Wrapping Up Celebrity Apprentice, The Voice, Survivor-2012. Some great, some so-so, some awful.

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I can't imagine three reality shows as different from each other as the three which have been covered in this Blog for the duration during 2012.

Donald Trump began with a very successful reality series called The Apprentice. Once the thrill of that wore out Trump introduced The Celebrity Apprentice and this has been very successful as well.

The celebrity contenders play for charities which they specify at the beginning of each challenge. In addition, shown at the beginning of each CA episode there is shown a short vignette of the prior week's winner delivering the winning to check to the charity of their choice.

Some of the charities picked by these celebrities are weird. I recall a contender who had a charity that existed to help the people of Palestine. Say what? The people of Palestine have been living just fine on the largesse of the United Nations and neighboring Israel. This season there was at least onoe charity designated that somehow helped lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered, dear Lord, just dear Lord, what sort of financial help do these people need beyond that of a heterosexual?

Still and so it's kind of a standard for this sort of thing. It would be in very bad form for "celebrities" to be winning for their own presumably already wealthy selves.

I thought by the time I wrote this article that Celebrity Apprentice would already have its winner. Not so but this will still be my final post on the matter. I think Arsenio is going to win.

The Voice uses celebrities too. Four "famous" singers are put in the position of blindly choosing teams for amateur unknown singers to pit against the others' teams and to have one contender go on to win the entire contest.

The Voice will forever be most notable by my experience for having the absolute longest, the most grueling, the horror of watched pots never boiling…..ENDING!

At one point, I'm not making this up, there was a longish segment involving CeeLo and his cat!

The judge-singers sang their tunes solo, they sang their tunes with their chosen contenders/team mates, they sang their songs as a group. Guest singers including the child Justin Bieber finally sang his song they'd been hyping the entire season, did I mention Ceelo's cat?

The contender I chose to win, for no other godforesaken reason that I like him the best, was current opera singer Chris Mann. Mann came in fourth out of the final four featured in that endless finale. Tony Lucca, former mousekateer who I despised everything about, came in third, thank God for small favors. Juliet, a Janis Joplin wannabe and nowhere even close, was second place.

The winner of The Voice 2012 wasn't half bad. Jermaine Paul is the father of four kids, he had a good voice if a little wobbly from time to time. I just saw Jermaine perform on the Ellen DeGeneris show. He sang well and he was all along one of my favorites on The Voice. If my guy Mann couldn't win, I'd have chosen Jermaine to win without hesitation.

On to Survivor One World. I've been complaining about this reality series on every post so I'll stop.

This particular season was a bit interesting in that the series started with two tribes, each composed of all one sex. As the season ended there was one tribe left and it was composed of ALL WOMEN!

For the most part I'll probably never be a big Survivor fan. I find the challenges boring and all too similar, the austere basis of how the contenders live is not made clear, the drama of the contender interaction is too busy to follow. That host fellow is right boring as well.

Survivor One World was won by Kim Spradlin. I checked my track of the immunity, elimination and reward challenges and Kim did pretty much nothing of any great note except in late april she won the immunity challenge.

These types of shows do have a "jury", a panel of former contenders that come back when the show is down to under five and they decide who will win the prize. I must suppose Kim did a great job of keeping a low profile, hiding any great challenge she might have presented and I guess she was a nice sort in that by culling my notes I find nothing bad about her.

However great my joy for these three shows, or not, they did entertain me in some form or fashion if for no other reason, by providing fodder for these Blog posts.

Click on the appropriate label tags on the right sidebar to access all this Blog's posts on these shows.

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Celebrity Apprentice 2012-Final Five Blow It Away

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I must say this Celebrity Apprentice 2012 has left me filled with surprise. This when prior years had me so accurately predicting the winners, ie John Rich and Joan Rivers, etc.

The finalists after the most recent episode as of this writing, 5/6/12, are Arsenio Hall, Clay Aikin and Aubrey O'Day. Arsenio was on the winning team 9 times but I show he was only Project Manager for one task-the Walgreen challenge. Aubrey was only on the winning team six times but she was Project Manager two times, creating the Macy's living ad for Trump's fragrance and the Good Sam challenge. Clay been on the winning team eight times but I only show him being Project Manager one time, on a lost challenge for the Trump fragrance challenge.

I know these things are not determined by these sort of statistics but I'll be darn if John Rich didn't mention these statistics when he interviewed Aikin. In either case the statistics are close enough that any of these contenders could win.


