'All-Star Celebrity Apprentice Recap' - Lightning Strikes Mr. Hang Brain: Omarosa Fired

Gary Busey and teammates on All-Star Celebrity Apprentice

By A.D. AMOROSI

On season six, episode five of NBC’s All-Star Celebrity Apprentice, titled “Lightning Strikes Mr. Hang Brain”, Trace Adkins gets a new team, Gary Busey makes cool papier-mâché art, and the Blue Man Group stops by with Jell-O. Team Power’s Lil Jon and Plan B’s Lisa Rinna are pitted against each other in a fight to see whose team does the best gallery presentation. The real battle though is between Omarosa, her long-time nemesis, advisor Piers Morgan, and her teammate Dennis Rodman. In the end, Omarosa gets fired.

As the teams are introduced to the task’s sponsor, Utrecht Art Supplies, and the job at hand (to make the best three-dimensional art) the one hour episode starts with a surprise: in order to make the numbers between the teams even, Donald Trump takes Trace Adkins from Plan B and puts him on the constantly-losing Team Power. Adkins is pretty unhappy with the move, but not as unhappy as Plan B is with Stephen Baldwin.

No sooner than Lil Jon comes forward as project manager at Team Power and Lisa Rinna takes the job at Plan B, the fighting begins.

Baldwin argues with Penn Jillette that great art, not money, is the point of the challenge (in all honesty, Jillette is looking solely for big donors as he doesn’t believe his teammates are capable of doing anything with aesthetic value). Jillette is an art collector and an inventor, so for him to say that the task’s goal is to net cash is saying something. Rinna agrees with Jillette and the magician admires her focus. Besides, Baldwin is just posturing and jerking his team around. Eventually he will be accused of holding out on his contacts in the boardroom and netting a low amount of money.

Gary Busey sculpture

Then Gary Busey comes up with his Busey-ism of the night: “Art is the only the search. It is not the final form.” He sings, dances, and plumbs his subconscious to come up with the papier-mâché sculpture “Lightning Strikes Mr. Hang Brain”. The only thing sillier than Busey’s art head is when the episode's special guest stars, the Blue Man Group, stop by Plan B’s exhibition and bring in molded Jell-O in which they have immersed their donation of $15,000. Penn’s partner in magic, Al Teller, sends a $50,000 donation by courier.

Blue Man Group brought their money immersed in Jell-O

Lil Jon on All-Star Celebrity Apprentice

At Team Power, a laid-back Lil Jon is confident about his group’s abilities to make art and attract high-dollar donors. Adkins is a money-raising machine, and Dennis Rodman starts the task strong by gathering sports gear from name ballers such as Derek Jeter for his 3-D art work. It is at this point that Omarosa goes on the offensive, perhaps insecure that she can’t raise the big cash necessary for a win. Enter Piers Morgan, a one-time winner of Celebrity Apprentice and this task's advisor, who begins needling Lady O when he visits Team Power. In Morgan’s estimation, Omarosa can’t bring in celebrity donors because she doesn’t know any. She’s not a celebrity in his eyes. She is however, “slipperier than an eel,” and worse than a “sleeping crocodile.”

When it comes to the boardroom – a relatively fast one at that – Lil Jon's squad raises $179,500 in comparison to Rinna’s team bringing in $225,000. Plan B wins again.

Omarosa Manigault

Lil Jon is unhappy because a guy he likes, Dennis Rodman made the least amount of money, $10,000, so he has to bring him back to the boardroom. Omarosa has the second lowest total with $12,000, so she goes to the boardroom too. However, Trump sees Rodman’s comeback tale (compared to his unstable first go-round on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009) as one of redemption. The basketball great is clean, sober and was inventive enough to gather sports memorabilia from top names in the game. What did Omarosa bring to the table but grief, whining and her non-celebrity status? Piers Morgan calls her out on these points in hopes of swaying Trump.

Trump tells Omarosa he adores her, that she helped make him a star and push his show to number one, but that she is fired, thus ending her reign of terror.

How does she go out? In villainous style of course, saying “Hi honey” to the Trump Tower elevator operator while striking a diva pose for the camera as the doors close.

All-Star Celebrity Apprentice airs on Sundays 9/8c on NBC

To see all of our All-Star Celebrity Apprentice coverage click here.

Donald Trump and Piers Morgan on NBC's All-Star Celebrity Apprentice

Photos ©NBC

Posted on Monday, April 1, 2013