Familiar Face On The Celebrity Apprentice

Geoff Harvey, who worked in Walla Walla radio before returning to his native Tri-Cities, is shown in this episode from The Celebrity Apprentice with his sister in law, Karen.  Geoff, who is mentioned in this blog, has a daughter, Courtney, who is a producer for E!.
  The task for the celebrities was to do a presentation for Carnival Cruises.  The Celebrity Apprentice is now hosted by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Bret Michaels Is Celebrity Apprentice

Rock music front man Bret Michaels, seemingly America's adopted son, has been chosen this season's Celebrity Apprentice. Throughout the season, Michaels warmed over even his critics by coming to work on every task and his dedication to his cause. Michaels was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 6. A series of health problems including a brain hemorage that nearly took his life, did not stop Michaels from attending the live program, which featured all the fired contestants, except for Sharon Osborn and Pro Wrestler Bill Goldberg. former contestant Cyndi Lauper performed a song off her latest album. Michaels beat Holly Robinson, an excellent contestant, who just did not project the needed on-screen ethos that would endure her to the public.

Celebrity Apprentice--It's Bret vs Holly

The contestants are in the suite celebrating the fact that they are still in the game when the phone rings. Trump wants to see the candidates in the boardroom. They return to the boardroom where Trump says that he needs to fire someone right away. He asks everyone who they think should go. The consensus seems to be that it should be Maria. Maria makes a comment about Curtis that Trump finds disgusting, He wastes no time in firing Maria.
The four remaining candidates are Holly Robinson Peete, Curtis Stone, Bret Michaels, and Sharon Osborn. They are about to undergo a rigorous series of interviews with Apprentice Winners Bill Rancik and Joan Rivers. After the interviews Trump refers to the feedback from Rancik and Rivers. He determines that all the candidates are good but he can only take two the final task. He fires Curtis and Sharon. That leaves Bret and Holly to go at it.
The final task is to create a flavor of Snapple, then design a commercial and advertorial to go with it. Whoever does the best job is the new Celebrity Apprentice.

Teams are chosen Bret gets Summer and Daryl Strawberry. Holly gets Curtis and Maria. No rhyme or reason why they got to come back while Cyndi, Sharon, and the like had to call it a game.

While Holly (a somewhat abrasive candidate) looks like the early favorite. There is little doubt that most of the viewers will be pulling for Bret.

Celebrity Apprentice--The Requsite Apartment Fix-Up

The challenge is as old as the show itself. This week's task was for the teams, once again realigned, to fix up a two bedroom corporate apartment. Once again, Trump decides to realign the teams. Sharon and Maria last week spoke of their dislike for Curtis Stone, so Trump decides to put Curtis on their team, Bret goes to team Tenacity--a recipe for disaster if their ever was one. Control freak, Holly is Tenacity's PM. Sharon takes the reigns of the new Rock Solid.
Rock Solid continues to run smoothly in spite of or maybe because of the addition of Curtis. Sharon has a good idea of what corporate people want in their apartment. With the two most unique candidates, pop star Cyndi and Rock Star Bret, Holly is going crazy, but actually it is Holly who makes some unwise decisions on how to decorate. In the boardroom, I was hoping that Holly would be fired, but Trump considers Cyndi unmanageable and give her walking papers.

Celebrity Apprentice--The Realignment

I cannot kid you, this was a rather difficult episode to watch. The vibrant Bret Michaels, who in spite of his goofiness, has been a spot-on contestant, is now in a hospital fighting for his life, but let's move on.

The teams gather on what seems to be Trump's rooftop, where his youngest son is taking a few golf swings. Immediately, I wonder if young Baron is going to be sitting in on the boardroom replacing either his brother or sister.

Rock Solid has only two members left, so Trump mixes up the teams so Sharon and Maria go to Rock Solid and Curtis goes to Tenacity. This works out well as Sharon had grown weary of the bickering Tenacity team. She teams up with Bret and women's wrestler Maria. The team gels right away. No sooner are the teams announced when Cyndi Lauper announces that for the second time, she will have to be absent for a task. Once is understandable, but twice shows a lack of committment in my opinion.
The task was to set up an exercise class for "24 Hour Fitness", it was a two prong task. First was to come up with an original idea, which Rock Solid nailed with a Rock Concert theme. The other was to raise the most money, which Tenacity did. Trump was pleased with both efforts and nobody was fired.

Celebrity Apprentice--Bret Michaels Stricken

By now you probably have heard that Bret Michael has been hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage, Barers Of Maple Valley wishes a full recovery. Michaels, of course is appearing on this season's Celebrity Apprentice. Since entire show, save the final episode, is prerecorded, he will continue to appear.

