Poker face vs. The Joker face.

Go Joan! AnnIe and her constant self-adulation is so nauseating.

Both the jingles were good, but Annie's was definately peppier and better for a commercial. She did her usual great job. I'm amazed that she never wrote any music before, but managed to come up with the winning song.

Loved the look on Joan's face when they lost.

Love it that Annie is going up against her for the final task.

Go Annie!

I liked Clint's version more even though I don't like country music. It just made me smile for some reason.

Did Brande the Bunny actually say, "I am good at going down"?

I understand there's politics, but how can Trump even begin to justify Joan being there?

cluck, cluck, splash

I think I would have had Brande vs. Jesse in the Final 2, but I suppose Annie vs. Joan has been the theme of the season and they probably think that will bring in the most drama.

When Joan uses the expression “face challenges” I assume she has a different take on her meaning than I do.

We could have skipped this whole 2-hour show because the finalists were determined well in advance. If Jesse has promised to deliver Sandra Bullock to the finals, he would have been in for sure. And Trump was a super prick to respond to Piers’ “his wife could have married anyone” with “not me!”

It’s so disingenuous for Joan to play the WWII sympathy card while still standing by her statements about Annie/Hitler. Joan will make the finals personal and Annie won't. Annie for the win!

In the elevator.

LOL! Did you see her standing there back in the apartment, just staring at everyone. What an ass.

Brande said: "I GUESS I am going down" in the elevator, but they definitely made it seem porn-like in that way.

I am hoping Trump wasn't being a jerk when he said "Not me!", I am hoping he meant it in the "I've already got a great wife." kind of way.

Gosh Annie, do you ever stop talking about how damn great you are??? It's beyond nauseating!! I would shoot myself if I had to spend more than an hour in a room listening to her talk about how freakin' fantastic she is at everything!

And this why I can never ever, ever never root for her. Although I won't be surprised if she does win it all, I sure as hell will be hoping for the opposite!

I would have liked to see Jesse in the finals. Oh well.

Team Joan. Annie said it was personal now and from the look of the preview, it is.

How came no one touch on annie's background? Joan should use that for ammo in the finals.

Wordy McWord, turn2theriiight.

If I heard, "I wrote a jingle! I beat Clint Black!" one more time........

Team Joan all the way.



Agreed, Lambchop. Clint's was well-recorded but not suitable for the task or the brand.

In fact, Clint's jingle sounded downright depressing.

"I lost my wife. I lost my dog. I lost my car.... What's the best tuna?" Ughh...



Agreed, Garbs, that "cluck, cluck, splash" was stupid, but on a lot of the early tasks, Joan pretty much carried the team.

She better hope that she can raise some funds quick if she expects to win this, though.

I'm firmly on the Team Annie train. Joan's vicious personal attacks are unnecessary and distasteful. Permanently ruined her for me. YMMV

I'm sad to see Jesse go, but it pretty much had to be Joan vs Annie. Especially if it's a rolodex challenge (which it likely will be, despite the Trump Jrs trying to make it seem otherwise).

And poor Brande, trying so desperately to stick with the I'm-smart-enough-to-play-with-the-big-kids line. "Holy S-R-A-P."
Did anyone else notice that when she laughs, she looks and sounds like Suzanne Somers/Crissy from Three's Company?

Annie completely deserves to be in the F2, but wow - her constant patting herself on the back and gloating after winning was really grating. Even as I understand why she'd be so happy to have beaten Clint, it still seemed excessively nauseating.
I kind of hate that I think she'll win.

Brande: "We're competing against Clint Black. Holy S-R-A-P!"

Hmm, wonder why Piers thought she was a dumb blonde?

ETA: watercoolergirl, you beat me by seconds! Holy C-H-I-T!"

Well, what I feared is true. I was worried that they had set this up to be an Joan/Annie showdown.
Sadly that means that there is really no reason for me to watch because I don't really care who wins. I cannot stand Annie and don't want to see her break her own arm patting herself on the back. Joan has also embarrassed herself and her fans by her lack of control. I can understand her loathing of Annie but she should have used the self control she was showing tonight all along.
I was hoping they were going to send Joan home and keep Jesse because I would have loved to have him beat Annie out for the job she so fervently seeks.

