I'm sure it's not in the dictionary, but my years of recapping The Sopranos tells me that they spelled Bada Bing wrong.

He's firing two more right away? What? Why?

Oh, that was ugly. I can't believe I watched that--I can't remember the last time I was so uncomfortable watching t.v. About half through S&T being called back in, I just muted it. What's the world coming to when the whole point of show becomes about pointing out that Stephen Baldwin is a great big nobody and has-been? In some sense Omarosa's humiliation was really well deserved--she made being nasty her claim to fame. Baldwin's been kind of unattractive himself, but really, this was just bad, bad, bad.

I agree with Ivanka that they lost on sandwiches. Most people can choke down a turkey & cheddar even if it isn't their favorite. Prime rib sandwich SOUNDS good, but I wouldn't want it with onions and chipotle and spicy mayo. Trace's team did pretty damn good for being a man down, and I think if they had chosen a more generic sandwich they might have won.

Plus, after the initial "yum, prime rib" thought would come the realization Wait, this is Quizno's. This is "prime rib" not prime rib. Just like Arby's serves "roast beef" not roast beef. In general, for sandwiches, you're better off sticking with turkey and chicken, they don't get overcooked to death like "beef".

Probably because, at this point, he would normally have them go to other executives to be interviewed on their business acumen to see which two would be the best qualified for the job. Since there is no job, there's no reason to do that this time around. Or it could be that the week of no firings messed up the schedule, so they had to skip that week.

Either way, I loved this episode. My roommate and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the boardroom. It was so obvious that Trump really didn't wanna lose Trump (neither did I, frankly). The hilarious part was that Trace was about to fall on his sword, but Ivanka interrupted him to lead him to accuse Stephen of being the worse candidate. And I just loved that third woman, giving the two Trumps these LOOKS like "Oh, COME ON."

Well, I skipped the first half of the season, and this is my fifth episode, I think. But I'm not sure that I'll continue. Season 1--Troy you're fired for being a hick who reminds me of a used car salesman. Oh and Kwame--I want Bill, so really don't even bother 'cause that's who I'm hiring. I'll hire a black guy, but he must be handpicked with many many degrees and an impeccable background. How about when he accused the two women of going after each other worse in the boardroom than anyone ever had (can't remember their names, the Sean season?). And now he just tells Baldwin (who I don't even like) that he's a nobody.

I've got to stop watching this--how can it be called entertainment? Donald Trump must be just about the crassest man in America.

Doesn't this put Trace as 0 for 2 as project manager? Is it possible that he's a great team player, but not so great as a leader? Or is that mangy dog Piers just THAT good?

Holy shit, what was up with that ending? I could understand firing one more person since there was a week when Trump didn't fire anyone and that would get things back on track, but two people!? Anyway, I just loved Trace tonight. I thought he was going to throw Piers out of the window in the first 5 minutes and I wouldn't have minded after the way Piers was going on and on. We get it Piers, you hate Omarosa, but it became tiresome. I thought the cowboy sandwich sounded much more appetizing than the champ and would have bought some, but LL's celebrity won the day for team Hydra. Initially I was glad to hear Trump tell everyone to put away their list of contacts for this project, but it still doesn't eliminate the popularity aspect of the show.

I found the ying and the yang comment about Trace and Stephen to be pretty funning since Trace was wearing a sky blue shirt with a maroon tie and Stephen was wearing a maroon shirt with a sky blue tie.

I noticed that too. Did they call each other or something? Oh, and the Champ Sandwich? My school has a Quizno's on campus, and I was trying to order the Turkey and Swiss one time, but they ran out of Swiss and gave me Cheddar instead. So I invented the sandwich. :P I should sue.

So the surprise ending is that two more are getting fired right away. Then what do they do? They completely gave it away in the preview. Not only does Trump say something that probably excludes one person, but we see the other firee all disgruntled in the limo, and worst of all, we see multiple shots of the two finalists posing and standing next to each other. Really poor on the NBC promotion department's part.

Did I miss something? A former contestant came back? Totally flew by me, if so.

So they faked us out with Carol's tardiness in getting the fliers. Hydra takes the win again. And everyone finally admits that the Empresario's moniker is a disease. (Which is true.) Which one of the ladies thought that up? Is that another Omarosa achievement?

That was the Hanoi Hilton boardroom. Just the drip drip drip of psychological tactics and torture in getting each one to break and turn on each other. Steven and Trace held up pretty well after Trump & Co. tried one approach, then another, then another, then made them both leave the room so they could come back and try anew.

Ah, Steven. He'll always be in the shadows of his brothers. I can't be the only one who thinks of Alec everytime StevieB's on screen and fights the urge to shout "Put that down, coffee is for closers!"

My local network didn't show the preview for next week. Would someone please decribe it briefly? Thank you

Omarosa is a vile person in the reality television world. Stephen Baldwin spreads his hateful views to a broader audience. He also has a much higher opinion of himself and his star status than anything he's done in the last fifteen years would warrant. I was happy to see him finally given some reality tonight.

Nely thought up the name 'Empresario.' I missed the preview (stupid Global TV!) Can someone spoil me, who are the final two?

We won't know until next week.

Someone said they could tell from the preview. I really want to know! I bet Piers is one of them, and then either Carol or Trace. I don't think Trump likes Lennox as much.

Obviously I need to get home and run back the TiVo... I was not at home and got to watch only the end of the task and the first portions of the boardroom, including Ivanka trying to steer away from the standard firing of the PM, and the Donald pitting SB and Trace (in their mirrored outfits in which only Trace looked good) against each other. This show is like a train wreck that you have to keep watching.

We really do need a complete break down of the preview for those of us who watched on Global.

*bats eyelashes*

This firing was the most perfect example of how the rules simply are advisory. How many countless times did the PM take the fall in this show when the performance by the PM was just fine, but circumstances largely beyond anyone's control led to the loss?

Trump actually got this one correct, but I don't ever want to hear about the rules again. I will admit, this is pretty much my perception as to how Trump and his ilk really do run IRL. They do what they want and the heck with zoning problems, or others' property rights, or binding covenants.

To my eyes, it seems obvious that PM is one of the Top 2. But I couldn't really make out who the second is. My money is that it is TA.

The editors did a good job tonight. I had no idea who won until it was announced and I was surprised by the big difference in number of sandwiches sold. I thought SB would be fired but wasn't really sure until it happened. I can't stand him so I was happy to see him go but I give him full marks for the way he handled himself during the boardroom and as he left.

Trace is a lot more intelligent than I had thought and quite articulate when they don't interrupt him. I've thought for several weeks that the final two would be Piers and Trace or Piers and Carol. Now my money is on Trace although Trump said something about seeing "these two guys fired." It's clear that Piers will be one of the two because Sarah Ferguson certainly wouldn't show up for anyone else. I doubt that any of the three possibilities have the drive or energy to beat him.

The funniest line of the night was "brokeback boardroom" but I can't recall if LL or SB said it.

Every week they show a commercial for CA with Bill Rancic and a woman. Does anyone know who she is? The bit goes by so fast I can't make her out.

Go Piers!

I had no doubts that Trace wouldn't be fired tonight--I mean, even Donald Trump wouldn't fire a man who's made it plain that he's trying to raise money for a charity that directly affects the man's own daughter. As soon as he played that card, I knew that Stephen was toast, and Stephen himself knew it when he weakly argued in response, "Well, I have food allergies, too."

That said, I am firmly on the Piers Morgan love train, and if Trace does make it to the Final 2 (but would Donald really fire the last woman standing?), I really hope Piers blows him out of the water. At least Piers shows a bit of passion about what he's doing, although I will admit that part of me wanted to smack him for some of the rude comments he was making under his breath to the passersby who kept ignoring him. Like Piers, I hate sales because I don't do well with rejection, but even I know better than to curse people for rejecting me flat-out while they're still arguably within earshot of me. Still, I'll take Piers and his passionate way of expressing himself and his aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach to competition any day over Trace and his dour, humorless drawl and lack of emotional range, either of which would make a good substitute for anesthesia if I ever needed to have surgery and the hospital were suddenly out of the stuff.

Trace is really out of his league here, in my opinion; if he were to go through the interviews that usually come up at Final 4, I think he'd be slaughtered because the interviewers would see his no-key (not merely low-key) mannerisms and speech patterns as indicative of a chronic lack of drive and energy.

It's Ereka, from Season 1. She and Bill co-host, along with Kim Coles, a show on TV for iVillage.com, and are blogging about CA on their website.



Piers reminded me so much of Heidi there, who acted much the same way in Season 1's pedicab task. Carolyn was very disapproving.



Of the four finalists, I think three of them are the right choices, based on their abilities so far on the show (as opposed to the other contestants'), and disregarding unlikeable personalities. The only one I think hasn't earned his spot is LL. He's been given a free ride, throughout, courtesy of both DT's liking of him and having the luck to be teamed with PM, who's always de facto Project Manager on that team.

