By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed January 19, 2015
Before we get started with the recap, here's Geraldo Rivera's egotistical quote of the week: "My mind is like a volcano. It's constantly spewing. I'm amazed by my own endless creativity. And I don't mean to be egotistical."
As you absorb that whopper, let's get on with it:
Athletes haven't fared well on "Celebrity Apprentice" and in this case, they are being plucked off one by one. Last week, Terrell Owens and Jamie Anderson have gotten the boot. This week, it was Shawn Johnson's turn, leaving only Johnny Damon among the final nine celebrities.
Shawn, the youngest cast member at age 22 at the time of the taping, admits she is trying to stay under the radar - but that strategy backfires big time for the sixth task: selling Ivanka Trump shoes from Nordstrom in a mobile boutique.
Atlanta's Kenya Moore and Vivica A. Fox square off as project managers.
This is Vivica's second time as project manager, having won before. She is wondering why Shawn backed off from being the leader. (Shawn makes excuses about not knowing how to sell mobile and not being a fashion maven.)
Vivica initially takes Shawn's idea of replicating a Nordstrom department store, which is an obvious thought given that the shoes are sold in Nordstrom. Shawn has a visual concept that is Vivica dumps midway through, grabbing Geraldo's cafe idea outside instead.
Kenya has the same general idea of a Nordstrom-style atmosphere to sell Ivanka's shoes but came up with the catchy phrase "Power Up Your Sole." She has more ideas including a baby grand, fresh flowers and a chandelier, plus a foot masseuse and "green shots," whatever that is. She also places all 100 shoe styles on the TV and on a tablet.
"I understand marketing and I understand luxury," she says. "And I believe that's what we presented her today. How can we lose?"
And she's right. She wins. She's proving to be really good at this "Celebrity Apprentice" game.
She also does a good job buttering up Donald Trump and his daughter quite unctuously in the boardroom:
"I wanted to please her and pay attention to the details. I know how important that is to her. She has an established brand and I wanted to respect that." Kenya is so magnanimous, she even compliments enemy Brandi Granville.
Ultimately, Kenya does a better job because she infused the shoe theme throughout. For Vivica's team, the shoes were not the focal point outside the van even though the cafe idea brought crowds.
"You understood my brand," Ivanka says to Vivica, "but they integrated my product."
Although Ivanka agrees with Leeza Gibbons and believes the imaging of the chandelier and piano was too old for the millennial target audience Ivanka was seeking, she feels Kenya's team was flat out more creative than Vivica's team - especially the slogan. And most of the ideas - good and not so good - were Kenya's.
For her first project manager win, Kenya pockets $40,000 for Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
As a loser, Vivica quickly targets her weakest links Shawn and Kate Gosselin. Ivanka says Shawn should have been project manager because she is part of target audience and her initial ideas were better aligned to the branding than what ultimately happened. Shawn does a poor job defending herself, even agreeing with Ivanka.
Shawn sees the pink slip coming a mile away: "I bet you would have won if you had been project manager," Trump says. "You're fired."
Joan Rivers, by the way, shows up as an advisor. It's bittersweet to see her one more time on TV. (This was taped several months before her death.) A former winner, she likes people like herself so she is impressed with the intensity of both Geraldo and Vivica. Shawn comes across as too laid back.
And since NBC is rushing this series to completion by doubling up episodes (instead of stretching out single tasks to two hours like they have in the past), we quickly move on to task No. 7.
This one features a brand most people would align with their parents - or grandparents: Chock Full O' Nuts. They are creating single-serve coffee, the new rage. Two celebrities who have yet to step up volunteer as project managers: Leeza and Lorenzo Lamos.
Leeza's team featured a fake catfight between Kenya and Brandi, which was Leeza's idea. They truly don't like each other so this didn't take much acting but could create "buzz."
Kenya really really doesn't like Brandi: "She doesn't know how to behave." But she is cool doing a "dream" sequence that then includes them pretending to canoodle in bed.
"I'm a professional so I'll do what it's asked of me," Kenya tells Trump in the boardroom. "I found it difficult with Brandi. She always takes unnecessary shots at me."
Then Kenya takes an unnecessary shot at Brandi by saying she would NEVER bring up how Brandi's husband dumped Brandi for a "younger, pretty woman" in LeAnn Rimes. Trump is particularly bemused by Kenya's reality-show meanness. This exchange is clearly edited down for time so we don't really get any reasonable comeback from Brandi.
Lorenzo's team focuses on Geraldo singing the original theme song in an old-school way, then in a more modern way. It's cute (and of course, all about Geraldo) but is it "viral"? The executives think they played it safe and it felt more like a commercial than a viral video.
They prefer how Leeza took a risk with the Kenya-Brandi fight. The only big negative: they missed the brand messaging.
But Leeza's team wins by a wide margin. So Kenya's reality-show past with Brandi ultimately helps lead them to victory.
And since Lorenzo lost the task by a large margin, he is Trump's most logical decision to fire. Lorenzo makes it even easier because he is unwilling to take two people back with him. So Trump gives him a quick heave ho.
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