Actually, I’m in agreement about the insignificance of the typo. Her name is an unusual one; it was one letter off. It’s not great, I agree - but it’s hardly Muhlahneeya. It does show some lack of oversight.
I actually thought Dennis’ team crushed Penn’s this week. Penn has a lot of friends, but he was unnecessarily dickish to Eric. I was surprised he behaved that way and that it didn’t play a greater role in the decision.
The problem here is that its not only the name of the product its also the name of Trumps wife.
And she didnt look impressed one bit thruout the whole presentation.
It reminds me of the commercial for the Tyde stick with the guy getting interviewed for a job that had a stain in his shirt. All the interviewer could see and hear was the stain.
Melania probably felt the same way.
I think that what made the decision for the loss was the fact that nobody noticed the typo.
Notice how nobody from the panel mentioned it? It was obvious that Trump was waiting to see if one of the players would notice it.
It wasn’t just that it was spelled wrong-that might be overlooked. It was the fact that it was spelled two different ways on that poster. How in the hell did they all miss that?
Well, it turns out Gary can focus and make sense. Not sure if they changed his meds or what. He was much better in this episode.
Glad to see Stephen Baldwin gone. That guy just rubs me the wrong way. He was the one that set up the shots and wrote the dialogue for the commercial. Makes sense that he is held responsible for not including a table shot of all the product.
As for the misspelling last week, some people are very picky about their name. When my students want to use my last initial Ihave no problem with it but my sister (before she got married) refused to let students do that because “it’s not [her] name!”
As for this week, I really thought Gary won. WTF does the product have to do with cavemen? And IIRC in the previous season’s challenge AG was all about using Sydney. Gary had a koala and Trace didn’t. I thought it was BS that the team that had all of the products but an inferior video beat the team with the better video that did a better job highlighting a single product. Trace’s commercial is the kind that 2 minutes after you see it you can’t remember what product they were advertising.
But at least Stephen “Stinkin’”* Baldwin is out.
I got frustrated because they wouldn’t show the darn commercial. A 60 second commercial and they constantly cut back to Trump, and the others for reaction shots. It made me dizzy trying to focus on the team’s work.
I wanted to see the commercials for myself. So that I could decide which I liked better. I thought Gary’s team easily won this challenge. Lisa Rinna did a great job.
Trace did a good job playing the goofy caveman. I just didn’t think it fit a suntan commercial.
If you’re still interested, they’ve got 'em up on the website.
Thanks, I’ll check those out.
Trace and Lil John, yes. (Lil or Little?) Lisa Rinna is actually a lot stronger than she was in her original season. I have not seen last night’s episode, but she did a fine job as project manager for the last fundraising task.
We thought Gary should have won. It was more like a professional ad rather than a 5th grade school play.
I thought that was really tacky that Trump talked about Lisa’s lips…with the clients too???
And the preview said Bret will be back. Good. I never understood why Trump didn’t understand him wanting to repeat a charitable activity. That whole firing was stupid.
The Final is Trace vs Penn. That’s the showdown I really wanted to see. They’ve been the two strongest all season.
Right now it seems like Penn went too adult. Showgirls for a family product like ice cream? They ended with fake drama. Gasp! The commercial is 8 seconds too long. All they have to do is speed up the tape. Just enough to make it fit into a 60 sec slot. I’ve done it on vids I’ve shot on vacations. A small increase in playback speed isn’t noticeable.
Trace should have this in the bag. He’s got a family friendly commercial (Gary B plays grandpa). Plus Trace has access to the same country stars that John Rich used to win.
I just watched this on DVR yesterday, after I inadvertently read the first sentence of aceplace57’s post. I thought I was spoiled on the outcome of the whole episode, but it turned out to be only the first 30 minutes.
Interesting how the finalists’ teams were composed. Both got their last teammates back from the beginning of the episode, but Trace was given the last 2 contestants to have been fired before that while Penn was given 2 that had been eliminated much earlier. It seems like Trace was given the better team.
I agree that Trace’s concept for the commercial is probably better than Penn’s, not only because of the relative family-friendliness, but also for incorporating elements (mash-ups and viral videos) that appeal to the younger crowd and making better use of his teammates’ strengths. Penn’s a great showman, and has a more impressive Rolodex, so I wouldn’t count him out just yet.
I was disappointed that Trace made the final.
Trace, defending himself against Marilu’s assertion he’d “checked out” a few tasks ago countered that he didn’t feel the energy or enthusiasm recently because of the poor ideas he’d had to work with.
Trace, explaining why he should make the finale cited the fact that he was the better player because his ideas kept getting used.
Umm, those crummy ideas, right?
Has this just turned into Christian vs atheist?
Lots of filler in the final. Love how they just announced one teams ticket sales and then didn’t announce the other. All to keep the drama milked for another 45 minutes.
Gary Busey didn’t come close to recapturing his Buddy Holly singing. I’ve seen that movie many times and he really nailed the singing. But that was thirty years ago.
John Rich brought in some major country stars. Not sure why Trace couldn’t do the same this year.
I liked the friendship between Trace and Penn. This was one of the friendlier finals that I’ve seen. Nice moment when Little John got choked up after Trump gave him 100k for the Diabetes Foundation.
I never did hear them give Penns ticket sales. That was weird. They gave Trace’s and then there was a odd silence when the other amount was announced. So Strange. Wish I had that on DVR.
Overall a good season. A few rough patches early until they got rid of Baldwin and Omarosa. Otherwise it was entertaining and a fun cast.
[SPOILER]I’m puzzled how Penn could have lost. He got the 100k bonus from Walgreens for having the best ice cream sales.
I’m really surprised that they gave the win to Trace. Especially since they never did clearly state both teams ticket sales. I’m suspicious that Trump just picked a winner regardless of the ticket sales. [/SPOILER]
I fast forwarded through most of the filler and just watched the actual task, boardroom & last few minutes, but by ticket sales do you mean the money amounts raised? Because they did give both those totals and they were both pretty close, Trace had $560,000 and I think Penn was maybe $530,000.
Well then the 100k from Walgreens for the top ice cream sales should have been the deciding factor. Unless it didn’t count towards who won? It may have only been a charity donation.
I know in the past that the final decision is totally Trump’s choice. Especially if the fund raising is close. He just picks a winner based on his impressions of the two finalists.
This would have been a good episode to fast forward through. Geez there was a lot of crap filler.
Okay, I wrote down the numbers (because I have a hard time holding numbers in my head) and this is what I heard:
Penn raised $503,655.
Then after YAComercial Break Ivanka said that Trace raised $664,000. Then she said something about $100,000 of it being ‘late’ and so his total was $564,000.
Then later Penn was awarded another $100,000 because shoppers liked his ice cream better.
So:
Trace raised either $564,000 or $664,000
and
Penn raised either $503,000 or $603,000.
Meaning you could make an argument for considering either of them to have won the fund raising aspects. Or if you look at all four of the possible amount matchups, Trace wins 3 out of 4.
I think what finally nailed it for a Trace win was that Trump was still peeved at what Penn said about him back in the earlier season.
Thanks for clearing that up. I must of been a few seconds late getting back to the tv after the commercial. Never heard Trace’s numbers. The hazards of watching old school tv live. 
Really what matters is the charities. Both got some really nice money in the final.