All-Star Celebrity Apprentice Recap S6 E7: Trump Fires Stephen Baldwin

Gary Busey and Stephen Baldwin on All-Star Celebrity Apprentice

By A.D. AMOROSI

For season 6, episode 7 of NBC’s All-Star Celebrity Apprentice titled "The First Leaf that Hits the Ground",  the wonderfully bizarre Gary Busey gets his shot at being a Project Manager (PM) for Plan B with a task perfect for his skill set – to make a silent movie promoting Australian Gold sun care products. Busey’s rival is Team Power's clever project manager, Trace Adkins, who winds up the night’s winner. Don’t worry about Busey though; his teammate Stephen Baldwin is the one who gets fired.

Busey is an odd personality with his circuitive thought process and occasionally interruptive presence. Still, it must be said that he is an Oscar-nominated actor who is capable of great poignancy. The episode’s title for instance, “The First Leaf That Hits the Ground,” is sheer poetry. That’s how Busey refers to himself when considering the fact that he might get fired for not incorporating a greater variety of products in his silent film.

Trump introduces the night’s sponsor, Australian Gold, a leader in the multi-billion dollar sun care industry. Before going further though, Trump does some corporate restructuring, plucking Marilu Henner from the always-victorious Plan B and putting her into the ranks of the nearly depleted Team Power.

Lisa Rinna, Gary Busey and model

For this episode, each team must make a silent film about Australian Gold products. Since the task involves film making, it’s only natural that Busey becomes Plan B’s PM with Stephen Baldwin taking on the job as the film’s director, and Penn Jillette as its overall ideas man. As a director, Stephen Baldwin says his role is to guide Gary’s thought process like he’s herding sheep. Later we’ll see that what he doesn’t do is make certain that his film, starring Lisa Rinna, includes all of Australian Gold’s product line.

Trace Adkins plays a caveman

For Team Power, Trace Adkins decides to not only take on the hands-on role of PM, he becomes the star of his silent film with Lil Jon as its director. Adkins’ idea is simple: cave men are always funny. In his mind, that idea is so basic, he doesn’t have time for the usual brainstorming with his team or meeting with the product’s executives. Impatiently, he barrels forward with his idea and his caveman loincloth.

When Gary Busey is talking, there’s plenty of time. He wants to make his film true to the tradition and look of the late 20’s silent film era. He talks about artistic integrity, asks execs where they would see koalas on the beach (it’s not their natural habitat) and finally, “what does yellow smell like?” When one executive says “We like you Gary, you’re fun,” Busey fires off his driest response: “Thank you for the tip.”

Adkins team bulldozes through the task at hand - he doesn’t think that it’s important to integrate product in to Team Power's silent film until the last scene when his mugging caveman dances in front of the Australian Gold wares.

The task’s advisors Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. say that they and the advertising executives loved both films equally, but Team Power's use of a wider range of products is what made their film the better advertisement. Adkins wins for his charity, the American Red Cross. 

Everyone lavishes attention on Gary Busey, even Stephen Baldwin who calls Busey “amazing”, a comment that happens to be his downfall when he, along with Busey, and Jillette make their way to the boardroom. With all three Trumps on Gary Busey’s side, they find the flaw in Baldwin’s logic and Donald Trump fires him.

As Baldwin drives away, he looks into the camera and states that the key to victory for All-Star Celebrity Apprentice is to be like Mr. Trump: “Disregard your morals and your character to get ahead,” says Baldwin before bursting out with a laugh. “Did I really just say that?”

Next week, season 3 Celebrity Apprentice winner and ousted season 6 All-star contestant Bret Michaels returns, and Gary Busey starts what might be an international incident during episode 8: “Are You My Zulu Dancing Man?”

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

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

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