The men are doing a great job of carrying their energy from one win to the next. Very impressive. They're also not letting their differences divide their team. I think that's fairly typical of how men operate in the business world; they don't take things as personally as women do. I'm pretty sure that if two of the women had the argument that Piers Morgan and Stephen Baldwin had, there would be no making up.

Speaking of the women... I thought this would be their week to take it. Marilu Henner impresses me; she's smart and she's a go-getter. Unlike The Donald, I'm not bothered by how she utilized David Hyde Pierce. The man was doing her a huge favor. Can you imagine asking a Tony Award winner to take off his hat and stand on a pedestal for hours in the middle of Manhattan??? So do you think Nely Galan redeemed herself? She's definitely using her resources, but hopefully she hasn't used them up too soon.

I really wanted Jennie Finch to step up to the plate and I knew if she failed to, she'd be fired. If she wanted more responsibility she should have asked for it. I believe that no one hands you anything in life, if you want something you have to grab it.

I was disappointed when Marilu didn't take Omarosa into the boardroom. From experience I know that the woman is a cancer. Omarosa exploits her teams' weaknesses; she is not and never has been a team player. A smart businessman or businesswoman knows you have to know how to cultivate talent and maximize your resources if you want to win.

Predictions: 1. I bet Piers' temper gets him fired, 2. The teams will be mixed up soon, and 3. Carol Alt and Omarosa have an explosive argument.

Well, this week was definitely not as exciting as last week's episode. Here are some of my thoughts. Now that Gene Simmons is gone, Trace Adkins is slowly becoming one of my new favorites on the show. I find his attitude refreshing and entertaining at the same time. He had a couple of one-liners that won me over.

David Hyde Pierce was not utilized by the women as much as he should have been. Having him standing beside the booth in a baseball cap did not attract much attention. His presence should have generated a huge amount of ticket sales.

I think Nely Galan made a big mistake in sending the girls off to get the cashier's check without really telling them that they need to be back quickly. That money not showing up on time ultimately led to the team's loss. The women's team should have come up with an alternative/faster way to get the money in on time.

It was nice to see Carol Alt get her blood pumping in the boardroom. I think she is coming into her own and I have a good feeling about how she will do in the upcoming weeks.

Have a great weekend,

Bill

I would have never guessed that Gene Simmons would be the 3rd person and the 1st male to be fired. It’s a shame to see him go... he’s such good television!

I’ll say it again: not consulting with the client, or in this case not understanding their objective or their product, is a waste of time and money. Empresario spent a fortune on beautiful decals, posters, life size photos, but did not highlight the uniqueness of the product. They should have been branding high quality yet cheap INK! Which, by the way, is hard to find. Photo quality ink runs out quickly and is expensive to replace.

Gene Simmons is clearly a successful man who has done very well branding himself so I can see why it was hard for The Donald to fire him, but really was their any other options? He was the leader and the one making all of the decisions. I do understand why Nely Galan was under fire and if I was her, I’d be worried. There are still no standouts on team Empresario. Come on Marilu Henner... show us what you’ve got!

Hydra is starting to break down. I was aggravated by Piers Morgan’s reaction to the coffee spill. He’s the closest thing to Omarosa on team Hydra. He created a sense of panic before there was any need. I’m guessing he’d be the first to go if team Hydra ends up in the boardroom. If I was on team Hydra, I would nominate Piers as the next team leader just to see if he’s capable of stepping up and leading a team to a win.

You can see Bill and Ereka on In the Loop with iVillage Monday-Friday 12pm/11am Central on NBC

Hi Everyone,

It may be a Kodak world, but unfortunately Gene Simmons is not living in it.

I have to say my head is still spinning from this episode -- mainly because I am trying to figure out why Gene Simmons didn’t bring Nely Galan into the boardroom. I have never seen Mr. Trump try to steer someone in the right direction as much as he did tonight with Gene. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water...