It will all be up to The Donald so let's talk about this.

Most of these competitive reality shows have a formula and it works fairly well. They begin with some sort of smallish task just to warm up the viewers to the contenders. A viewer tuning in for the first time thus gets to meet the contenders left at that time. A challenge that lasts a full hour has probably been proven to be a bit long for the average TV viewer but still the show has an hour to fill. Survivor has its "reward challenge", Top Chef has its "quickfire", Big Brother has a "Power of Veto" challenge.

The elimination challenge then concentrates on the task that will have one of the contenders leaving for falling at the bottom of the group.

Celebrity Apprentice does not have the beginning of the show mini-challenge and I think this is to its detriment. Such as angst, solo camera musings and raucous interaction are part and parcel of these sorts of shows but on CA its too much, it wears the viewer thin. I've been complaining all season about that horror called The Board Room.

It's not the boardroom isn't an interesting concept. Having all the contenders gather in their groups and hearing their gripes about each other is part of the show and its important. The Donald is, by the nature of the show, the star of this part of the show and he hams it up by querying the contenders over and over and come on, at times I want to reach through the TV set and slap him.

While I'm complaining about The Donald, he needs to stop telling the results of his show early on Monday morning as there are many of us out here in la la land have it on our DVR and have not watched it yet. I'm not one of that contingent who screams not to reveal some three weeks after the show but I'm talking the next morning folks. I've taken to just turning the channel off of Fox and Friends when The Donald is doing his guest commentary so Trump is, by causing me to take this action, effectively hurting himself in his job as Fox consultant. It's not like revealing the name of the contender eliminated just the prior night is part of his commentary for God's sake. I know he wants to promote his show but he could talk about it maybe, then be coy about who got sent home, urging listeners to check into his web site, that he wants to respect those who haven't watched it yet.

I'm jus' sayin'.

As of this writing it's all a guess to me who shall win this thing. I don't think Aubrey O'Day deserves the win, goodness, she's a bit of a dingbat as I see it. I'd earlier predicted that Lisa would win this but the "judges", the top two prior year winners, said she was too emotional. Which she was, goodness, if Lisa wasn't crying she was b itching about everything. She was very snarky but the consensus was that she was a very hard worker and contributed greatly to every task.

I don't know when bitchiness got someone kicked off the show however, as Joan Rivers turned bitchiness into an actual art during her appearance and she won the task. But Lisa got fired this past episode so we know she'll not win the title.

I'd go with Arsenio being the winner as he's been steady and calm most times, has been on many winning teams and has a nice way about him. I don't see Clay Aikin winning as, well , I dunno, Clay is hardly any dynamo. I predict the final two will be Aubrey and Arsenio, with Arsenio taking the prize.

I've been wrong before. Shit happens.  The finale of Celebrity Apprentice is schedule this Sunday, May 13, NBC, at 9pm.

Below prior posts on this Blog on Celebrity Apprentice 2012.

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Begins-An Intro, Some Snark, The Celebrity Contenders

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Continues, Women Bicker, Men Stay Strong, It Becomes a Hoot

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Begins-An Intro, Some Snark, The Celebrity Contenders

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Winding Down to Top Five & Contenders Get Testy


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Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Winding Down to Top Five & Contenders Get Testy

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Looks Like Best Being Sent Home!

By this point in Celebrity Apprentice 2012 http://www.nbc.com/the-apprentice/ viewers normally have some clue of who seems to be headed to a win as well as the strengths, weaknesses and personalities of the celebrated contenders.

As of this writing there are six contenders left on this competitive reality show. They are:

Arsenio Hall
Aubrey O'Day
Clay Aiken
Dayana Mendoza
Lisa Lampanelli
Teresa Giudice

Aresenio Hall has always been an affable guy, former talk show host, face always wearing a big smile. Arsenio has shown some nastiness during this series, when required. But no matter his solo vignettes that sometimes had him snarling and growling over this contender or another, for the most part Arsenio keeps a low profile and tends to stay in the background during all tasks. So far Arsenio has only been on one losing team and his one time as Project Manager he led his team to victory. So while one might view him as lackluster, he is very much still in the competition.

Aubrey gets ripped every episode, complained about by her team mates and Project Managers. Aubrey has been on FOUR losing teams. She was Project Manager on the losing team for the challenge to create a living wall for Crystal Lite and was winning Project Manager for the most recent challenge as of this writing of producing a n in-store display for Macy's for Trumps new men's cologne called, what else? SUCCESS! I do not see Aubrey as winning this thing as her record's pretty spotty, not the stuff of winners and leaders.

