Tuesday , March 19 2024
I'm not sure this one will all come out in the wash.

A Dirty Boardroom on The Celebrity Apprentice

As you know, I watch The Celebrity Apprentice with great regularity.  There are many reasons for my doing this, but quite honestly the biggest is that I have a good time watching.  I don't always agree with the decisions made by Trump or the teams, but they're often quite fascinating.  Even with celebrities in the place of real people, it's still an interesting social experiment (it's just a different society).

Normally, the promos for the show touting big boardrooms or crazy goings on are incredibly misleading.  The one for last night's episode suggested that there would be a "celebrity mutiny."  That certainly didn't take place, but it was a wild and crazy boardroom.

You may recall that last season on the show, Gene Simmons suggested that perhaps, just perhaps, the client was wrong, that the client didn't know what they wanted.  That's a tough sell, particularly when the client decides who wins and loses.  However, All, who was pitching their new detergent this week, certainly seemed like they didn't know what they wanted.  They suggested that they wanted a "viral video," but they wanted a squeaky clean one that would be passed on by moms to one another.  They certainly didn't want the little people Athena used and the dirty joke Kotu told.  They actually decided to not have a winner (I seem to recall such a thing happening with Dove or some other shampoo/body wash company early on in the show's run).

Fine though, let's assume that the client was right, that the viral video they wanted could exist and that both teams failed the task, Kotu definitely did.  It really doesn't excuse what happened in the boardroom.

Kotu should be embarrassed.  Before the winner was announced – or not announced as happened – they all went on the attack against each other.  It was mostly centered on Joan and Clint hating one another, Joan made it personal, but Clint didn't.  I appreciate Clint for staying – as best he could – above the fray directed at him, but he was still in the wrong about the entirety of his actions during the shoot. 

If Clint was in the wrong though, Melissa Rivers was so far beyond wrong that she couldn't even see wrong anymore.  Even though she wasn't there, jumped in to defend her mom.  Seriously.  I guess she actually figured that she knew her mom well enough to know what had taken place despite not being there.  At one point Donald Trump actually asked Melissa if she thought she was sometimes obnoxious.  He did it in that "I'm saying this in a joking fashion, but we all know you are" kind of way.  Melissa shrugged that one off, but then Don-Don jumped in and asked the question again.  He said it in that "no, really, you are obnoxious and we all know it" kind of way.  I can't believe Trump didn't fire his boy right then and there.  I guess there are perks for being the boss's kid.  At least Don-Don's remark shut Melissa up.

While I think that at first blush Trump moving Joan and Melissa to different teams seemed to setup an interesting battle between Joan and Melissa, it really didn't.  In fact, I tend to think that moving them to opposite sides was the safe move for the show.  I mean, I would have loved to see Melissa and Joan go at it in the boardroom if they were on the same team, each battling for their life, but I have to imagine that never would have happened with them on the same team.  Moving them to opposite teams, while they're ostensibly fighting against one another none of it is really face-to-face so it's not really a battle.

Of course, then Trump went nuts (here's the spoiler people), firing Tionne for volunteering to come back to the boardroom and Khloe for getting a DUI before the show began filming (perhaps before she even agreed to do the show).  Trump was at least consistent with a season two episode when he got rid of Tionne, but the Khloe thing was way out of line.  If Khloe had gotten a DUI while working on the show that would have been one thing, but this occurred before the show took place, and it's not like this is American Idol, pushing for some squeaky clean pop star. Allowing Khloe to stay on the show is not the same as condoning her actions.  Jesse James got to stay even though he admitted to having had a drinking problem in his youth.  One wonders if Trump will now dig into James' history and find something he doesn't like there. 

Enough of that though (end spoilers), the funniest thing, truly, that comes out of all of this is All's position in it.  They wanted a viral video and got nothing they felt they could use.  Consequently, the show has gone and made them a couple of videos, one with Joan and one with Melissa (they don't stick to the one minute they allotted the teams however). 

I guess they ended up creating their own viral videos.  I'm not really sure that I'd classify them as "viral," but you watch and be the judge.  If you visit the All website you can even enter a sweepstakes and if you pass on the videos they'll also donate money to Melissa & Joan's respective charities.  Here's a little teaser of both the videos (full versions over at All).

About Josh Lasser

Josh has deftly segued from a life of being pre-med to film school to television production to writing about the media in general. And by 'deftly' he means with agonizing second thoughts and the formation of an ulcer.

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