by David McAlpine
 


Last time on The Celebrity Apprentice, Annie and Brande formed a bond that no one saw coming, leaving Melissa feeling alienated. Joan and Annie fought it out and Annie won, sending Natalie Gulbis home. KOTU lost again and Herschel Walker was Trump's chosen victim.

This week opens with Clint and Jesse going at it. Jesse says he thinks Clint is an outright jerk and Clint gives him that blank look that he's been so good at developing over the last few weeks. Jesse gets to give his check from the previous task to his charity, the Long Beach Education Foundation.

At the start of the task, Donald shunts Jesse onto KOTU, leaving Jesse to his own vices with Clint and sticking Melissa with Annie and Brande, which both are unhappy about. This week, each team has to make a four-page print ad in Sports Illustrated for Right Guard featuring New York Knicks forward David Lee. Athena selects Brande to be their project manager, while KOTU decides on (or, rather, is forced into picking) Clint.

Melissa starts throwing out ideas for Athena, but Annie and Brande are less than phased. Granted, Melissa's ideas are targeted towards women readers, but they seem solid enough. Several awkward murmurs and eye rolls later, Annie gives Athena their go-to theme: "All I need to wear is Right Guard." Of course, Brande loves it, so they bring it to the table with the executives, who seem to be fine with it. Annie bulldozes over Melissa and takes over the meeting.

KOTU's meeting goes less smoothly, with Clint bumbling over every word. He asks several questions about how they feel about sex and half naked women in their ads and makes everyone in the room thoroughly uncomfortable.

On Athena, Annie is clearly in control, taking care of the idea making and the copy writing. They decide on a story about a day in the life of David Lee and how Right Guard keeps him dry. Annie feeds the whole thing to Brande, then tells her that it's totally her vision and she'll do whatever Brande wants to make it happen. Melissa tries to point out that Annie is simply passing the buck, but Brande eats it up.

Joan makes it clear that athletics are not her thing, and offers up the idea that they put lots of black people in their ad. Jesse wants to emphasize David's small town background, but Clint won't hear it. Athena has fireworks of their own when Annie steps out for a meeting and Melissa calls Brande out on aligning with Annie. Brande, too, has mastered her deer-in-the-headlights look, and claims she has no such deal.

Jesse gets fed up with Clint and leaves to shoot the skyline for their ad. Joan is trying to be optimistic and hold the team together, while Jesse and Clint work silently, fuming about each other. I never thought Joan would turn out to be as good of a team player as she is, so props to her.

Melissa takes the lead on the photo shoot, but Brande kicks her out halfway through because she's worried Melissa won't get the shot. Annie is pissed that Melissa tried to pin a conspiracy on her and Brande (even though it's true).

Jesse returns with the skyline photography, which Clint is impressed with. Clint then takes over the graphics, not taking any of Joan's or Jesse's input. Joan notes that both Clint and Jesse are acting juvenile.

While Brande is finishing the photo shoot, Annie swings by and tells Melissa she thinks Brande used all of her ideas, which Melissa appreciates. So even though Melissa has been whining the whole time about Annie being manipulative, she allows herself to be manipulated by Annie. Really?

Clint (no surprise) takes over the photography for KOTU and Joan and Jesse don't even try to help him. Joan catches Annie snooping on their shoot, then lets America know she thinks Annie is worse than Hitler. She also lets Clint know the ad sucks and everyone knows it, but Clint doesn't seem to listen. Over on Athena, Annie starts to take credit for everything (even though it was Brande's "vision" and she was just supposed to execute it all).

Clint decides to present for KOTU, too, and it's evident that everything he is presenting is his handiwork. Annie presents for Athena, which Melissa is very critical of. The executives liked both teams' ads, but had issues with both, too.

Jesse and Clint quabble in the boardroom, mostly about Clint's lack of ability to be a team player. Clint doesn't see where Jesse is coming from, further proving how much of a bonehead he actually is.

Annie makes a comment about how David Lee is her friend, which sets Joan off. After the dust settles, it comes out the Brande gave Annie a majority of the work for this task. Melissa jumps in, adding that she felt cut out of the task.

Donald announces that KOTU wins, after which Jesse is reluctant to congratulate Clint, and rightly so. KOTU would have won hands down if Clint wasn't so stubborn, but this win will probably do nothing but stroke his ego.

CNBC's Jim Cramer, one of Donald's right hand men for this task, really thinks Brande should go, while Ivanka wants to get rid of Melissa or Annie because of their reactions during the game. Brande states that the only person who has raised more than her is Annie, singling out Melissa. She tells Donald she would fire Melissa because she thinks Melissa is too sensitive and takes the game too personally.

Melissa fights back, claiming that she has worked harder than anyone left in the game, regardless of how little money she has raised. While the women are fighting, Donald hands a note to Jim under the table, at which point he fires Melissa.

Joan, watching from the war room, starts to put her coat on, cursing at the TV. Melissa exits the room quickly and starts yelling at the producers, refusing to be interviewed. She collects her things (and her mother) and starts to leave the suite. On her way out, Joan calls Annie and the other professional poker players "trash" and says that Annie has raised a ton of dirty money. Exit team Rivers.

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

(Image courtesy of NBC)

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