America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 2

A new judging panel got started in Amercia’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 1. It’s still early, but Mel and Heidi seem like they’ll fit right in, even if Howie still doesn’t. Among the first acts they judged were Catapult Entertainment, Anna Christine, and Special Head.

Travis Pratt sings a song that his girlfriend apparently loves. He sounds like a very good female opera singer. But the real news of this performance is that he wants to propose to his girlfriend of 5 years.

Ruby and Jonas are a pre-teen ballroom dancing duo. She was a member of The Untouchables from last year (who were children of the Miami All Stars from the prior year). They consider their biggest competition to be Ruby’s slightly older brother D’Angelo and his partner Amanda, who used to date way back when they were 9.

Taking a page out of American Idol’s book, the judges have voted for both of these acts with four yes votes at the same time. I wonder if Nigel is telling them how to vote, too.

Howie gives Mariachi Nuevo Estillo AVM a standing ovation right when they walk on stage because he believes they will annoy Howard. Their version of I’m Sexy and I Know It wins Howard over, though.

The next act runs out on stage shooting guns, but they’re in Texas, so nobody seems to notice. Pistol Packin Paula fires several more times before the female judges buzz her. Then she whips a candle in a shaking Nick’s mouth. Howard’s the only judge who gets this act.

Brad Byers is going to marry someone with a medical background, which comes as no surprise considering he’s about to swallow 9 swords, which the audience can see in an X-ray. As if swallowing them is not enough, he then twists them in circles a couple times. Mel says no because she can’t watch that again, but the other three judges say yes. Nick’s not looking forward to seeing him again either.

Collins Key is a 16 year old magician. First he steals Nick’s food and Howie’s money. He burns the money, which then ends up inside the sealed bag of popcorn. He’s surprised and overwhelmed to find the audience loving his act.

From San Antonio, the auditions now move to New Orleans.

Megan Piphus goes on stage with a couple dummies. She’s a better singer than she is a ventriloquist, but either way she’s going to Vegas.

Jonathan Allen was kicked out by his parents on his 18th birthday because he’s gay. Regardless, he still hopes to make them proud, rather than just writing them off like I’d suggest. He’s already got the audience pulling for him with that story, and his singing backs it up.

Alexandria the Great had a hobby 30 years ago before she had kids. You wouldn’t think it by looking at her, but she’s a female escape artist. She dives in a pool with 30 feet of chains around her. After a minute and a half under water, she comes to the surface unchained. This is compelling television.

Mel says that’s a difficult act to follow. So who’s next? JC Starbright, a computer programmer who views himself as the next Lady Gaga. Howard buzzes within the first sentence. Then Mel. Eventually, he forgets the words to his own song. It takes some time before the other judges finally axe him. Then Nick insists on continuing the foolishness.

Sam Johnson is going to do a handstand. On a sway pole. 80 feet in the air.

The final act of the night is Paul Thomas Mitchell, a singer/songwriter from Memphis. His song, My Life, is a tribute to his father, the one parent he has that recovered from alcoholism. Great voice, great song.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 1

After Sharon Osbourne had a tantrum and quit the show, she was replaced by not one but two new judges. Melanie Brown, apparently a Spice Girl (Scary Spice), joins the panel along with Heidi Klum, who at one point was super and a model. Not sure either of them will add anything to the show. They are joined by returning judges Howie Mandel (comic relief but not much else) and Howard Stern (a surprisingly competent judge in his first appearance last year). The four judge panel has actually worked out well the past couple years on Britain’s Got Talent, but it’s a hit or miss prospect, typically more miss than hit.

Nick Cannon remains the host, which means we will see him foolishly extend the worst acts by joining them and pretending they don’t suck. He is generally a decent host, though.

Hopefully we can have a repeat of last year. No singers in the finals, especially lame ones who nobody’s ever going to actually listen to again. Let the other shows suffer from singing show fatigue. I want to see some variety.

With four judges, the contestants will need to receive at least three yes votes in order to advance to the next round.

David “The Cobra Kid” Weathers has been working with venemous snakes for 25 years, but he’s not dead yet. He blows up a balloon and gets a diamondback rattlesnake to strike it out of his mouth. Glad they survived, the judges vote for him.

Marty Brown talks about how the colonel was about 65 years old before his dreams came true, and now KFC is all over the world. The judges who clearly don’t think much of him before he starts singing have to change their minds after hearing him sing To Make You Feel My Love. It turns out his wife tricked him into coming on the show.

Clearly the first waste of time act of the night is Miu, who thinks she might be from Japan. Howie insists on watching this nonsense dancing of a woman possessed through to the end. Mel informs her that was not dancing.

Catapult Entertainment incorporate illusion and body magic into their dance routines. We’ve seen similar acts to this in the past (the much better Attraction is one of the front runners on this season’s Britain’s Got Talent), but their take on shadow dance is likely to propel them into the live shows.

Hype made their dance routine overnight, but they promise it is entertaining. Howie will be blown away if they put two days into their next routine.

Chuck from the Bronx eats three raw eggs, does a tequila suicide shot, then sits in a bathtub full of ice while eating the hottest pepper in the world. Despite the pointlessness of this, Howie does not buzz, but at least we get to watch him take a little tiny bite of pepper and learn that milk is the only way to get rid of the burn.

Anna Christine is a 10 year old singer and piano player. She’s 10? This is like when we first saw Jackie Evancho, whose vocal talent far exceeded her years.

3Penny Chorus and Orchestra is what you would expect. I don’t really get it and barely recognize their version of the overplayed song, but Howard, who hates orchestras, gives them a standing ovation.

Pacific Boys Choir kicks off the visit to LA with their rendition of California Dreamin. Howard, who interviewed the writer of that song, said he would enjoy that.

Special Head disappears and forces the audience to wait for him while he aligns his shockras. After obnoxiously meditating and getting buzzed by Howard, he begins floating in the air. Howard even takes his X back.

Angela Hoover does stand up comedy and impressions. She wants to be more than just a stay at home mom. She’s funny, but I’m going to have to take Howie’s word for her being a perfect impressionist.

Tone the Chiefrocca has a simple goal. He wants to be a one hit wonder. B double O TY is the song he’s going to use to do that. The crowd appreciates stupidity when they hear it. He promises to do the exact same song if he comes back. Then, of course, Nick joins him and encourages him to continue.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of America’s Got Talent Season 8 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

All Star Celebrity Apprentice Winner

After Lil Jon and Lisa Rinna were fired in All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 11, the final two of Penn Jillette and Trace Adkins began their final task.

Penn needs to cut 9 seconds from his video to get down to a minute. They decide to cut Dennis out of the video and then show the video of him afterward as a bonus. Simple enough.

Trace has secured Tim Tebow with $200,000. Seems not having a team to play for hasn’t phased him.

Now everything has been prepared, and it’s time for the ice cream social and to see who shows up and brings some money.

Penn’s early scores include a check from the former mayor of Las Vegas for $250,000. He is getting a lot of foot traffic while Trace sits there waiting. It’s not long before Trace’s country friends start to trickle in with big checks of their own, including a pair of checks for $100k.

Wayne Newton has managed to make it, and the Blue Man Group are back.

Penn is happy that he’s above where he expected, but Trace is short, now just waiting on Tebow with 10 minutes left. As Trace is about ready to walk away, Tebow arrives.

While Penn takes center stage for his own presentation, Trace takes a different approach, handing over much of the spotlight to Gary Busey as Buddy Holly.

One thing about Trace and Penn is that they both greatly respect each other, and they have nothing but kind words to say about their opponent. This sure is not a rematch of Joan Rivers vs. Annie Duke (where the worse player won because she’s Trump’s friend).

The executives loved the name swurtle and the flavor of Penn’s ice cream, thought his video was clever, loved the brand integration and the use of magic, and felt the presentation was on point. However, the packages blended a bit with the other packages.

They loved Gary singing, which they thought might go viral (memo to marketers on this show: you can’t force viral things… they just happen), and thought the name mashup might reach a different demographic. But maple as a flavor was almost too specific.

Penn raised $503,655. Trace raised $664,000, but Tim Tebow’s $200,000 was late, so his total is $564,000. Wait. I don’t understand. I guess half of Tebow’s contribution still counts? Either way, it’s a pretty close race with impressive numbers from both sides.

Trump gives $20,000 to the charities of Gary, Lil Jon, La Toya, and Dennis.

Walgreens is donating $100,000 to the charity of the best selling ice cream. With 400,000 pints sold between them, the winner is Penn.

Joan Rivers thinks that Penn should win, I think. Ivanka picks Trace.

