‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Recap: The Blatant Blunder
“The bad seed is gone so now we can blossom,” proclaims Brande Roderick after witnessing her teammates Lil Jon and Dennis Rodman emerge from the board room sans Omarosa. “You don’t even know the relief it was to see [them] walk in the door,” she adds. Yes, the team cancer that was reality-TV villain Omarosa was cut out by Donald Trump last week. And now the remaining members of Team Power, having lost four consecutive tasks, are hopeful that her absence will signal renewed team chemistry.
When they and Team Plan B gather in the Trump Tower lobby to receive their next task, there’s an additional presence accompanying the usual cast of characters (Trump, daughter Ivanka, etc.). It’s The Donald’s stunningly beautiful wife, Melania Trump. It turns out the Slovenian model-turned-billionaire’s-wife is launching her own skincare line. And what better way to promote it than through her husband’s TV show? To that end, the teams are tasked with creating a two-page advertorial and product display for Melania’s “Caviar” product line. Penn Jillette steps up as Team Plan B’s project manager and Rodman takes the reigns for Team Power because, as teammate Trace Adkins notes, “he’s got the most skin.”
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As is customary, the corporate executive judging the task – in this case, Melania Trump – visits both teams to help answer any questions they might have about the respective product. Rodman quickly proceeds to creep her out by asking if he can visit her personal bathroom to see what beauty products she actually uses. “Luckily she doesn’t speak English,” Adkins remarks, astonished at both Melania’s poor linguistics skills and Rodman’s flair for the absurd. Things aren’t going much smoother for Jillette’s squad: Gary Busey, per usual, is acting supremely bizarre. “Have you ever had your genitalia so excited that it spins like a ferris wheel on a carnival ride? That’s how beautiful [Melania Trump] is,” he says, letting out a girlish giggle.
With a short window of time to create their advertorial and product displays, both teams must work quickly. Unfortunately for Team Power, project manager Rodman isn’t doing much of anything. “It’s like my two-year-old son is the project manager,” says an aggravated Roderick. Both teams’ respective slogans for Melania’s skincare line are key to the task’s success. Rodman’s team settles on “Simply Melania, Simply Luxury”; Jillette’s, after much back and forth, opts for “Let your skin taste the luxury.”
Both teams’ product displays are fairly straightforward: Jillette’s squad embraces the luxury element and uses a gold tray and spoon, along with what he deems a “promiscuous amount of caviar”; Rodman’s team conversely chooses to blow up a large portrait of Melania Trump – something Adkins worries could be perceived as “simple” or “lazy.”
But for all their effort, it appears the task will ultimately come down to their presentation before Mrs. Trump. And that’s when things get interesting. In what is undoubtedly one of the most blatant displays of idiocy ever seen on Celebrity Apprentice, Rodman’s team presents its advertorial and product exhibit without noticing that they misspelled Melania’s name on their massive display. The look of horror on Trump’s wife’s face upon seeing this mistake is priceless. That’s not to say Jillette’s team fares much better: During his presentation, the gregarious magician refers to Melania Trump as the “spokesperson” for the skincare brand, when in fact it’s she who conceived of and designed the entire product line.
So things are naturally going to be interesting in the board room. Rodman’s team members say they think he was a bit “scattered” as a project manager. Marilu Henner sucks up to Trump, telling him how “radiant” and beautiful his wife is.
Before announcing which team won the task, Trump shows each team the other’s work. Team Plan B cannot believe what they’re seeing; they cannot believe their opposing team’s spelling mistake. Rodman’s team, finally realizing their blatant blunder, is speechless.
Sure, Trump says, his wife liked both presentations – she even thought Rodman’s team did a nice job. But nothing excuses an elementary error like misspelling his wife’s name. And so, once again, Team Plan B is victorious.
“They should fire all four of them,” Jillette says as he walks out of the board room, smiling and in disbelief over Team Power’s ineptitude. “It sucks, but somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose,” Rodman tells Trump, attempting to deflect blame from his team’s childish mistake. “This was the ultimate error,” Trump explains. What Rodman agrees with Trump on is that it should come down to him or Adkins for who gets fired: He was the project manager and Adkins designed the product display. The two hulking men return to the board room to do battle. Trump calls Rodman the “comeback player of the year,” but as the project manager for the task, he must take the blame for his team’s loss. “You did lose,” Trump reiterates. “So Dennis, you’re fired!”
Yes, the former basketball star’s comeback run on Celebrity Apprentice is over. But Ivanka Trump is oh-so-proud of him. “I have a lot of respect for Dennis,” she says. So at least he has that.
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