Clay Aiken openly admits he is gay on almost every episode of Celebrity Apprentice. Which makes me smile because I remember when Aiken was a contender for American Idol and all the speculation about his sexual orientation. Not that it matters much who he sleeps with but it sure is a sign of how schizophrenic we are in America about this sort of thing.

Clay has been on a winning team eight times, a losing team three times. He's been Project Manager twice, once for a winning team, once for a losing team. Clay could win this thing in that his skills are close enough. HE did come so close to being outta there during the Trump cologne challenge but for reasons that are murky to me, Trump fired Penn Jillette.

Dayana is beautiful. She's been on the losing team eight times, she's been a Project Manager twice, once a winner, once a loser. More importantly, she's been in the boardroom, called back in by her team mates, almost as many times. She is depicted through the scripting and pathos as having one major good point to bring to the challenges and that is: she is beautiful.

Lisa has a mixed relationship with Dayana, alternately loving and hating her. The Donald is smitten with Dayana, as The Donald often is with beautiful women. There's no reason in the world why Dayana is still hanging in there when much better than her have been sent home.

Teresa is a good contender. She's been on a losing team six times our of eleven, she's been a Project Manager for both a winning and losing team. Teresa has not stood out during the competition in any major manner but she hasn't been brought into that Board room all that often and seems like a team player.

Lisa Lampanelli is the contender I see to win that thing. I base this prediction mostly on the strength of her personality. People with strong personalities tend to win these things. Whether this is planned or unplanned I don't know. If ever there was a forceful in-your-face brutally honest personality, it is Lisa. Lisa too openly proclaims her homosexuality and by this time I really just wish people would shut up about it because, who cares, really?

Lisa's been on seven losing teams so she's not running away with this thing. She's only been a Project Manager one time, as of this writing, and that's interesting. Lisa is seldom brought back into the board room. This is mostly because Lisa is very smart and a forceful leader and most challenges, win or lose, involve her greatly.

The surprising thing to me is the ejection of two contenders that I saw on a path to win. One was Pal Teutul, who was ejected for being Project Manager of a losing task involving creating a puppet show.

The bigger surprise was the ejection of Penn Jillette. Penn is always touted as a great contributor by his team mates, has never been brought back into the boardroom save by Clay Aiken after losing the Trump cologne task. By me Aiken should have been ejected as he was the Project Manager of the task, Project Manager of a challenge that had his team making some serious mistakes.

It was, yes, Penn who came up with the slogan for the store display of Trump's cologne that the Macy's people so hated. Penn came up with "You Earned It" and the Macy's team hated it. Even The Donald didn't think it was such a bad slogan. Further, I think it's L'Oriel hair color for women that has a similar type slogan…"because you're worth it".

Clay's team also came up with a good picture of Dayanna loving some guy but the Macy's people thought the picture was way too big and overpowered the display.

I believe that once you get a bunch of missteps in a task the fault lies with the Project Manager, as opposed to one player who made one contribution to the overall effort, however misguided. And again, I really thought Penn's slogan was a pretty good one, never mind the taste of the Macy's people.

But Trump fired Jillette and so it is.

For the top three, I predict
1-Lisa Lampanelli
2-Teresa Giudice
3-Arsenio Hall

Earlier posts on this Blog about Celebrity Apprentice 2012 below.
Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Begins-An Intro, Some Snark, The Celebrity Contenders

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Continues, Women Bicker, Men Stay Strong, It Becomes a Hoot

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Begins-An Intro, Some Snark, The Celebrity Contenders

Celebrity Apprentice airs on NBC on Sunday nights at 9pm.

Click here to go to this Blog's main menu and see what other TV series we're covering.

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Continues On As Drama Increases; Predictions

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Do They Come Any Bitchier Than Lisa Lampanelli?

So Joan Rivers was the appointed bitch during a recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. At the time I thought her bitchiness was kind of scripted as these things often are. But damn, Lisa Lampanelli is a winner with her wrath and nastiness, dear Lord.

For a while she hated teammate Dayana Mendoza and her mouth knew no bounds. On this more recent episode aired on Sunday, Easter night in fact, 4/8/12, Lisa turned her anger at Lou Ferrigno. Lisa had a nasty mouth and Ferrigno threatened Lisa with bodily harm. Damn, Ferrigno's supposed to be the brave Incredible Hulk who comes to save the day and he's going to throw a woman out the window?