After having received a lot of flack for firing Lil Jon (which was the right decision), Trump agrees to give $100,000 to his charity.

Apparently, Penn blasted Trump and the show after his last season, but he has since written to him to apologize.

Trump has made his final decision. The All Star Celebrity Apprentice winner is Trace Adkins, who receives an additional $250,000 for his charity, American Red Cross. I thought Penn was a much stronger competitor throughout the season, but it’s hard to deny that Trace has done a great job across two seasons.

Despite Trump’s delusion that this is one of the top rated shows on TV, there are only two shows that NBC has neither cancelled nor renewed. This is one of them. Presumably, they are waiting to see how many shows in their brand spanking new lineup flop in the fall before making a decision on the midseason lineup, which has already prematurely been announced. Perhaps then they’ll stop kicking The Biggest Loser as well.

All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 11

After being stomped by Penn in All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 10, Marilu was fired for leading the losing team.

Trump immediately calls them back into the boardroom. Two people will be fired.

Trace was the highest fundraiser, 2-0 as project manager, and was doing great until he ended up on Power, where his net result ended as 5-5. Lil Jon, the last Power member standing, I assume has the worst record, and he was 1-1 as project manager. Lisa is the second highest earner. Penn says he was the second in command to Lisa and Trace when they did so well.

One person from each team is being fired right now. Harsh. I don’t think Lisa or Penn did anything wrong to warrant being fired.

Lil Jon would fire Lisa because he’s seen Penn do a lot. Trace would fire Lisa as well since Penn is a bigger gun for the last task. Trump agrees that Penn has been the star, and Lisa has been fired.

Penn would fire Lil Jon, who he has not worked with, acknowledging that he doesn’t really have a fair answer to the question. He thinks Trace’s biggest/only weakness is that he occasionally fades.

Trace’s record is far superior to Lil Jon’s. That said, for the second time, Trace advances to the final two, and Lil Jon has been fired. Lil Jon receives an additional $20,000 for his charity, American Diabetes Association.

Their task is to create a unique flavor of Walgreens ice cream, for which they will design the packaging, create a promotional video, and sell up to 50 tickets for a VIP event. They will be judged based on ice cream flavor, brand messaging and creativity, overall presentation, and additional money raised through ticket sales.

Trump has picked the final teams for them. Trace has been reunited with Lil Jon, and he also gets Gary Busey and Marilu. Penn is reunited with Lisa, and he also gets La Toya and Dennis Rodman.

Each team will have to pick to different ice cream flavors, and they will decide the final product based on what the public likes. Trace picks maple macadamia after it wins the public approval 9:1. Penn’s team, already loving the name vanilla chocolate magic swirtle, has that reinforced by the public vote. Now that they’ve made their decision, Penn starts to second guess the name.

Joan Rivers worries that Trace does not have as impressive a rolodex as Penn does. Speaking of which, Penn already has Wayne Newton… probably.

Penn has a simple commercial that writes itself: Penn & Teller and showgirls. Trace will have Gary dancing in hopes of it going viral.

The best selling ice cream between the two flavors this week will win $100,000 for the charity of the project manager who created it.

As we get into the end of the show, this is where we always get a “dramatic” cliffhanger heading into the to be continued for next week. Penn’s team is 9 seconds over their 60 second commercial allotment. That’s the best they could do as a cliffhanger?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 12, where we will find out who the All Star Celebrity Apprentice winner is, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.

Survivor: Caramoan Winner

Finding out that people don’t want to go to the end with somebody nice, Brenda was voted off the island in Survivor: Caramoan Episode 13. Whether a lot of people were annoyed by this move or not, it was a move that made sense, particularly for Cochran, who snuffed someone out before she could get him.

That brings us down to the final five: Dawn Meehan, Eddie Fox, Erik Reichenbach, John Cochran, and Sherri Biethman. Perhaps because the first half of this season was a disaster (between the favorites who really weren’t favorites, hapless fans, Shamar, and Brandon Hantz), I struggle to find someone to root for, even though the last half of the season has been awesome.

Speaking of Brandon, it appears he has been banned from the finale, a Survivor first. Good riddance. He shouldn’t have been cleared to be on the show in the first place.