Trump you really disappoint me, and no matter what others tell you, your hair is not cool, great, attractive etc. Be a realist, look in the mirror, cut that crap off and come in the the 21st century.

I actually liked Clint's jingle better. And I liked Jesse/Joan commercial better as well. Methinks Trump simply needed to fire Clint to make the choice of the final two easier.
Random Observations:
- This outcome was so predictable. I wouldn't be surprised if the feud between Annie and Joan was scripted.
- Pierce is such a prick. His arrogance is amazing. To say that Brande wasn't smart enough to her face is not only arrogant. It is mean and ungentlemanly. This was unnecessary. If I were her husband or brother I'd be sure to take him outside to discuss it further.
- Jesse. So long, buddy.
- Annie. Good job! She is talented and hardworking. We may be looking at the next winner.
- Brande. If I were her, I'd be extremely hurt and offended. I hope she has good means to PUBLICLY embarrass Pierce.
- Joan. I am rooting for you, lady.

If someone without a country twang had sung Clint's jingle, I wonder if they would have referred to it as country. The melody, on its own, didn't sound country to me, but I'm not a fan of that genre.

Glad to see Jesse acted like an adult this week. He kind of redeemed himself in my eyes after being so bad last week. And I can where he's coming from when he talks about being blue collar. He should be proud of himself - he's a smart guy - it doesn't matter that he's blue collar.

Clint's commercial was better. I'm surprised they lost.

Jesse came across really badly in the final boardroom tonight. So he didn't want his wife and her friends involved, even if it was for charity? That sucks.

I was all for Jesse thru most of this season but I just don't understand what's happened to him in recent weeks. Maybe he's fed up with Trump being an a**hole at every opportunity, but still he was so close to the end...he surely had a good chance of winning this thing if he had the right attitude. Very disappointing.

And seriously, Dennis Rodman is on Annie's team next week? The admitted alcoholic who screwed up every team he was on?? Wow...

Brande has another Lingual Malfunction! "Holy S-R-A-P!" As she explained, she thought of the S word and started to spell that, but her brain took over and it came out like crap. Hmm. That sounds about right.

I liked Clint's jingle better and I'm not a country fan, either. The executives are not Grammy winners. They had a list of corporate marketing criteria that Clint didn't meet. It doesn't mean Annie's jingle was better. It only means her jingle fit the criteria.

Well, it's a predictable final 2. Annie has rattled Joan but good, and Joan's gotten unseemly and personal but I hope that against all apparent odds, Joan ekes out a victory.

Annie is ferociously smart, and I think she's also embarrassingly insincere and self-congratulatory. I don't see how her naked desire to manipulate people and smile quietly at the results is fundamentally different from a screwed-up kid putting a magnifying glass on an ant hill and watching the show. It's gross to me. And I get itchy when she does her hand-on-chest, who-me? confessionals; in every aired interview, we hear again and again about her offense about being called Hitler, two-faced, etc., and how no-good, awful, terrible Joan is for the lashings and hyperbole. Unless of course Annie would now agree that her own statements, apparently in reference to 75 year old Joan, that "she needs to be dead" or some such in the previews, means Annie herself is also a slit-eyed piece of garbage. Probably not the conclusion she'll draw, eh?

Once a team only has two players, is there really a project manager? I guess someone has to make the final decisions, but, it just seems like at that point it's a little senseless.

Brande trying to spell Crap with an S. I think that was my favorite part of the show. I had to leave as Trump was talking to Piers, but I assumed that it would come down to Joan and Annie. I didn't see how anyone else could have been chosen. I'm sure that he made that promise to Joan to get her back.

Also I was certain that the Chicken of the Sea people were in it so that they could get Clint Black to sing their jingle. But then again, it's a classic story... Clint is so good at what he does that he overproduces a jingle that is beat by a simpler tune by a novice. I couldn't help thinking of an episode of Frasier where Frasier brought in a huge orchestra to create an opus that would be the jingle for his show, and in the end it was martin's simply diddy that did the job.

So, who will the teams be. Joan will obviously bring back her daughter (the other reason she came back, the guarantee of workign with Melissa), Annie will get Brande because they work well together. I kinda hope that Joan will take Dennis and Kloe because that would be the most crazyass team ever. Adn it doesn't matter who Annie takes because I don't think anyone actually cares about the results (really, what does "winning' get... the charity gets money and we have to see one of these freaks next season?), the crazy of Joan, MElissa, Dennis and Kloe would be pretty close to awesome.

ETA: I just saw someone said Dennis is on Annie's team. Too bad.

I would have put money on Jesse being in the final two so it makes me think that this is a set up.

I thought Annie made a great point that while it is always nice to raise money for your own charity, to not raise it for someone else's was not noble, and not in the spirit of the game.

The final spot was Jesse's to lose, and he did.

If they had used just Clint with the guitar they would have won. Fresh, young and contemporary is pared-down, raw, acoustic. It's a trick that works whatever the decade. Anything else is by comparison is slick, studio and dated. Ironically, the public likes slick, studio and dated -- even if they don't admit that they do. However, the executives specifically asked for something other than that. They can get a traditional studio sound from any set of professional musicians, so Clint Black was wasted. I'm not sorry to see him go. I'm an over-the-hill singer/songwriter and yet I KNOW what's up and coming. I KNOW (and admire) the current sound, even if I'm not ever going to be a part of it. Music should always be about the next big thing. I mean, a maternity clothing store isn't about the baby you had last week...and at a certain point you have to celebrate what's yet to be and imagine your place in it rather than wallowing in your own birth story.

It makes sense because the apprentices who have already been fired will be back to *help* (cough, cough) and Annie and Joan will have to manage them and the project at hand. Of course, don't count on Tom Green and Dennis Rodman to do anything constructive.

Annie is such a steamroller, I have trouble believing Joan even has a chance, but I guess it will depend on their teams.

I have to wonder if the "win" has already been scripted so Melissa can get her redemption arc. After last week's ridiculous display, why else would Melissa come back on the show?

If I were Annie, I would do everything I could to push Melissa's buttons, and get my team to do it, too. She'd be highly effective, for Annie, if she can be made to blow up again.

I agree and I was getting sick of hearing, "you're married to one of the biggest movie stars in the country." He must get sick of hearing that too. Seems like a nice guy, and it would've been interesting to see him and Annie in the final two, but I don't think he stepped up enough with the fundraising. And yes, Jesse, it really is about winning money for charity.

I can't remember Brande and Annie's jingle to save my life, but Clint's is still stuck in my head. Yeah, I like country anyway, but it wasn't even that country. I think they were just projecting that because it was Clint Black.

I also think the real deficit for Kotu was the commercial, which didn't have the storyline that Athena's did. Kotu had everything wrong: they should have had Joan or Jesse be PM, delegate the jingle to Clint, and focus more on the commercial. Joan was pushing for Clint to PM, but obviously he was going to focus entirely on the song. At least he accomplished some things in the past two weeks, which is more than I can say for Jesse.

I just really wish Annie hadn't won. "I was so great. I wrote a great jingle. I'm amazing. I'm so wonderful. I impress even myself."

Overall, though, who cares? It was always going to be Joan and Annie in the end.

While I do think Joan has become irrational, I understand it. Annie is incredibly insincere, and it makes Joan crazy. Joan needs to rein it in better, but when it gets down to it, I want to punch Annie in the face. So go Joan!

Heard ANNIE on a poker radio show today. She was talking non stop and wouldn't let the Host get a word in.
I don't like the RIVERS but I seriously am tired of Annie Duke constantly patting herself on the back.

Regarding teams - I think the producers or The Donald bring back certain players, generally the more controversial/dead weight players, and then I think each of the finalists get to pick their teams. I wouldn't put it past Annie to pick Melissa just to rattle Joan.

Well, I'm on team Annie! That girl is smart and has done very well in every task all season. She's tough and she knows how to play the game. She does a great deal of self-promotion, but Trump wants that. He wants to see confidence and assertiveness from his players. Plus, Annie will build herself up but she doesn't tear people down in the boardroom. She doesn't need to because her record is so strong.

Joan is a whiny baby and she only made it to the finale because it's a better storyline than either Brande or Jesse. Her fundraising has been very poor throughout the season, she doesn't delegate well and she makes everything so personal that it clouds her judgement.

Brande, I think was fired unfairly. She has raised the second most amount of money this season. Her win/loss record was the same as Joan's and her one loss was a close loss according to the executives. She was the only person who could fundraise at Annie's level and if the final task includes fundraising (which it likely will) she was the only one who could have competed with Annie.

Jesse is a strange guy to me. First off, I hate his ordinary blue collar guy act. He's not. He's a business owner and a television personality. Even without using his wife's contacts, he should have some of his own. He's been in the business for years and the fact that he wouldn't call up business associates troubles me. He chose not to fundraise and having seen the show last year, I don't understand why he's agree to appear if he wasn't comfortable with a huge part of the show.

As for the task at hand, I hated the Kotu commercial. Did you know that it was very unfunny and annoying. If that came on my radio, I'd be changing the dial. Clint's jingle wasn't peppy and not memorable. Annie and Brande were at a disadvantage but they set out by picking things they wanted to say and Annie got it done. Brande's "singing" was so funny and awful. I'm sure she'll be back next week which is exciting because I rather love her.

All Clint needed to do was speed up the tempo IMO.

GO, JOAN! 75 and made it to Final 2, a true survivor! Annie is very good, but there's only so much of her ego viewers can take.

Remember that while many of us were rooting for as Trace win last year, we failed to factor in how the winner would look sitting next to Trump the following year. Could you imagine the meek Trace interviewing the candidates or grilling them in the BR? He was a very good player, but made for a boring CA. With that said, Joan's wit and outspoken behavior actually gives her an edge.

Sorry, double post.

Loved Jesse referring to Joan as a "geriatric comedienne". Cluck, cluck, cluck, splash indeed.

I hope they are widening the doors at Trump Tower. If Annie wins it will be the only way to get her out of the place.

"S-r-a-p"? I think Brande fore-goo a few too many vocab lessons as a student.

And Joan was the "#1 comedy icon" in the US? In what parallel universe, Joan? Cluck, cluck, splash... kersplat.

Ugh, I've nobody to root for in this final, but the two finalists are not unexpected. Annie seemed a sure thing after the last few weeks of competition, and Joan... I suspect she was a given when she agreed to do the show.

I'm want Joan to win.

I am really tired of them freaking out over Jesse's wife. Just leave it alone Trump. He clearly doesn't want to involve his wife and maybe there are reasons in the relationship for why he decided that. Charity is very important but I'm guessing that Jesse's marriage is more important to him and there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe Sandra made it a point that she doesn't want to be involved. Whatever reason it is they should really let it go.

Who could be at all surprised--as soon as Joan made her dramatic entrance at the beginning of the show, of course it was going to be her vs. Annie next week.

Joan has to be one of the rudest people in the world. She'll probably win too. Ick.

Piers was very honest with the final four to their faces. Can't argue with that.

Agreed. If Annie's wins, her head might explode. It's funny for such a GENIUS and claiming to be a handler and manipulator of people, she hasn't learned the mass appeal of being humble or in her case, pretending to be humble. I can see how she could be annoying if you had to be stuck with her daily 24-7 for weeks, I wouldn't call her Hitler or any despots, but I probably would start calling her lots of other names myself.

I read an Joan interview and it sounded like she's the winner, then I read another one and she said they shot two different endings so no one knows who the winner is, kind of like on Iron Chef.

Frankly, the person I feel the most sorry for is the guitar guy who helped Annie to write her jingle. It's hard to tell with the editing just how much she did versus what he wrote, and how he guided her along. I think it's why her non-stop "I can't believe I wrote a song that beat Clint Black's" is so maddenning. She didn't actually do it completely on her own, even if she had a fair amount of input.

That guy seemed to have the patience of a saint.

