Gene Simmons is fired on Celebrity Apprentice tonight
I guess I’m getting a bit cynical in my old age, but are the challenges on Celebrity Apprentice not as challenging (for lack of a better word) than the ones we’ve seen in the seasons where someone was competing for a job in the Trump organization? And if this is the case then is it really fair to call it the Apprentice? I know I’m rambling on right now, but as much as I like the Apprentice there is just something missing from this celebrity version. Is this the show’s equivalent of “jumping the shark” or has that already happened and this version of the Apprentice is like when Oliver was brought onto the Brady Bunch to improve ratings?
Tonight’s challenge was to create a mobile printing experience for the Kodak company to feature their new easy share three in one printer and their low cost ink. Since the women were down two team members Trump asks Gene Simmons if he wants to go over to Empresario to be the project manager for this task. He agrees, since in his mind he is “king of all women.” Hmm. Before the task begins we find out that the $20,000 Simmons won by being the successful project manager last week will go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Tito Ortiz steps up as project manager for Hydra.
In a nutshell the task is to create brand messaging for the new direction the company wants to go with. The teams are given an Airstream trailer to fit out in the interior and to brand on the exterior (if they so choose). The winner will be based on originality, brand messaging, and profit.
Simmons, the “benevolent dictator” kind of rubs some of the women the wrong way (i.e. Omarosa) but the women do climb on board with him. He thinks that it is a waste of time for the entire team to go and talk with the Kodak executives, so he sends Nely and Carol as the representatives of the team. Big mistake, because Nely did nothing but talk over the executives and this didn’t sit well with them. They felt as if no one listened to them during this meeting, and then they felt slighted that the project manager and entire Empresario team did not attend the meeting. Trump later points this out as a tactical mistake, because their team entirely missed the message that Kodak wanted to get out there. Trump said that if there were six minds working in the meeting they might not have missed out on the message. Their presentation is slick, their tag line smooth (It’s a Kodak world. Welcome!) but no where do they convey the fact that Kodak is putting out the most inexpensive ink of all the major brands.
Hydra, on the other hand, meets with the executives as a team and finds out exactly what is important to Kodak. While Tito is supposed to be the project manager, Stephen is running around (jacked up on Red Bull according to Piers Morgan) acting as if he is in charge of the task. He gets this crazy idea to take a photo of Tito and Lennox Lewis with their shirts off, that they are knocked out by the price of the ink. While trying to get the ideal shot Stephen tips over the conference room table and spills coffee on a laptop – the one and only laptop in the room that contained eight hours of artwork on it. The guys try to salvage things by going to an all night printing place to get some signs done. They get some, but they look really crappy. Jim Cramer from CNBC (guest eyes and ears for Trump) said their trailer looked like a dumpster and he half expected to see trash lying around it. He also said that on one side of the trailer you could see no signage, so for all he knows it could be just some people camping out and have nothing to do with a product.
The executives thought that while Hydra had a sloppy presentation they loved their message. They were the winners of the project, and Tito got $20,000 for his charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
The boardroom with Empresario was interesting. Simmons refused to admit that he was wrong in any way with the project. He actually was ballsy enough to say that the Kodak executives were wrong and that he was right. Empresario put out the right message and the executives did not recognize it. Trump brings up the fact that the execs were upset that no one listened to them, and they were specifically upset with Nely and the way she behaved in their meeting. Carol was asked if Nely talked to much; she refused to throw her under the bus, saying that they went in there as a team so as a team they did not listen. When asked who Trump should fire, she said either her or Nely since they lost on the fact they did not hear what Kodak was saying.
Gene is asked to bring two people back into the boardroom. He asks if he can bring in only one and Trump says fine. He says Omarosa. Trump tells him that he is doing himself a disservice since Omarosa was not the reason Empresario lost the challenge. He also said don’t bring her into the boardroom just because you don’t like her. Trump tells him to pick a second person and all but says call back Nely so he can fire her. You could tell that Trump really wanted to fire her, but Simmons does not take the bait and instead calls back Jennie Finch. Again, Trump says that Jennie has no direct role in the loss.
Since Simmons did not bring back Nely or someone directly responsible for the loss he was forced to fire Gene Simmons. He wanted to fire Nely but was not given the opportunity to do so. Nely had better get herself together or she is going to be on the chopping block. That’s my opinion.
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