Looks like we are winding down to the final few contestants and this episode was broken down into two parts. The first part was the new task which revolved around the two teams having to promote the new CHI digital hairdryer product where they had to create a four page ad campaign for the product. The project manager for Unanimous was Teresa and for Forte it was Lisa.

To start off the two teams were able to select models to be a part of their ads and in this process the two project managers had to negotiate with each other on who would get which model. I think this was the moat interesting part in the whole episode as Lisa pretty much made Teresa look like a fool where Teresa pretty much told Lisa which model she really wanted and with that information Lisa pretended she wanted the same one. She used that to her advantage to play with Teresa and told her if she wanted this one girl model she would also have to take two guys who didn’t exactly have a lot of hair. Lisa pretty much stuck to her guns too and Teresa eventually just took it. That must be an embarrassing moment for when she watches this on TV.

Because of the model choices Aubrey decided that she would volunteer to be the model in team Unanimous’ ad. For the ads themselves team Unanimous’ looked more stylish with good model and product shots whereas team Forte’s ad wasn’t as appealing visually but it had written details about the product itself. During the actual presentation of the ad Teresa didn’t seem very good at public speaking at all which made the executives weary. Overall it seems because of the lack of information om Unanimous’ ad team Forte was the winner.

In the boardroom it seemed like Teresa was just trying grasp straws to save herself such as saying Arsenio didn’t bring anything to the table but whenever he challenged her on what she did she simply just kept trying to say how Aubrey and her did a lot. This was pretty clear cut it seemed and sure enough Teresa was fired. The episode wasn’t over though as immediately the remaining four were told that they would be interviewed by the previous season finalists Marlee and John. At the end of the interview another two people will be fired.

I didn’t feel the interviews brought out anything new about the contestants as it seemed to be more of a filler as even Trump kept emphasizing that in the end he gets to decide who will be fired. For Aubrey they felt she was playing a game, for Clay it was expressed whether or not he is leadership material, for Lisa her temper and emotions was put into question and for Arsenio it seems it was more about how someone with his background couldn’t pour out more money.

Again, these interviews seemed to be a filler as it seemed to me that Trump had already decided who he wants to put ahead for things like ratings and such. The first person he decided to fire was Lisa with the points about her and her emotion. The second firing wasn’t announced as the episode got cut off for next week. At this rate I would think it would be an Arsenio versus Aubrey match up just based on how the editing has been promoting those two in despising each other. But we’ll have to wait and see.

This episode started to see some action right away as we saw Trump walk into the candidate’s rooms. There, he told them that they would go through an interview session and after two more people would be fired. Conducting the interview were three former winners consisting of Bret Michaels, Joan Rivers, and Piers Morgan.

For the most part everyone said their piece on why they think they are the best. Lil John’s answers were very strange though as when asked who he believed should be in the final two he said Marlee and John Rich. His reasoning was that he was thinking how much money they raised and thinking how he respected that a lot. He then further emphasized that another reason for being on the show wasn’t to win it all but rather to break a stereotype that people have about rappers. Essentially, the negative views that they are all drug junkies that simply swear all day.

In the boardroom Trump was talking about the feedbacks that were given to him and asked each candidate who should be in the final two. Everyone had John Rich on their list. I must say, he had one of the best answers too on why he should be a final contestant I thought. Essentially, he was talking about how all his life was about him and trying to reach his goals for himself and that the show offered him a special opportunity to take all of that and use it as a way to give back to others.

For Lil John, this time he actually did say himself on who he would choose to bein the final two. However, Trump then mentioned how in the interview he didn’t say that and this reminded him of the similar error that Lennox Lewis did as well where he didn’t choose himself. As a result, Lil John was fired.

Aferwards, Trump mentioned how Meatloaf’s comments was that he is too emotional at times and wears his heart on his sleeve. While Trump admired that, he doesn’t feel that is a wise decision in a business environment. Therefore, Meatloaf was fired. As a result, the final two was John and Marlee.

The finale task revolved around the beverage 7up and how they were launching a “7up Retro” version of their beverage. They would have to design a retro display package, create a commercial and as well develop a launch event for the product. The teams had a choice of a 70′s theme where they would be provided with the Harleem Globetrotters or an 80′s theme where they would be provided with the music band Def Leppard. Since Marlee raised the most money she got first pick of the task. He chose the Globetrotters which meant John got Def Leppard which he was ecstatic about.