There's been a couple of interesting tasks since my first post on this reality series, one of my faves. The challenges have included creating a few commercials for such diverse products as O Cedar mop, Buick and Entertainment.com. They were charged for throwing a live party for Crystal Lite. On a night of double challenges the teams created a New York guidebook and a demonstration for walking for Walgreens.

As of this writing there are eight celebrity contenders left.

Arsenio Hall
Aubrey O'Day
Clay Aiken
Dayana Mendoza
Lisa Lampanelli
Paul Teutul, Sr.
Penn Jillette
Teresa Giudice

Lisa Lampanelli is listed as a comedian and I know comedic talent often requires a certain amount of acidity. But this woman has being acerbic down to a genuine talent. Which is not to say, in any fashion, that I do not like her. She, however, does not seem to like anyone.

I do think The Donald seems to make a career out of the boardroom time, but Donald Trump never met a camera he did not like.


For now, enough claws have been revealed to keep a viewer's eyebrows raised. Arsenio Hall, a fellow I always considered pleasant, really has it in for Aubrey. Who is now on his team for while the show began with men versus the women, that's all changed. As of this writing, the teams consist of:

Arsenio Hall
Aubrey O'Day
Teresa Giudice
Clay Aiken
Paul Teutul, Sr.

vs

Dayana Mendoza
Lisa Lampanelli
Penn Jillette

This make up, again very uneven, might change at the next challenge.

As for predictions for winners, well hey, I think Lisa's got as much of a chance as anyone to win this. She is very smart, does do a lot of the work and surely is aggressive. Beyond that, Arsenio I think, won't last. Dayana is pretty but dim. Clay just ain't it. Paul Teutul, Sr I would pick as second choice to win. Aubrey won't last till the end I predict, neither will Teresa. Penn Jillette could end up in the top three.

I reserve the right to change my mind as future events unfold.

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 has been an entertaining reality show, as it always is. It airs on Sunday nights, NBC, at 9pm.


Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Continues, Women Bicker, Men Stay Strong, It Becomes a Hoot

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Drivel: Change Agent

Forgive me, my friend, for I have not Driveled.

Each day, I think about what has happened and think, 'I should Drivel that.' And yet I don't. Why? Because you are currently holding too many loose ends. The aquarium must remain a loose end for awhile yet, but I think I can tie a knot in the one about work.

I have met my new Supervisor, several times, and I have had multiple team meetings with her and my team. I feel like the cautious time is over and find I am not only comfortable with Chris, I like her. A lot.

folks I really, really wanted on my team

Things she told me - or the team - have been true, and the story has been consistent whether I heard it directly or from someone else on the team. I haven't found myself confused over what she meant about anything, and when I'm given a task the way I complete it has always been either acceptable (good or really good) or there were minor tweaks (needs a bit of work), but none of them resulted in it being given to someone else to finish, a serious talk about how to do something, or that severe look of disappointment which always makes me wonder what I missed. These things I have experienced from Supervisors in the past when we didn't quite communicate to each other very well; I just didn't speak their language.

None of that right now. It helps me feel like I'm doing a good job (yes, even when I'm asked to refine a deliverable) and gives me confidence to step it up and do other or more things.

A couple of weeks ago, our team underwent another change. Way back somewhere between July 2010 and October 2010, a decision was being made about employees who have a similar role to mine yet work in other departments. The work is the same and while a computer program or two might be different, it might be a good thing to move all of those folks together.

We were assured the decision would be made soon. Then it would be made within two weeks. Then we'd have the answer October 14. Then sometime in November. Then by the year's end . . .

The decision wasn't made, people who were looking forward to that move got other positions, and the Supervisor I had then left us. I figured
the decision was dead.

Apparently it wasn't all the way dead. That consolidation is being made. Overnight, we got five more team members. A couple of them were folks I really, really wanted on my team.

The best news - for me - was that three of them were based in my own town. I would no longer be the only child on my site! Being required to move to the other site is always my biggest fear with any change.

Then, a week later, we got another person, also based here.

Monday was our first team meeting as a group. I knew the dynamics would shift a bit, but I was not prepared for how it actually went.

It was *amazing.* Almost - dare I say it - like family.

For the first time in my entire work life, I am excited about a change.

Corporate tells us that all exempt staff should be "change agents." We should lead change, embrace it, be a role model for staff who aren't so much into it . . . even if we aren't into it ourselves. That's always been tough for me. I don't handle change well.

