Category — Celebrity Apprentice

Celebrity Apprentice continued and compared to last week’s episode it was all pretty tame  with no fights, threats to quit.

But without the drama and the boy team being back together meant Peter Everett being bullied and side lined by the alpha males was highlighted. I have written about this before in this blog post.

He feels his team mates don’t listen to him, but they think he dithers and adds nothing of value. Also they feel his celebrity is not as big as theirs. In the board room Prue told him to stand up for himself and to be a role model for all the others being bullied out there. I note she did not tell the alpha males to be decent human beings.

The challenge was to make a live 90 second commercial to be performed at half time at a Sydney FC match.

Kym Johnston was told she was project manager of the girls team and Rob Mills was project manager for the boys team.

At dress rehearsals they were both told their ads were awful. With Deborah Thomas worried they would actually damage the brand.

In the end the boys won and Peter Everett looked relieved I would have thought he would want to get out of there.

The girls were quite happy to throw each other under a bus. Kym did not have control of the brief, Roxy for being a dominating bitch, and Layla started tearing up when told she does not bring as many skills to the team as the others. What does she bring? In fact she is flying under the radar and never has to do the more responsible tasks in a challenge.

Layla told Mark Bouris she should have addressed this on the day, but maybe this was Stephanie’s way of letting Layla know she was not happy that she was sleeping with her ex-boyfriend Quade Cooper.

In the end Kym brought back in Roxy and Layla into the board room. They were never going to fire Roxy, Layla started weeping so Kym was fired.

Celebrity Apprentice Australia on Tuesday nights at 8.00pm.

The question is not who raised the most money for charity but who had the biggest dummy spit last night on the show. The producers must have spent much of the filming of this episode trying to convince people to stay.

The first was by Roxy whose special skills appears to be the ability to antagonise people. Her problem is she is taking being on Celebrity Apprentice like she is running her business and it is a completely different set up. Sometimes you just need to suck it up and stay silent and let them stuff it up.

Sure it must be frustrating for her as she is the only one with business credentials however her dictatorial style then storming off because she thought she was being disrespected. It was a tad ironic as she at times has been dismissive of people.

Also Stephanie Rice is right when she said the Roxy accuses people of doing what she does herself.

The other dummy spit was done by Jeff Fenech who stormed off after a fight with his not for much longer mate John Steffenson. Jeff was ranting about team work something he had clearly forgotten about when he was on Peter Berner’s team last week. But the issue appeared to be that he thought some of the guys like John and Dermott had not brought in money when he was project manager in the first fish and chip challenge.

However the catalyst appeared to be when John made a comment about Jeff being given fruit at the markets. When they went to the markets was anyones guess as we saw no footage.

Jeff denied being given fruit and sent him a death stare. Was it ethically wrong that he got given a box of grapes? Not sure why Jeff thought it was such a negative thing. But it blew up and Jeff quit. In the end John went out and talked to Jeff which also gave away that the board room is not actually in the high rise building…

Jeff came back in and apologised and it was still a bit of a mystery about what the blow up was about.

In between all this drama photos were taken, rumours were started about a romance between Stephanie Rice and Rob Mills, and a charity auction occurred.

Stephanie Rice’s team of young guns won easily making $84,000 at auction on the back of Roxy’s contacts plus they received another $40,000 from Canon.

In the boardroom Prue took in Dermott Brereton who had been sick most of the challenge with food poisoning as had Brian and Peter Everett.

In the end Brian fell on his sword and he did not appear to really care that he was the one fired.

In interviews since filming it is clear the Uncanny X Men lead singer did not find the experience enjoyable. At one point he said the filming conditions were torture also it as he told  Suzanne Carbone of  The Age saying ”It is a celebration of the worst in human nature under the high moral ground of raising money for charity.’

Also he spoke to News Ltd saying there were five of them were food poisoned by onset catering and he seemed glad to go. In fact maybe it was the after effects of the illness but it looked like a few of them would have been happy to have been fired last night.

Celebrity Apprentice Australia Tuesday nights on NINE.

At the end of the latest episode of The Celebrity Apprentice the viewer was meant to see Roxy Jacenko as the villain and overbearing personality but as this episode unfolded I started to feel increasingly uncomfortable about what was occurring on the male team aka Team Fabulous as their behaviour towards Peter Everett was anything but fabulous.

All throughout the episode Peter Everett was the butt of jokes and appeared to be marginalised by his team. The alpha males thought their behaviour was OK and not demeaning because they “loved” Peter. It was all dressed up as alpha males being alpha males. And did I say it was all so subtle.

This behaviour  was presented as being normal.

