All-Star Celebrity Apprentice Power Rankings: Bret Michaels Returns

The country of South Africa is the big company this week. The country wants to showcase travel, and apparently, someone felt Celebrity Apprentice was the way to do it. The two teams were tasked with showcasing aspects of the country involving either “adventure” or “romance.” After a coin toss, Lil Jon grabs adventure for his team (which also involves Trace, Brande, and Marilu), leaving Penn, Lisa, and Gary to focus on the romantic aspects of South Africa.

It’s Brande’s turn to take over as project manager. Unfortunately, she’s not the most creative individual or the best delegator. Things on her team are pretty slow-going and they hit a rut after they find out they cannot focus on the safari aspect and have to discuss things like ziplining. They eventually settle on a fun, interactive presentation that will showcase golfing, ziplining, and even shark cage experiences. Marilu also creates a really neat handout.

Penn takes on the role of project manager for his team, despite knowing absolutely nothing about South Africa. He asks the right questions during the meeting with the executives and comes up with an experience focused on the “shared celebration” aspect of romance, complete with zulu dancers, bunny chow, and authentic alcohol. His is clearly the more professional-seeming event, but the other team has some kooky fun going on, so we’ll have to wait and see how the boardroom pans out.

Unsurprisingly, Penn’s team nabs the win, which is somewhat unfortunate, as Gary was worthless this week. Oddly enough, Bret Michaels is back for the episode—but not as a contestant. Instead, he is filling in as one of Trump’s sidekicks this week, overseeing the two teams. It’s sort of strange to see him back on set and giving advice. Trump talks over the rockstar a few times when he tries to defend Lil Jon after he complains about the adventure theme being the tougher of the two—he did, after all, pick it. Ultimately though, Brande sends Lil Jon out of the room and takes the blame on her own shoulders. She’s fired this week, but Trace asks Trump to give her $20,000 for her charity, since she raised all that money in task 1 and didn’t get to keep it.

The Celebrity Apprentice Power Rankings are an ordered compilation of weekly lists put together by TV Blend writers Mack Rawden and Jessica Rawden. Each week after viewing the episode, they each rank the competitors in order. Fourteen points are given for a first place vote, and this week, nine were given for a last place vote. Eight competitors have already been eliminated; therefore, those already eliminated automatically occupy the bottom slots. Here is how this week’s voting panned out, complete with analysis on how the celebrities might fare moving forward.

The Favorites

#1) Penn Jillette (28): Penn rocked out this week. He pulled together every little tidbit of advice Trump has thrown out in the boardroom—use the executives carefully, use any and all resources you have—and came up with a great presentation. He even went out on a limb and bought alcohol for the first time in his life. With two wins under his belt, Penn is at the top of the pile, right now. We’ll see if he can hang on to his lead.

#2) Lil Jon (26): Every season on Celebrity Apprentice, there’s always a debate as to whether people who pitch an idea during a brainstorming session that proves disastrous should go home. This week, Lil Jon pitched some winners, like the authentic tea, and some complete losers, like using a chair to zipline people across the room. Fortunately for him, the axe ultimately fell on the project manager for approving said ideas.

The Contenders

#3) Trace Adkins (23): Trace is creative and he has zero problems delegating. However, when he is the project manager, he just picks an idea and runs with it and he’s terrible about talking to the executives. This no-nonsense attitude works for the singer, but it also could be his undoing. We’ll have to wait and see how the pony-tailed wonder does during his next tenure at bat.

#3) Marilu Henner (23): Marilu’s travel brochure was brilliant. It was one of the most visually appealing and professional-looking handouts I have ever seen anyone do on either the celebrity or normal versions of Apprentice. That being said, Marilu is going to need to prove she’s great with conceiving bigger ideas rather than executing details if she’s going to win.

#5) Lisa Rinna (20): I know Lisa Rinna would be bummed if she knew she was lumped down at the bottom of the pile with Gary, but we all know the bigger gap is between Lisa and Gary rather than Marilu and Lisa. Lisa and Penn both pulled double time this week during the task to make up for Gary’s lacking. There’s no doubt in my mind that Lisa is a good player, but we’re also getting to the point in the game where everyone is a fine player. She’ll have to prove she’s great if she wants to move forward.

#6) Gary Busey (18): Was anyone surprised when Busey told the travel executives about overhearing someone get murdered in South Africa back in the day? I certainly wasn’t. Gary is a loose cannon. He’s an enthusiastic madman who means well and is wildly distracting. I’ve enjoyed watching him, but his number should be up the next time his team loses.