Celebrity Apprentice: Not A Gene-ius

This week's Celebrity Apprentice began with a little good-natured ribbing by Piers towards Jennie concerning her push for Nadia's elimination. How could she do that to her hero? Meanwhile, Nely had been reduced to a blubbering mess and was crying on Carol's shoulder on the way back from last week's board room. Cheerleader Omarosa tried to hype her team up but Team Empresario still looked incredibly depressed when they joined Team Hydra in front of Donald for their next task.

Alongside Donald stood Jim Kramer, his daughter Ivanka, and a couple of executives from Kodak. Before the task was announced, Donald gave Gene his $20,000 check for his charity (as a result of his win as Project Manager last week) and then gave him the option to switch to Team Empresario and become their Project Manager. After Gene accepted the challenge and switched sides, the teams were told that this task would be all about creating a mobile printing experience. Each team would receive Kodak cameras, a Kodak EasyShare printer, and access to an Airstream bus that they would have to transform into a mobile printing kiosk. The teams would demonstrate this mobile printing experience on the sidewalks of New York City. The Project Manager of the winning team would receive a check for their charity while the losing team would have someone fired.

Empresario started off on a rocky foot with Gene proclaiming himself the womens' benevolent dictator (which Omarosa didn't like too much). Gene quickly came up with a tag line for the demonstration of, "It's a Kodak world." He then sent Nely and Carol off to go meet with the Kodak executives to learn more about what they wanted to "push". Kodak wants the focus on the ink that's used in the printer (longer-lasting and more affordable). When Nely (who blabbed on and on in the meeting) and Carol returned and told Gene what the Kodak folks wanted, Gene said he thought the Kodak people were wrong and didn't know what they wanted or needed.

Over at Hydra, Tito was chosen to be the Project Manager and their entire team went to meet with the Kodak executives (not just two of them). They quickly understood that Kodak wanted them to push the ink and the printer (but especially the ink) and left to work on their assignment. Piers thought they should focus on a theme of "knocking out the competition" in their project and Stephen proposed using Tito and Lennox in photos with the printer. So Tito and Lennox took off their shirts, laid down on the conference room table, and posed next to the printer after having been "knocked out". After Stephen (who had been standing on the table) finished taking the pictures, he went to step down at the same time Tito and Lennox were getting off causing the table to tilt over. The casualty of the accident was a laptop that was being used to design the graphics. A cup of coffee spilled on it and half of their files were lost. Not good!

After both teams had finished setting their buses up, it was time to make their pitch to the public. Gene (who was still trying to remember the name of the product he was selling) did a good job explaining their concept to Jim Kramer when he came by to check on them. Jim also said the bus looked good with their graphics (Gene spent a lot of time on that). When Jim went to visit Hydra, he thought their bus looked like a big dumpster because everything looked so sloppy and there was hardly anything even on the bus to show that it was part of a Kodak presentation. The Kodak executives arrived at Empresario's bus and Piers did a good job talking up the "Kodak world" but they seemed to be more impressed by Hydra's bus and especially their presentation. They actually focused on the longevity and affordability of the ink which was the true task to begin with.

In the board room, Gene came under fire by Donald for not meeting with the Kodak executives himself since he was the Project Manager. Gene told him that he didn't feel his strength was in that area and had wanted to focus on the campaign itself. Then it was Hydra's turn to be criticized. Jim told them that he thought the guys did a better job pushing what Kodak wanted even though their presentation was sloppy. Kodak thought the guys did a better job and Team Hydra won for the third time in a row. Yet again, somebody from Team Empresario would be fired.

After the guys left, Gene told Donald that he doesn't think his team could have done anything better and that he feels Kodak is wrong. Omarosa thought the reason they failed was a combination of not getting a complete vision of the project from Gene and their lack of a plan. Ivanka told them that they never understood Kodak's wanting the message to be about the ink. Again, Gene said he thought Kodak was wrong and believed their team succeeded even if Kodak couldn't recognize it. After Donald told Gene he was a loser in this task, Omarosa told Donald that Gene couldn't be a winner because he didn't even know the name of the product (the printer) they were selling. So Donald asked Gene what the printer's name was. Bzzzt! He couldn't get it right!

When Donald began asking all of the ladies who should be fired, all of them said that Gene should get the axe except for Carol. Carol actually said she'd fire either Nely or herself (Donald was shocked!). It was then time for Gene to choose who he wanted to bring back into the board room and he wanted to bring in only one person -- Omarosa. Donald told him that he's making the wrong choice and told Gene to now pick a second person anyway. Gene chose Jennie then. Donald was shocked again but let him stay with those choices. Team Hydra, who had been watching the goings on, thought Gene was committing show suicide because it was obvious (very!) that Donald wanted to fire Nely. Ivanka didn't understand Gene's choices and neither did Jim Kramer. Jim actually even thought Gene was being insolent towards Donald.

After escorting Omarosa and Jennie back into the board room and arm in arm, it was time for the real fireworks. Omarosa said she thought it was inappropriate that Gene chose herself and Jennie to come back into the board room. Jennie agreed and even stated that Gene doesn't notice a woman unless she's pleasuring him (ouch!). When Gene remarked that Jennie didn't step up as a leader, she told him that it wasn't her job to be the leader in this task. Touche!

Donald then point blank asked Gene what the hell he should do because Gene brought in two people that don't deserve to be fired. Gene didn't give him an answer and instead said that Nely is a leader (Donald so can't wait to get rid of her). Donald told Gene that he understands he's an independent thinker but can't understand why Gene chose the way he did. He said he can't fire Jennie or Omarosa.

Gene, you're fired!

While Gene was stepping into the shiny black car, Omarosa was telling Jennie on the way back to the suite that she could tell that Donald really wants to fire Nely. In the car, Gene said he trusted his gut more than the Kodak executives he met. He said he's more qualified to make those decisions because he's in the people business and stands by his convictions and decisions. He also noted that the women don't have a "popcorn fart chance of even shining the guys' shoes." I agree with him on that!

Next week, the Brit (Piers) vs. the Baldwin. Will their fighting give the ladies a chance to break their losing streak? And in two weeks, the biggest showdown in Apprentice history. It seems Vincent is covertly helping the ladies and Piers and Vinnie get into it. Did Piers just call Vincent a fat Italian? I can't wait!

So what did you think about this week's episode? What did you think about Gene role as Project Manager in Team Empresario? I especially would love to know what you think about Gene's behavior in the board room. Do you think he really felt that way or was he just trying to save face?

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Have a question related to reality TV? Email HamsterDame!
HamsterDame's blogs: Silly Reality and Silly Hamsters.

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