Celebrity Apprentice 2/28 Recap- Country-Folk Ladies Love Trace

[SueEllenMishke]

Welcome back to Celebrity Apprentice! Last week there was apparently a huge fight between Piers and Lennox (that I somehow missed), and this week previews have it that we will see a very sexy and risqué photo shoot. First though, Piers won’t drop the “Sleepy Boy” thing with Lennox, and tells us that Lennox spent the entire last task doing nothing but positioning himself so that he would not get blamed if Hydra lost. I guess it worked, because Hydra lost and Lennox did not get blamed. Piers and Lennox bicker and bicker, and Stephen watches happily, glad that Piers is not yelling at him.

Since Stephen was the winning team’s PM last week, he gets to award $20,000 to his charity- the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund. He calls his mom on speakerphone, and at first she doesn’t seem to know who it is, and then calls him “Flea,” which I guess is his nickname. Stephen’s mom is very happy and excited for the donation, but reveals that she hasn’t written a thank-you note for the first donation yet! Uh-oh! Stephen is pleased with his two wins, and plans to yield his title as 2-Time Winner in future tasks to intimidate people. Yes, I’m sure that will work.

It’s time to learn about this week’s task! The contestants meet in the lobby of Hearst Tower, which Trump calls a new building that will be a landmark in New York City. Trump introduces executives from Dial Soap and Redbook Magazine, and they announce that this week, the teams will work up a 4-page photo essay to promote Dial Nourishing Yogurt Body Wash, and the spread will be published in Redbook Magazine. The execs tell the teams they will be judged (as usual) on creativity, integration of the brand and overall content and message. Each team will be given a photographer and studio, and the winning team’s PM will get $20,000 for his/her charity.

While Trump is talking about the importance of the task and how the PM of the losing team will most likely get fired, Omarosa is rallying her team to let her step up and be PM. She’s been in the marketing world for a long time and thinks that she would do well, but when the time comes to name the PM for Empresario, Tito takes it. Over on Hydra, Carol steps up because she’s been on the cover of Redbook 5 times, and thinks she has a good idea of what they’re looking for.

Hydra meets with the executives, and Carol is extra careful to listen well. She knows that a big mistake can be made right off the bat if they don’t hear what Dial and Redbook are looking for, and she doesn’t want to take her team in the wrong direction. Carol tries to capture who the Redbook reader is, and the Redbook exec tells her that the average Redbook reader is a 37-year old female. Piers asks how racy they can be, and the Dial exec replies that they don’t have a specific list of things that they won’t publish, but that the team should use their good judgment. If only they had good judgment, that might work. After the meeting, Carol pitches that their campaign should show 4 great moments in a woman’s life, and Piers is stuck on the notion of sex, and declares that the last picture should be pure sex. But in a good judgment kind of way.

Empresario also meets with the executives, and gets pretty much the same information, but they also learn that Redbook is very popular in the middle of the country. Trace understand this because he’s noticed that Redbook always has country music stars on the cover, (although never him). This makes Stephen decide that the Redbook audience loves Trace, and they should use him for their campaign. Trace declines until Stephen outlines his idea of Trace in a bathtub with women squirting him with body wash, and then he’s okay with the whole thing. This idea really makes me think that Empresario did not get the good judgment speech.

When Hydra hits the studio, Piers learns that most of the available models are in their early 20s, and he feels that won’t work for their theme and Carol should be their model. Carol doesn’t want to wear too many hats, and wants to focus on being PM, but since she’s a freaking super-model, maybe she should go ahead and be their model for pete’s sake! Empresario meets with their photographer, and decide to use the theme of cowboys and cowgirls. Omarosa thinks that Tito needs a lot of help with his PM duties because he just doesn’t know what he’s doing. She knows though, that the men have won many tasks with crazy ideas, so she decides to step back and let them do what they want.

Piers is still trying to convince Carol to be the model for their photos, and she finally agrees. She tells us that she does not want to get fired, (duh- does anyone?), but understands that they should not be using a 20-year old woman in an ad aimed at a 37-year old woman.

Over in Empresario’s studio, their country pictures are going well, but Omarosa wants Trace to take his shirt off. She says that women want to see hot men and have a fantasy… about Trace? Well, I’m sure there are women who fantasize about Trace. Tito asks Trace to take his shirt off, and Trace replies “You want me in there with those two dudes?” The “two dudes” are buff and tanned, and Trace is upset because he is pale and pasty. When he takes his shirt off though, he looks just fine, and not deathly pale at all. Trace poses uncomfortably with his guitar, but Omarosa loves the pictures and declares Trace’s toplessness her contribution to the task. Ivanka picks this moment to show up and is kind of shocked at the shirtless-Trace pictures.

