The program started out with five contestants – Bret, Holly, Maria, Curtis and Sharon – and they headed directly back into the boardroom after Cyndi’s departure from the last episode. The five were told that someone was to be fired right away, there would be an interview process and two more would be tossed that evening, leaving two finalists remaining for the showdown.
Maria was quickly sent packing, and the interviews began: handling them was the second Celebrity Apprentice, Joan Rivers (Piers Morgan won the first one), and Bill Rancic, the first Apprentice winner. Each contestant spent face time with Joan and Bill separately, answering questions about their skills, history and desire to win. For some reason, Bill seemed especially aggressive to them all in the sessions, and he and Joan reported back to Donald Trump.
In the boardroom, Trump quizzed everyone once again, considered the input of his interviewers and Curtis was let go first, with an overly emotional Sharon close behind….leaving a Bret/Holly finale.
Bret and Holly raised the most money for their charities - $140,00 (Bret) and $350,00 (Holly), so maybe this duel makes the most sense in the big picture; however, I still believe Holly should have been fired previously and I did predict a Bret/Sharon showdown, so I slightly missed that mark.
The final task is for each party to create a new flavour of Snapple and design its packaging and marketing, including a tv commercial and a 3-page print ad, while working their charity’s mission and message into the brand. The winner receives $250,00 for their charity, along with the CA3 title.
As usual, each finalist was supplied with extra hands, in the form of contestants from this season: Bret was joined by Summer and Daryl, while Maria and Curtis joined Holly’s team.
Bret came out with guns ablazing, full of confidence and energy, and worked together with his teammates to develop a flavour before holding a public taste test session. Summer was a real surprise, looking organized, focused and competent – completely the opposite of how she looked the rest of the season. Wow, what a difference: maybe Summer is better when the pressure is off her personally, who knows?
Holly got down to work right away, but had to reel Maria in when she kept getting off task. Holly’s approach was the polar opposite of Bret’s – while he was collaborative, she was dictatorial, which really isn’t a surprise if you’ve seen any of the previous episodes; hell, Holly was that way even when she wasn’t the Project Manager.
After negotiating over flavours and ingredients, the teams held a public taste-testing session to help nail down their final concept and flavour. Bret’s working on a tropical- themed blend while Holly’s is more fruit and berry-based.
The episode ended with both finalists working on the advertising materials, which should be where things pick up at the start of next week’s finale. The presentation of the new brands will be made to company executives and hardcore fans of the beverage, before Trump brings Bret and Holly out for the live portion of the finale and makes his decision.
So, who comes out the winner? I’m picking Bret to take the title, because he’s been the most consistent of the two over the season; I’ve said it before, but he’s got a solid combination of creativity and business smarts.
Even though his recent health issues have no bearing on the job Bret did on the series, I can’t help but think it contributes, in some way, to him being the sentimental favourite to win. However, Trump has a history of making goofy decisions: there’s a bunch from this season alone, and there’s no way Joan Rivers should have beaten Annie Duke as the CA last season – Joan’s just too evil, but sometimes evil prevails, which could mean that Holly gets the win.
We’ll see……
Previous entries:
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 9
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 8
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 7
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 6
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 5
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 4
Celebrity Apprentice Wk 3
Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In (20th Anniversary Edition) - I Won't Forget You Poison – I Won’t Forget You
Live, Raw & Uncut (2007)