Celebrity Apprentice--The Brett And Cyndi Show

This week's task was for each team to take an aspiring Country Singer and make them over so they can be superstars. Cyndi Lauper takes on the task of being PM, she is, of course, a legend in the music industry, and who would know image better than Cyndi? Rock Solid is down to it's last 3 players, however they have an ace in the hole with Brett Michaels, the lead singer for '80 hard rock group Poison.
When the artists are introduced, they turn out to be established stars. Tenacity gets Emily West, a rather starstruck singer, whose signature song, "Blue Sky" sounds a little like Cyndi's "True Colors", at least in my opinion. The team is squabbling though, Holly is rather hard nosed and unmanageable, and Maria wants more responsibility. Finally, Sharon comes back after being out ill for awhile and seems to bridge some of their disagreements.
Rock Solid gets along real well, the problem is that Brett is not PM. It's Goldberg, who thought that it would be good to step up for the task. He delegates the entire task to Brett. Curtis, the chef has little that he can do, but is always willing to help. The trouble with Rock Solid is that Lucas is unmanagable, he does not take Brett's advice on interviews and does not want to change his image.
Tenacity wins, partly because their singer goes along with Cyndi's advice. Trump does not like the idea that Goldberg volunteered to be PM in a task he was not qualified for and fires him.

Celebrity Apprentice--Best Defense Is Two Ex Blazers

On this episode of the Celebrity Apprentice, I learned 2 things, Right Guard is the official deodorant of the NBA and two bright former Portland Trail Blazers were in a show together with no mention of that particular team. Granted, Scottie Pippen is best known for his time in Chicago with Michael Jordan, the team won 6 world championships, but Clyde "The Glide" Drexler had a brilliant 12 year career in Portland, but hey, that's the homer in me talking.

On this show we begin to see why the show is going back to it's original format of contestants vying for a job next season. Sharon Osbourn has been ill for a couple of TV weeks, I don't know how that would translate in real time and sat this one out. On top of that, Cyndi Lauper took time off to see President Obama. The women and men's team had the same number of players. The difference was that the men's team seems to have gelled. The women's team bickered. Back to the Right Guard theme, this week's task was to create a 30 second commercial and a 10 second internet video promoting Right Guard. The women got to use Scottie Pippen, who basically charmed the pants off of Holly and Selita (reported erroneously as Elita last week). The men got Clyde The Glide, a much more down to earth professional. Brett Michael finds out that his daughter may have diabetes and is devastated, however he helps his team execute. Michael Johnson quits at the end of the task due to an unknown family crisis. The men win though, and the women, who complain endlessly about Cyndi, lose the one task they perform without her. Selita is fired.

Celebrity Apprentice-Governor Blogo Fired Again

Having a disgraced former governor on this show is rather shameful and we find out, kind of a burdon for the team lucky enough to get him.
This weeks project involved Universal's brand spanking new "Harry Potter Theme Park" in Orlando Florida. Since the network that this show appears on is owned by Universal, it is no surprise that they would use this show to promote it, assuming that anyone actually watches the show.
By a stroke of luck, the Governor Rod Blogojevich is picked project manager for Rock Solid in a task where technology comes into play. You see him and rival project manager Elita Ebanks are to fly to Orlando and relay information to be used during the project. Governor Rod cannot use a computer nor can he text on the telephone. Since he is with Tenacity Project Manager during the whole task, he cannot talk on his cell phone. Since Tenacity's project manager is a lady, he should have gone to the men's room to call. Needless to say, Rock Solid blows the task and the Governor is fired.

Celebrity Apprentice: Strawbery Shortcake

Week 3 of the Celebrity Apprentice. Both Rock Solid and Tenacity are plagued by problem children. Brett Michaels for the men and Cyndi Lauper for the women are misfits Brett is really a good worker, Cyndi is Cyndi, but both are wreaking havoc for their teams by asking silly questions. Not one, not two, but too many. I would not expect to see either of them around for the final, except maybe as entertainment.
This week's task was to create a four page Advertorial for Norton 360 and Lifelock. I had never heard of an advertorial, but could pretty much guess what it is. Neither teams really put their heads into it. Tenacity picked Sharon Osborn as their spokesperson which turned out to be a big mistake as she had to be bleeped during her presentation. What a surprise for someone who cannot string a thought together without a profanity. After a horrible presentation that included a power failure, the women actually won.
In each of the 3 seasons of Celebrity Aprentice, there is one person who decides they really don't want to be there. In this case it's Daryll Strawberry who says that he should be fired. Trump grants him that wish.

Celebrity Apprentice: Kodak Moment

The concept of this week's Celebrity Apprentice is for both teams to create a Kodak display in a storefront. This is really a rehash from the final task from last season, but who could remember that.
Rock Solid picks comedian Sinbad to be it's project manager. Sinbad is a funny guy but seems to have trouble matching his subject to his predicate. He states an idea and it doesn't seem to make sense, at least to me. Tenacity picks Maria, the wrestler. She came up with the idea of using children in her charity, The Make A Wish Foundation to pose in pictures with the celebs on her team. She sticks with her plan and despite power outages generated by printing pictures her concept flies well. The men (Rock Solid) don't use printers but give customers a web site. They seem disorganized and don't hand out the web site to some customers including secret shoppers.
Tenacity wins, so Rock Solid is sent to the boardroom. Sinbad makes a common project manager mistake of sending someone to the boardroom whom Trump feels doesn't belong, in this case Rod the governor. Trump can never seem to get past the fact and fires Sinbad even though he could have just as easily fired last week's winning project manager Brett Michaels.

Celebrity Apprentice Begins

Celebrity Apprentice began Sunday with something new...celebrities! Where in the past, the show attracted D-list personalities whom most of us have not heard of, this season or this year since I think it's only running once a year--the celebrities are C plus or something like that--I have heard of most of them one way or another. The list of participants is here
The teams were split with men on one team and women on the other. The Women took the name Tenacity--The men took the name Rock Solid.
The first task was to run a designated diner in New York City--whoever brought in the most money would win the task. The men, with the benefit of a celebrity chef (Curtis Stone) and a relatively competent project manager (Poison's Brett Michaels) won the task.
Tenacity's project manager, Cyndi Lauper was terrible and garnered little respect. She should have been fired, after all she brought up her friendship with Rosie O'Donnell in the boardroom in front of an angry Trump (Trump has been feuding with Rosie for years), however Trump realized that keeping Cindy around for a couple more weeks would be good for the show. Instead, he fired Carol Leifer.

Scott Hamilton Takes A Spill In Celebrity Apprentice

There is nothing that puts the "fun" in dysfunctional like the Celebrity Apprentice. Two teams made up of celebrities who were put together solely because of the fact that none of those people would ever want to spend 10 minutes with each other. Since a well-run cohesive group in this genre equals boring TV, we have this cacophony of celebs with no tie what so ever with one another. The upside is that the winnings go to charity, with times as hard as they have been, they may have to crank out a few more of these shows just to take care of all the needy people including some of Trump's less fortunate investors.
In this week's episode, the task is to develop a cartoon character to sell for online shoe retailer Zappos. The CEO says that his company is fun loving and a great place to work, although his demeanor sort of suggests otherwise.
The KOTU team is lead by Olympic Figure Skater Scott Hamilton. The Athena team picks Khloe Kardashian for it's Project Manager, khloe, I think, is on the team because Kardashian is a popular name in reality Tv. Tom Green, unlike Dennis Rodman and the now fired Andrew Dice Clay, contributes and wants to win, the trouble is, he is clearly an out of the box thinker and expresses his ideas out loud.
On the women's side, Kardashian is a crummy leader and poker player Annie Duke takes the lead. She ruffles feathers by not picking Joan Rivers to come up with a script. Messaging egos is not Duke's strong point.
Scott Hamilton comes up with a character named E, Green says that it should be something starting with Z. Hamilton tells Green to butt out and Hershel Walker tells him to shut up. When it comes to petty squabbling, it is a draw between the two sides.
Although Athena's presentation is terrible with the beautiful but ailing Claudia Jordan stumbling in places, it beats KOTU. Scott Hamilton only wants to take Tom Green into the board room, Trump however, suggests that he bring 2 people in to increase his odds of staying on. Dennis Rodman would have been a great choice, but he picks Hershel Walker. Hamilton knows that Walker cannot stand Green, it turns out to be Hamilton's last bad decision on this show as he is fired.

Celebrity Apprentice Sucks--Trump Should Be Fired

What really hurts is telling the world that I watched this cockamanie thing. Ouch! Apprentice LA was a masterpiece compared to this. If anything, it highlighted what made the original show great. Omarosa, the lightning rod of controversy in the first show has returned, assuming anyone but a fan like me can remember her. She is so tame, she is almost likable.
The contestants are not out to get a job. They already are doing quite well, they compete to raise money for their charity. Who cares?