I know it probably has to do with the 1,433 plastic surgeries she's had, but boy can Joan shoot some daggers with her eyes. In the lobby, well actually most anytime she's in the room with Annie, if one looks closely, you can see the fires of hell. And...I love it. I know Annie's playing the game well, and Joan and Trump have "connections" I just can't support Annie for the win.


But she is NOT just a dumb blond! Sorry, Brande, if you talk like a duck...


I think Jesse did mentally check out. Plus, he doesn't need this show to give money to charity. I think he got sick of all of the talk about his wife.

I liked the music to Athena's jingle but the Kotu's jingle was better in that it resonates. It has a better chance of sticking with the listener. I recall liking Athena's but don't remember anything about it. I recall the words to Kotu's and the product name. Kotu should have won but I think it was rigged to make picking final two easier as said upthread. I did feel bad for Clint but I doubt he really cared despite all of Annie's self-appreciation.

Brande leaving was a no brainer. I thought she should have been fired long ago. I knew Annie would be in the finals. I really wish they would have had individual challenges for the final four. That would have been interesting and shed light on who was strong/weak. I think Annie has played the game brilliantly and Joan has gotten way too personal (I noticed Trump didn't mention Piers comments about that), but as annoying as Joan can be when she's on her hating Annie kick I cannot stand Annie. My disdain for her and her ego have only grown by the day. Joan shouldn't be rewarded for her attitude, but Annie is just way too self-absorbed.

I do think they are fairly equal adversaries. They both have pretty good instincts and are multi-talented. Plus, given the drama between them, I guess it was obvious who the final two were going to be. I like that Jesse refused to exploit his wife, but I am surprised he went on this show because of it. He went to prove a point I think and he did very well just being smart, working hard, and being creative. I think he was happy to go home.



ITA! Sandra didn't sign up for this show. I enjoy the challenges where they have to work hard and be creative rather than just raise money. I like that his focus is so different from someone like Annie or Brande. Brande wasn't that great of a player but she kept touting the fundraising. That doesn't make someone a great apprentice, not even on the celebrity version imo.

I'm crying foul on Athena winning that task. You'll note that the executives weren't shown on camera with their comments. And the Yankees in the room [the Trumps] loved KOTU's jingle and commercial. I think it was simply determined from the beginning that KOTU had to lose, and the music task was chosen just to amp the drama.

There's a lot of Annie hate here, and I can honestly see both sides of the argument, but I did find her moment when her team won touching and genuine. And I loved her being appalled with herself for crying in front of Trump. Perhaps her first real honest moment on the show.

Based on the early editing in the season, I thought this was what was going to happen. But yes, after playing up the drama between them for several weeks, I'm not surprised they decided to go with an Annie/Joan F2. I am quite surprised -- but pleasantly so -- to see another two-woman finale after five seasons.

Annie for the win!

Clint's "jingle" simply wasn't a jingle. It might have made a decent song, but not peppy enough for a jingle. I was depressed just listening to it. Kotu's commercial was funny, but it was a style -- the yelling thing -- that many people don't like. Athena went for the more typical jingle, commercial. Considering how fast the 2 women spoke to get the commercial under 30 seconds, I was amazed the executives complained they didn't get more info in it.

Annie for the win. I felt bad for Brande, although I think she's just not creative enough to have made it to the final 4 on her own. Jesse, he blew it by not fundraising, yeah it sucks that that's what celebrity apprentice has become, but no one who appeared on season 2 can say they didn't know that's what the show is about (as compared to some of those who partcipated in season 1).

Joan has become unwatchable. She acted like a 2 year old by refusing to talk to anyone after the first boardroom. And her 2 ideas? Sucked. "cluck cluck cluck, splash" at the end of that depressing song? No. Walking in ront of the stage with the sign? Stupid.

I can't stand Annie. Her jingle was vapid pap. Her constant self-congratulating is nauseating, and her smug, passive-aggressive, fake compliments to Joan make her a world class C-word. I hope Joan buries the little bitch in the finale. I'd actually like to see Joan physically slap the smug smile off her face. I don't see how Annie even got on this show. How is she a celebrity? She plays cards? Since when does that make somebody a celebrity? I never heard of her before this show. I can't name a single other card player. I didn't know they were considered to be famous.