Celebrity Apprentice Recap: King’s Hawaiian BBQ Sauce Challenge

The second task assigned to the celebrity apprentices on January 9, 2017 was to make a video for King’s Hawaiian Barbecue Sauce. The founder’s grandson, Winston, was there to explain that the company was branching out beyond its bakery products with a line of barbecue sauces. A second rep, Eric, said they wanted the teams to produce viral videos to promote the 4 sauces. Patrick Schwarzeneggger revealed the judges’ criteria: viral potential, brand integration and product appeal. Arnold “Governor” Schwarzenegger introduced guest judge, Justine Ezarik, a social media expert, and sent the teams off to pick project managers.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi wanted to step for Team Prima, despite the fact that she has no managerial skills and has already been on the chopping block twice. So right there, we’re thinking that if the ladies lose, Snooki’s a goner. Team Arete decided on Matt Iseman, American Ninja Warrior host, for their project manager.

In a confessional, Snooki reveals that she came on the show to change her image and show the world that she is not “Snooki” from Jersey Shore anymore. She is a mom and business woman now. Well, what can you say? Nicole made “Snooki” her trademark and made a bundle from it and now, if that name isn’t included in her introductions, no one would know who the hell she is. She admits that she’s “totally not ready” to be project manager but thinks the girls will have her back. Uh, okay (trying not to picture her back with a knife in it).

The ladies settle on 2 ideas: a “Saucy Housewives” video where a guy is so into eating his barbecue that he doesn’t notice a fight going on near him. The other involved double dipping, Laila Ali’s idea. Laila picked a fight with Lisa Leslie over her directing job right off the bat, insisting she was the director, not the “alleged” director. Lisa took being singled out like that right away as a ploy. “All of that drama,” she felt, “Save that for your mama.” Pushy Porsha did everything she could to take over Nicole’s role every chance she got.

The men decided that they would have a football match using the barbecue bottle for the football. The idea was for Carson Kressley, who says he is as “gay as Christmas,” to tackle Ricky Williams. Boy George had his complaints about the heat and his make-up and Carson injured his elbow in the shoot. They still managed to get that one together easier than the other one that involved the comedy of Jon Lovitz, his dog and a hot chick who gets ignored over the barbecue sauce. Jon was hard to work with in a “I know more about comedy than everyone else” kind of way. He got pouty and withdrawn when questioned on anything.

The men presented their videos first with the hot chick one going first. Vince Neil was right. That one didn’t make a lot of sense. The company reps must be football fans, though, because they loved the second one.

The reps loved the ladies’ Double Dipping video but the “Saucy Housewives” clip went over like a lead balloon. Kyle Richards, the originator of that idea, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Her concept was not what showed up on that travesty. What we thought was weird: none of the videos highlighted the four different flavors.

Both teams knew they had hits and bombs when they got in the boardroom and there was some bickering over that on both sides. Surprisingly, the King’s Hawaiian execs did not hate the hot chick video. Their only complaint with the men was that the product appeal could have been better in the football video.

For the ladies, the Double Dipping video was a big hit but the Saucy Housewives was just a complete fail. Therefore, the men won and Matt Iseman got $50,000 for the Arthritis Foundation. Matt revealed that it was personal for him because he suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and said he would be eternally grateful for this opportunity.

After all her beating around the bush in the first two tasks, Nicole cut straight to the chase this time. Porsha and Lisa joined her on the chopping block. Porsha did her best to get Lisa fired, and by best we mean, blabbing loudly and uncontrollably. That’s what she does best. Porsha should have been fired just for the way she tried to dominate the whole conversation. Lisa felt that Nicole didn’t do a good job as project manager which was quite true. Nicole made the decision easy by crying and saying she wanted to accept the fault. She has made it obvious from the beginning that she did not think of herself as a strong player in comparison to the other women and this termination was only a matter of time.

The strongest women on the team at this point appear to be Laila, Lisa and Porsha, although Porsha is kind of a negative factor, trying to out-talk everyone whether it makes sense or not. At this point, we would predict Laila to be the last woman standing. She seems to have a real handle on how to use her strengths and Lisa does seem to be a little defensive. The ladies’ team has now shrunk to five.

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