortiz was out for the week to train for an upcoming fight, so the teams looked to be in balance after the girls lost another member last episode. Mr. Trump announced that the girls were coming off yet another loss and needed to do something fast in order to salvage what remaining hope they had left in this game. The girls nodded their heads in agreement and accepted the constructive advice. With a simple nod of his head, Mr. Trump moved forward to say he believed Carol Alt should lead this week’s task. Carol accepted and we had our project manager for the women’s team.

On the men’s team, we had Piers leading the way to possible victory. If you noticed the look on Vinny’s face, that was not something he was too happy about. Either way, the two PM’s were announced and the task was laid out.

The task was for the major shoe company Crocs, one of the fastest growing brands in shoes today and one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes I have ever worn myself. Yet I must admit, a bit on the ugly side. Nevertheless, Crocs asked the teams to come up with a campaign to create awareness for giving back by designing a slogan and an actual recycling bin to be used to collect old Crocs so could be recycled into new shoes for needy people around the world.

That describes the task and the teams but to be honest, that’s not what you want to hear or know. What you want to know and hear is the true drama of what went on and who got fired!

You had the two teams working on the Crocs project. They were both working very hard and very closely to one another. So closely, in fact, that the rooms they were both in were back to back. You could hear everything each team was saying if you stopped and listened.

Piers and the men were working on their slogan when they thought they could see someone at the door. As Piers got up to check to see who was there, he thought he saw one of the women walking away. He believed the women had been eavesdropping on their ideas. So he set a plan in motion. It started out simply, but soon and throughout the show, you realized what a disaster it had become. As a viewer, you were faced with the true colors of people, in addition to being faced with a moral dilemma of “right and wrong” vs. “win or lose.”

Knowing that the women could hear what they were saying, Piers and Vinny decided to stage a little acting session and create a little drama. Piers instructed Vinny to stand outside and “spy on the women.” Vinny decided to do one better and suggested that Piers and he get into a “blow up” by yelling and screaming at each other. So the game began. Fist Vinny yelled “screw you” in an amazing performance and flashback to the Sopranos days. And then Piers, who is not known for his acting, actually pulled out a pretty good performance himself and yelled “get the hell out!”

The stage was set and Vinny was kicked out of the office. The women heard everything. This was where the show took a spin no one was expecting. Vinny, now outside the offices, decided on his own merit to actually not spy from a distance, but go up to the girls’ door and knock and invite himself in. With another stunning performance which was reminiscent of Vinny’s character on the Sopranos, he pulled out a star performance and told the ladies that he hated Piers and wanted to join their team!

The craziest thing in all this chain of events was that Omarosa actually fell for the line and was the first to say “yes,” which I can’t believe. I have worked with her in the past and she absolutely trusts no one. So I have to give my complements to Vinny for pulling it off.

Now it got even weirder as Vinny started actually helping the women by giving great suggestions after falling for the girls and their plight to try to win one. What started out as a plan to spy led to a plan to infiltrate the team - and then turned to a change of passion and compassion on Vinny’s part! Or so you think?

It was obvious at this point Vinny was confused and guilt-ridden with his choice to become a rat. Knowing what Vinny knows about the world of rats and what happens to rats if they get caught, I am sure we all understand his dilemma. But in the end, he made his choice.

The women fully embraced Vinny, who was going back and forth with his conscience while “sleeping with the enemy.” As he was helping them out on the project, he made several notes on a piece of paper. When it came time for the teams to leave, Vinny walked outside and saw Stephen Baldwin. In what seemed like a scene straight from the movies, Vinny wadded the piece of paper up and slid it over to Stephen, just seconds before any of the women came out to catch him in the act.

As the paper lay there, Stephen, who is a minister and born-again Christian, decided that the plot had gone too far and that he would not be a part of it anymore. He refused pick up the note that lay on the floor in plain sight. Instead, he grabbed Lenox and told him to pick it up!

The note was filled with all the women’s ideas and concepts and it armed the men with the intelligence Piers thought he needed.

Then Vinny headed off with the women to build their Croc-collecting bin. The men were back in the office discussing the morals of the game. Piers saw nothing wrong with the order to spy and further, thought it was great that Vinny had moved one step closer to the enemy and was now in their fold. Stephen hated it and found it unworthy of a fair fight - and believed all of it should stop. Trace, although quiet about the whole thing, knew it was wrong and wanted nothing to do with it as well. In a surprising twist, Ivanka came in to check up on the men’s team and Piers shared the whole story with her. She found it somewhat intriguing and par for the course in business. This shocked Stephen and he decided to start preaching the gospel to Piers.

Meanwhile, Vinny and Marilu had to take a cab together to head out to design a giant shoe bin for Crocs. On the cab ride, Vinny decided to share his secret with Marilu and spilled his guts about being a rat for the other team. But he explained that in the interim, he had a change of heart and wanted to be forgiven. He offered his help. Marilu was torn with the confession and did not know what to do. So she decided to just stay focused and stick to her task at hand.

With both teams back at the office, the cat soon came out of the bag! Piers and Stephen, after reading the note Vinny gave them, decided to let the women know they knew everything about their campaign. They started poking fun at the girls about their plans, which tipped them off to the fact that Vinny was a spy. Needless to say, the women were shocked to find out they had a rat in the group. By teasing the women, Piers basically sold Vinny out and hung him out to dry!

Shocked and surprised with the knowledge that Vinny was a rat, the women made a swift call to action and fired Vinny from their team. Now Vinny was really going crazy. What started out as a spy thing turned into a change of heart and a confession. His decision to help the women ended up with him not having anywhere to go.

This boiled Vinny’s blood and turned him crazy with anger and rage. All the while, knowing the end result because he knew what happens to rats. They get whacked! Vinny came back to the men’s teams and turned his anger on Piers for hanging him out to dry. Piers, not wanting to deal with it, then fired Vinny from the men’s team!

Judgment Time

In one last-ditch effort, Vinny stumbled into Mr. Trump on an elevator ride and asked for a chance to explain himself. It was just like the Sopranos episode when Tony Soprano finds out Pussy (Vinny) is a rat and Pussy tries to explain himself in an effort to avoid a bullet to the head. Mr. Trump of course said, save it for the boardroom!

In the boardroom that night, both teams were seated, with the exception on Vinny. He was the only one standing, like a lamb on the chopping block. When Mr. Trump asked him to explain, he began an emotional diatribe which no one could keep up with. It was all an attempt to justify why he was a rat.

The men didn’t understand, and the women wouldn’t forget. So instead of getting shot, Vinny shot himself! He offered to resign. After a long belabored back-and-forth, Mr. Trump accepted the resignation.   

The episode ended in a most outstanding fashion. The producers tied Celebrity Apprentice and The Sopranos together - two iconic series - by playing “Don’t Stop Believing,” the same song that accompanied the end of The Sopranos. As Vinny walked away, we saw a familiar face from the Sopranos in the background - A hit man!

Vinny gets whacked!