by David McAlpine

Last week on the Celebrity Apprentice, it was the blame game after the guys lost miserably to the women. The men had no plan of what they were doing, so their Project Manager, Sinbad, got blamed for everything. Sinbad tried to pin it on their overactive teammate, Bret Michaels, but Trump shut him down and sent him packing, making him the second casualty on the show.

Last night kicked off with Bret complaining (surprise?), and Maria giving her team's winnings to a Make-a-Wish kid, her chosen charity of the season. Not too much goody-goody stuff at the beginning, but Trump does get to play around with the contestants first. He asks Rod if firing Sinbad was correct--and all he can do is stumble around without giving a solid answer. Wow, what a gem of a teammate. Next, the task: Norton (the anti-virus software company) and Life Lock (the company that tells you to tell your Social Security number to everyone) want a four-page magazine ad to publicize their new online identity theft prevention product.

First are the meetings with the executives to make sure they're on the right track. Seeing how this season has been going, I think it's more of a way for those who think they know what they're talking about to get it all out. Case in point: Cyndi goes in with the rest of Tenacity and spends the entire time talking about nothing, to the point where her teammates are laughing at her, including team leader Summer Sanders. Rock Solid is next, and Bret does the same thing, which puts their Project Manager, Michael Johnson, on edge.

Of course, after that session, you would think the teams would be united on not giving Cyndi or Bret either positions of power or ones where they have the ability to make editorial suggestions. Yet, Maria wants Cyndi to star in their ad, a move Summer is not a fan of. Summer says, in so many words, that Cyndi is too far out there for a mainstream audience and she'd rather use Sharon instead.

Cut to the guys, who make the incredibly smart decision of picking Curtis Stone. He's so ad friendly and he's very popular with several different groups of people; it's like they finally want to win a challenge! But, of course, Rod wanted to discuss it more and Bret didn't think that Curtis would make people safe about their identity.

Back to Summer, who's trying to do some control work with Cyndi. She sends her on an errand out of the office with Maria so she doesn't have to deal with her anymore, but that pisses off Sharon. Sharon doesn't say anything to Summer's face, but she certainly says an earful to the camera. Meanwhile, Rod shows the world he can't use a computer, no matter how hard he tries. Is there anything this guy can do right?

It's time to actually start the ad shoot, but the photographer is not happy with Summer because he says she hasn't given him enough direction. Meanwhile, Maria and Cyndi are stewing over Summer's decisions, including making Selita, who does model for a living, to be the art director. So they buy a rug and Cyndi gets a deal on it. Retail therapy!

Bret and Darryl get sent out for the same reason as Cyndi and Maria (respectively), where Darryl says that being a celebrity has made it hard for him to function like a normal 9-5 working person. Never thought we'd hear that one on TV, especially from an athlete.

Trump Jr. is sent out to visit the teams and check in on them, and Summer starts to panic. He asks what there concept is, and it's clear that neither she nor anyone else really knows what it is. So, on the spot, they make up this idea that Sharon Osbourne is just going to look angry and scary in a black jacket.

Over on Rock Solid, they have Michael, Bill and Curtis all in the ad, split between the three of them. It's looking great, but Bret, who's designing the ad, doesn't make it the advertorial (an ad that acts basically like a storyboard) that the task requires. The executive assigned to Rock Solid also thinks it was too word heavy. Just when you think things are looking up for the men, there's always something wrong.

Both teams are rushing to finish the product. On the women's team, Holly is heading up the final pieces and making the presentation, while Michael is pushing the men through the final stretch.

At presentation time, it's really unclear who's got the upper hand. Curtis comes out and chamois all of the executives, but Summer has a very strong presentation, too, suddenly with a great concept. Where did that come from?

Into the boardroom, where Rod and Cyndi get thrown under the bus by their respective teams; Cyndi for talking too much (granted, Summer tried to put it in the nicest way possible) and Rod for, well, being Rod.

It comes down to the text-heavy ad (the men) versus the virtually textless ad (the women). The execs say it was a tough call, but in the end, the women pull through and Summer gets $20,000 and a portion of the ad sales for her charity, Right to Play.

Michael starts taking the blame for the extreme amount of words, but Trump puts the spotlight on Curtis for being the main spokesperson. Michael, however, jumps in and says he made that choice, too. I'll give props to Michael for being honest, but I don't think this is the way to avoid getting fired. Maybe he's hoping his honesty can outshine Rod's? But just when I think Michael is playing the good guy, he says Rod should have been more creative. Rod goes on the offensive and says Michael should be fired. Meanwhile, Darryl wants to fire himself, because I guess he doesn't think this is worth it, even for charity. So at the end of an exciting episode, it's an anticlimax when Darryl is the one cut from the competition.

Tune in next Sunday at 9/8c on NBC to see which celebrity gets fired next, only on The Celebrity Apprentice!

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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