As usually, the final two got to choose past candidates to be on their team. John Rich ended up selecting Lil John, Mark Mcgrath and Star Jones. Marlee matlin ended up with Meatloaf, Richard Hatch and La Toya Jackson. Based on the past, John Rich’s team sounds more solid I would say. It sure seemed that way too as during the task John Rich’s team seemed a lot more focused. They came up with a tagline of “Still keeping it real” to emphasize how that beverage is still going strong to this date. Marlee’s team went with a “7up retro, feel the love” which was more straight forward I thought as it was highlighting how the beverage makes people feel in a positive way.

For John Rich’s commercial he decided to go with a audition theme where you have a bunch of people trying to audition as 80 icons without much success. Their surprise though was that they were able to get Dee Snider where in the commercial after drinking the soda he would revert into his popular 80′s persona Twisted Sister.

Marlee Matlin went with a direction where her team was able to get Geoffrey Holder who was famous for doing the 7up commercials back in the 70′s. They did have a huge setback though as when they shot the commercial with him, apparently some entertainment lawyers expressed how he cannot sign the release form due to some kind of technicality. This made the team worry as they literally had no plan B. Meatloaf went ballistic over this.

For John Rich, his drama came in the form of having to deal with Def Leppard’s tour manager where he was being very hard to deal with such has criticizing about certain things that john Rich wanted to do in the event with the band. Overall though, he seemed to be in way better shape than Marlee’s team.

Guess it is coming to an end soon. Unless this video editing is just deceptive, it seems like John Rich is the favorite thus far.

In the beginning of the episode there was a lot of talk on whether or not Joan Rivers would come back to the show as last week it appeared that she had left for good as a result of her daughter getting fired. As it turns out though, she did come back saying that her team shouldn’t have to suffer over personal reasons.

The task was to create a music jingle for the company Chicken of the Sea and its tuna products. Not only that, but they had to create a 30 second radio commercial for it. The executives would choose which one they liked best to determine the winner. The project manager for KOTU was Clint Black and for Athena it was Annie Duke.

The show was consistently being shown to demonstrate how Clint Black had the upper edge since he is a musician while showing segments of Annie Duke and Brande Roderick struggling. For the thirty second commercial, KOTU went with a more comedic approach while Athena was a bit more informational. As it would turn out, team Athena did pull out a pretty good music jingle and as expected KOTU had a very good one.

It was really different in direction though as KOTU’s was more old fashion and slow paced while Athena’s was more zingy, I guess you can say. I would say technically KOTU’s definitely sounded a lot better. Message wise it seemed like Athena did better. In the end, Athena was chosen as the winner and Annie Duke seemed to be milking it on how she beat Clint Black as she has no background in music.

There wasn’t too much of a fuss in the boardroom as the end product for KOTU was great and it just came down to a direction decision. As a result, this was one of those coming down to the project manager scenario and as a result Clint Black was fired.

Shortly after, the remaining four were told that were going to be interviewed by Piers Morgan as another two people were going to be fired that day. I should note that this wasn’t too much of a surprise as during the first commercial they blurted out that three people were going to be fired.

Long story short, it seemed like Piers Morgan felt Joan Rivers and Annie Duke were the best candidates for finalists. He implied that it would be a disgrace if Brande Roderick made it into the finals and he questioned Jesse James since we haven’t really seen anything from him funding wise. He kept getting nailed too for being married to Sandra Bullock and not using her star power to help raise money.

In the actual boardroom deliberation it was pretty predicable about the outcome. Donald Trump mentioned that he didn’t think Brande Roderick had what it took to go on further and so she was the first one fired. Next was Jesse James as he couldn’t figure him out and considering he raised no money. Again, the topic on how he was married to Sandra Bullock came up and Trump threw kind of an interesting comment at that.

He felt that even if Jesse James was placed into the finals he probably still wouldn’t even try to use his wife for help. That just made me think how Donald Trump should have just said “I want stars and ratings for my finale” as that is what it seemed like he was going for. Ultimately, Jesse James was fired. On an interesting note, all this made me interested in learning a bit more about Jesse James and apparently he was married to a porn star before marrying Sandra Bullock. So there’s definitely more to his personality than what we see on TV I guess as oppose to the calm persona I’d say.

So the final showdown is between Joan Rivers and Annie Duke. With all the hints that Trump gave and the specific comment he made to Annie Duke about how the finale might not even be about fundraising, I would say it is probably going to be about creating a spectacle of some sort. Typical in real life I’d say Annie Duke would probably have the edge over Joan Rivers based on what we have seen.

Hollywood wise the ending seems appropriate for Joan Rivers to win though. While she may not seem as strong, this situation reminds how having a common “enemy” is usually a great way to gather up support. I wouldn’t be surprised if old people such as Melissa Rivers comes back and works extra hard just to spite Annie Duke. One more episode to go.