With two rockers left in the competition, I’ve got to say that I definitely didn’t imagine Donald Trump and The Celebrity Apprentice throwing a Country Music challenge at the remaining contestants. But that they did, and on the same night as the Academy of Country Music Awards. Coincidence? I think yes, and an unfortunate one at that.
Especially for Luke Bryan, the men’s chosen performer, who won the Top New Artist and Top New Solo Vocalist Awards at the CMAs. I don’t imagine he was happy that his network TV appearance aired while his fans were busy watching an awards show.
But be that as it may, the challenge was good for one thing if nothing else: the return of Trace Adkins, who co-won his own CMA for Vocal Event of the Year. And I dedicate my piece to the man who not only rolls his eyes at Trump in silence, but also vocally disagrees with him, and told him he’d fired the wrong person after the final boardroom was over. Plus he made a funny to Sharon Osbourne (who, by the way, was MIA due to swine flu) about his own Celebrity Apprentice nemesis Piers Morgan. Way to bring it Trace!
While I agreed with the consensus opinion that it would have made more sense for Bret to manage this task against Cyndi, the fact remains that Goldberg had yet to take a turn. And, if we can believe what Bret said was his own rationale, he’d yet to have an opportunity to win money for his charity. Considering that that’s what this show is about — presumably — I’d say he made the right move in assuming control. Should he have worked harder to ensure that, ultimately, the direction of the task was in his hands? Absolutely. But I don’t think it was the wrong move for Goldberg to be project manager last night.
And certainly the men’s team runs smoother than the constantly bickering and in-fighting women’s. First “Selita” and Cyndi went at it over whether or not Cyndi allows people to contribute, and then Maria and Cyndi went at it over whether or not Maria has what to contribute. Her weird “You think you know” line really turned things into a high school moment, and what was the point of her “shaved/unshaved” story with regards to an interview she did with Playboy?
The task itself was rather blah, but I did enjoy Luke’s performance at the end. Emily West has a beautiful voice, but I felt like her soulful song choice would get eaten up by the sheer volume of gut-wrenching music in the Country aisle. I liked watching Curtis get so into Luke’s song, and when he started singing the chorus during his talking head? A Brit taking on a rhyme like whiskey/frisky? Awesome.
As much as I dislike her on the show, I was pleased to see Cyndi finally taking a firm stand in the boardroom. She felt Maria was the weakest link, and she finally got up the nerve to say so. Nice to see that she’s grown.
Unfortunately that wasn’t contagious. What was up with Trump and his stupid bandanna thing? I loved hearing Trace essentially tell him to shut up, but I’m not sure even that was worth having to endure Trump’s little soliloquy about bandannas. Yes, I’m sure he would look fantastic in one. Congratulations.
I continue to say this week after week, but I was really surprised that the women won last night’s task. Aside from the fact that their team is clearly the less functioning, less pleasant one to watch, I also completely disagree that Emily seemed positioned with the best chance to break through. Maybe it’s an over-exposure to female Country artists, in my limited familiarity with the genre, but I felt as if I’d seen “Emily” countless times. It may have been her choice of song, but since that’s all we got to see, that’s all I have to go on.
And the worst part was that the loss meant that Goldberg, Curtis, and Bret were all on the chopping block. And I think all three are great! It’s the women who have an uninteresting personality to spare … as much as I’m not gung-ho about Maria, Sharon, Cyndi, or “Selita” (sorry!), I understand their appeal, as well as the unique fan bases each brings to the show. Summer Sanders, on the other hand? She may end up being the greatest contestant to ever play the game, but she hasn’t shown me anything yet. It’s the luck of the draw, but it’s wrong to have her survive and one of these three guys go.
And actually, using that as a template I saw Curtis getting blindsided with Trump’s catchphrase. Mainly because viewers of reality cooking shows are already more likely to be watching The Celebrity Apprentice, whereas Bret and Goldberg bring in people who are curious to see a rocker or a wrestler, respectively, do this. Plus Goldberg’s the man … I was extremely disappointed to see him get fired.