For starters, Sherri is completely useless. I can’t imagine anyone on either tribe even giving her so much as a pity vote. As for Erik, I’m not sure he has even figured out what game he’s playing, but at least he hasn’t been a complete idiot like he was last time. Dawn’s emotional breakdowns aside, she has played a somewhat competent game. The problem is she’s played right into Cochran’s hands, setting him up for the win while everybody (both on the island and at home) hates her. This has made him a big threat, though he has not dominated challenges like Probst claims. Then there’s Eddie, the ultimate underdog who gets points just for surviving this long. If they can’t/don’t/won’t get rid of him, he’s a major threat, not just because of his story of being an outsider since the first day but because he refuses to make this personal.

Immediately after Tribal Council, Erik’s head is spinning. This started during Tribal Council, but he just ignored it until they returned to camp. They put an IV in him in attempt to get him to recover, but he won’t be returning to the game. Here we are day 36 in the final five, and he is being medically evacuated because his body has entered a starvation state.

The biggest potential benefactor of this is Eddie. Now he needs to survive one Tribal Council rather than two, and he’s a big challenge threat. Cochran immediately makes a deal with him. They agree to get rid of Dawn and bring Sherri with them to the finals.

At the reward challenge, they will balance a board with one hand while stacking tiles with another. Reward is an advantage at the final immunity challenge. Hopefully it’s just a reasonable advantage and not a guaranteed win like last time. Even just stacking these on a flat surface is bad enough, let alone having to balance them on an unsteady platform. Cochran falls first, then Sherri. Dawn gets one away from the top and has to start over. Eddie’s lead collapses as well. Cochran does not seem to be getting anywhere, falling over and over. Sherri starts to take off but loses it near the top. After multiple failed attempts, Cochran ends up winning.

Now we get to hear Cochran talk more about how he’s the challenge beast. I hope he’s kidding, but it comes off as annoying, primarily because it’s just not based on reality. Though he has won three challenges (a gross eating challenge, a strength challenge won entirely because of an advantage that he bought, and now this), across both this season and his last, his performance at challenges has generally been lackluster.

Sherri does not want to sit next to Dawn in the finals either.

For the last time, immunity is up for grabs. They will race up a three story tower, untie a bag of puzzle pieces, slide down a slide, and repeat. They must then build a fire puzzle when they have all their pieces. Cochran’s advantage is that he will not have to untie his bags of puzzle pieces. This does not seem to be nearly as big a deal as his last advantage was.

As minimal as Cochran’s advantage may have seemed, he’s lapping people already even just as he grabs his second bag. He also gets to unload his puzzle pieces well ahead of the others, and I suspect he’s the biggest puzzle challenge threat. For all the advantage, though, by the time Eddie and Dawn reach him, Cochran does not have any pieces in place. Dawn manages to take the lead, and even Sherri leapfrogs Cochran. Eddie quickly falls way behind. Of all the things he was hoping for, a puzzle was not one of them. Cochran eventually retakes the lead. Eddie finally gets on the board, but he’s still several behind. Cochran wins immunity.

Now Cochran has to decide between Eddie and Dawn. Sherri’s spot is secured because nobody will vote for her.

The safe vote here seems to be Eddie. Although he really hasn’t done anything strategically, the jury loves him and smiles at everything he says. He is really the only likeable one left, with Cochran being the only with a chance to claim that spot after his elimination.

Votes
Dawn
Eddie
Eddie
Eddie

With 3 votes, Eddie has been voted off the island.

Malcolm does not pretend he plans to vote for Sherri, but he just wants to address Dawn and Cochran. Dawn is cold-blooded, and she needs to own it. Cochran says his heightened level of insecurity is the quality he had that helped.

Sherri denies that she was carried to the final three, which draws laughter from the jury. Eddie discusses Dawn’s breakdowns. Cochran says he’ll be at the bar with the three amigos.

Phillip kicks Sherri out of Stealth R Us. He then returns to Dawn’s emotional problems.

Erik complains about Dawn’s vote against Brenda. Then he tells Sherri she did not do anything, so she attacks right back. Good for her. If he’s not going to vote for her, no need to sit there and be attacked.

Michael knows that Dawn and Cochran played the same game, so he wants to give her an opportunity to explain why Cochran is getting off scot free. She says she developed the relationships that allowed them to obtain the information they did. Her opinion is that all he had to do was show up and ask how to vote.

Reynold never liked Dawn. What does she think about him? Chauvanistic, great sense of humor, and vulgar.

Andrea declines to attack anyone (other than herself for being voted off with an idol in her bag), so she just says she’s proud of them.

Brenda complains about the family visit that she willingly gave away. Then she continues complaining about Dawn backstabbing her, which leads to her asking about Dawn’s missing retainer. She asks Dawn to prove herself and take out her teeth, which Dawn agrees to do. Apparently, the point of this is that Brenda wants to embarrass her for revenge.

I agree with Dawn that she worked harder. The problem is that she was too emotional, and Cochran is more likeable. No way the jury votes for her.

Votes
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran

In a landslide, presumably 8-0, the Survivor: Caramoan winner is John Cochran. Of all the favorites, for lack of a better term, he was the only one I was looking forward to returning, a little bit.

71% of the votes cast this season for the Sprint player of the season were cast for Malcolm and Brenda. By 1%, Malcolm wins the $100,000 prize. Though Brenda brought nothing to the game, the only reason this thing got interesting for a few weeks was because of Malcolm and his two amigos. Before that, it was dragged down by terrible casting. Still, this is a silly award that they could have just as easily decided when the cast was announced and received the same result.

Survivor will be returning once again for season 27. It will be dubbed Blood vs. Water. I guess the rumors are true, but at the very least I really don’t need to see another Hantz, let alone more than one.

Randy Jackson Quits American Idol

Or was he fired? Either way, Randy Jackson plans to make this 12th season his last.

“Yo! Yo! Yo! To put all of the speculation to the rest, after 12 years of judging on American Idol I have decided it is time to leave after this season,” he told E. “I am very proud of how we forever changed television and the music industry. It’s been a life changing opportunity but I am looking forward to focusing on my company Dream Merchant 21 and other business ventures.”

Many people thought American Idol would come crumbling down when Simon left, but it managed a respectable performance last year. It wasn’t until now that the whole thing fell apart. Although it is still one of the top shows on TV, its double digit percentage audience loss has been painful and does not bode well for any of the judges keeping their jobs.

As easy as it is to blame anything Fox has done, I think we can more easily assign blame to singing show fatigue. Fox’s X Factor kicked things off with a fall show, but NBC really got the death spiral going with The Voice twice a year. They may have a hit on their hands for now (though The Voice did finally drop below Idol on Wednesday, down to a 2.8 from season highs over 5), but people are going to get as sick of this as they did Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I for one gave up Idol this year, and I gave up The Voice as soon as NBC cancelled The Biggest Loser’s fall season.

Survivor: Caramoan Episode 13

A double elimination Survivor: Caramoan Episode 12 saw the obvious boot of Reynold followed by an Andrea blindside.

Cochran’s name comes up as the person to go next. Eddie even tells him he’s probably the target.

Erik starts to talk about how he wouldn’t mind falling out of a tree because then at least he would end up in a nice warm hospital with coconuts to eat.

The family visit is here. The crying begins early as they watch videos at camp. Erik says he no longer wants to accidentally disable himself because he saw a video. Even Probst is crying.

For the challenge, they will compete alongside their loved ones. They will spin to unscrew rails then launch bolos on those rails. Reward is a floating backyard barbeque visit.

Cochran’s mom starts dragging right away. Erik and his brother are the only duo of young guys, which seems to make them the odds on favorite. But the tossing makes it anyone’s game. Sherri’s husband is even keeping her competitive. Brenda, who had been competitive alongside her father in the first phase, manages to win reward. She chooses Dawn and her husband to join them.

Then she is given a choice. Each person has two loved ones visiting. So double the crying. If I’m understanding Jeff’s confusing way of putting this correctly, she can either take the reward with Dawn and their loved ones, or she can give it up and grant it to the rest of the tribe. She chooses to give it away, a fairly simple choice.

Time for another Dawn meltdown. I miss those. It’s been almost a whole episode or two.

Cochran has a warning. Likeability is a liability this late in the game. If people thought Brenda was a threat before, wait until he starts talking about her being selfless.

At the next challenge, they are standing on a ledge holding a handle, and they will slowly be lowered toward the water until they can’t take it any more. Probst will not be offering them any temptations. After 15 minutes, Cochran falls first. 10 minutes later, Eddie is out. Erik follows in this challenge clearly not designed for men. Sherri’s next. Dawn suggests that she just hand it to her because she needs to share, but Brenda, who went 3-4 hours with Andrea previously, declines. In the end, Brenda ends up losing anyway, and Dawn wins immunity for the first time. Brenda tells us she threw it. Considering the match up, I think I can believe that.

