‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Recap: Busey Goes Batty
Lil Jon is feeling alone: after learning that teammate Brande Roderick has been shown the door by Donald Trump, the rapper now realizes he’s the only remaining member of the original Team Power. “I’m like the black guy in the horror movie,” he deadpans. Of course, joined by Trace Adkins and Marilu Henner, the rapper’s prospects for victory are far better than Team Plan B’s, whose members Penn Jillette and Lisa Rinna are trying to comprehend how best to tame teammate Gary Busey. “He better step up now,” Rinna says. “We’re all-stars!”
Busey gets his chance: After learning that both teams are tasked with creating a 90-second video advertisement for LG to promote the technology company’s life-assisting new products, Busey steps up as project manager for Plan B; Lil Jon is PM for Team Power.
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But before they can begin dreaming up their respective advertisements, both teams are prepped on LG’s absurdly innovative products. There’s a refrigerator that can detect what foods are depleted and make a subsequent grocery list; an Internet-enabled TV that doubles as a chic art piece; an uber-high-tech washer-dryer combo; and a smartphone that easily controls it all. Rinna can’t hide her amazement. “It can practically fuck you,” she says of the LG TV’s many powers. Busey, though an admitted technophile, spaces out when the LG nerds come to explain the gear. “This LG phone is like going to another planet without instructions,” he says.
The three members of Team Power are enchanted by the LG products. “Welcome to nerd heaven!” Adkins says. Lil Jon just wants the products for himself. Marilu Henner, well, she says the smart-fridge is “like a new family member.”
After LG execs prep both teams, both squads get to work on their ads. On Plan B’s side, things are seriously rocky: Busey refuses to even hear out Jillette or Rinna’s ideas. It seems all the wacky actor wants to talk about is how his ad will feature him temporarily transforming into a mechanical dog. “I think we’re on ‘Team Moby Dick’ and Ahab is in charge,” Jillette explains. Rinna is more blunt in her assessment of their wayward leader: “Gary is batshit crazy. End of story!”
Team Power is off to a more successful start. Lil Jon, Adkins and Henner decide the theme of their ad will be a mom who impresses her son and his friend with her knowledge and use of the new LG products. But Lil Jon, taking on the role of director for the video, is sweating the details. “Lil Jon, you’re not Alfred Hitchcock,” says task advisor and former Celebrity Apprentice winner, Joan Rivers.
On Plan B, Jillette and Rinna have given up all hope for the task. There’s no “mission statement, no purpose no nothing,” Jillette says of Busey’s wayward plan for the team’s ad. Advisor Ivanka Trump visits the team and when leaving can only say of Plan B, “They may have something on tape. But it may be a dog vomiting.”
Come presentation time, neither video wows the LG executive. Team Power’s video, while informative and featuring a stellar Henner performance, is rather bland; Plan B’s video’s highlight is Busey barking like an aforementioned mechanical dog while his “wife” tells him she prefers to let nature “take” her.
In the board room, Busey immediately rails against his team; he claims they abandoned him. Of course, Jillette and Rinna vehemently disagree: They explain to Trump that Busey was insane and unwilling to let them contribute any ideas. Trump lets both teams know the LG executive appreciated their videos, but it was really no contest. Not surprisingly, Lil Jon and Team Power notch the victory.
Now Busey must battle with Jillette and Rinna over who gets fired. Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not Busey is being truthful. (Of course, we know Busey is blowing smoke). “You guys are against me. I’m telling the truth,” he says. Jillette immediately rebuts against him. “I never got to finish one of the ideas I had and Lisa never got to start,” he says.
But Trump has heard enough. The LG executive, he says, didn’t like the mechanical dog and thought Busey’s ad didn’t highlight the company’s many products. “Gary,” Trump says, “you’re fired!”
Rinna, for the first time all episode, lets out a glimmer of a smile and exhales a major sigh of relief.
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