Celebrity Apprentice: Carnival Cruise Challenge (Part 1)

The second task on 2/6/2017 involved the Carnival Cruise lines. After The Honest Company challenge, it has come down to a face-off between Boy George and Matt Iseman. Looks like Laila must’ve had a short trip on the chopper because she’s back to help out Boy George, along with Carson Kressley and Porsha Williams. On Team Arete, Carnie Wilson, Carrie Keegan and Kyle Richards arrived to help Matt Iseman. It kinda felt like they were stacking the deck against Matt there, putting Carson on Boy George’s team.

Tyra Banks returned as an advisor and the CEO and president of Carnival, Arnold Donald, was also on hand. The “Judgment Day” task involves an ad campaign, highlighting Carnival’s 4 well-known cruise lines. They also must host a party and create a 15-minute variety show, that will feature 2 of the cruise lines. Overall brand integration, creativity, guest experience and most money raised from ticket sales are the factors in determining who will be the New Celebrity Apprentice and win the grand prize of $250,000 for their charity.

Now, generally, these finales are 2-hour affairs and this one is no different. This was just the first hour and we won’t find out who won the task till Monday, February 13th.

Both teams were advised to work on dispelling myths about cruises like too expensive, nothing to do, long lines at the buffet, trapped or “I’m not a cruiser.” Mr. Donald paid each team a visit to explain that and the differences between the 4 lines. Carnival (for the social set); Holland America (for people with mid-west values); Princess (SoCal-oriented, Hong Kong luxury hotel-like); and Seabourn (ultra-luxury, one crew member for every guest. Bet that one costs a bundle!). The overall tone is to exceed guest expectations. Carson asked him if he would like a theme song and that was an affirmative.

The Boy George Team:
Carson touted how he has been on all the cruise ships, helped Ralph Lauren create an ad campaign on a cruise ship, and hosted a variety show. “This is going to be smooth sailing,” he declared, “Land ho!” meaning, we presume, that he will steer Boy George to victory. Just a little sidenote: There is much to be said for confidence but, so far, the one who went around bragging his or her arse off was usually not the one who won. Boy George was only too happy to let Carson take charge just like he let Brooke run the show in the last task he won. Carson was bursting with ideas, taglines and gay jokes.

While Carson and Laila set about getting the photography on target, Boy George looked for big names for his variety show. He mentioned L.L. Cool J, Natasha Bedingfield and Gene Simmons in full KISS regalia, but they were unavailable so he had to keep looking. He put that aside to accompany the team and the ladies on the photo shoot to make sure things were getting done properly. Boy George got peeved with the ladies for taking too long to get to the pool shot. Carson professed to be glad that the rocker was getting “progressively bossier.” Someone needed to take charge, he claimed (we thought he already did) and he understood this was Boy George’s big moment. They were getting great photos, and when they met with Chef Curtis Stone, that also went well but he felt he had to hustle Porsha and Carson out of the dining room away from the booze.

On Day 2, they worked on the party and the show, Boy George got a congratulatory message from a friend in the morning, on the anniversary of his 8th sober year. That motivated him to start fund-raising. He sent off messages to his celebrity friends and rallied his team to step up to the plate, too. Carson said they do have Natasha Bedingfield on board after all. Carson put a “Tan lines, yes. Buffet lines, never,” on the shot of Porsha and Laila being served food in the pool. Pure genius, right?

A keyboardist came in to help Boy George practice the song he wrote, only the keyboardist pissed the rocker off big-time by making suggestions. Boy George said when you’re in a band or in a co-writing situation, that’s fine but in this case, the guy was hired to just play what he was told. He didn’t need the guy “to start having too much of a personality.” Boy George refused to work with the keyboardist and even told the producer he would leave the show if they didn’t get rid of the him. Porsha had to tell the keyboardist to step outside.

Team Matt Iseman:
Matt tells his helpers what they are up against with Boy George. Matt recalls how Boy George was a fund-raising beast. Carnie thought that Boy George was a force of nature when it comes to creativity. What they needed, Matt thought, was an overarching theme. They went off to get some photos, hoping the theme would come to them soon.

Matt didn’t think their photos were very creative but he didn’t want to take a time out to figure out how to make them so. That seemed dumb but we were also thinking he’s going to need to spend the most time on the variety show and selling tickets. Kyle expressed her concerns about the creativity factor. Matt was open to suggestions but they were running against the clock. He thought some great copy could put a creative twist on their crappy photos.

Inspiration finally hit when Matt came up with the tagline “One destination that takes you everywhere.” Kyle and Carnie came up with the idea of renting animals, like penguins and a kangaroo. That sent them both into giggling fits. Back to work, Carrie had the sad task of choosing the best photos for their ad. Kyle worked on the party. Carnie took on food and entertainment. She planned to get her group, Wilson Phillips, to perform. The other members of the group are Carnie’s sister, Wendy (they are the daughters of Beach Boy, Brian Wilson); and Chynna Phillips (daughter of Mamas and Papas stars, John and Michelle Phillips). These ladies had 3 No. 1 hit songs in the 1990s. Here’s one of them: