Celebrity Apprentice, Episode 9: No Use Crying Over Spilled Yogurt

Trump has to fire someone from Empresario. He sends Hydra back to the suite and begins probing for the reasons Empresario lost. Trump asks Tito if a woman should have been the leader and he agrees completely. He says Omarosa pushed the job off onto him. She disagrees and Tito tells her not to lie on TV. (Because we know she would never do that.)

George Ross says this was as much a marketing task as anything else and as Omarosa professes expertise in that area, he wonders why Omarosa didn’t take on the PM role for herself. Omarosa responds that the PM shouldn’t get bogged down in the details of other roles. Trump asks Omarosa what her record is as PM, and she’s forced to reply that it’s 0-2. Back in the suite, Piers thinks this will be the time Omarosa is fired.

Omarosa tells how she spent time at the top of the task to explain Redbook’s audience to Tito, and George Ross asks if she was neglecting the other sponsor. I’m starting to thing George doesn’t like Omarosa. Omarosa shifts the discussion to say there was no concept, and he places the blame for that on Tito and Baldwin. Trump feels that is a serious charge. Me too – I think Baldwin explained their country concept to Ivanka well enough.

Trump next goes around the table to ask who should be fired. Trace supports Omarosa and names Tito. He adds that Baldwin gets so focused on the task that he’s a poor communicator. Tito comments that Baldwin is overbearing.

Trump asks Omarosa what she contributed, and she mentions the topless shots with Trace. Trump wonders why they didn’t use those shots, and Tito says that Baldwin shot it down. Trump prompts her for a firing recommendation, and she names Tito.

Tito and Omarosa agree that both wanted to include the Trace picture, but Baldwin was “adamant” against it. Baldwin tries to play down the value of that picture, but Trump tells him that Hydra had “edge, and beauty,” and with this picture, Empresario would have at least had some edge.

Trump asks Tito who he would send back to the suite, safe from being fired. He quickly adds that he’s not going to send anyone out, though, because there’s no point. Funny, he did last week, and that was a team of four as well. At any rate, Tito names Omarosa, because she worked the hardest.

As if he’s thinking out loud, Trump tells Omarosa and Trace that they are safe. He then turns to Tito and says that because he warned them the PM’s neck was on the line, it’s, “Tito, you’re fired.” Then surprisingly, from his personal account he gives Tito $50,000 for his charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital!

After the players file out, Trump tells the others, “That Tito is a special person.” He must be special, as (a) Tito has already won a nice $20,000 back in Episode 3, so he’s not empty-handed; and, (b) Carol gets less than half of this windfall for her charity – and that’s for winning the task! I don’t get it.

In the cab, Tito is happy that he was able to get some money for St. Jude’s. He wishes he had worked a little harder, but he had fun and met some great people.

Next week: another recycled challenge, from Episode 9 of Season 1, namely, selling artwork. This time they toil in a shared gallery. The situation between Omarosa and Piers gets uglier (if that’s possible).

My Comments: Tito hadn’t been PM since Episode 3 and ought to have stepped up on his own. However, when he lost control of a project he didn’t want to run in the first place, that sealed his fate. Although Baldwin took over and essentially directed a losing effort, I think Tito was the right one to be fired.

I was rather displeased with the NBC ads leading up to this episode. They put a titillating, smarmy tone on innocent activity. All the pictures were mighty tame. I mean, is a man without a shirt considered racy? Grow up! Tito and Lennox are topless at work. And hey, with Dial body wash, we’re talking a product we use when we’re naked! I swear – this is all Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s fault!

Join me here next week for more of the same… not that any two weeks have been the same!

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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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