But in that room, with my new expanded team of thirteen (one was missing), I suddenly saw all the possibilities. The improvements we could make, the efficiencies we could gain, the strength we could give to each other, all were crystal clear, like the path before me on a bright spring morning.

You know what? I think I'm finally a change agent. I am excited to be part of this change, and my team ROCKS.

Michelle
The Desk Drawer writer's exerciselist

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Continues, Women Bicker, Men Stay Strong, It Becomes a Hoot

Donald Trump Has the Thinnest Lips of Any Man on the Planet

So the above observation has not much to do with anything except it's the truth. And Ivanka has the exact same lips.

I got an interesting comment on my first post on this Blog about The Celebrity Apprentice (nnnn).

did you all notice..the ONLY person/cpmpany that DIDNT match the 20,000 task prize...was IVANKA TRUMP....how cheap is that...used the show to market her clothes/accessory line, but DID not donate any of her company money to the charity!! I HAVE LOST ALL REAPECT FOR IVANKA TRUMP

In fact I hadn't noticed that Ivanke didn't make a match for the winner's charity from her company and goodness she's got a lot of business going on. I DID notice, since this comment raised my awareness, that Crystal Lite matched the charitable contribution by $30,000, $10,000 beyond the normal prize of $20,000. Does make me wonder.

As of this writing, the following are still left on this series:

Arsenio Hall
Aubrey O'Day
Clay Aiken
Dayana Mendoza
Debbie Gibson
Dee Snider
Lisa Lampanelli
Lou Ferrigno
Paul Teutul, Sr.
Penn Jillette
Teresa Giudice

I like this series, always look forward to it. But I got a couple of complaints.

First, I DVR each episode and isn't The Donald on every Monday morning on Fox and Friends and he loudly announces who got sent home before I even had a chance to view one minute of the show.

Second, that Board room part is excruciatingly long.

I understand that the Board room is a major part of the drama and I know that The Donald wants to amp up the angst.

He loves to pit the team members against each other to the point when you almost feel sorry for them.

Here's a group of men or women who all just recently worked together to complete an assigned task. Sure, when the teams are busy working the task there's some scripting and emphasis on the disputes and spats, goodness you need something to keep the viewers tuned in. But teams like this are usually happy and in a state of cohesiveness after an assigned task is completed. There's a mellowness that descends upon teams after a challenge and The Donald sticks his nose into the peace and wants to know who was bad, who should go home, who's the black sheep on the team.

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Which is fine, just fine, I get it. But dear Lord how about maybe five to eight minutes of this poking of the happy lions then moving on? Those Project Managers are hopeful that their team will win and the last thing they want to do is cast aspersions on their team mates before they even learn which team is the winner.

Thus the winning team PM has already pointed fingers of blame for no reason and it's kind of sad.

As for the remaining contenders, I've some thoughts. Penn Jillette is being painted as a bad dude, a bit of a trouble maker. Lou Ferrigno, he of Incredible Hulk fame, is often the subject of finger-pointing and God bless he's such a sweet guy. He has a lisp and his team mates tend to point it out as a problem source during their challenge, which it never is.

Lisa Lampanelli has a bit of a big mouth and insinuates herself into all discussions. But she's interesting and makes some keen observations.

So far the teams have made and sold sandwiches, created a medieval show, designed a living window presentation for Ivanka's fashion line, and held a party to feature Crystal Lite "mocktails".

The results have been interesting and entertaining and quite creative.

Below a couple of short video snippets of recent challenges:

Men's presentation below



Women's presentation below



As for who might win this this thing, Arsenio, Dee Snyder, Lisa Lampanelli, and Theresa Giudice have yet to be a Project Manager. For now, of the men I'd think Paul Teutel and of the women, Debbie Gibson, might be ones to keep an eye on.

This speculation subject to change as the rest step up to the plate and lead a challenge.

First post on this series:

 CelebrityApprentice 2012 Begins-An Intro, Some Snark, The Celebrity Contenders

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 airs on NBC on Sunday nights at 9pm.

Click here to go to this Blog's main menu and see what other TV series we're covering.

Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Begins

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I must say I am impressed.

Donald Trump was the architect of the original series called "The Apprentice" before it went celebrity. The original series was quite the success in its hay day but as these things go, the allure faded, other competitive reality shows rose to challenge.

Seems that across the fruited plains America's interest in nobodies is very limited.

But add some celebrities to the mx, "celebrity" being somewhat subjective and often quite stretched, and interest rises. Add the altruism of working for charities and God Bless, we're off to a roaring start.

