Tonight’s The Celebrity Apprentice is called “Winning by a Nose”. Teams Unanimous and Forte must come up with a winning strategy for a display of Donald Trump’s new cologne called “Success.” Clay will be the project manager for Forte and Aubrey will be the project manager for Unanimous.

Aurbrey and Arsenio butt heads again, while Dayana and Lisa actually get along. Chat about the show here, and then watch for Montavilla’s recap later.

UPDATE: Clay’s team, Forte, lost. Penn Jillette was fired from Celebrity Apprentice.

Winning By a Nose

Last week: Lisa had a meltdown. Dayana cried. Aubrey was a team player. Paul got fired.

This week: Lisa decides to be “nice” to Dayana. Arsenio frets over being on a team with Aubrey and Teresa.

Lisa delivers the check to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. She has lunch with some clients and the CEO of the organization, where she hands over her check. Lisa is sweet and funny, but doesn’t seem all that connected to the charity.

In Donald Trump’s apartment, the celebrities get their new task. Aubrey seems very taken with all the gold. This week’s task is to create an in-store display for Trump’s “Success” Cologne. Clay and Aubrey take on the PM role for their teams. The winning team gets $20,000, but if Trump loves the product, they’ll get $100,000.

On team Forte, Penn and Dayana come up with the main image for the display: Dayana nestled into the chest of a man wearing a Trump tie. Penn then imagines buildings to frame the image, with backlit bottles as windows. He also comes up with a slogan, “You Earned It.” Clay is reluctant to accept the first idea, but decides that, since Penn is so taken with his ideas, that it might not be worth continuing to brainstorm.

Meanwhile, Unanimous (or Aubrey) comes up with the slogan “Trust Your Instincts.” Her decision is solidified when Arsenio discovers a video of Donald Trump saying those exact words. Arsenio tries to suggest other ideas, but Aubrey is having none of that. Teresa doesn’t even try. Aubrey decides that the display should be a skyline. It sounds suspiciously like the other’s team theme. She also decides to use Eric as a model for Trump in the display.

When the teams meet with the executives, there is plenty of advice about how to do the project and who the targeted customer is (a male 18-35). Forte takes it in. Aubrey blithely ignores it and rambles on about her amazing take on the cologne. The executives stare blankly at her.

On the way to the construction studio, Aubrey stops the van to get a photo of the NY skyline. She sits on Arsenio’s shoulders to get the shot. Arsenio: “Aubrey had a great idea. She said, ‘Let me put my vagina on the back of your neck.’”

The carpenters need vinyl, so Aubrey sends Teresa and Arsenio to go shopping (and to get rid of them). Eric shows up and Aubrey takes his picture while emphasizing that she is creating all the ideas and doing all the important work on the task. She calls herself a “one-man team.”

After Eric leaves, Arsenio and Teresa return. Arsenio makes suggestions that Aubrey rebuffs, while Teresa paints the display in a silk blouse and high heels.

At Forte’s design shop, Penn describes his ideas to the carpenter. Clay has a hard time visualizing the final display and the carpenter has to push him to make decisions. A male model appears, and Penn takes pictures of him and Dayana.

Lisa goes to spy on Unanimous and discovers they are working on the same theme. Clay worries now, and starts thinking about how to blame someone else on his team if he loses.

It’s time for the presentation. The Unanimous display is surrounded by mannikins that look like the Grey Man Group. George stops by. He thinks the buildings look like Rolls Royce grills, and hates the silhouette of Eric that sits on the side of the display like a dark mushroom.

Then the executives arrive. They maintain a grim air, but nod a lot during the presentation. Aubrey graciously allows Arsenio and Teresa to participate by showing off the takeaway cards and scent strips she created. When the executives leave, the team members fall on the floor in relief.

When Forte looks at their display, Dayana sees many flaws, but Clay thinks it looks good enough to go down to the main floor. They all love the picture of Dayana that dominates the display. The executives arrive and Clay nervously presents their work. He seems awkward and ill-prepared. He hasn’t shaved today, either. He asks the executives if they have questions. They tell him to keep going, which is hard because he doesn’t have anything else to say. Finally, they leave.

Ms. Brown talks to us about fragrances. She thinks “Eau de Chocolat” is sensuous, but that Trump would sooner stop for the smell of cold, hard cash.

In the Boardroom, Clay calls his team incredible. Lisa calls him one of the top two PMs that she’s worked with. Lisa praises Dayana and says she “killed it.”

Aubrey now says that everyone on her team did the work. Arsenio praises Teresa for hustling (when she was painting). Trump goes on a digression about Teresa’s ability to fight when attacked.

The teams apparise the other team’s work. Lisa loves the card and the scent strip. Arsenio thinks Clay did a great job and calls Dayana beautiful. Aubrey jumps in to call her model, Eric, sexy. She and Arsenio argue a bit over who did what on the task. Then Aubrey calls Forte’s display “boring.”

Eric and George report feedback from the executives. They loved Dayana’s phot, but thought it was too big. They hated the “You Earned It” slogan. They loved the “Trust Your Instincts” slogan, but thought the Unanimous display lacked creativity. They all hated Eric’s silhouette.

Trump suddenly stops everything. He had promised $100,000 to the winning PM if he loved the display. He didn’t love either one, so he’s giving $40,000 to the winner and $10,000 to everyone else. He announces that Aubrey won.

After Unanimous leaves, Clay expresses surprise that Forte lost. He tries to deflect responsibility for the slogan by saying he led by consensus and calling Penn a “strong pitcher.” He reminds Trump that this is his first loss in seven tasks.

Clay decides to send Lisa to safety. His reason for bringing back Dayana is her troubled history, and calls her “aloof.” Dayana blames her six Boardroom trips on, basically, Aubrey and Lisa for not allowing her to participate on tasks.

Clay picks Penn to be fired — based on this task. Penn defends himself. He came up with the slogan, but he came up with ideas that the executives liked. Penn would fire Clay, because he was the PM and okayed every idea. Clay says he stepped up as PM because Penn wouldn’t. ” It surprises me to find out that I have bigger balls,” Clay says.

Trump wants to fire Dayana, but he can’t. He wants to fire Clay, but he won’t. He fires Penn. Leaving, Penn shakes Dayana’s hand, and holds his hand out to Clay, who hugs him.

In the town car, Penn says he enjoyed the experience, including being fired. He can’t figure out the rules to Celebrity Apprentice and finds that beautiful.

Next week: Clay loses it. Lisa loses it. Can Dayana survive another week?

So, who is pissed that Penn left? Was Clay clever or a wimp? How is it that Lisa didn’t break down in tears this week? Can anything stop Aubrey? Answer below!

 
  • fuzzywuzzy

    Great news for Penn!

    ‘Celebrity Apprentice’: Penn Jillette ‘wins’ $250,000 for charity from Caesars

    Despite hearing Donald Trump’s parting phrase on Sunday’s (April 23) episode of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” Penn Jillette
    still managed to win more than $250,000 — the full amount awarded to
    the ultimate show winner’s charity — for Opportunity Village, a
    nonprofit serving people with intellectual disabilities, but the big
    check wasn’t from Trump. It was from Penn’s “real boss,” Caesars Palace.

    “They called up, and they said, ‘You really care about Opportunity Village, don’t you?’” Penn tells Zap2it.
    The Las Vegas hotel and casino, which owns the Rio where Penn &
    Teller perform, then wrote a check for $250,000 to be given to the
    organization well in advance of “The Celebrity Apprentice” May finale.
    Penn had previously won $40,000 for his charity as the project manager
    during a task to create a show for Medieval Times.

    “I’m thrilled
    to pieces,” Penn says. “So we’ll have the live finale, but I will have
    already given the full prize plus more to my charity. And [Caesars]
    didn’t have to do a big TV show about it.”

    Looks like all Penn’s hard work on the show paid off after all.

    http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/04/celebrity-apprentice-penn-jillette-wins-250000-for-charity-from-caesars.html

  • Anonymous

    ”That was actually her idea… you should rewatch the show and make sure you make the right statement. It’s one think not to like her, and another thing to make a biased lie and present it as the truth. ”

    Gezzz, you can always just to correct my mistake …… i don’t like her like team player ,True!!  but i was unsure if that was her idea or not ”and if i’m not mistake that was not her idea? … (my statement in the previous post ) , do you actually remarked the interrogation point? :|

    Anyway, still thinking her team display was boring and probably one of the challenges when she shows more lack of creativity ….so now if you can excuse me ….bye ;)

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/NWXRUOY5BTHY5F52JP3ZFJTTVI Mikko

    Oh man, please, I will start to cry….Oh, man… Thank you for this post, this was incredibly important to me.

    You know, I got the whole picture of the show then, when Trump fired Andretti and Adam (who by the way are great men), and it is not about, who is the most competent and successful in business and constructive and skillful with people, but all is surreal and unclear and based on Trump’s out of the whim – decisions. After having understood that - nearly exactly in the same way as Penn did in taxi – I have not suffered from the unfairness and “no rules except Trump’s mood” policy, but still enjoyed to watch the show because of the great people and their ways of surfing in that Trump world.

    And like I have written, it has been clear to me a long time ago, that Penn really has had business longer than Trump, since teenager, and I think, it has been also successful, and by the way, that success I think HAS BEEN EARNED (really liked that phrase, Trump is going down with the executives that say it was bad – hmm… maybe he does not earn it?). I think, that if CA would have been played with the rules of real business world (not Trump’s), Penn really might have won.

    But you know, your post confirms to me, that Penn did win this whole thing and with what a way! Trump fired him, but he still won! This act kind of fired Trump! Trump must be pissed, that his surreal unfair decisions are not real and successful business, but that real and successful business outside the television sets have eyes open to, who earns the success. I am also so glad for his charity, because I know that Penn’s caring of it is not any fake act.

    It is so rare in the world to get to see, that real class act is rewarded and recognized in the mainstream, that all this justifies penn’s attending to CA with the philosophy of not wanting to hurt anyone. That attitude paid off! It was better like this, getting the charity money from somewhere else!

