Okay, so could last night have been any worse? Not only was I nursing a fever and was forced to miss Lost’s premiere in order to blog about The Celebrity Apprentice (oh, to have TiVo), but NBC also decided to punish all of us TV watchers by giving us not one, but two hours of this sad excuse for television entertainment (please, oh please let the rumored upcoming end to the writers’ strike be true!). So please forgive me, PopWatchers, if this week’s recap is brief and a bit joyless. Because if anything can suck the life out of me more than the flu, it’s Celebrity Apprentice.
On the upside, however, last night’s episode wasn’t short on drama (a welcome change from last Thursday’s snoozer). Not that we really needed two hours of petty conflict, but let’s face it: Trump is usually prone to overindulgence. And though it was a letdown to wait two hours only to see Vinnie’s resignation, I have to give the producers major props for toasting the actor’s ouster with a Journey classic and a cut to black. Oh, don’t stop believing, Vinnie.
Last night’s challenge was to create a campaign to raise awareness about Crocs’ shoe-recycling program. On the men’s side, Hydra once again decided to use Lennox "I Like Cats" Lewis as their campaign figurehead, proving that their creativity might be wearing thin. But before we delve into the men’s plans, why don’t we give three cheers for our favorite boxer? Lennox certainly made more of a contribution this go-round than just stating his affection for the cute kitties, but it was Trace who ultimately created Hydra’s slogan of choice: “Wear Them, Share Them.” And as much as we might question the team’s originality, one has to admit that Piers’ ultimately ill-conceived plan to send Vinnie to infiltrate Empresario as a mole was quite clever.
Of course Nely would be the Empresario member to fall for the men’splan the hardest (poor, gullible Nely). But it seems Vinnie’s presencehelped Empresario more than it hurt them. After all, without theactor, the women would have opted to spotlight Miss USA with a Croc ona leash (huh?), but instead Vinnie convinced them to use Carol as thecampaign’s figurehead. Perhaps it was the fact that the girls werereceptive to his ideas, but Vinnie soon experienced a change of heartand decided to fully support Empresario. Cue: The actor explaining hischoice through a dissection of The Godfather’s plot. Sigh. Marilu said it best: “He thinks he’s still on The Sopranos.”(Butin all fairness, Vinnie did later state that he is not, in fact, BigPussy. Not that this revelation is keeping him from shamelessly quotingGoodfellas.)
But it didn’t take long for knowledge of the secret plan to spread.After a hysterical exchange between Piers and Stephen about religionand Jesus — I can’t remember the last time The Apprentice washome to such heated philosophical discussion — the two Hydra membersdropped hints of the sabotage to Nely, who, not surprisingly, wasshocked by the confession. This prompted Piers to proclaim, “Why wouldyou trust a guy that has come out of The Sopranos, ever?” Um, maybe because The Sopranosis a TV show, and Vinnie is not actually a mobster? I mean, I know it’soften difficult for these celebs to separate fiction from reality,but come on. But rather than welcoming the mafioso wannabe for helpingthem avert a disastrous campaign, Empresario opted to fire the actorfor being a snitch.
It wasn’t long until Vinnie’s return to Hydra resulted in a shoutingmatch between Piers and the actor, culminating in Vinnie’sever-so-cunning insult: “You arrogant British fart!” This argument, ofcourse, carried on into the boardroom, where Vinnie criticized Piers’stereotyping, only to further some Italian stereotyping of his own by threatening the Brit’s life. And though Hydra managed topull together an effective campaign, the girls overcame “hugeobstacles” (not sure how Vinnie’s crossover was any more than a minorannoyance, but to each her own) to land their first victory, thanks totheir presentation and impressive, if impractical, giant shoereceptacle.
What did you think, PopWatchers? Were you shocked that Omarosafinally quelled her grudge against Carol? Are you surprised that Ivankais a fan of sabotage (she is a Trump, after all)? Do you think thegirls should have given Vinnie more credit for his contribution? Andfinally, what do you think was the night’s most touching moment: Carolresponding to her win with tears of joy, or Omarosa’s assertion thatthe supermodel “is a 10. I’d say I’m a 9.5”?
