By David McAlpine

 

Last week on The Celebrity Apprentice, the men lost the task for a third week in a row. KOTU's dynamic continued to crumble as Dennis and their Project Manager, Tom, were blamed for doing nothing during the task. Though Dennis didn't show up, Tom was ultimately found at fault for the men's loss, making him the third celebrity casualty.

 

 

Continued from last week, Dennis shows up after the boardroom, much to the dismay of KOTU. Clint suggests that the men need to learn how to follow their Project Manager more, while the women revel in KOTU's disarray. On the lighter side, we get to see Brande present her check of $166,680 to Chris Eaton, a representative of her charity, California Police Youth Charities.

 

The teams' fourth challenge seems to be a step above the previous ones: they each have to produce and put on a launch show for ACN videophones. Because there is only one event space, Capitale, each team had to choose a negotiator to figure out who will present first. Clint is chosen (or, rather, he picks himself) from the men and Annie from the women. After they flip a coin and Clint wins, the well-anticipated "Rodman meltdown" begins...and proves to be a little disappointing. Dennis seems to be frustrated that Clint forces himself on the rest of the group (and, believe me, I'd be annoyed with it, too, if I didn't know anything about country music), so he gets in Clint's face, then walks out. "Shock" ensues, but the task must go on, and so it does.

 

Clint says he won't let Dennis back out of his commitment to the task, but Jesse shows his disappointment about Dennis picking on the smallest person on his own team. Brian, the Project Manager, decides that if Dennis decides to get involved in the task, he won't use him because he feels it takes more effort to supervise Dennis than work Dennis puts out. 

 

Both teams sit down with the executives of ACN to try to get a sense of a central theme or criteria for their presentation. Athena draws from their meeting that the most important facet is the emotional draw, while KOTU comes away with the impression that looking towards the future is the aim of the executives. 

 

On KOTU, Jesse and Brian begin to brainstorm together, coming up with the idea of featuring Brian himself in the show. Clint, feeling left out of the creative decision-making, goes so far as to suggest himself as an act, since he thinks he's just as good as Brian. Jesse and Brian ignore Clint and Brian sends him on some hard-hitting secretarial tasks.

 

Athena, taking the emotional route, tries to come up with a show combining videotaped testimonials and a live stage show. Claudia believes they can tape different types of families with the videophone while using Joan Rivers to emcee the show and fill the gaps between videos. Chaos starts to brew as Melissa informs the lades that her mother (who is also missing today) won't land in time to do the show the next day. Natalie gets on the phone and books a private jet, making sure Joan will be at the performance.

 

Jesse jumps one step ahead of the men, wanting to tape soldiers at West Point to create an additional emotional appeal. Clint is hesitant about the idea, as is Brian, but Jesse is insistent taking the time out to travel the 60 miles will be worth it. Brian, Clint, Jesse and Herschel discuss Dennis' behavior on the way there, wondering if he'll come back. Cue the ladies re-enacting the meltdown for Don Jr. Pretty well, actually.

 

Back to Crabby Clint, who is now upset that Brian won't consult with him about the track Brian and his songwriting partner have composed for their show. Like a four year-old, Clint is sent back to his corner to manage the phones, which Clint is not pleased about (though what was all that he was saying earlier about listening to the Project Manager...?). Brian feels KOTU is finally working together.

 

At Athena's camp, the chaos has grown, facilitated by Melissa spewing out ideas. Claudia tries to refocus the group by putting Melissa in her place and Melissa gets personally offended, and Claudia obviously doesn't care.

 

Dennis shows back up to KOTU's workspace, but Brian rejects any help he can offer. Ivanka pays a visit to the men, but her presence doesn't seem to change Brian's mind -- he thinks Dennis is no good on his team. The crumbling seems to carry over to Athena, where their infant actor won't stop crying, foreshadowing a disaster on their part. Jesse makes another near save for KOTU, taping a soldier talking on the videophone at West Point.

 

As the teams take the stage for rehearsal, Claudia starts to make fun of Melissa, while Melissa complains about getting attacked. Brian practices his singing, and Clint mopes about being left out. Joan arrives in town (finally!) and runs through the presentation which, indeed, turns out to be a disaster. Athena is lost, not knowing how to fix what they've created -- at least until Melissa starts to take over.

 

Athena presents first, led by Joan. Some cute, short vignettes and an awkward Joan joke about gynecologists later, the women seem to have delivered an unbeatable presentation. For KOTU, their West Point video is shown, then Brian sings while dancers with phones perform. Dennis criticizes Brian, calling his presentation as an excuse to sell more records.

 

In the boardroom, Clint and Dennis make up, Dennis and Brian butt heads, while Claudia and Melissa go at it. As close as it seems to be, Trump reveals that 85% of the audience voted for KOTU to win, giving Brian $20,000 for is charity, Youthville USA.

 

The women complain about being scattered and chaotic and the blame starts to fall squarely on Claudia's shoulders. Claudia begins to blame Melissa for making the chaos until the spotlight is turned to Khloe. Khloe says she was waiting around the whole time (read: texting or laying on the floor) for Claudia to give her something to do.

 

Claudia takes Khloe and Melissa back into the boardroom, both of which seem justified. Claudia attacks Melissa for being disruptive and Khloe for not stepping up, but Trump sees the lack of focus as Claudia's fault and fires her. Claudia is disappointed to be the first woman fired, but hey, at least it was her and not Khloe; I'm rooting for her to win.

 

The Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays at 9/8c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

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