Kelly Perdew Comments on Celebrity Apprentice Episode 2

First of all, I want to say hats off to Mark Burnett and Donald Trump for coming up with the best concept for The Apprentice yet - an all-celebrity cast where every task is based on raising funds for charity. This season there really are no losers!!!

The task was to create the best commercial to sell Pedigree dog food to raise awareness of Pedigree’s Dog Adoption Drive. Gene Simmons and Nely Galán were selected by their respective teams to be the project managers. The teams picked Nely based on her TV expertise, but sometimes, as we’ve seen on many of The Apprentice tasks, the expert should not be the leader, they should just be the expert and let someone else focus on leading. Gene’s dominating presence during Task 1 made him a shoo-in for project manager for the men - but that dominating presence can also backfire!

Lesson:  You don’t have to make the subject matter expert the leader.

Nely led the women’s team in a little kumbaya to bolster morale and get the creative juices flowing, while the men’s team argued points until Stephen Baldwin brought up his 20+ years of film experience to capture the role of director for the commercial. Gene and Stephen clearly have a good rapport going. Not the case for Gene and Ivanka. Gene, in an apparent attempt to keep his vision a secret, made the very unfortunate mistake of rebuffing Ivanka when she came in to monitor the team’s progress. Not only did he rebuff her, he was rude about it. I can understand operational security, but it is not a good idea to insult the judge, even less of a good idea when she’s Donald’s daughter. That will come back to haunt him, if not on this task then on a future task.

Lesson:  Don’t insult the judge, especially when she is the boss’s daughter.

Marilu Henner was instrumental in writing the script and doing much of the directing on the women’s commercial. However, once again the women forgot to use their star power. They seemed a little disorganized and none of the shots looked compelling.

Lesson:  Learn from your prior mistakes, in this case - use star power.

After shooting all the scenes, Gene and Stephen basically booted the other five guys out of the editing booth so they could work in peace. Tito and the rest of the crew decided they didn’t want to leave their fate in Gene and Stephen’s hands. Tito led the group back to the editing booth and voiced his concern about being kicked out, but Gene and Stephen were insistent about being left alone to finish. This was a strong move by Tito, as I also wouldn’t have left it up to Gene and Stephen either. Tito is a competitive mixed martial arts fighter and that competitive spirit is what drives him in the cage and in business. They are all playing to win for their charities and Tito wants to contribute. Now Tito’s got some defense in the boardroom if the men’s team loses; however, he’s now become something of an antagonist to Gene and Stephen - two very strong players.

Lesson:  Sometimes less is more - not all tasks require the whole team.

Both teams then presented their commercials to Donald and the Pedigree VP of Marketing. The women’s team wore color-coordinated outfits and for the men, Gene, in a theme of consistency, was completely insolent. From the short pieces that aired, the men’s team clearly delivered the better commercial. Pedigree liked one of the commercials so much they plan to use it at the Westminster Dog Show. In the boardroom, Gene apologized to Ivanka and after watching both commercials in full, the men’s team won handily.  

Lesson:  Admit when you’re wrong and always use star power.

Nely decided to bring Nadia and Carol back into the boardroom with her, but there didn’t seem to be much reasoning behind those choices. Nely may be in trouble . . .

When they returned to the boardroom, Nely did not do a good job of defending herself. However, Carol dealt the death blow to Nadia when she said that Nadia could not be a leader and Nely reinforced that message. Nadia seemed confused, Carol kept quiet, and Nely described herself as exceptional.  In the end, Donald made the decision to fire Nadia because he thought Nely had more potential and that Nadia hadn’t showed leadership qualities. I would have fired Nely, as she was responsible for the overall delivery and Nadia wasn’t responsible for the loss.

Lesson:  Have a good reason for your choices and defend yourself when the time comes.