Celebrity Apprentice, 3/21/2010 (#2): Share memories, not blame!

RockSolid: Rob Blagojevich, Bill Goldberg, Michael Johnson, Bret Michaels, Curtis Stone, and Darryl Strawberry, led by Sinbad who enthusiastically accepts Blagojevich's nomination.

Tenacity: Selita Ebanks, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, and Summer Sanders, led by Maria Kanellis who was chosen by general agreement.

Task/Sponsor:

Relaunch Kodak Moments with a "storefront experience" to educate consumers about Kodak's file-sharing technologies.

Within Tenacity, there are multiple comments (some better-natured than others) about Lauper's poor attention span and lack of focus. When Lauper leaves for a bathroom break, Robinson-Peete actually puts her down in front of the Kodak representatives. (Kodak used to have one of Lauper's songs in their ads.) And Osbourne has to sit out some of the task due to illness. This is on top of being short-handed after losing Leifer last week. However, Kanellis's strong leadership and her grasp of Kodak's mission allows Tenacity to prevail.

In contrast, Sinbad's vagueness causes chaos for RockSolid. Michaels asks what to do, but Sinbad literally ignores him and never says anything more concrete than "just jump in." Michaels stomps away to sulk, feeling sure that they (his teammates and/or the show) will make him out to be the team flake. Frustrated, Johnson and some other teammates eventually put Sinbad on the spot with pleas for more direction. His reply is typically vague. He makes morale worse by leaving without Michaels the next morning, and by ridiculing Blagojevich's suggestion to have balloons. (The women had balloons too, so it wasn't a crazy idea). Curtis Stone tells us, without a hint of snark, that if it were up to him they would have done everything different.

Outcome:

Kodak's Jeff Hayzletti says, "the winner is Kodak!" But actually, the winner is Tenacity. Kodak thought RockSolid did a better job of branding and leveraging their star power, but were too disorganized and did not put enough emphasis on the product. Kodak's "secret shoppers" also found the RockSolid experience to be disorganized, and when they left they still didn't know how to get their pictures.

On the other hand, Kodak LOVED Summer Sanders, who quickly learned everything about the products. They felt that Tenacity did not do as well as the men in making personal connections with consumers, but even while battling multiple electrical outages, they still did a better job of showcasing the products and emphasizing the "sharing" theme.

Boardroom:

The team agrees that Sinbad wasn't a good leader. Sinbad tries to put the blame on Bret for walking out on the task briefly, but Bret defends himself and says that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, felt that he was at risk of losing his temper, and took a timeout rather than make a big scene and screw up morale. Johnson backs up this story, saying that Michaels was confused and that they weren't led. The other teammates mostly concur, though there's a weird moment when Goldberg disingenuously suggests that they failed because they had too much star power on their team. Curtis Stone even says that Johnson and Blagojevich were better leaders. Sinbad doesn't offer an defense for his weak leadership.

Sinbad chooses Blagojevich and Michaels for the firing line. Both men readily blame him for their loss (Blagojevich more diplomatically, not that anyone is fooled by his mild manner), and Sinbad again fails to defend himself. He even admits that Bret Michaels can be led, but that he himself failed to lead him.

Fired: Sinbad, for failing to lead. There's no discussion of making a donation to his charity, Omega Boys Club Street Soldiers.

Donation: $20,000 for Maria Kanellis's charity, the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Remarks: Some awkward moments: Holly Robinson-Peete asks a boy from Make-A-Wish what he wants to be when he grows up. The boy is too well-mannered to reply what we're all thinking: "Holly, I'll be lucky if I grow up at all." Later she realizes her gaffe and is mortified. And after enduring some verbal abuse on the street, Rod Blagojevich enjoys a chat with two fans until he realizes that they think he's Donny Osmond.