Board room time!  Everybody enters damn confident about what they've done.  Clint thinks his time did well, and lets slip that they've taken a chance with the brash humor of their radio ad.  If the bosses like it, he says, then it's at par with the jingle.  Annie's still on a high after writing a song against Clint, and says they "found their heart" after all the worrying.  Oh, and she also thinks the jingle's better than the ad.  Athena gets their recordings played first, and Donald actually likes it.


Clint calls it "very musical [and] very lyrical," and goes on to blabber about everyone having music in them, but I think he's still saying his is better.  KOTU's recordings get played, and everybody suddenly turns quiet.  Annie calls it "a little different" but won't say if it's better or not.  The brash ad actually clashes with the country musings of the jingle.  Wake up!  Then sleep!  You get me?

The bosses apparently liked Athena's approach with the moms, but had something about the script's accuracy.  They also liked KOTU playing up the product's natural aspect, but is concerned about the jingle, thinking it shouldn't be limited to country.  In the end, Donald awards victory to Athena.  Upset!  Annie's in tears as they leave the board room.  I'm thinking she feels she did everything, again.  Then she revealed that she knew her team would win when she heard Clint's country jingle.  Brande's also gotten to grips with being in the final four.  "As much as Joan called me a dumb blonde the other night... I'm not a dumb blonde!" she says.

KOTU's problems?  Athena's jingle mentioned the product name thrice, and was much "zippier" than theirs.  Too bad, since Donald and Ivanka liked Clint's jingle more.  Bummer.  Jesse thinks the vibes between the three have improved, but the working environment wasn't as creative as he had hoped.  He also admitted that he and Joan wanted that zippy factor, and a little more humor, too.  Joan says she feels restrained, and then demonstrated the cluck-cluck bit.  Annie thought was "funny as Hitler".  It didn't floor the Trumps, and suddenly Clint's decision to strike it down wasa plus.

Joan gets asked the crucial question--who would she fire?  "I can't stand this," she says, and then floats Clint's name.  Donald agrees--Clint's lost before, and this time he's calling the shots.  No choice, it seems.  "You're fired," Donald goes.  Clint leaves gracefully, admitting that he had it coming.  "He got beaten by a poker player who hasn't sung anything in her life," Annie quipped from the suite.  His last words to Joan before the elevator?  "Stop being mean to people."

Joan and Jesse return to the suite and share a very awkward moment with Annie and Brande.  Joan won't talk, and Jesse's trying to break the ice.  The comedian leaves, and suddenly the mood turns jovial.  The three play checkers, and Annie calls Joan a "cancer in the room."

Phone call to the suite!  Donald wants the final four back in the boardroom.  Congratulations, sure, but he says he'll fire two more people.  Two more people?  Man, we're rushing, aren't we?  They'll have to be interviewed by last year's winner, Piers Morgan, who will give him suggestions as to who to keep and who to kick.

First up: Brande.  It felt she's taking things slightly personal.  She's not bright, they says?  She knows she's smart, she says.  Piers tells Donald that he can't afford to have a not-smart-enough Brande in the final two, as it'd be an insult to the show.  Joan's next, and Piers feels she's taking things too personally, especially after she said she'll kill to win if it comes down to her and Annie.  But her energy's insurpassable, he says.

Next up: Annie.  I got a little lost about the things she's said--a testament to Piers thinking she's smart?  Perhaps, sure.  He thinks she thinks she's smarter than everybody else, actually.  More discussion of the Joan-as-Hitler issue.  I'm tired of it.  And I'm tired, too.  Piers thinks Annie's got Joan in a quandary by making her take things so personally.  Jesse's the last to come in, and Piers couldn't quite wrap his finger around him, but there must be something about him--after all, he's Sandra Bullock's husband.  She chose him among all the other guys.  What, this is a entertainment news show or something?  Jesse isn't using his wife and her connections; he says he's keeping his personal life separate from The Celebrity Apprentice.  From my end, though, it felt that Jesse was lost.

Board room time, again!  Annie admits she wants to compete with Joan in the end, since she hasn't raised that much money for charity.  Things look well for Annie--Donald's all praises.  All of a sudden, Brande says she's the only one capable of competing against Annie.  Can of worms, everyone.  Joan thinks Brande's lucky to have gotten this far.  Donald reveals what Piers told him--the embarrassment to the show bit--but he disagrees with him.  But she doesn't have what it takes to be the winner, either.  "You're fired," he tells Brande.  She's obviously disappointed, but she's, like, "oh well."

The heat turns to Jesse, who Donald also can't figure out.  "I'm not a salesman," he says.  Suddenly, it comes down to him and Joan--whether he's holding back with the connections, or whether Joan can really get a large amount of money for her charity.  Jesse says winning this means a lot to him, and claims that some expects of the whole thing's a "little bit bigger than Joan"--but he looks sooo uncomfortable it hurts to watch him.  Donald wonders if he'll bring Sandra in if he makes it to the final two.  Oh no, not her again.  Her name gets dropped many times.  Is Jesse reserving everything for the end?  Or has he come in too late?  Donald says, sure, I respect you for keeping your wife out of this, but he hasn't raised enough money.  "You're fired," he tells him.

So, the final two of The Celebrity Apprentice.  It's Joan Rivers versus Annie Duke.  Things shouldn't get personal at this point, Donald says--and reveals that everything will begin the next day.  For us, that's next week--the three-hour finale, a so-called "ultimate celebrity smackdown," and one will be named the winner.  Ahhh, this should be good.



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-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of NBC)