by Todd Betzold

 

The premiere of Season 5 of The Celebrity Apprentice finished pretty drama-free for me, which I was sad to write about, but come Week 2 the drama is supposed to come full-force as the celebrities get all medieval on each other.

 

Patricia Velasquez and Victoria Gotti come back from the boardroom and Victoria claims she knows where things stand now with these girls and it is on...yeah, okay! Paul gets to present his check to make A Wish Foundation for his victory last week.

 

The contestants go to meet Trump and with him is James Lipton of Inside The Actors Studio, who will be an advisor on this task because he apparently is a knight (who knew)! Adam Carolla will not be joining the men's team this week, as apparently he is hosting a wedding at his house this week. The teams will have to create a 12-15 minute show for medieval times and judging will be based on creativity and overall presentation and entertainment value based on audience votes. The teams pick project managers: the men pick Penn Jillette, who runs shows like these all the time, and the women pick Lisa Lampanelli, who also runs her own comedy show on a nightly basis.

 

The women come up with the idea of doing a Real Housewives of Camelot theme, with them all fighting for the affection of Trump (played by Lisa) in the boardroom. They have some catty fights and people talking over each other, but Lisa tries to rail them in. They all get roles, including Dayana wearing a nude bodysuit, which she agrees to even though she is questioning keeping the show safe for kids. Lisa puts Victoria as the creative director, which ticks off Victoria because she has no role. Also, Aubrey O'Day seems to be Lisa's right-hand woman.

 

The men will be doing a traditional show and seem to be working together well. They want to be able to let their fans see the celebrities involved, so Clay will be singing. Also, Dee Snider will be cross-dressing. The women, meanwhile, have some issues as people still keep talking over each other, so Lisa yelled at them and told them to stop and just listen to her...the women think tyrant.

 

James Lipton comes in to visit the men and he thinks they may have too much comedy involved and it could go wrong. Trump Jr. comes in to visit the women and he likes their concept if they can mix it with violence for the medieval times. Lisa said Victoria and Dayana were out shopping and he noticed the tension between the two strong personalities of Lisa and Victoria.

 

The stunt crew comes in and teaches the men and women their fighting skills. Lou Ferrigno wants to practice all night long and Paul is afraid Lou may kill him during their fight. Victoria doesn't want to be the stage director, so Lisa lets her try to fight and the whole time she has her Louis Vuitton bag on her shoulder....Lisa is pissed!

 

Victoria is still complaining about not having a role and wants to join the men's team so she can be involved, but Lisa talks her into believing the stage manager is most important role out there and she backs down.

 

Dress rehearsals by both teams and the women had issues, as Victoria had the wrong script up in the booth, so now Lisa is worried that the lights and sounds will be done on cue and Dayana tries to voice her opinion, but feels she is not allowed. For the men, George keeps forgetting his lines and cues and Dee broke his finger while riding the horse, but barrels through and will not miss the show.

 

Time for the shows and men go first. They based their show more on comedy and their own celebrity and hoped the crowd liked who they were. The crowd seemed to enjoy and had some positive and quite loud at times.

 

Now time for the women: the women got a little too sexy with Debbie showing some underwear and Tia having some boob showing during the fight scenes, but overall they did a good job and worked in the Housewives and Jersey Shore themes while being in New Jersey...crowd seemed to like it.

 

Time for the boardroom: the women seem to be all nicey-nicey right now...they draw to pull some drama out between Lisa and Victoria, but it didn't work so much...quiet so far. For the men: Dee has a fractured finger and may need a pin in it. They all respected Penn as a leader and again no drama from them...this season is such a disappointment. If they lose, Penn says he would bring back George and Lou, which sets Lou off on some frenzy, but still pointless now because we don't know who won and lost.

 

And the cats are finally being released: time for the women to talk again. Who would Lisa bring back if she lost? Victoria and Dayana. She had to be a Mom to Victoria and Dayana couldn't do more than be pretty and shop...now they are all riled up...saying Lisa picked the concept and no one had a say and she never let anyone state their opinion. Aubrey, of all people, tells them they are being catty and the fighting ends.

 

The men's show had high energy and played to their strengths and skills. They received 558 votes. The audience said for the women's team that they loved seeing Teresa flip the table and incorporating the Housewives into the show. They received 363 votes, so the men win and Penn gets $40,000 for his charity, which is Opportunity Village.

 

Time for a half hour of the women fighting...and I think it will be Victoria being fired. This is where Lisa is going to shine and she will fight to stay and earn money for her charity. Victoria brings out some tears...work it up girl. The women are coming at Lisa, but she is not backing done...I am loving it. Lisa brings back Victoria and Dayana into the boardroom, which the men think is a bad idea. Arsenio says she brought one that can kill her with her beauty and one who can kill her with her family.

 

And here we go...oh wow, Lisa brings it on good and gives me chills fighting to stay there. She brings out some tears and shows why she deserves to stay there. James gives Lisa props for being passionate...I think her passion will keep her there. Dayana reluctantly says that Lisa is harder worker and should stay...Donald agrees and doubts the passion of Victoria and she is fired...that was intense, but phew, my girl Lisa is still there!

 

 

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

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

 

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