Was it what was really happening or was it the editing and should it have been edited that way for the viewers to see Peter being perceived as a ditz. I am not sure whether Peter is gay or not but it was clear the alpha boys did.  Their actions and comments reeked of  homophobia. It culiminated in Rob Mills saying in the board room that Peter had ADOS (Attention Deficit Oh Shiny).

The behaviour was oh so subtle that at first it was hard to work out why I was feeling uncomfortable. It reminded me of a group of  in boys at school who would let the “nerdy” guy hang out with him but he would be the butt of their jokes and slowly chip away at his self esteem. Sure Peter has more life skills to deal with this situation then that guy had back then but most people know it is hard to go against the pack.

Jeff Fenech and co probably thought they were not doing anything wrong but having a bit of a lark. It was like being subjected to covert sexism, racism or bullying in the workplace. You know it is happening to you but you cannot quite articulate what it is or what your work colleagues are doing.

Like any workplace situation Peter had to suck it up in the board room and say it was all fine because he would have looked churlish. After Dermot’s team speech about an different issue, clearly Peter felt he had to take it on the chin for the team.

However it was the little stuff that irked me like Jeff Fenech putting gaffer tape on Peter’s shirt, and spraying him in the face and just how they talked down to him.

Also Jeff purposely not mentioning that Peter Everett’s name was not on the brochure, sure it was to have a go at Project Manager, Peter Berner but if it had been his mate Jeff Steffenson’s name left off I am sure he would have mentioned it quicker. The leaving his name off the brochure was a mistake but indicated he was not top of mind, however it was probably not the greatest indignity he suffered this episode.

The editors are not without culpability, making sure they kept in Stephanie Rice’s comment that Peter Everett was “Dermott’s girlfriend” so clearly the production company were trying to or happy to typecast him in a certain way.

Peter probably has a schtick that is his on screen persona as Dermot Brereton said he gets distracted and forgets what he is meant to be doing which would be frustrating. He is definitely likeable and appears to be a viewer favourite and he is not eliciting derogatory comments from the fans of this show.

But what did Peter Everett think? Ironically this morning I opened this week’s TV WEEK and there was a interview titled “Ready, Steady, Sook”(I will let that one go through the keeper) where he said friends warned him it would be tough but Peter Everett was shocked at the treatment he got on The Celebrity Apprentice.

Here are some of his quotes from that article:

“I really hated the way they patronised me”

“I did feel like an outsider, but I didn’t want to be paranoid about it – I’ve never really had people gang up on me like that”

“They’ve asked me to do the show a couple of times but I’ve said no, because I didn’t feel physically or mentally strong enough”

“Even when I said yes to this series, my friends asked me if I had watched the show because they were worried about me. They knew it was vicious and didn’t think I could deal with it”

“I’m still having trouble sleeping and I also got a case of shingles following the end of the show, which my doctor has attributed to stress.”

“That stung when I was left off the flier, I was upset”

“I didn’t know if it showed how forgettable I am or if my teammates were just egotistical, but either way it was quite hard to deal with.”

He admitted he found it hard to find common ground with his team mates.

“People have suggested to me that my teammates were threatened by me, but that didn’t make sense because they  kept saying how weak and insignificant I was”

“I had a real issue with Rob Mills, which amazed me because he’s a creative chap, so I thought we’d be on the same wavelength”

“When I’d speak up, he would speak over me and say I was emotionally demanding and too sensitive – it became very hard for me to make myself heard”.

Whether it was homophobia or whether it is just the way alpha male treat non-alpha don’t know but this behavious is seen by fans and does appear to say treating someone that way is OK. 

What do you think? Am I reading too much into 90 minutes of reality TV?

By the way a more lighthearted recap about the episode will follow.

“Just because I am not around don’t think that I don’t know what is going on.” declared Mark Bouris at the beginning of the new season of Celebrity Apprentice Australia.  Then why does he have to watch the series before he decides on a winner?

Even the though cast is a bit sports person heavy it looks like it is going to be a great season of Celebrity Apprentice, because of course we actually watch it to see them raise money for charity, to see the conflict and that has already started.

Roxy Jacenko is proving she is going to be one of the stars of the series as she knows the formula of what needs to be done to stay on the show which is raise lots of money plus provide some drama. She provided both last night raising the most cash on her team and also having a crack at Prue MacSween and Stephanie Rice. I suspect that is only the start.

As with all celebrities there was a lot of egos in the room but the biggest by far were Dawn Fraser and Jeff Fench. They immediately placed themselves at the front of the line when host Mark Bouris asked them to line up from the most famous to the least. What was Prue MacSween doing being put third most people don’t know who she is.