I have to think that the reason why Gene didn’t bring Nely in was because he knew that she would get fired, and Gene was not about to let that happen. Because he was the Project Manager, Gene ultimately felt responsible for the loss and wasn’t going to let one of his women go down for him. I am not saying he accepted the loss, but he did take the responsibility for it and that is commendable. I have to say, I am going to miss watching him and the life he brought to the show.

On another note, I understood Gene’s logic about why he didn’t attend the Kodak executive meeting- he explained himself rather well in the boardroom. He delegated that task to Carol Alt and Nely and they were the ones who didn’t walk away with the “ink” message.

Finally, I think Carol blamed herself for not trying to quiet Nely down during the meeting; but suggesting that Gene bring her back in the boardroom (along with Nely) showed that she may not have a lot of fight in her. It will be interesting to watch Carol as the Project Manager.

Have a great weekend,

Bill

You can see Bill and Ereka on In the Loop with iVillage Monday-Friday 12pm/11am Central on NBC

Week 2 and already the boys, excuse me, MEN are at each other's throats.

Let me first say that I am no longer Gene Simmons' number one fan. I don't approve of the way he treated Ivanka. He clearly has very little respect for women and can't tell the difference between an intelligent businesswoman and one of his groupies. Not every woman is mesmerized by a crooked tongue. Ivanka of course handled herself with class. You go girl.

As far as I'm concerned, Stephen Baldwin (my pick to win) saved the men from Gene's poor leadership. Because of Stephen's creativity and film experience the men delivered a winning spot (commercial) despite the fact that Gene refused to see the client (Pedigree). Let's be clear, in real life an advertising or marketing company would NEVER refuse to see the client before creating a commercial. Doing so would be a waste of time and money. Did you notice that the men did not include “when you buy pedigree we help dogs find loving homes” in their spot?

On to the women. I give the women an “A” for effort. They had the right idea, but once again did not use their celebrity to seal the deal. HELLO, this is called CELEBRITY Apprentice! Something tells me the next team leader will finally start utilizing the team's celebrity power.

So Nadia Comaneci was fired. As far as I'm concerned she was an easy target. Nadia was quiet and no match for the other ladies. Laying low will only get you so far.

PREDICTIONS: 1.Next week Marilu Henner will lead the ladies to a victory, 2. If transferred to the women's team, Gene will make their life hell, 3. Stephen Baldwin wins the entire thing and 4. Omarosa lays low for as long as she can

You can see Bill and Ereka on In the Loop with iVillage Monday-Friday 12pm/11am Central on NBC

Week two is when you typically see the gloves come off a little bit.  Everyone knows each other better and are more comfortable saying things they wouldn’t have mentioned last week. 

Can Gene Simmons get any better?  First of all, I loved that he took the lead and became project manager for this task, then he went on to create a dead on commercial, without even meeting with the executives! I am completely impressed and entertained by his no-nonsense approach to business simultaneously entwined with his witty comments.

Could there be another reality TV show in his future?

I agree that Hydra had the best commercial, and that Nely Galan did go over the top and spent time on areas that were not even going to be judged -- this contributed to their downfall. Empresario did have the early advantage by meeting with the executives to find out their expectations; however they failed to follow through.

I feel bad for Nadia Comaneci, I wanted to see her become project manager for the next task and take Hydra down... oh well, maybe I should look at the bright side; now we won’t have to read any more subtitles.

Have a great weekend,

Bill

Bill Says: Bring on the Competition

Boy, how the memories come back. It was great seeing The Apprentice Thursday night in its celebrity edition. But my, how things have come a long way since season one when I was crowned the original apprentice (sorry, Ereka...lol).

I have to say, I was very impressed with the first episode. If I had to pick a favorite already, it would definitely be Gene Simmons. From the exterior, Gene and Donald seem like polar opposites. But believe it or not, they have a lot more in common than you think. Donald Trump created the Trump brand from nothing and made it a billion dollar empire. He's a marketing genius. As for Gene Simmons, many think he's just your typical rock star. Little do they know, he has made millions by taking the KISS brand worldwide and using his image and name to make tons of money. Both Donald and Gene are masters of promotion and Gene proved that in this episode when he sold a hot dog for thousands of dollars by simply using his valuable Rolodex and dropping his famous name.