And, seriously, was there a former contestant in the ep?

Vinnie made a re-appearance on the show, but apparently the cameo was cut. The clip is 5 minutes long.

http://www.nbc.com/The_Celebrity_Apprentic...deo/#mea=228826

Alas, I'm on dial-up, so streaming vids are torturous to try to watch, but thanks, traptc for the clue-in as to who it was. Thought I'd blinked there and missed it!

Recap: Vinnie hated Hydra's sandwich, and loved Empressario's sandwich. Which is pretty funny, because Hydra's sandwich was basically Quizno's most popular sandwich with a different type of cheese.

I loved Omorosa, she was so consistent with her attempts at condescendingly-articulated comments. I actually admire her for it, as I sure can't think of anyone willing to persistently present themselves in such a way. She did an excellent job at maintaining her chosen strategy. Unlike Piers, I thought Omorosa was harmless (Piers and Heidi deserved her attacks - it's only a game show anyway), so I was never offended, only incredibly entertained.

Without the anticipation of Omarosa's next ridiculous contribution or Piers-insult, I was actually quite unamused by this episode. Nevertheless, I continue to be surprised at Ivanka's beauty and level-headed thinking. She is on her way to being a decent Carolyn replacement.

The milking-Celebrity status in this episode annoyed me a bit. Trace and Baldwin could have possible won, not only by having a more generic-flavoured sandwiches, but somehow finding multiple businesses to sell bulk orders too, which has been a cliched winning strategy done many times in the past.

I was surprised not to see Hydra try that approach, since they had an extra person and Piers, dearly though I lurve him, was essentially useless out on the street corner. OTOH, Empressario did have at least one customer who bought 25 sandwiches for her office. That might just have been a fluke.

Were the other usual sandwiches even offered at these locations during this task? If not, then the difference in numbers between the teams might relate to non-celebrity factors like normal foot traffic, location, size of lineup (no matter what, if I only have 15 minutes, I'm not waiting 20 for a sandwich, celebrity or no).

Just caught a snippet of this episode; while I was glad that Trace won out, I wasn't too happy in the way it came down. It's a game, the game has rules, the rules say the PM takes the fall... wha? I guess the overarching rule is Trump takes the trump, every time. Even if Stephen hasn't been the most effective team player, I still felt for him, and I wasn't too happy about Trace, because he didn't want to be put in an uncomfortable position. Next week? My money is for Lennox and Carol to take the early ax, with Piers and Trace for the mano y mano.

"Stevie B. cherry"?!?! Ewwwwww. Go home and nurse your "food allergy", Baldwin.

Firing two more? Did Donald get a memo from NBC that said our scripted shows are coming back so rap up this piece of crap stat?

Sissykay - That's exactly what I thought! And I think that the fact that there are only three pages of comments says it all.

That was laugh out loud funny bbb. I cringed when I heard him call himself a "Stevie B. cherry" and wonder if he realizes just what a tool he is. Probably not since the Baldwins in general have the same stupid gene running thru their blood.

Trace is the most patient man ever and can work well with everyone. A rare find for sure. Thanks to Ivanka for pointing out who actually brought in money.

I would grant that "sell to offices" would have been a perfect win strategy for this, though probably had some problems. First, they only had two hours to get set up (presumably once they arrived at the respective stores). That's barely enough time to get the sandwich choice, marketing, advertisements done, and it looks like they needed at least one person behind the counter to help make the sandwiches, so there's likely a small amount of training with that. Then you'd need to figure out how to contact those businesses - making blind calls to a list in a phone book (particularly if you don't know New York) is pretty much a dead end; if they had, say, overnight, they could have figured out which were large offices and target them. The other aspect is that if you're going to try to land one of those deals, you'd want to sweeten the pot and bulk discount the sandwiches, but given the task was based on # sold and not profit/sales, then I bet they couldn't touch the $2 price tag. (Still not a bad deal for a lunch from there, but still...)

This is one of those tasks that the numbers should have been based on some sales %: how many more sandwiches they pushed at that particularly location over the usual #s they have on the same day of the week otherwise. The Trace/Baldwin location looked rather seedy and not in a very business part of the city, while the Hydra location seemed to be more in the main thoroughfares).

