by David McAlpine

Last night on The Celebrity Apprentice, it was the ultimate showdown between the women on ASAP, as the teams were tasked with creating a children's book. Remember last week when everyone was saying how much the women were going to work together, then Dionne got into it with everyone? Yeah, that was a preview of this week.

Let me get this out of the way before I continue: I love Star Jones. I'll admit it, I am team Star all the way to the end. But when you go on a national show and you're all for women empowerment week 1, then you flip your stuff week 2, you look a little unstable.

The men were all business this week. Don't mind Richard Hatch, who almost got slugged by Jose Canseco last week, they're all working together now! Of course, it's for the children. There's a great cause to be had for this.

Their concept seemed solid (Lil Jon getting picked on at school), but everyone had something to say. Jose thought it was absurd that no one talked to him, because there would be teachers in the halls. Apparently Jose wrote a number one book (or his ghostwriter did?…), but no one wants to listen to him.

Jose later went with Gary to get props for their performance of the book later that day and got locked out of the building, erupting in a massive wave of profanities that were directed in every which way, all while Eric Trump was present. This led Eric to be troubled by Backbone.

The women, however, had more to be worried about. Lisa was the Project Manager without asking for it, and they kept trying to divert the book towards, of all things, tolerance and diversity. Dionne became a steamroller, stomping on everyone's ideas, including one Marlee Matlin, who wanted a deaf animal character in it. Dionne's response: "That is sad." Ouch.

Lisa put Star and NeNe on the illustrations and, since Star was also the writer,(again, love me some Star, but she's not the best when it comes to these decisions) she decides to put more text on the page, forcing it to shrink. Rule #1 of children's books: you don't shrink text.

In the end, the women produced a book that was about a shy lion who can't roar and needed to ask all the animals for help. Dionne said it was all her idea. Donald Jr. seemed to realize (like the rest of us) that it was actually Frank L. Baum's idea when he made The Wizard of Oz. Even better: it was only Dionne and Star who were named on the cover. That got Marlee fuming and Lisa to grow a backbone.

ASAP pulled it together for the performance, which is more than the men could say. Gary jumped across the stage being a flying squirrel and…apparently being Gary, while Meat Loaf just refused to hold up the book.

In the boardroom, the women were told their text was too small, and their concept of being yourself was much too confusing for the young ones. Meanwhile, the men sucked at the performance.

Regardless of the performance, the judges thought the men's book was better, giving Project Manager Meat Loaf $20,000 for his charity, causing him to tear up. Meanwhile, I'm shifting in my seat knowing it's going to hit the fan with the women in the boardroom.

Lisa gets thrown under the bus by everyone but Niki, while Marlee furiously went after Dionne for demeaning her and her disability. Lisa picked Star and Dionne to join her, putting herself in a precarious position: she picked the most incompetent people, but also the closest team.

In the end, it bites her in the ass because Star and Dionne go after her like, well, a lion on raw meat. Star even got Lisa to admit she crumbled under pressure. It was like watching one giant, collagenated trainwreck. So the TV host and fitness guru was sent packing, leaving Star and Dionne to live another day (much to my delight)

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

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine