UPDATE: Terese Giudice was eliminated after the boardroom
UPDATE: Lisa Lampanelli was fired in the boardroom after interviews with Marlee Matlin and John Rich
This week’s task has the contestants producing a four page print ad for “CHI Touch” Digital Touchscreen Hair Dryer. Check out some clips HERE. Teresa Giudice and Lisa Lampanelli are the project managers this week.
Blown Away
Last week: Aubrey tried to take control from Project Manager Arsenio Hall. On Forte, Dayana tried to assert herself. Trump fired Dayana while Lisa smiled evilly.
After the Boardroom: Lisa pranks Unanimous by pretending that Clay went home along with Dayana. Then she rejoices because Dayana is gone and makes fun of Teresa, who realizes that she’s next in Lisa’s line of fire. “Bring it,” she tells the camera from the safety of the Talking Head Room.
We skip Arsenio delivering his task money, going straight to Hearst Tower, where Trump introduces the judges for the next task. Robbie Myers from Elle Magazine, Farouk Shami, and someone named John. The task is to create a print campaign for the CHI Touch Screen Hair Dryer. They will be judged on brand messaging, the print campaign, and the presentation. The winner will get $100,000.
The judges meet with the teams and Farouk (who also appeared last season, on a “hair show” task), makes the most of this product placement by showing off all the best features of the hair dryer. Apparently it was developed by NASA. Robbie explains that the ad needs to feature the “Elle girl.”
Unanimous (well, Aubrey) comes up with a concept that marries Zen (yoga poses) with Futurism (big hair). On Forte, Lisa wants to focus on the lightness and efficiency of the hair dryer. She comes up with the idea, “Beauty on the Inside,” which then becomes, “Beneath the Surface.” Clay tells us that this is an abstract concept that may be hard to convey in a picture. Lisa is already plotting how to throw Clay under the bus if they don’t win.
The PMs negotiate for the use of models from a common pool. When Teresa asks for a red-haired model, Lisa immediately hardballs her. Teresa ends up saddled with a male model sporting a crewcut. Lisa laughs and calls herself an evil genius.
Eric shows up at Unanimous and grills them on their concept. Aubrey asks Teresa before she takes over the conversation. She’s learning!
Forte’s concept will be about women who are not typical beauties. Which turn out to be “Librarian,” “Tomboy,” and “Lisa Bonet.” According to Lisa, Clay is the only gay guy in the world with no fashion sense. If Dayana was still around, she’d have been sent to get clothes for the shoot — and Lisa would have told us what a useless, stupid, easy task shopping is. Since she’s not, Clay sends “Lisa Bonet” to help Lisa Lampanelli find stuff at Lord & Taylors.
Overwhelmed by questions from the photo shoot team, Clay refers all decisions to the absent Lisa. But, as soon as she arrives, Lisa sits down for lunch and ignores everyone but Don, who is checking up on Forte. She explains the concept, using the phrase “beneath the surface” about a million times.
As it turns out, the red-haired model never shows up for Unanimous. The agency sends them a blonde instead. Aubrey comes up with a plan. She’ll be the model! The blonde model stalks off angrily. When Aubrey changes her clothes, Teresa is scandalized by the nakedness. Nobody else is.
Aubrey tells us that she’s been in Elle many times — on their worst-dressed lists. She considers this task “sweet revenge…. I look so good as a hair model! My hair is so fierce!”
Teresa stumbles and stutters through her presentation to the judges. Farouk gazes happily at Aubrey’s hair as she presents the photos, which look very high-fashion. Arsenio does a very funny monologue about the features of the hair dryer. The judges are laughing.
Lisa and Clay give a more rehearsed presentation. No reading from notes. However, they aren’t as visually satisfying. Teresa’s team looked like a team. They look like two random people who wandered in. Their ads have a lot more copy than the ones from Unanimous.
The judges confer about the two teams. Will they decide the winner before the commercial break? Nope.
Trump starts the Boardroom by asking about the negotiation. “Did Lisa play you for a fool?” he asks Teresa. Lisa is having a great time. She brags about making Teresa take a “potentially bad model.” Teresa says Lisa played dirty.
The teams show their campaigns. Lisa thinks Unanimous’s photographs are beautiful, especially Aubrey’s. Clay thinks the ads are unclear.
Eric and Don deliver the judges’ feedback. Unanimous’s presentation was convincing, passionate, and funny. The pictures were beautiful, but they didn’t speak to the features of the hair dryer. The styling wasn’t Elle. Teresa was very awkward during the presentation.
Forte’s copy was good. The dryer was well highlighted. The ads fit Elle’s audience. But the styling was very dated and the presentation was lackluster.
The winning team was Forte. Teresa looks pained. She knows she’s going home.
Safe in the suite, Lisa is happy to win for her charity, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.
In the Boardroom, Trump asks about the model negotiation. Aubrey and Arsenio both say that losing the negotiation was a problem, but they regrouped.
Teresa tries to shift the blame to Arsenio by saying he played it safe and brought nothing to the table. Even as the words leave her lips, they sound like empty clichés. Trump fires Teresa.
As the Final Four celebrate, the phone rings. They are called back to the Boardroom. Trump congratulates them and informs them that they will interview with John Rich and Marlee Matlin.
As they wait, Arsenio thinks about the challenge. Lisa and Clay think about their respective charities. Aubrey thinks about herself.
Oh, here is Ms. Brown to remind us that she’s made of chocolate. Okay, then.
Trump chit-chats with Rich and Matlin about their experiences since the show. John feels validated as a person. Marlee is excited because her charity has raised 7.2 million in a single event. Then they move on to discussing the Final Four.
Marlee finds Aubrey stunning, intelligent, and passionate. She likes Aubrey’s passion for GLSEN. John calls Aubrey a “chess player,” but found her attempts to manipulate him transparent.
Marlee wonders if Clay is truly a leader. His connection to the National Inclusion Project is strong, but was he too safe? John pushes Clay on that issue, pointing out that PMing only two tasks is kind of lame.
John asks Arsenio how will he win this thing? Arsenio plans to give 100 percent. Marlee asks Arsenio about his fight with Aubrey. She is please that he apologized.
Marlee says that Lisa is so loud that even a deaf person can hear her. John calls Lisa “tough.” Marlee thinks Lisa is passionate, but her weakness is in controlling her emotions. John likes that Lisa inspires strong reactions.
Trump meets with the Final Four again. He asks Lisa why she should win. She says her teammates always called her a star, and she was always honest. She was emotional, but never out of control. She uses emotion.
Trump gently fires her. She leaves beaming. She found the process fun. She hugs the elevator man.
We have to wait until next week to find out who the next firee is. From the preview, it looks like Clay makes the final two.
What do you think about the latest episode? Who was the more impressive interviewer, Marlee Matlin or John Rich? Did you think that Lisa deserved to go further? Answer below!