The bad news for Dawn and Jeff were they were now annointed the Project Managers of the challenge which to run a fish and chip shop on Bondi Beach.

The teams as usual were split by gender which does put then females at a disadvantage as they don’t usually have the business contacts the males have. The team names were a tad lame – the girls went with Team Supreme and the boys went with Team Fabulous, did Peter Everett choose the male name?

Dawn and Jeff had different operating styles, Dawn thought actually working in a fish and chip shop when she was younger might give her the advantage, and Jeff well he was just out of his depth.

He revealed he had never had a “proper job”, and he was struggling with trying to work out what he needed to get other people to do. Though ten minutes later he was saying to camera that he was leader.

Rob Mills quite rightly wondered if he had taken a few knocks to the head. Even Jeff does not appear to know who he is as he talks in the first person. But what Jeff did do for the viewer is tick the entertaining box.

As with these challenges the number of customers served is not going to get you the win but the corporate dollars. On the current season of Celebrity All-Stars in the USA, in one of the challenges where they had to make meatballs the male team did not even bother opening their shop to the public and they won with little effort or stress! OK they did have to put up with Gary Busey.

It was not long before the female team started fraying at the edges even though they were more focussed. Prue MacSween was meant to be helping Roxy with marketing but floated off to check out the kitchen and play with the microphone.

Also Prue would go off and do what she wanted to do like take down all the chairs outside so no one could sit. Not that it was a pleasant day for the beach as it looked like it was blowing a gale.

Prinnie and Layla were working hard, however Roxy and Dawn started getting peeved at Stephanie for not being a team playing and not pulling people in from outside and they let her know that in the board room.

The boys team told Mark Bouris that Jeff had been a great team leader even thought he wasn’t as they wanted to appear united. By the way Dermot Brerton surprised me he seems like he has some moxy and will be an entertaining cast member.

The males flogged the female team the girls raised $77, 600 whilst the guys made$121, 160. Jeff’s team also won the $5000 from Woman’s Day for best presentation. Jeff also gave $20,000 to Dawn’s charity the Sunshine Coast Riding for The Disabled. Jeff’s charity is Save Our Sons. It was good that both of their charities were for lower profile ones who can really do with the money and the national exposure.

However it was now down to who was going to get fired. Mark Bouris let Dawn off the hook and said all the girls were up for elimination as usually the Project Manager can only bring back two in with them. Everyone was throwing Prue under the bus but it was Prinnie who was eliminated.

The reason was she did not bring in much money only $3000, and did not use her The Voice connections or talent to bring in the punters of the money. However Layla from Big Brother only brought in $175, but they must have decided Layla was going to give better reality TV.

Unfortunately this year again it does not appear the producers are going to let Deborah Thomas and Dane Bouris unleash in the board room. One of the best things about the US series is Ivanka Trump and her brother telling it how it is in the board room scene.

Who do you think should have been eliminated? Did you enjoy the episode?

It is not unusual for reality television shows that are not live to air to film two or three endings to ensure no spoilers leak out before the Grand Final actually screens on television.

However what did shock me was reading in news.com.au was host of  Celebrity Apprentice Australia, Mark Bouris, saying they had filmed two endings but they had not picked a winner. Is this standard practice in the industry and does this mean other reality shows who film multiple endings also decide who wins later on?

Mr Bouris told news.com.au:

While the series has already been filmed, two endings have been shot.

Bouris says he is not deciding on the winner until the series has run its course.

“I want to watch it like viewers and see who really deserves the title at the end of the series.”

Is this code for the Network NINE, the producers and Mr Bouris waiting to decide who is going to be the most popular winner according to the chatter on the social media. I had always been under the assumption the winner was decided on the day and was confined to the chosen few to stop it from leaking out.

Also  I find the lack of transparency a concern and a tad unethical as the most worthy person may not win but the most popular or likeable.

Sure it is only a reality TV show, but there is big bucks at stake for either an individual or a charity. Also the viewers give up hours of their time to these shows  and invest considerable emotional energy. It is like watching a sporting team in the grand final you want to know it is fair being fairly judged/refereed and the best team/person wins.

With My Kitchen Rules grand final coming up on Sunday let’s hope they don’t subscribe to this practice and are judging on who is the best cook on the day and this decision was made on the day it was recorded NOT this week.

Masterchef: The Professionals also shot multiple endings but a Network TEN spokesperson said the decision to film multiple endings was due to the long period between recording and transmission and Marco Pierre White’s other work commitments. The spokesperson said the producers knew who had won and this was decided on the day of filming.

This is good to hear but again raises the question again whether there needs to be a reality television code of practice.

Celebrity Apprentice Australia Series 3 starts on Tuesday night on NINE at 8.40pm.