The only reason why I would give a slight edge to KOTU is that the video was coherent. The Athena video had little people (oh excuse me, MIDGETS) scrubbing Jesse James. Okay, that makes some sense - small and mighty, ha ha. But what made no sense was the part at the end when they started cussing. WTF? It was like something middle school kids would put on YouTube. The ending was so stupid I would have fired them on principle.
I love how all these putzes (I’m looking at Frozen Face Melissa Rivers) are so heartbroken when an unjust firing takes place. Why doesn’t the entire team (or even the entire cast) walk up to Trump and state, “Donny boy, that firing was bullshit. So we’re all going to resign and fuck up your show unless you re-examine that decision.”
Of course, some shithead would probably pop up and say, “I’m not in this!” And Trump would probably fire them all anyway, and just fill the rest of the series with pictures of him combing his hair or something stupid like that.
Even though this week’s was still a 2 hour episode, :mad: it seemed that there was a lot more going on than usual. Having the first challence and boardroom visit done within the first hour really helped move things along. KOTUs display was far superior to Athena’s - which as the lifelock people commented, was nothing more than an extension of what they were already doing. Brian was the logical choice to get the boot since he wouldn’t say anything bad about any of the others. He made it very easy for Trump to fire him. He also didn’t seem to mind it very much. It really did seem that he had quit the game when he came back from the concert.
Starting the next challenge in the middle of the show was a very nice change although I despise these “Who has the richest friends?” challenges. This would seem to be a natural win for Athena with Brande’s “modelling” experience and Annie’s ability to squeeze her friends dry. The tension between Annie/Melissa/Joan is getting interesting. I thought that Natalie’s idea to try to get Phil Helmuth involved was a stroke of pure genious. If there is one thing in this world that Phil Helmuth loves, it’s Phil Helmuth. Followed closely by beating his poker rivals anyway that he can. Even if they don’t win, that idea alone should keep Natalie safe from elimination.
Yeah, my question last week – why the hell isn’t Mark Burnett doing something to make this slog watchable? – was answered this week, when they started the next task at 10:05.
Agree that Natalie’s idea of finding someone to mess with Annie’s head was genius – and the wheels are falling off the Annie juggernaut. Her informing people upfront that “if we lose, low money person goes to the boardroom” didn’t seem to have the effect she intended, at least with Jesse.
And throw Brandi into the Melissa/Joan/Annie mix and we’ve got some serious interpersonal uproar. (And, heh, Trump’s description at the end of Melissa as a spoiled brat … heh. I love his general interpersonal tonedeafness, with the occasional flash – er, blink – of insight.)
Bringing Piers back may make things interesting … I hope …
Yeah, having the next challenge occupy the last 45 minutes this week was a nice twist…but NEXT week’s show is listed for two hours as well.
So the teams have already picked their jewelry, picked their models, picked their clothes. Both have designed sales brochures. What the hell are they going to use to fill two hours next week?
Okay, the auctioning itself, but they have a total of 10 lots! Even if they show the entire auction minute by minute, I can’t believe that would take more than an hour.
I fear we’re going to get the other hour filled with Joan and Melissa whining over how two-faced Annie is. And Pierce no doubt doing his best to egg them on.
She complained that Annie Duke didn’t criticize Brande enough, thereby setting Melissa up for a fall. Now that’s just nuts. Annie may not have torn into Brande like a rabid wolverine, but she did emphasize that Brande was a weak combatant who wasn’t playing to win. You don’t need to be foaming at the mouth in order to voice your criticisms effectively. In fact, I’d say that an effective manager should know how to communicate such criticisms dispassionately and with minimal drama.
In fact, that was one of Kendra Todd’s greatest strengths. She criticized others and she stood up for herself, but she never came across as overly emotional. IMO, she is still the best contestant this show has ever had.
And now Melissa is railing about how well Annie and Brande are getting along. She thinks that Annie is being two-faced about it. Well, guess what? The ability to put such complaints behind one’s self is a positive trait, not a negative one. In fact, if Brande is indeed showing initiative now – and by all indications, she is – then her previous failings need to be overlooked and she deserves to be praised.
Annie is just being smart. She knows Melissa has a vested interest in losing to save Joan’s team, so she needed to quietly minimize her potential to sabotage Athena. It was immensely entertaining that Melissa could do nothing but pout and badmouth Brande (who didn’t do anything wrong as far as I could tell). And this task is clearly about bringing in rich friends, so Annie will single-handedly crush Joan. I am so looking forward to seeing that, and I think Donald and Piers also want to see that, by their personalities.
As for bringing in Phil Hellmuth, I think if he shows, he will tell Natalie it’s to help KOTU, but he will actually help Athena. Why would he piss off Annie, who he has to be around on a regular basis (and they’re probably friends) to gain standing with people who don’t mean anything to him?