In Hydra’s studio, Lennox is picking out the most realistic of the fake babies for their shoot, and seems a little more involved than he was in last week’s task. Carol takes pictures with the fake baby, and then in a tub, and then it’s time for the last, sexy shot. Carol lounges on a bed with a hot male model and they kind of nuzzle, and at one point the guy nibbles on her shoulder. Piers wants the pictures to be suggestive, but not overdone. Lennox keeps talking about the money shot, and I really hope he’s just talking about a good picture, because if he means something else, these pictures are heading down a very dirty path.

Stephen thinks that Empresario’s first image should really say “wow” and wants to use a picture of a pretty woman. Omarosa says the pretty woman does nothing for her, and she’s the demographic they’re aiming for. She says she’s turning the page to see a picture of Trace without his shirt on, not some cowgirl. Stephen thinks they should keep it safe and use the picture of the woman, and Tito doesn’t say much, except that he is struggling with dealing with Stephen and Omarosa because they’re both strong-willed and like to have things go their way.

It’s time for Hydra to present their photos, and Piers does most of the talking. The first picture shows Carol squeezing soap on herself and their slogan is “Good for me, great for my skin.” The second page has facts about yogurt and pictures of Carol with her fake baby and then in the bath, and the fourth page has the sexy picture. They selected the picture with the guy nibbling on Carol’s shoulder. Trump is surprised by the biting, but Piers says that the man is so entranced with the aroma of Carol’s skin that he could literally eat her. And that’s when we would have gotten our money shot.

Unfortunately, Tito is the spokesperson for Empresario, and he doesn’t even know what the product is called and has to be prompted by Stephen. Their slogan is “Naturally beautiful skin has no boundaries,” and their theme is country. Tito tells the executives that they used Trace because he’s down home and “country-folk ladies” love him. Seriously- he said that. Stephen finally takes mercy on us all and steps in to say that they wanted something that would conform to Redbook and appeal to their audience. As they leave, Tito says “until next time when we see it in the magazine.” I think you’re going to be waiting a long time, Tito.

Trump and the executives discuss that they liked Hydra’s presentation because they showed scenes that represented what was important to woman. They didn’t necessarily love the last pic, but thought that it was sensual but not over-the-top. They thought that Empresario’s pictures were beautiful and they did a nice job with the product, but their message was not consistent.

Time for another Boardroom! Trump asks Tito how he did as PM, and Tito tells him he thinks they did well and got their point across. Trump was surprised because he’s seen Tito fight and he never gets nervous, but he seemed really nervous during the presentation. Carol is confident that Hydra did well because they played to the demographic. Trump says he warned her not to be PM, but Carol tells him that she’d rather be fired for standing up to a challenge than for running away from one. Trump asks about the biting picture, and Carol says they may have pushed the envelop a little bit, but their pictures were amazing.

Trump lets each team look at the other team’s campaign because he wants to know what they think. Piers calls Empresario’s ad “boring and amateurish” and doesn’t think it speaks to the demographic. Trump asks Piers if he thinks they should have used Omarosa as their model, and he replies “Only in a graveyard scene.” I guess those two still haven’t made up. Empresario says that they were trying to tell a story, but Piers says he can’t understand what the story is. As he drones on and on about how this ad is amateurish journalism, Stephen asks over and over again in a British accent: “Where are your specs?” Trump smirks and asks Trace what he thinks of Hydra’s campaign, and Trace diplomatically says that Carol is a stunning woman and he likes the first shot of their portfolio. Trump reveals that the execs liked all the shots of Hydra’s portfolio, they are the winners, and Carol is getting another $20,000 for her charity, the Tony Alt Memorial Foundation.

Hydra leaves to celebrate their win, and Empresario stays to face the music. Trump asks the team if they should have had a woman be PM on this task, and Omarosa tells him that she wanted to be PM but Tito took it. Trump and George ask Omarosa why she didn’t try harder to take the PM slot, because she’s got the marketing background and is anxious to earn money for her charity. George tells Omarosa that she was focusing too much on what Redbook needed, and not enough on what Dial needed, but Omarosa says that the fault lies with Tito and Stephen. Tito for not doing the job of PM, and Stephen for picking up Tito’s slack. Trump tells Trace he’s a quiet star and asks whom he would fire. Trace sticks up for Omarosa and says that Tito was the one who made the poor decisions and let Stephen run amuck. Omarosa says that she would fire Tito even after Tito declares that he really wanted to use the shirtless Trace picture. Trump asks Tito whom he would exonerate if he gave him that choice, and after Trump defines “exonerate,” Tito says he would let Omarosa go because she worked the hardest. In the end, Tito is fired, but because he’s so “special,” Trump gives him $50,000 to present to his charity, the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Well, once again the last week’s previews heavily exaggerated what was going to happen! Next week we’re supposed to see another huge blowout between Piers and Omarosa in which Omarosa tells him to come out of the closet, but I wonder what will actually happen.

[Google]

 

[Marleybone]

Thanks for the great recap, SEM! I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but now that I know I can look forward to a shirtless Trace, I won't miss it for sure.

[Snapit]

Great recap. I'm not sure I'll watch it. I would of ran out and picked up a copy if Trace was going to be on it.