Celebrity Apprentice, 4/4/2010 (#4): Revenge of the Muggles

Rocksolid: Bill Goldberg, Michael Johnson, Bret Michaels, Curtis Stone, led by Rob Blagojevich, who was nominated by Johnson as a way to put the team's weakest player on the chopping block.

Tenacity: Maria Kanellis, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Summer Sanders, led by Selita Ebanks, who volunteered.

Task/Sponsor: Create a "3-D interactive display" (i.e. walkaround exhibit) for the Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios Orlando in an 8' x 14' space (smaller than most living rooms). Efforts will be judged by a focus group of young fans.

Guest Eyes/Ears: Erin Burnett and our ol' pal George. Bret Michaels luvs Erin Burnett!

Outcome: The focus group of young fans comment that the RockSolid display was less true to the Harry Potterverse, but funnier and more entertaining. The Universal executives are disappointed that neither team did a great job of pushing the park attraction. (Actually, there had been some photos at the RockSolid display, but Blagojevich didn't like them and covered them up.) Overall, the fans thought Tenacity's was better; the women win for the third week in a row.

Boardroom: Blagojevich, who had driven Michaels crazy trying to teach him the right terminology to use around the Harry Potter fans, gets them all wrong in the boardroom - reinforcing the focus group's claims that RockSolid wasn't true to the books. Blagojevich, who had left Michaels in charge of the project while he was in Orlando, inexplicably refuses to bring Michaels back to the boardroom and doesn't give a clear reason why. (The reason he could have given: it wouldn't be right to leave Michaels holding the bag when Blagojevich was supposed to be leading the task.) Instead, he chooses Stone and Johnson.

Stone and Johnson insist that Michaels should be in the boardroom instead. Trump gives Blagojevich a chance to change his mind, but he doesn't. Blagojevich says Stone was the weakest team member. But Stone and Johnson agree that Blagojevich is not a good leader.

All of this discussion seems rather pointless, and Stone's additional jabs at Michaels are fruitless, because Trump eventually points out that Blagojevich was the one who went to Orlando to learn about Harry Potter; and Blagojevich was also the PM. Blagojevich is fired.

Fired: Blagojevich, for lack of leadership. (Even when Johnson asked him specific questions about the task, Blagojevich answered only "use your judgment." Evidently, he learned nothing from the Sinbad debacle in week 2. Frankly, I am mystified as to how Illinois didn't get burnt to the ground, eaten by locusts, or invaded by Wisconsin during his governorship. Kudos to the people of Illinois!)

Donation: $20,000 to Shine on Sierra Leone, which provides education, mentoring, and nutritional support for schools in African diamond mining communities, where, Ebanks says, 1 in 8 women die in childbirth. This money will go towards the construction of a hospital.

Blagojevich's charity, the Children's Cancer Center, which assists kids with life-threatening diseases and their families, gets nothing from this show that we know of.

Remarks:
The project managers are sent to Orlando immediately to be briefed on the project. Ebanks keeps her team informed by constantly emailing and texting notes, instructions, diagrams, and photos. She composes much of the team's presentation on the way home. Meanwhile, Blagojevich names Michaels "acting project manager" while he's away, makes only a few vague phone calls from Orlando, and sleeps on the plane ride home.

Upon returning from Orlando, Blagojevich is taken aback when he sees Stone and Johnson enjoying a nice dinner in another room while Michaels and Goldberg are hard at work on the display. Later, Blagojevich doesn't mention this when asked why he chose them for the boardroom instead of Michaels. (Or maybe he does and it's edited out. Or maybe the lunch break wasn't what it appeared; maybe those two had worked on the display while Goldberg and Michaels took a different break.)

Meanwhile, the tension grows among the women of Tenacity: Robinson-Peete continues to be openly hostile to Lauper. Osbourne takes her to task. Kanellis tells us that she feels stuck in the middle between Osbourne/Lauper vs. Peete/Sanders. Personally, every time Peete or Sanders cuts Lauper down for showing some enthusiasm, it's like seeing someone kick a puppy: it's mean, it's unproductive, and it makes them look like gigantic assholes. Is anyone impressed by their mean-girl behavior? How far will it get them? And didn't I say I was going to refrain from long editorials about this kind of BS? I'll stop now and try to be good with tonight's episode!