‘All-Star Celebrity Apprentice’ review: Piers Morgan vs. Omarosa, round 1 billion

Before the start of “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” Sunday night, we were actually skeptical about the show’s ability to really be entertaining with people that we already know and understand their game. Then, we saw the challenge play out, the conflict arise, and we were totally hooked by the time the boardroom came about. This show is a crazy train of entertainment, and so long as you can set any feelings you may have for Donald Trump aside (or keep them close, if you love him to begin with), there is very little else on TV that combines intensity and insanity quite like this.

After all, this is a show that fancies itself as a “business competition,” and then spent a good thirty minutes reviving the Piers Morgan vs. Omarosa feud from five years ago. Let’s say this first and foremost: Piers is, in our mind, the best celebrity to ever play this game. However, he’d already won the game. Why rub it in Omarosa’s face as much as he did? There wasn’t really so much of a need to kick her even further while she was down, especially so long after the fact.

Piers had plenty of opportunities this week, as well, as Omarosa’s team, lead by Brande Roderick, ended up losing the standard opening fundraising task to Trace Adkins. The country star, who lots to Piers in the season 1 finale, came out guns a-blazing here in hopes to impress. Did he? Definitely, and he saved Stephen Baldwin, who seemed almost proud that he raised no money.

The issue that came for Brande in the boardroom was just trying to figure out who to bring back into the boardroom, mostly because  she, as Trace smartly said, probably knew that Trump was not going to fire his main pot-stirrer in Omarosa in week one. Instead, she brought back Bret Michaels (who may or may not have raised over $20,000) and one of the other low earners in La Toya Jackson.

Ultimately, here is why Brande should have been fired in our eyes. Did she raise a ton of money? Sure, but she was expected to as Project Manager. But she insisted that she was going to dominate this task early on, and then had zero understanding of what her team was doing and how much they were raising. Because she claimed to have this covered, some other folks may have actually held back.

At the end of the day, though, Trump made the stunning decision to get rid of the one person who had actually won the show before in Bret, who signed up just so he could try to raise more money. We think that he will miss Bret as a player later on more than Brande; and while we would have preferred to see La Toya go over either of them due to entertainment alone, there was really no justification to do this.

What did you think of the premiere, and do you think that Trump made the right move? Be sure to vote in the poll below, and you can read more news in relation to the show here.

Photo: NBC