Oh yeah, and Trump's recent president campaign, insert snort here, sure helped garner interest.

Putting snark aside for a second, I admire The Donald, as me and first wife Ivana like to call him. If anybody knows how to perk up audience interest and manipulate the media, it's Donald.

He outfits his bathrooms with gold faucets, he marries exotic beauties and fathers children with each. He throws his hat in the presidential ring and goodness, let's not forget how he trotted out the presidential contenders who came to see him with hand out for donations.


Below is the beginning list of the celebrity contenders:

Adam Carolla
Arsenio Hall
Aubrey O'Day
Cheryl Tiegs-sent home
Clay Aiken
Dayana Mendoza
Debbie Gibson
Dee Snider
George Takei
Lisa Lampanelli
Lou Ferrigno
Michael Andretti
Patricia Velasquez
Paul Teutul, Sr.
Penn Jillette
Teresa Giudice
Tia Carrere
Victoria Gotti

On this first episode, Cheryl Tiegs got fired by The Donald but dear Lord that board room sessions was interminable.

I understand that the sessions in the Board room are the major drama of the series. Indeed I enjoy the drama of the Board room as part of the viewing audience and as it is scripted for maximum impact. But The Donald tends to stretch it out a bit too much and I think this over-reach is going to hurt the series.

On this first Celebrity Apprentice challenge the teams were charged with making sandwiches and selling them to see which team makes the most money.

The men's team picked the name UNANIMOUS and the women's team went with FORTE.

The way Trump has this competition set up, the celebrities are expected to use their celebrity and inside contacts to the maximum. So first the details of making some sort of winning sandwich then the celebrities should start calling all their rich friends and get them down to the site to buy sanwiches for $100 each.

Most times the challenges turn out to be simple money raising marathons. Patricia Velasquez was the Project Manager for the women while Paul Teutul was PM for the men's team.

Teutel got one donation for $305,000.

Well hey, got to sell a lot of sandwich to get close to that money bomb received in one fell swoop. In fact Velasquez did begin an argument that it was almost impossible for her team to meet that one time donation that did not, really, require a whole bunch of work. Indeed the women's team raise over a $100,000, which is a lot of sandwiches, but that money didn't come via one donor dropping a ton of money. The Donald waved away Velasquez' argument because, well because it was a darn good argument and the whole show is based on the premise that whoever brings in the most money wins. Had the FORTE team brought in more money, no matter if via one big money dump or selling an outrageous amount of sandwiches, that team would have been the winner.


The winning team is NOT the one who works the hardest or makes the best sandwich and those are the rules.

So while The Donald stretches out the boardroom drama until excrutiation, he knows how to wave off the discussion when it will lead nowhere.

As for the celebrity contenders, I'm starting to see a pattern here. Dee Snyder was recently on a new show called Celebrity Wife Swap. Penn Jillette and Adam Carolla were on Dancing With the Stars. Clay Aiken was once a finalist on American Idol.

There seems to be a culture of celebrities who will be better well known for appearing on celebrity reality shows, an intriguing concept that is best pondered over a second shot of whisky and water.

Arsenio Hall is a big surprise. Here's a guy that once had a great afternoon talk show. It's hard to envision him in this roll. Lou Ferrigno was The Incredible Hulk and to my amused surprise, has a very pronounced lisp incongruent with his muscles.

Trump does a good job of bringing other elements into his show. For this episode he had the contenders deliver sample sandwiches to Rachel Ray's TV show. Ray chose the best of the two offerings and that team got a $35,000 donation.

To add insult to injury, the men's team got the nod from Rachel and the match reveals that most of their money came from Ray's sandwich endorsement and that huge donation Project Manager Teutel got.

Cheryl Tiegs got sent home. Tiegs' only crime was being a bit plodding with placing sliced cheese on the sandwiches. It's no mind as I think this first show is scripted to the max. Tiegs probably could only appear on one episode and this was set up like this. I think most first episodes of these celebrity type shows are scripted in advance. No celebrity's going to sign up for something that should get them big exposure only to be humiliated by being first to get booted. This is a just a hunch of my part. Tiegs worked as hard as any on the FORTE team but she even uttered that she didn't think this series was for her. That sort of thing smacks of scripting, a way to lessen any perception of humiliation, that, after all, this is something I don't even like.

It looks like a good group of contenders this year and this is one of my favorite competitive reality shows. We'll be watching it closely so check in and see the expert analysis offered only on this Blog. We got plenty of snark.

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