By David McAlpine

Last week on The Celebrity Apprentice 2, Athena stumbled, sending Brian McKnight home. The two teams started working on a new task involving auctioning off items from Ivanka's jewelry line. Joan and Annie began their face off as the celebrities battled to get donors, and Trump brought back a familiar face: Piers Morgan, winner of last season's Celebrity Apprentice.

Of course, the first thing we get from Piers is disappointment that the celebrities aren't working harder. Brande and Melissa tell Piers everything is under control, then Melissa gets on the phone, frantically trying to get more donors. I love Melissa, but this was really poor planning on her part, and Brande totally called her out on it.

Annie then gets a call from her poker friend Phil Hellmuth, who informs her that Natalie had been able to get a donation for the other team from someone in Annie's poker circle. Annie is furious and takes it all out on her "traitor" of a friend. She's so loud, KOTU can hear her through the wall, which looks like it amuses Joan. Annie then turns on Natalie and tells her better luck next time, disappointing Natalie because the friend withdraws his pledge.

The next day, while setting up for the jewelry show, Melissa starts digging for compliments on her choice of jewelry. Annie, still seething from Natalie's brilliant attempt to sabotage her, satisfies Melissa, but makes it clear it's still all about the money. KOTU plans out their strategy, hoping to put all their money on the least expensive item of jewelry so it makes the best profit.

Athena's show is first, headed by auctioneer Annie. Annie uses the crowd, the models and some shameless begging to milk the cash out of her invited donors in the audience. Really, it was kind of pathetic, but it seemed to work.

Clint starts off the show for KOTU and, immediately, they begin to crash and burn. The energy in the room is flatter than his tone and no one seems to respond at all to his calls for money. Their first item goes without selling, and we get a Piers scoff. Enter Joan Rivers, and the money starts pouring out of people's pockets.

In the boardroom, both Joan and Annie get props from the Trump, but Melissa is the shining star in Donald's eyes because of her jewelry selection. While Annie tries to be a creditmongerer, Jesse is called out for not calling in any famous people, including Sandra Bullock, his wife.

With KOTU, Ivanka is pissed that they planned to put all their donors on one item. Insulted, actually. And it shows until Joan and Annie go at it, talking about each other's egos (though it was more Joan on the offensive). Melissa makes another terrible move and tries to step in to defend her mother, yet at the same time not, because they're not on the same team.

It turns out KOTU raised $92,000 in profit, while Athena raised $153,000, so Annie wins all the money for her charity, Refugees International. Despite this being a Celebrity Apprentice record, Melissa and Annie fight about her defending her mother.

Clint is unable to pick a weakest player (because he can't pick himself), and he picks Natalie for her jewelry decision. Joan starts to cry (didn't know she could do that with all the work done there), and Clint is blamed for sucking at being an auctioneer. In the end, Natalie gets fired because she didn't raise money or pick the right jewelry.

But it's not over yet! No, almost another hour left!

Recap: Joan and Annie want to kill each other. Annie won round one, so she gets to give her check to the head of her charity.

For the next task, each team has to come up with a new frozen meal for Schwan's Live Smart line. Jesse is elected to be Project Manager for Athena and Herschel for KOTU.

The teams meet with the executives, who say they want something new and that tastes great (which sounds so helpful). Annie is adamant about making something with meatballs since they sell so well in the regular line. Melissa and Annie get separated by Jesse, who is trying to avoid a major meltdown.

No one wants to cook on KOTU, so Herschel steps up and decides on using a boneless, skinless chicken breast. Clint balks at the idea and suggests his wife's soy-ginger chicken, which is ignored.

On Athena, Brande and Annie take up cooking duty while Melissa and Jesse take on marketing. Jesse is devoid of ideas and Melissa just wants Jesse to tell her what to do. Annie is, once again, impressed with herself while Brande is, well, not.

Herschel and Clint butt heads again, this time over dessert. Clint tries to cook, though Herschel never told him to, while Joan tries Clint's ginger-soy sauce (since Herschel doesn't eat meat, so he can't try it). Joan suggests adding orange juice to the sauce and, much to Clint's dismay, she comes up with a winner.

Annie prepares three meals for Jesse: meatballs, chili and meatloaf. Jesse like the chili, but Annie likes the meatballs more, so she makes him pick the meatballs. Why'd she even bother making three dishes?

Clint decides he wants to make an ad starring, who else?, himself, something Joan and Herschel don't like. Jesse's lack of leadership is starting to worry the rest of his team, as they feel lost.

KOTU presents first, and the executives question how they can freeze their dessert, yogurt. Athena presents next, emphasizing their gluten-free pasta. The executives seem to like the food better, but are disappointed with the lack of marketing.

In the boardroom, Athena is admonished for having no marketing, while KOTU is shamed for having a dessert that can't be frozen. Trump makes it clear he's not impressed with Jesse as a person, then he brings up Sandra Bullock again. Donald wonders aloud why Sandra is so in love with Jesse, then concludes he must be good in bed...awkward.

Athena ends up impressing the executives more, sending Joan, Dennis and Herschel into the boardroom. Back in the suite, Annie is still upset about Melissa defending Joan. Annie: "I can say that the sky is blue and she'll say, 'She's a bitch!'" Flash to Melissa, seething.

Again, Clint can't say who is the weakest (because it's himself), but Joan can't, either (then starts to cry...again. Deja vu, anyone?). In the end, Herschel gets fired for his poor dessert idea, allowing Joan and Annie to go at it for yet another episode.

The Celebrity Apprentice 2 airs Sundays at 10/9c on NBC

(Image courtesy of NBC)

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