Trump tries so hard to manufacture drama and I did like Trace and Stephen not pointing fingers at each other. But that was a really uncomfortable boardroom. Stevie B by himself is super annoying, but he was enjoyable as Trace's sidekick, and I liked that they didn't turn against each other.

Oh, Quizno's "prime rib" is awful. I tried one of their prime rib sandwiches once, it was gristly and nasty. I'm not surprised that the other team's sandwich was better.

I like Trace a lot. Again he instantly comes up with a great idea (cowboy club). Trace was also smart to remind people that it was for charity. On the one hand, seeing that and Trace's success in getting people to stop and talk to him, I could see Empresario winning. But then on the other hand, every time they cut to the other team, there was a huge line of people, so I was not surprised Hydra won.

I was doing other things and missed something about the fliers. Did the two teams use different companies? I don't know why but I figured Trump provided that resource to create the fliers, since Empresario's graphic designer was actually on site with them. So I was surprised one team had technical difficulties. They had what, three hours in total for the task? Watching it, it seems like it must have taken a lot longer.

I thought it was a decent episode overall.



That's a really good point. I agree with you.

You must have been unaware of his major hit song Honky Tonk Badonkadonk. Seriously though he is a quite successful song writer. He has been making a living for years on his ability to convey thoughts concisely and eloquently.



See he is the contestant I have the most respect for. I think he has consistently portrayed himself in classy and upstanding manner. Not many reality show contestants in general can say that. Certianly not Peirs, who admitted to losing sight of the fact they were there to raise money for charity in his little spat with ... everybody .

In my opinion the reason Trace always speaks slowly and diliberately is that he believes the people around him are either stupid or crazy. I think he might be right.

I'm not sure if it's more appropriate to discuss here, because it was a preview attached to the episode, or in Speculation or in Spoilers, but based on the preview the final two seem to be Lennox and Trace. When all four of them are in the boardroom, it looks to be post-double firing and Trump says something like "I want to see you two guys in the final", which suggests that Carol was one of the cuts. Then we saw a scene of a contestant bitching in an interview about someone and also a scene that looked like it was in the boot limo. That person was Piers. Lastly, we heard talk of "the two finalists" and then we saw several scenes of Lennox and Trace standing next to each other.

If those two aren't the two finalists, then NBC did a good job of misleading!

I can't believe I ended up feeling sorry for the flea, but that whispered "I think they like you more than me" made me go awwwwww. Poor flea.

It doesn't have to be the PM who goes home, otherwise the teammate(s) could just sabotage the PM. Baldwin has been underperforming since he won his second lump of money for his charity, he was pathetic the week before in the art task. Trace has been doing a better job of late and neither one really screwed up this task. I don't have a problem with Baldwin going home (the fact that "Stevie B" has long since worn out his welcome factors in, of course).

I thought for the longest time the show was shaping up to be either a Omarosa/Piers showdown or a Stevie B/Piers showdown. But Baldwin ran out of brothers to utilize and he already won enough charity cash. Lennox was a little better than Tito but not much and benefited greatly from being on Piers' team. I think it might turn out to be Piers/Carol...but a Piers/Trace showdown would be fascinating. I can't conceive of what a Trace/Lennox showdown would be, but it would be odd.

I was always surprised just how long Tito or Lennox lasted, but the poor crop of female candidates and the self-immolations of Gene Simmons and Vinny helped that out.

Empressario's sandwich had like 6 ingredients versus Hydra's 3. Their sandwich just took longer to make and likely slowed down their line enough that they probably lost some customers who didn't want to wait.

Go Piers!

First off, let me say I really enjoyed Piers last week and was starting to support the man. Last night he resorted to the same old arrogant diarrhea of the month shenanigans. Why couldn't he have taken the high ground and just shut the ef up? Then, he sets up Carol as the weak link by bitching about the flyers. He was only doing that in case they lost and they would have footage of her trying to get the flyers delivered. What a puss.

With that said, I think Piers on the street was dumb. Wouldn't you respond to a beautiful woman like Carol if she was handing out flyers more quickly than this loud mouthed, insecure Brit? I sure would. He should have been behind the counter making sandwiches and kept his mouth shut. I was surprised they won as Trace sure is a butt load more charming than Piers ever was or ever will be.

I am not a Flea fan (as much as I would like to be), however he and Trace showed a lot of dignity in the boardroom by NOT pointing fingers at each other and they honestly seem to have respect for each other.

I am indifferent to LL, but he did make me laugh when he said "Brokeback Boardroom" to Trace.