As for shaking up the episode formula, I like it! I hope they wrap up the auction in the first hour of next week AND start the next task.
Assumably because he would see it as a challenge to take her on. Racking up money is what these people do, after all. It’s an interesting plan. But unless KOTU can make Helmuth gather money from all of *his *poker friends, then surely Annie should still have the upper hand.
I think it is a good bet that Annie is the smartest one there. She is a Columbia University graduate and was close to getting her phd at Penn when she decided to become a pro poker player like her brother. I don’t know if Hellmuth actually had friends but they certainly know each other and he has worked with her on other shows, not just played against her.
Leave it to Joan to Godwinize the Celebrity Apprentice.
For the auction challenge, I think that Clint should have been fired instead of Natalie. His auctioneering skills were deplorable. Blaming Natalie because she didn’t pick the biggest gaudiest jewerly that could be seen from accross the room didn’t seem fair. Don’t most auctions allow you to preview the pieces before you commit to pay thousands of dollars for them?
I agreed with the firing of Herschel although he is probably the nicest guy to ever appear on CA. His choice for dessert simply would not appeal to a typical Schwan’s customer. And if you’re a vegetarian (which shocked me), why are you so insistant on chicken? How about accepting a little input from Clint, a guy that seems more than willing to give it? A man that penned the prophetic lines:
With a 2 to 4 split in the teams, I was hoping that Trump would reshuffle one group as Melissa, Joan and Annie (“I’m donating mine to the Hitler fund.” :rolleyes:) but from the previews, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
Yeah – that was definitely bizarre, even for Trump.
Really. And what the hell is with her level of hatred? Is this some kind of performance art or is she really that completely irrational? Because when they started asking for an explanation (again) last night, she really couldn’t come up with anything that made any sense.
Agree – his performance was especially bad coming, as it did, after Annie’s quarter-million-dollar turn.
Nah, there’s no way they’ll put either Melissa or Annie with Joan – the cross-team dynamics (support for the one and sniping for the other) are actually going to provide better theater, I think. Probably they’ll put Brande with Joan, since Brande is the alleged cause of Joan’s hatred of Annie.
I started wondering last night, is the only reason Joan is still there that she’s the biggest – and most articulate – star, or has she really never been in a position where she was in actual danger of getting fired?
I think that’s just The Donald’s attempt at humor. There’s probably a bunch of show producers telling him to say more funny, interesting, and outlandish things. They also want the drama, so they tell him not to fire Joan. Although Clint wasn’t a good auctioneer, you can’t fault the guy because Joan asked him to do it. Joan was PM and could have taken that role herself without breaking a sweat. Also, Clint brings more viewer ratings than Natalie, at this point.
Trump saw the choice of smaller jewelry as a clear business blunder. He always talks about using your brain in business and Natalie’s jewelry choices were not based on thinking ahead. If you can’t put “live auction coming up” and “people need to see the jewelry from a distance” together, you have no business as a leader. (no pun intended) That, and being rather dull on the show meant Natalie’s goose was cooked.
I don’t think that was the problem. The dessert was just frozen yogurt with granola and berries, and Schwann’s sells frozen yogurt already. The problem with it was that you’d have to manufacture it in three seperate containers…one for the yogurt, one for the berries, and one for the granola, and then the consumer would have t combine the three.
There’s no doubt that Joan is making the show as entertaining as it is right now. Looking back at the tasks I don’t see that she has done anything in those tasks to merit getting fired. It’s only her emotional ravings that would make her “fire-able”. However, it’s also these rants (and Melissa’s jealousy of Brande) that make the show entertaining. So those two will be around for a while if only to keep the audience. Right now it sure looks like this competition is Annie’s to lose. Like the original series (without the celebrities) the shows are edited to make certain people look good and others not so good. Annie’s being set up as the winner at this point.
Whoa, Melissa’s meltdown last night was pretty freakin’ amazing. Wonder what that will do to her employability IRL (or does she ever work for anyone but her mother?)? Or do people in showbiz expect other people – even second bananas and backstage producer types – to be spoiled brat prima donnas?
Speaking of which, I’m betting Joan really is walking for good.
What do you think was in the note that Jim Cramer passed to the Donald in the middle of the Boardroom?
Annie’s point about her never having called anyone names in the Boardroom was telling – of course, I don’t think she’s a two-faced bitch, just a way better game player than anyone else.
“Poker players are white trash” – WTF was that about?
If Brande is #2 to Annie on raising money, that would indicate she’d be in the finals – or not. Season I they picked Trace as a more interesting dynamic with Piers, despite the model (who was that, I forget already – Carol Alt?) having raised more money. I’m guessing Clint for the other finalist, for its dramatic possibilities. Jess is proud of the fact that he’s not much of a fundraiser, and I think that’s going to keep him out of it. Also he’s so passive-aggressive, which isn’t much fun to watch (although more fun to watch than it is to deal with ;)).
