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Celebrity Apprentice 2

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apskip:
Recap of Celebrity Apprentice 2, ep. 1

Wow, this was a barn burner of an episode. Both the women and men's teams are loaded with major conflict. Let's meet the contestants for the title of biggest charity fundraiser on reality television, aka the Apprentice:

Dennis Rodman   
Tom Green     
Khloe Kardashian
Brian McKnight     
Melissa Rivers       
Clint Black             
Brande Roderick   
Scott Hamilton     
Jesse James         
Joan Rivers           
Claudia Jordan   
Annie Duke         
Andrew Dice Clay
Herschel Walker 
Tionne Watkins   
Natalie Gulbis

All references from this point on will be to first names only. These are all B-list or C-list celebrities, but the mix of the personalities is absolutely fascinating. Donald Trump picked a winner of a cast!

Trump arrive in a helicopter onto the deck of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier museum docked in the Hudson River near 42th St. of New York City. Trump makes some remarks about how hard the Intrepid fought and that it never lost a battle. The analogy to the need for the Apprentice to never lose a battle can easily be inferred. He says the Men will compete against the Women, so go develop a good name and choose a Project Manager and let's get going. He does caution that losing Project Managers frequently get fired.

The suspense does not last long on the Men's side. Herschel steps up and says he wants to do it. He stresses teamwork. Joan steps up for the women. She says she is the only contestant without a tampon in her handbag. She wants to lead the Women to their first victory. There are rumors that Joan started herself with a slip (yeah, right) on a talk show that her daughter Melissa will reach the finals of CA2. In this first episode you see Joan trying to help Melissa along with responsibility or tacit non-interference that will advance her on her team.

The team names come out of discussion. One of the men says that Kings of the Universe would be a good name. It's too long, so they use only the initials, KOTU. The women debate alternatives, but Athena is the goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill and that wins the day. The teams are ready for their first project after they decide where they will sell the cupcakes. The Men choose Times Square, not very original but almost always a good location for high traffic. Joan wants to go to Macy's but some of the other women on her team tell her that there is a lot of foot traffic but maybe not too many buyers there. Brande, one of the delights of this competition, steps up and says that she can guarantee that a whole building will buy cupcakes if they go to 57th St. and 5th Avenue in front of the Playboy Building. The other task done immediately is that Jesse has experience in creating publicity for his show, so he takes pictures of the Men's teams which will be turned into giant decals for the sides of the mobile unit (read truck). Jesse takes the assignment of creating those with a little help from one of the men. The results the next morning are pretty spectacular. If the decals on a mobile unit were the criteria for victory, the Men would win big as the ones four of the Women create are much less compelling.

Trump says they are to create, make and sell cupcakes. These are not ordinary cupcakes. They are the kind of cupcakes with magic ingredients that people will write checks for thousands of dollars for. First the teams must go to the Institute of Culinary Education to learn how to make cupcakes and also actually make all that they will sell. There is an unstated time limit. So the instructors, a woman for the Men's team and a man for the Women's team, teach them how to make the batter and then how long to bake them and how to put toppings on them. The Men are instructed that precise measurement is the key to success. The Men make huge batches of yellow cupcakes and of chocolate cupcakes and so do the women. Someone on the Men's forgot to put the sugar into the chocolate variety, so they end up coating the tops multiple time with a sugar-based clear syrup. Someone on the women's team put baking soda instead of baking powder into the recipe. They are in danger of not having many dozens of cupcakes to sell, but they expedite another batch through the system and it comes out OK. On the men's side, Andrew opts out of the cupcake making because he considers that his best use is to publicize the sale over Sirius satellite radio. Dennis elects to go with Andrew, as he considers cupcake making to be beneath him.

The next challenge was to make appropriate sauces for the cupcakes. The women decide to go with chocolate ganosh. I have vaguely heard of ganosh without attempting to learn what it is. That is a luxury I cannot afford any longer. Here is the recipe for a ganosh:
8 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream
1 LB Dark or Milk Chocolate Compound
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla or Flavoring such as Raspberry, Almond or Orange
In saucepan bring heavy whipping cream to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Using a mixer add chocolate and mix until chocolate is melted. Add butter and flavoring. Mix ganosh for approximately 5 to 7 minutes or until mixture has the consistency of pudding. Ganosh can be put into your chocolate shells right away using a pastry bag or you can refrigerate for 24 hours

The women use it as a pudding and put it right on top of their caved in chocolate cupcakes. The men do not appear to have anything special in their sauces and toppings. Teams finish and pack all their cupcakes as it is time to go sell them.

The Men's mobile unit looks really spiffy. Various of the men get busy attracting customers and selling. Somebody brough in Tony Hawk the skateboard champion and he gave $1000. Andrew had promised money from Donnie Deutch of CNBC and $5000 arrived with less than 2 minutes before the clock ran out. The major exception is Dennis, who reluctantly goes out for a minute at a time to have his picture taken with customers. He is a piece of work, as they say, marching to the beat of his own drummer. The same applies to Andrew, who has his notion of what he wants to do and is unwilling to take direction from the Project Manager. I have to admit the Herschel did not appear to be trying hard ot rein these guys in. Doubtless he wanted an insurance policy of two major non-performers who would allow him to stay if he lost. Ivanka is observing the men's team (her dad says he has superior talent as evualuating men) and she is on to the Andrew and Dennis act.

The women's team does some interesting things. Annie had said that she would bring in about $20,000 and I could count $17,000 that was on camera. Brande brought in $5,000 from Hugh Hefner plus most of the occupants of the Playboy New York office. Brande had two high rollers arrive and Annie wanted to minimize the number of cupcakes given to them so they could keep selling. They brought $9000 so Brande's point was that they could have have whatever they wanted for that. The women finish selling 15 minutes earlier when they run out of cupcakes. Don Jr. is observing them.

There is a bonus available to the team with the best cupcake. Each team has to select their best cupcake and deliver it to a cupcake company on 8th St.  Andrew is selected for this because he is otherwise useless. Melissa does it for the women and takes one of those concave tops filled with that chocolate ganosh. I think it also has chunks of chocolate on top of that. It looks like a winner while the men's cupcake looks average. The proprietress of that company eats a small piece of each one and makes a decision that will result in the team winning this sub-competition getting $15,000 to supplement their sales. Trump will announce it at the moment of major suspense.

The Boardroom scene gets chaotic quickly. Trump always asks how did you think you did and who were the major contributor and the major loser of each team. The lack of effort and team spirit from Andrew and Dennis is obvious. Herschel's barely passable leadership was put into question. On the women's side Annie's strong personality, resented by several of her teammates, is defended by Trump as the result of playing for decades against men in poker and most the the time beating them.   Joan singles out Brande as being the major positive force on their team, but Annie actually brought in more money.

It's time for the tally. The Men have sold $49K. The Women learn that they have won the cupcake challenge and with $15K added to their total of $46K they now have $61K and win. Without the challenge they would have lost. So the Men stay in the Boardroom and the women can watch by closed-circuit TV from their suite. The focus on the Men's team goes to the losing Project Manger Herschel, Andrew and Dennis. The Women's feed is turned off for the final decision. I could have fired either Dennis or Andrew, but Trump (after baiting him with the opportunity to quit) fires Andrew. Trump has historical relationships with Dennis so I think those saved his hide. In any event the key was that Herschel was not fired. He did not deserve it, although he was a too laid-back Project Manager and did nothing to alleviate the cancer of Andrew and Dennis's non-performances.

I am really looking forward to the rest of this season.

 
       

apskip:
Here is the latest scoop on episode 2, from www.realitywanted.com:

After a heated boardroom debate on last weeks premiere episode of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," which saw Joan Rivers emerge victorious raising $126,000 for her charity and Andrew Dice Clay as the first to be fired, the remaining 15 contestants regroup for their next challenge -- to create and costume a comic book character for Zappos.com with the help of Image Comics. The episode airs Sunday, March 8 (9-11 p.m. ET).

In this week's episode, Khloe Kardashian hesitantly takes on the role of project manager for Team ATHENA and Scott Hamilton confidently becomes the project manager for the men, Team KOTU. Khloe surprisingly matures in her leadership role and is able to get the strong-minded women to come together and collaborate on one idea even when one of her member's falls ill at a crucial moment. Scott has trouble getting the egos of Team KOTU to unite, and clashes with Tom Green's energetic personality, but ultimately gets the men together sufficiently to present their concept. In the end, the Zappos.com executive chooses the team that created the best comic book character, and Trump fires another celebrity with counsel from his son Donald Trump Jr. and CNBC's Erin Burnett.

TexasLady:
Shoot! I missed the first episode. There's a repeat on Saturday and I'll catch it then. Thanks for the recap Apskip!  :-*

marigold:

THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE

Episode: 802

03-08-2009 9:00PM

Each team must create and costume a comic book character, and present it to the Zappos.com executive. From the very beginning, the project manager for the men is caught in a battle of wills with one of his teammates. On the women’s side, one celebrity is uncomfortable in her role as the costume model, while another member of the team falls ill. On the men’s team, personalities clash and the creative process is almost derailed. In the end, the executive chooses the best character, and Trump fires another celebrity.

THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE

Episode: 803

03-15-2009 10:00PM
The teams are each given 125 wedding dresses to sell in an empty retail space they must design and decorate. For the second time this season the celebrities’ rolodexes are put to the test, and both teams feel the heat as they try to get big sales lined up on short notice. Celebrities on one team have trouble getting friends to pony up money for charity, while some on the other team have trouble just getting out of bed. The fundraising goes down to the wire, putting one team over the top and the other team into the boardroom, where Trump fires another celebrity.

marigold:
Video:

Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump,Donald Trump Jr @ Today Show 2.26.09


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1LEJLdF2gw

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