I agree with those here who said they are closing up CA's shops in order to make room for our highly anticipated return of 30 Rock, Office, Earl, and Scrubs (I hope!).

CA was enjoyable fodder, but unless they suck me in with a celeb I'm really in love with, I won't worry with the show after this season.

I actually figured it out early. As soon Stephen started talking about how he was praying for Piers I thought something was up. Then he said something like (paraphrased) "Piers is due" to be taught a lesson. That statement is the kiss of death.

I think it will be Piers and Trace in the final 2. Carol and Lennox are great, but Piers would sell his mother to win and Trace is just so classy. I've never heard any of his music, but might listen to some now.

Arrogant or not (and arrogance is not a drawback in business. Trump himself is arrogant), Piers has dominated this show like no other player ever has. he knows what he's doing. He always takes charge even when he's not the official PM and his ideas always work. He won last night because his sandwich idea was better. He knew that when it comes to selling large numbers of a food item, the item has to be as generic, broadly appealing and inoffensive as possible. Taking Quizno's most popular snadwich and just switching the cheese was brilliant. The prime rib thing is a little more specialized, not quite as broadly appealing and a lot of people don't eat red meat (plus beef isn't really as "lunchy" as turkey).

Piers has innate business sense, boundless energy and natural leadership ability. Trace has none of those things. Trace has the shy cowboy act and a songwriter's ability to turn a phrase for a campaign slogan but he can't lead worth shit and his "cowboy club" idea was kind of obvious and witless. So was the "Champ Sammy" (it's a knockout!), but at least Piers was smart enough to make it a salable sandwich which is what really matters, not the clever name.

Was anybody else turned off by Trace's manipulative, meretricious pimping of his daughter? "I'm not fighting for myself, I'm fighting for someone else." What does that mean? Aren't they ALL playing for charity. Is Trace's daughter really affeceted at all by whether he wins or loses. I thought that was kind of classless on his part. He made it seem like his kid is hanging on by a thread and the only thing that can save her is daddy winning the Apprentice. And all she has is food allergies anyway. It's not like she's dying of leukemia.

I was surprised that Trace needed the kiss explained to him "Oh, now I get it!" What? I could see needing a minute, but to have to have it explained?

I'm definitely rooting for Piers or Trace. I haven't seen Carol really perform well yet, imo. And same for Lennox.

What was up with "I have food allergies!" Was he trying to say "Yes, fire me so Trace can win money to cure people like me?" Or did he think he'd get sympathy for it? Most likely, he just didn't think before talking.That would be Stephen!

It's been a joy to watch him win week after week since he has been most deserving of the bunch. It would take a miracle for someone to beat him now...especially Carol, who has done a lot of nothing.

Both sandwiches looked pretty tasty...and unhealthy. I think a more interesting task would have been to design the sandwiches, promote them, and then have both teams selling in the same Quiznos. I would have a hard time picking between the Champ sandwich (which I know would taste good) and the Cowboy Club (which was a bigger risk but probably more fun to order), but what a customer would choose would represent who designed or marketed their team's sandwich the best.

I had never heard of Trace prior to this show but I lurve him now. I hope he wins. And if you want to check out that voice singing, find "Arlington" on youtube. Amazing.

I did not see it that way at all. In the boardroom, Trump specifically asked them why they are there, and Trace gave an honest answer. Most of them have talked at one point or another about what drew them to their individual charities.

And I don't have food allergies, but can't they kill you? Couldn't anaphylactic shock kill you? And I think if you are allergic to a wide variety of foods, depending on what they are, it could be a challenge to make sure you don't inadvertently eat something toxic to you that could land you in the hospital. So I think it is an important charity, especially since probably not many people think it is - therefore this charity probably doesn't bring in a lot of money in general.

I heard Trace sing "Arlington" live. He just gives you chills. I bawled like a baby, too.

WOW, I know Stephanie, winner last season was never PM, but Trace is the first person to make Final 4 by having a 0-2 record, right? I really like this guy and it's good to see Trump going against the "rules."

With that said, if he's in the Final 2 against Piers I can see that being held against him, but then again his charity has won no money. However, part of me still can't see Piers winning based upon the edit he's been given thus far(especially with Trace calling him out on his tasteless gloating over Omarosa) and I bet his showdown with Vinnie will come back to haunt him.

And with that said, if Piers IS indeed in the final 2 I think Lennox is the best of the 3 others to take him out in the end. BTW, where's the supposed explosive rift b/w Omarosa & Stephen(who I was glad to see go!)?