I felt bad for Vinnie. He was conflicted the entire time, kept on justifying his decisions and thinking he was doing a good job that neither side appreciated. He did play both sides without realizing the consequences. And I think he really took the whole thing seriously. Hopefully he’s over it. It’s only a show. Loved the cut to black ending.
Where was Tito??????
was in a boxing match. It was briefly announced in the beginning before Trump described the challenge.
Vinnie would have been fine if he had stayed on one team. If he would have stayed on the girl’s team, he would have gotten credit for the presentation and still would be on the show. If you are going to change sides, do it once.
I for one am glad to see Vinnie go. if I had to hear anymore maifa reference or how “maybe he is Don Corlione” one more time I would have had to make myself sleep with the fishes. Come on one bit part on a successful gangster show does not make you part of the “family”.
Kate: You do realize the significance of the ending right? It wasn’t just a random Journey song, with a cut to black…. It was Don’t Stop Believing, with cut scenes to a guy in a Members Only jacket, to a final cut to black. Remind you of any other ending of a popular show that Vinny Pastore was on at one point?
Kate: You do realize the significance of the ending right? It wasn’t just a random Journey song, with a cut to black…. It was Don’t Stop Believing, with cut scenes to a guy in a Members Only jacket, to a final cut to black. Remind you of any other ending of a popular show that Vinny Pastore was on at one point?
I thought it was hilarious! I loved when Piers told Vinnie that Marilu wasn’t trying to kill him…Piers is arrogant but he has a better chance of winning than Vinnie, I’m not necessarily sorry to see Vinnie go…
I’m glad I skipped the first hour of this to watch “Lost” (special thanks to my non “Lost” loving gf for catching me up on the first hour of Apprentice I missed)
I’m absolutely with Nancy. It was definitely time for Vinnie to go. At first, the fact that he made all those Mafia references was irritating as hell, but by the end of the episode, it was just sad, and I worried that he’s actually a little delusional and thinks that The Sopranos, and Godfather, etc. are all real.
I’m disappointed that Stephen said he’d want Piers gone. Not because I thought they were friends, but because I thought Stephen was a competitor. Instead he turned out to be another average, reality-show sissy that wants their toughtest competition gone. Major credit goes to Lennox (a competitive pro athlete) for stepping up and saying he’d rather keep Piers (who helps that team win).
Finally, the only way the Vinny’s exit could’ve been better is if his driver had struggled to parallel park.
Kate, the men’s slogan was “Wear Them, Share Them,” not “Share Them, Wear Them.”
I love how they did the boardroom fireworks with both teams, before announcing the winner. If the women’s team had embraced Vinnie, Trump would have let him be with them, and he’d have been safe. Though I think the producers prefer the Steven/Piers fireworks to the stereotypical mafia references Vinny makes constantly.
The girls team did owe Vinnie some credit for helping them and they were wrong to deny him that. I was sad to see him go and particularly sad to see the way Donald and Don, Jr. talked down to him. He’s a 61 year old professional actor, not some recent MBA grad who’s trying to get his foot in the door. They were pretty patronizing to him. Totally loved that ending though! That Mark Burnett: he’s one funny guy.
Oh yeah, I also forgot to make fun of Vinny for being a quitter.
First he bows out of “Dancing with the Stars” because the rehearsals were too demanding, now he quits “Celebrity Apprentice” (of all things) because it’s too stressful. I’m with Lennox…I hate quitters.
My problem was that Vinnie kept arguing “you sold me out!” But no one ever responded, “Yeah, but you double-crossed us!”
If he said, “…but you didn’t know that!” it would be crazy, obviously, the guys were RIGHT to cut him loose and sell him out.
People are forgetting the Pierce was a journalist who was FIRED from England’s Daily Mirror for fabricating a story. The dude might have an idea about who is talented and who is not (Hasselhoff) but the guy is sleazy with a capital “S”.
I have to disagree, Kate. The Celebrity Apprentice is a bad show, but that was a GREAT epsiode. So many lines, drama, funny moments. This is great because these people get so wrapped up in thier egos, they don’t really casre what Trump thinks. This seems to release inhibitions and results in last night’s craziness.
My favorite moment was the breif melting of the Ice Princess. When Piers mentioned sabotage, Ivanka turned into flirty soroity girl with a flick of her blonde locks. So she likes bad boys… hmmmmmm.