And next week? Expect the inevitable team reshuffling. That rarely works out well for anyone.
“I don’t like negotiating with people I can’t beat up.” – Goldberg, on negotiating with the women’s team
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 19, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
Don’t watch the show, but that picture brings back some memories. Oh, the good old days when wrestling was vulgar and engaging, and got ratings
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Goldberg was actually after my time. I stopped watching wrestling when it was still the WWF, The Ultimate Warrior was in a bitter feud with The Undertaker, Triple H had yet to hit the scene, and The Rock was still playing football. But I do remember those days fondly. :)
So Sharon exposed countless New Yorkers to swine flu as she sneezed all over their food in the first challenge? Wonderful.
I was also very happy with Trace not rolling over for Trump (finally! someone!) and am finding Trump more and more revolting with each passing episode, especially with tactless regard to the personal issues of players. And I understand his ego is huge, but still– he’s delusional. FOr just one example, I’m not a country music fan, but I’m pretty sure Trace’s success is not because he chose to be on The Apprentice, even if that did increase his name recognition.
This Cyndi situation is just getting annoying to watch, so maybe that will improve once the teams are switched up next week. But I will miss Goldberg, and hopefully Curtis and Bret can make it through a bit longer, since I like them (and Maria, and that’s about it).
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Yes she did. In fact, given time I’ll bet the CDC traces the up-tick in swine flu cases this past Winter to the women’s diner in Midtown Manhattan. ;)
What was up with the Donald last night? He’s never been so offensive and rude and agumentative. Is he not getting any or something? I’m waiting for a celebrity to just tell him to shut the hell up. He’s got them all cowed. At least Trace challenged him, the good ole boy that he is. I was glad to see it.
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You know, I think his demeanor depends on who’s sitting in front of him. He acts like the kind of person he thinks those sitting opposite him usually spend their time with. So when he’s looking at a pro wrestler and a wrestling diva/Playboy model, he acts accordingly. It’s extremely offensive, but the funny thing is imagining what combo of people would make his mind overload and his head spin off. ;)
He seems so coarse this season. Like it’s not really him anymore, just a foul mouthed guy they pulled in from a bar. Bring back the class.
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Funny. I agree with you, and at the same time, what class? ;)
They’re rebooting The Apprentice for the fall … it will be interesting to see how he behaves after three seasons with “celebrities.”
Perhaps class is too stong of word? Could I ask for manners or decency?
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You can always ask! :)
Finally, an opportunity to discuss how unbelievably annoying Cindi Lauper was lol omg. She is so patronizing and full of herself, and takes every possible opportunity to mention her one famous song ‘Twoo Cowas’ er True Colors, from the 80s, or worse, sing it with her craggy out of tune voice. What a god awful song. “Listen sweetie, oi’ve been singing Twoo Cowas for thoity years now”. I just can’t get over how rude she is to her team mates. I don’t think she realizes how badly she comes across, but I guarantee, as soon as she does, she’ll go on the Howard Stern show, trying to fix her public image and justify her horrible behaviour, and of course, sing True Colors…again. Oh, and the reason that the women won that country music task? It was nothing to do with the task itself. Carol Liefer was on the Stern Show, and said that Donald Trump fires people based on how famous they are, and how much they can bring to the show. I mean, if there was any reality to this reality show, then Sharon Osbourne would have been fired ages ago for giving everyone swine flu and scaring everyone with her god awful cosmetic surgery. But she’s more famous than Goldberg.
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No argument from me on Cyndi. :)
While I agree with you that fame levels definitely play a role in how people have been fired, I’m not sure it’s a determining factor for which team won the task. I think it comes into play when looking at the contestants on the losing team sitting in front of Trump. If he were picking teams to lose each week based on who had the least known “celebrity” left (and if we’re to believe their representation he’s not determining the winner on these types of tasks at all), the women would have lost this week and he would have found a way to fire Summer.
Carol was 100% fired for being least famous, but that was after a legitimate loss for the women. Same with Selita.