Celebrity Apprentice, Episode 4: Overmatched?

The men take a similar approach, but Baldwin wants to diversify and put an effort into selling tickets from their booth as well. Egos get out of control again. Piers accuses Baldwin of holding back on his contacts and calls him“ a shallow little man” if he does so. Baldwin fires back by calling Piers “Boomerang,” and saying he sees through Piers. Communication degenerates from there. Again.

Vinny, Trace, and Lennox head out to set up the location while Tito, Piers, and Stephen stay behind to call high rollers. Piers calls “The Rebel Billionaire,” Sir Richard Branson, who is the head of the Virgin companies and sews up a commitment for $10,000. Baldwin and Piers laugh gleefully over nailing that one down. Nothing heals a rift like a big infusion of cash!

Vinny and Trace are walking the streets of NYC to find their booth. Vinny says he feels like “Ratzo” Rizzo walking with the Midnight Cowboy. Ha! Meanwhile, Empresario is setting up their booth. They have free merchandise from each of their shows to enhance their displays, plus volunteers to provide extra help.

Three of Nely’s real estate contacts show up and as promised, they buy a pair of tickets for $2,500 each. Nely squeals gleefully and hopes this shows Trump that she’s a star, not a loser. One of Marilu’s old friends is actor David Hyde Pierce, who is starring in one of their shows. He’s here to help out. More on that later.

Meanwhile, Carol Alt and Jenny Finch have taken on the thankless duties of actually selling tickets and handling the cash. Carol tells us that they are always taking the garbage jobs that nobody else wants.

Somehow, Vinny obtains a “Spamalot” costume and convinces Piers to dress up like a knight and walk about to try and drum up business. At first, no one knows who he is. Bob Saget then drops by the Hydra booth and meets Piers. We don’t see him making a purchase, though. Next to drop by is Ivanka, and she can see business is booming. Piers deadpans for us, “I think she found me oddly attractive in that chain mail.” Trace is chipping in, too. A contact at EMI has a check for $5,000 for them. Next, Trace talks to a group from Austria who can’t understand his accent. No sale there. A few minutes later, some Brits come upon Piers, and they do recognize him. Another sale!

Back at Empresario, Jennie feels she is hidden in the tent. Omarosa calls her “vulnerable from day one,” and adds that they see her “as a sweet girl, but not as a leader.” Vince McMahon comes to Empresario’s booth to see what’s going on, and finds David Hyde Pierce standing around inconspicuously in a baseball cap and regular-Joe clothes, not being utilized. Vince comments that the women are doing a good job at taking orders for sales, but are not doing much to attract passersby. Nely then screeches over a $2,000 sale, and tells us she’s just getting big-ticket items from her contacts. Could Nely be the one to lead Empresario out of the darkness? There’s a slight hiccup as one friend of Nely’s is sent to the bank to change her donation into a cashier’s check.

With less than ten minutes to go, Piers is concerned that the Branson donation has yet to arrive. Nely has similar concerns over her friend who is getting the cashier’s check and is yet to return. Those two situations have not changed as the last two minutes are counting down. Luckily for Piers and Team Hydra, the Virgin Atlantic people arrive just in time with a $10,000 check. As the segment ends, Nely is still looking for her friend to return, and her mournful “Where are my Latinas?” is heard echoing among the spires of nearby skyscrapers. Uh-oh!

Task over, the teams assemble in the Boardroom to hear the results. Vinny doesn’t sound as positive as the Trumps would like. However, the rest of the men are positive they won. Tito reports to The Donald that Piers did the best job for Hydra. On Empresario, Marilu thinks they pulled out all the stops, but Vince McMahon points out how David Hyde Pierce was underutilized.

It’s time for the numbers. Vince McMahon reports that Empresario sold $31,757 worth of tickets. That sounds good to me, until Ivanka reveals that Hydra’s sales are a little over $33,000. (The exact amount could not be heard over Hydra’s cheers.) It was close, but Hydra wins again! Asked by Trump to explain what went wrong, Marilu feels they are overmatched in terms of “star power, size, and black book.”

Omarosa gets the Boardroom rocking by saying to Piers, “You were dressed up like a clown.” He pointedly reminds her that King Arthur was no clown, and Vinny staunchly stands up for Piers as well. Omarosa has no response. I love it! Nely then admits that her big contact didn’t make it in time. Trump points out that this was the difference between winning and losing, and says they planned badly. I agree. It was foolish of Nely to plan for rain and count on her friends to manage their own time.

Trump informs Vinny that $50,000 will go to his charity, with the rest (about $15,000) going to “The Fund For Public Schools.” Vinny speaks of his charity. He is playing for the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, donating in honor of his deceased friend Mitchell Berke.

Hydra is then excused from the Boardroom and they return to the suite and celebrate.

Trump begins digging in to find out what went wrong for the ladies. Marilu feels her teammates either overpower each other, or else are satisfied to take a back seat. Conversely, the guys seem to be maximizing their members’ contributions. Omarosa opines that she does not feel overmatched, and then Jennie chimes in with more defeatist talk. Back in the suite, the guys can’t believe what they are hearing. The discussion couldn’t be more complimentary to them even if Empresario were composed of all their mothers!