Now that I've told you my favorite, it's time to reveal my LEAST favorite celebrity contestant. I've vowed never to say her name again so I will simply refer to her as O (yes, it's Omarosa...you guessed it!!!).

Simply put, O should have been the contestant fired on episode one. During her team's hot dog selling mission, she failed to realize the real value behind selling hot dogs. Her mistake was in trying to sell people on how fantastic a hot dog tastes instead of selling people on the celebrity factor of her team. Due to that grave mistake, her group lost the mission and failed to raise as much money selling hot dogs as the men, who crushed the women by outselling them by thousands of dollars. In addition, O also failed miserably by creating a hostile environment where creative ideas were not welcome and her philosophy was "my way or the highway" (which is an OK approach to take at times, but you BETTER win the mission).

My wife Giuliana and I watched episode one together and we were on the edge of our seats. She bet me that Omarosa would get fired and I knew it would be Tiffany, the Playboy playmate. How did I know? Because Tiffany, although sweeter and more honest than O, just wasn't a fighter. And if I know one thing about Donald Trump, he's fought for everything he's ever gotten. And in business, he would choose a fighter over a sweetheart on his team any day.

I can't wait for next week's episode. Of course I will be blogging on Friday so be sure to check back in. 

Until next week,
Bill

Ereka Says: The Donald Delivers

Hello everyone! It’s been about 4 years since I’ve seen the inside of The Apprentice boardroom, yet still some of the same anxiety resurges every time I watch a new episode.

My first reaction to Celebrity Apprentice? As always the Donald delivers. I’ll admit that originally I wasn’t sold on the concept of Celebrity Apprentice. I had my doubts as to whether or not Trump could be blunt and direct with celebrities. I should have known better. The Donald doesn’t change for anyone which is why he makes for such great TV.

I sat and watched the show with my husband who, because of my experience on Season one, can read through the editing as well as I can. It was pretty obvious to the both of us that the men had won five minutes into the hot dog task. Who would deny Gene Simmons? I’m pretty sure that little black book is full of plenty more $5K contacts. I also must mention that while I have never been a Kiss fan, I am now a loyal Gene Simmons fan. Let’s hope he sticks around for awhile.

It was great to see that the producers have gone back to the basics. In season one the first show was all about “location, location, location” and this season the first show was about location AND “contacts, contacts, contacts.”

Let’s be honest, we don’t tune in for business tips; we like the ego and the drama. As far as I can see there’s plenty of both on the way. In real time the Hot Dog task probably lasted approximately 10 hours. Ten hours is then cut down to about 25 minutes (the boardroom started at 8:30 p.m. central time). I’d love to know what juicy arguments and chaos were left on the cutting room floor. I’d also love to know how long their boardroom discussions lasted. Some of our boardroom debates lasted over 2 hours.

Speaking of the boardroom... At 8:30 central time the boardroom scene began and this is when I started really paying attention. The boardroom is the only opportunity that Trump has to interact with the contestants. This is when you can figure out who he likes and who he dislikes. I knew Tiffany Fallon had no chance from the moment she spoke. Tiffany is sweet and way too honest. The Donald sees sweetness as weakness. So we will have a few more weeks to cheer against Omarosa, or as Gene Simmons called her “the cockroach.” I think every great reality show has at least one person to root against and a few talented contestants to cheer for.

As of now I’m cheering for Gene Simmons, Marilu Henner and Jennie Finch. In the end I think Stephen Baldwin will take it all. Time will tell!

You can see Bill and Ereka on In the Loop with iVillage Monday-Friday 12pm/11am Central on NBC

Check back later tonight to read Bill and Ereka's thoughts about this week's episode of The Celebrity Apprentice.