Celebrity Apprentice, Episode 1: Hot Dog, Apprentice Is Back (Sort Of)

Trump says both teams raised a record amount (just under $70,000), and it will be donated to the winning PM’s charity. This will happen every week this season, providing some impetus to take the risk and step up to be PM. Excellent move, Donald!

Stephen's charity is The Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund. The NBC website tells us, “Stephen's father died in 1983 of lung cancer, and then in 1990, his mother Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undergoing a double mastectomy, Carol and the Baldwin family became dedicated to raising money for research, prevention, and treatment of breast cancer.”

The Donald adds that the men will be able to watch what transpires in the Boardroom from their suite (via a closed circuit hookup), if they want. Vince says, “Oh, we’ll be watching!”

In the Boardroom, Trump asks Omarosa who did well and who didn’t. Omarosa gives credit to Marilu for her two big sales, and Nely “on the technical side.” On the flip side, “Tiffany is not a great sales person.” She explains that in being Playmate of the Year, Tiffany is selling sex, but she didn’t do it today. Don brings up his point again, and says Omarosa is contradicting her earlier reply. Omarosa replies that each of them bring their own “brand” to the team, be it boxing or acting or, in Tiffany’s case, sex.

Remember what Trump said at the top about “commodity”? She’s right. Point, Omarosa.

In the men’s suite, Gene says, “Omarosa is a survivor, like a cockroach. No matter what you do, you cannot kill her.” Piers points out, “She’ll do anything to kill the others. This is her own teammate!”

Omarosa concludes by saying that she went to Tiffany several times to try and get more energy and push out of her, and she did not deliver. Tiffany defends her actions, saying her very first sale was for $50. The two ladies then discuss what Tiffany’s sales were for the day. Clearly, no one bothered to perform that level of recordkeeping, so that one will never be settled definitively. But even believing Tiffany’s numbers, she’s a low contributor.

Omarosa switches tack and says she is disappointed that Tiffany didn’t reach out to her personal network. Tiffany says she did reach out, but her contacts don’t have that kind of money. Trump interjects that Hugh Hefner could afford it and asks if she called him. She did not; she wanted to save him for a later task. Uh-oh.

Trump says he finds Tiffany’s low-key style refreshing compared to other Playmates he’s met. Lord, I can just imagine… let’s move along.

Tiffany says she was happy to wear the uniform, but they “were not allowed to use their celebrity.” Omarosa tries to stomp on that, but Ivanka jumps in to criticize the uniforms, saying that they promoted the product rather than themselves.

Jennie offers up that it was proposed to have a red carpet and play up their celebrity, but “Omarosa wanted to use their ‘celebrity-ness’ as a cherry on top, not as our selling pitch.”

Before Omarosa can address that specific point, Trump asks her what the task was about – hot dogs, branding, celebrity, or something else? Her reply is that it was about bringing in the most money you could for every transaction. I think that’s a good answer, but not to this question. Trump tells her that he thinks the task was about celebrity. Omarosa doesn’t respond.

Trump turns his attention to Nely. Nely defends Omarosa’s leadership, and when pressed, the two of them name Tiffany as one who’s not ready to lead the team. I’m getting another flashback to one of my favorite movies, The Christmas Story, (the one about the Red Ryder gun)… I think Nely is Omarosa’s Toady!

Tiffany says if she were leader, she wouldn’t be so condescending as Omarosa. That one doesn’t go far. Back in the Hydra suite, Vince says, “Tiffany is toast,” and Piers adds that she’s not defending herself properly. Trace laments that she can’t because, “She’s not a mean chick.”

The next topic is the location, bringing Carol to the fore. Omarosa says Carol took control of the task and failed, while Carol says she did not. Instead, Carol says she accepted the task and did her best on it. Omarosa tries to say Carol is “cowering,” but Carol will have none of that and both talk at the same time. Trump feels the location wasn’t good but doesn’t say why. Don Junior says you can make one dollar sales to Penn Station folks at noon, but you’re not going to find a lot of high rollers there.

Trump instructs Omarosa to name two others to bring back with her to the final Boardroom. Not surprisingly, she chooses Tiffany and Carol.

As their screen goes to black, the men discuss what they’ve seen. Piers is sure that Tiffany is done for. Baldwin thinks Omarosa may attack the bigger threat of Carol first. Trace thinks Carol is more valuable to the team because of her knowledge of New York. I guess that means that any time the ladies lose, they will blame location and bring Carol back to the Boardroom? That’s a big problem for Carol, because if Trump sees her in that room too often and has a tight decision one week, it won’t go her way.

Waiting to be called back in, Omarosa decides to try and keep the others off balance by telling them, “If you think that part was fun, wait ‘til this part. It gets better!”

The trio is called back into the Boardroom. Omarosa starts her defense by stating the fact that she took a big risk by stepping up to be the first PM. Carol says she stepped up where possible and that she expressed her views when she didn’t agree, but in the end deferred to her PM. Trump asks Carol, “You don’t like Omarosa very much, do you?” Carol denies it and says she respects Omarosa.