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

Omarosa says the whole team tried to exploit her because she’d been on the show before. Carol and Omarosa continue to argue while Tiffany stays mute. Trump notices Tiffany and asks if she’s scared of the others. She says she is not. Trump talks over her to say he is impressed with Carol’s toughness.

Ivanka asks Tiffany if she undersold relative to the others on the team and Tiffany responds that there’s no way of really knowing. She says that not all of them have those kinds of contacts. Trump suggests that she has a great contact (Hefner), but did not use it. Tiffany replies that the group made a conscious decision to be careful to use their resources to the best of their ability, and Trump and Omarosa both ask who made that decision.

Ivanka and Trump both outline to Tiffany how the holding back for a bigger/later task is fruitless if she is eliminated beforehand. I suddenly think of Survivor: China’s James, and his decision not to play an immunity idol… it’s very similar.

Tiffany explains next that Omarosa taught her about the value of up-selling, which really muddies the waters for me. Both Tiffany and Nely can support the claim that Omarosa wanted her team to up-sell, but didn’t want them to trade on their celebrity to do it. I suggest that if they were not who they were, it is unlikely they would have as many contacts willing to make the sizable charitable donations they needed. There’s a fine (possibly invisible) line here, and I don’t think Omarosa explained how she wanted it negotiated to her team.

Trump asks Carol again if she both respects and hates Omarosa, only to hear her reiterate that she respects her but does not hate her. Moan… not even one episode in, and that cheap old tactic of Trump’s is getting stale real fast.

Trump asks Omarosa whom she would fire. She thinks Tiffany has potential and an open mind, so she’d dump Carol. Hmm, maybe brother Baldwin was right!

Trump tells us it’s time for a final decision. He’s disappointed Omarosa didn’t do a better job as leader and in Carol, for her choice of location. However, it’s Tiffany who gets to hear “You’re Fired,” because she elected not to use her Hugh Hefner resource.

On the walk back to the suite, Omarosa and Carol shake hands and agree to leave it all in the Boardroom. I suggest both should sleep with their backs to the wall and one eye open.

In her cab ride to the airport, Tiffany says she is frustrated to be first one sent home. She says, “I did what was asked of me, I did it thoroughly, and we brought in a lot of money. But it wasn’t enough.” True, but to win this game, you also have to do what’s NOT asked of you, but comes out of your own inspiration and motivation. And showing a bit of this spirit in the Boardroom wouldn’t have hurt her any, either!

My Opinion: Ouch. I really think Tiffany never saw this coming until way too late. Hefner may well have made a significant donation, and holding that card back is no example of teamwork. I bet she would have stayed in the game if she’d called him and made a $5,000 sale. It would have put her in third place on the team and kept Hefner available for a bigger touch when it was her time to be PM. Still, she’s too nice for this game and her chances of winning were slim.

Omarosa has come to play! She probably should have been the one fired, because resisting the use of their celebrity when it’s part of the name of the show and then getting creamed in the results… that ought not to have been a salvageable situation. Alas, a good Boardroom performance can cover up a lot of task faults, even big ones.

Myself, I was pleased with the overall entertainment value of the show. I hope every episode won’t be determined by the size of the wallets of the contestants’ friends, though.

Well, that’s it for the first episode. I’m interested in reader response to this one –let me know what you think about it all at the eAddress below! Join me here for a recap of all the action sprinkled with my own reactions and opinions.

Brian lives in Toronto. He spent a couple of decades working in middle management at The Prudential, primarily hiding behind the coffee machines in generally unsuccessful attempts to avoid his pointy-haired bosses. He can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He’d like to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email.

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