CA4, Ep. 9
Trump introduced Farouk Shami, head of Farouk Systems, makers and sellers of the professional haircare product lines Biosilk and Chi. Farouk posed the task of preparing and presenting a Hair Show using two professional stylists and four models per team. Ivanka stated that the criteria for judging (to be done by Farouk and an audience of professional hair stylists and educators) on brand messaging and overall presentation. Trump asked for PMs and it is Lil Jon or Meatball, with Lil Jon getting the nod after losing a game of chance. For the women Star nominated NeNe, but this incensed NeNe and we got a lengthy diatribe from NeNe indicating why she, a strident brainless personality is A No-Class Housewife of Atlanta who tries to bludgeon her opponents by over-talking them while Star is cool, composed and above it all. All of that boiled over in front of Donald trump and Farouk Shami. Eric when he visited on an inspection tour commented that NeNe needs Star but hates Star. Donald Trump stated the winning PM would get $20K but Farouk displayed some public spirit by providing an additional $20K.
So Farouk makes the rounds of each team and ASAP develops a theme of Shake Your Beauty and subtheme of “Be Safe, Be Real, Buy USA” that highlights their stylists. Star hired 6 dancers, took responsibility for lights and sound for their presentation and was on the PC writing scripts. She is no dummy and knows that it what you actually do that matters, not the drivel coming out of your mouth. She knows that only she is capable of doing what she is doing for her team.
Somewhere in here LaToya Jackson visited Donald Trump to plead for reconsideration. He told her he had never in 11 seasons done it, but he would consider it carefully and get back to her in 24 hours. He said she had been disadvantaged by laryngitis when she had needed to forcefully rebut the claims that others were making against her.
Backbone has worked on a theme of American regions. John Rich has a great idea, to ask Niki Taylor (former ASAP team member) to come and be a model for Backbone’s presentation. Niki readily agreed and also recruited 3 friends who were top New York City models. Ivanka came to visit and commented on how collected and calm Lil Jon was, unlike most PMs in action.
ASAP arrived 30 minutes late for its practice session, which made their stylists very nervous. They did not use Hope well, particularly with a huge witches nest of hair (who had the bad taste to allow that to happen?). Hope is Playmate of the Year and very beautiful, but you almost could not tell. She also did not move well on stage.
Lil Jon knew that he had to do about 20 minutes of an emcee role to introduce the Backbone presentation. He was very laid-back about it, as he has a lot of experience doing just that.
The final presentations were given. I was not impressed by the ASAP presentation, which featured the 2 stylists and Marlee Matlin, with some ineffective narration from NeNe and some traipsing around the stage by Hope. The Backbone narration by Lil Jon was very effective, the stylists held their own against the relatively effective ones supporting ASAP, Niki was great and a model and her model friends all did a good job. Niki was “representing the South”, another model was “from Rodeo Drive” and a third one from “a New Orleans Mardi Gras.” I personally thought it was no contest; despite what everyone referred to as the natural advantage for a women’s team, Backbone gave a much better presentation than ASAP.
Donald Trump let the NeNe versus Star venom boil over in the Boardroom for a long and continuing time frame. He asked leading questions to Marlee and Hope to find out where they stood, but he also accused Hope of staying under the radar and having no fight. If that means that she did not want to make a public ass of herself like NeNe, then you could say her fight is very limited. Hope claims that her actions have been following her project managers.
Trump also swung over to Backbone and attempted without success to get Lil Jon to name its weakest link. Lil Jon escaped this nonsense by stating that his team had won, so who cared. Trump got Ivanka to summarize the feedback for Backbone from Farouk:
loved Lil Jon’s energy as emcee, brand messaging and the American theme; the negative was not emphasizing the safety of the products and that they didn’t use ammonia. Eric summarized the feedback from Farouk for ASAP: a good job emphasizing the safety of the product, stylists did a great job representing the brand and he thought Marlee did a great job as a model; on the negative side, Nene was considered weak as emcee highlighting the brand, there was no real theme or direction, Hope appeared awkward and it seemed like the stylists were running the show as opposed to the team
The men won big and Trump has a surprise for them. He has decided to bring back LaToya Jackson and stated that he would never bring anyone back again.
Star was asked who she would rather have on ASAP team in the future, NeNe or Hope. The answer is Hope. NeNe is then asked who to bring back to the Boardroom. She sends Marlee back to the suite and takes NeNe and Hope in with her. Hope was fired. I feel that she failed to make the case for why NeNe with a 0-2 record as a Project Manager should have been fired instead. Why is Trump putting so much emphasis on what Star and Marlee want? Why isn’t he making his own decisions? The only possible answer is that the clawing of NeNe against Star improves the ratings for Celebrity Apprentice 4. I do not agree with Trump’s decisions, as NeNe should have disappeared a long time ago.