Brenda’s plan is to get rid of Eddie first and Cochran next. Cochran, however, would prefer to get rid of Brenda first so that he can benefit his main allies, Dawn and Sherri. Holy useless final three that would be, which I guess is his point.

Eddie assumes that tonight will be his last, but he plans to go out with his head held high, offering nothing but kind words about his fellow castaways and his experience.

Votes
Eddie
Eddie
Erik
Brenda
Brenda
Brenda

With 3 votes, Brenda has been voted off the island. Nice move, but I can’t force myself to get behind an alliance of Cochran, Sherri, and Dawn. A crying Brenda says she knew it, yet she just got done throwing an immunity challenge.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Caramoan Episode 14, where we will find out who the Survivor: Caramoan, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 10

Gary Busey was finally put out of his misery in All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 9 following a trainwreck of a performance as project manager.

John Rich and Don, Jr. are the advisors for this week. The task is to transform a suite to promote and create a party for Foxwoods at Barkley Center. They will be judged on creativity, brand messaging, and overall party atmosphere. The winning project manager will receive $50,000 from Trump and a matching amount from Foxwoods. Lisa and Marilu are the project managers.

The teams must choose a character. Marilu and Lisa both pick different characters, so there is no need for negotiation. Lisa’s team will be doing a joker theme, while Marilu’s team has selected king. Joker seems a lot easier to me, and it lends itself to Penn’s strengths.

Penn & Teller already work at Foxwoods, so that’s one act. He also wants to get Lisa Lampanelli and celebrity chef David Burke, who has a restaurant at Foxwoods. Then he scores a flute player, but she’s from a different tribe (the one from the Pequot tribe wouldn’t travel three hours).

Lisa and Penn are getting along famously, but Marilu’s team is struggling to get their arms around her concept. It doesn’t help that she says that Trace operates one notch above death.

Whatever their plans may have been, 15 inches of snow fall, and flights are being cancelled.

After listening to the execs, Penn wanted Native American flute music. Marilu, however, wants to have DJ Lil Jon keeping the beat. John Rich suggests they make him King Lil Jon.

Trace, who’s been a bit punch drunk during parts of this task, lines up CMA new artist of the year Hunter Hayes, so at least their entertainment is starting to come together.

The next morning, the weather has cleared, so there should not be any problem getting anyone into the area. Lil Jon, however, has been unable to get his DJ equipment.

Marilu surprises her team with a chessmaster giving lessons. I guess that’s supposed to represent royalty, though it hardly seems like something that would be at a party.

Penn’s worried about something obvious: Lisa may be offensive. Of course she will be. That’s a given. It’s just a matter of whether she will be so offensive that it becomes a problem. The executives aren’t laughing. But they hired her so they must like her or at least be willing to stomach her.

Lil Jon thinks Marilu is a good leader but likes to do a lot.

Choosing between the two, Marilu responds that Trace had a bad day. His response is merely that they messed up and should have fought for Joker. They probably should have, but it really does not fit well with Marilu. John agrees: you don’t give Penn the joker piece.

Lil Jon would fire project manager Marilu. Although she’s just been given a great opportunity to target Lil Jon thanks to John saying the king of krunk should have been represented, Marilu continues to harp on Trace being a curmudgeon. Who even uses that word? I’ve heard it more times in the last half hour than in the last decade.

Penn doesn’t think there’s much chance he should lose, and neither do I. The only thing the other team had going for them was Hunter Hayes.

The executives liked the chair massage from Marilu’s team. However, the king-themed decor was a little too obvious and theatrical, it didn’t really mix well with the Foxwoods imagery, and the chessmaster was a big miss.

The other team did a great job integrating the joker theme, had incredible attention to detail, and brought in great acts. But some of their decor elements were a little bit stiff.

Lisa has won $100,000 for her charity, St Jude.

Lil Jon ordered the king costume, but he didn’t bother wearing it. He says his project manager did not instruct him to do so. Still, no matter how many times they come back to this, Marilu insists on making Trace her target.

The outcome here remains obvious. As the project manager and the person responsible for both chess and the decor, Marilu has been fired.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of All Star Celebrity Apprentice Episode 11, which airs Sunday at 9/8c on NBC.