    I am telling you, Penn (& Teller) represent really rare spirit of art, that is really giving to people something essential.

  • Anonymous

    I think they can both claim credit for the idea, it would not have been chosen if Aresenio had not found it on the internet to confirm he had said something like that, so they are both linked in that both of them were responsible for it.

  • Anonymous

    ”I’m thinking that one of Dayana’s problems (like Lou’s) is that it’s hard for the other players to slow down and listen to her.  She speaks English very well, but she does have an accent and that does make it difficult to make herself heard in a push of other voices.  Clay was very cognizant of Lou’s disability and patient with him.   He seems less aware of how Dayana’s language difficulties may be affecting her attitude.”
    Ehhhh …… Dayana has not language difficulties :| , just an accent like a big % in USA , specially in NYC, her diction is clear  , nothing comparable to Lou who actually has a real LP. Clay ignoring her was just another mistake he did last night, clearly he was not on his element and he was clueless about what details were important to create a display for a product like a lotion. 
    Dayana personality is sweet and came from the beauty/pageant world and can be perceived like weak and less smart (a clear prejudice)), many strong players thought she was an easy target to be fired from the start , but since that had not happened yet, she becoma an obsession for some lol. 
    I agree though with the rest of you comment specially the way a ‘Visual person works”

  • fuzzywuzzy

    “It is so rare in the world to get to see, that real class act is
    rewarded and recognized in the mainstream, that all this justifies
    penn’s attending to CA with the philosophy of not wanting to hurt
    anyone. That attitude paid off! It was better like this, getting the
    charity money from somewhere else!”

    It was nice to see that Penn’s charity didn’t lose out because he was fired and that it all turned out so well in the end.  A very classy move by the Rio/Caesar’s for a very classy guy. 

  • Anonymous

    I think people are misreading the Dayana situation.  There are many times she just comes off annoying as hell, almost like a child.  Clay has only been on the team for two episodes- which is like only 4 days filming and she is already driving him batty.  If it was only Lisa, maybe it would seem weird, but the next episode shows Clay yelling at her to shut up, so she must be really bad and annoying.  I bet she is getting a great “edit” to cut out all the stuff that makes the others crazy because Trump likes her.  I could see straight guys like Penn or Dee ignoring it because they like looking at it, she’s stunningly beautiful, but when the others say gets under their skin, there must be something to it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    Clay couldn’t just say no. He had butted heads with Penn before because Penn would steamroll everyone with his ideas. Clay conceded with Penn’s suggested slogan to keep peace on the team and not waste time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    Exactly! Penn said it wasn’t his thing, suggested Clay take PM, then proceeded to take over the task. It was a punk-ass move.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    I can NOT believe that Aubrey’s display actually won. It was horrible!! It makes me wonder if the results were manipulated so they could kill someone on the bigger team to even things out. The only thing that redeemed it were the flyers and scent strips.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    Her display looked like high-schoolers made it for their (very underbudgeted) musical.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1759402889 Natalie Blake

    So true. Don, on the other hand…..mwarrrr!

  • Allison

    Apropos of nothing, I turned on the TV to watch Apprentice and my 15 year old son walked into the room. He asked what they were doing. I said making a display for Trump’s new cologne. He looked incredulous and laughed – What is he calling it, SUCCESS?”.  I was shocked that he was right on, then I thought it was funny that Trump is so predictable that a 15 year old could guess the name of his cologne.

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Final ratings:

    The 18-49 rating was down 0.1 from last week (2.1), the share was down from 6 to 5, and total viewers were down from 6.66 to 6.310.  Sunday’s ratings were down 12.5% (18-49) and total viewers were down 12.2% from the same episode last year.

    Time   Network   Show  18-49 (ratings/share) Viewers

    9:00PM FOX  25th Anniv. Spec.     1.8/5         4.320
                NBC  Celebrity Appren. (9-11) 2.1/5   6.310
                CBS  The Good Wife          1.9/5        10.420
                ABC  Firelight (9-11)         1.6/4         7.560

    10:00PM CBS  NYC 22                   1.4/4         7.390

    http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/04/24/sunday-final-ratingsonce-60-minutes-amazing-race-good-wife-celebrity-apprentice-all-adjusted-up/130522/

    Last year’s ratings (May 9, 2011):

    Celebrity Apprentice (180 minutes)

    - 7.182 million viewers

    - 4.4/7 HH

    - 2.4/7 A18-49        

    http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/05/10/sunday-final-ratings-desperate-housewives-amazing-race-american-dad-family-guy-adjusted-up-brothers-sisters-adjusted-down/92054/

  • fuzzywuzzy

    Of course he could have said “no”.  He was the Project Manager!  Penn has always pushed his ideas, that’s the way he is, but the PMs always have ability to say “no” to any idea or person. Clay had no trouble saying “no” to Dayana’s idea of the take away brochures, and he realized that he has made a mistake.  Clay chose to accept Penn’s ideas because he was taking the “manage by consensus” attitude, which Trump criticized him for later in the boardroom.

  • Allison

    The ratings could be a lot better, but I see they are still getting on the 18-49.