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Tenacity and Rocksolid were tasked with yet another interesting dilemma on the NBC reality show Celebrity Apprentice this week. Each trio had to refurb a Manhattan apartment with new paint and furnishings with the emphasis on originality, celebrity style, and improving the overall value of the BridgeStreet corporate properties.

When finished, the spaces were intended for Fortune 500 executives for 60 to 90 day stays. One of the two bedrooms was to be set up as a celebrity room.

Trump did the ‘old switcheroo’ by swapping out Curtis Stone and Bret Michaels, relegating each to the opposite team. Sharon Osbourne and Maria Kanellis had expressed a genuine loathing for the kitchen chef during the previous week but soon warmed up to him as their new task got underway, with Sharon as project manager.

Bret and Cyndi Lauper forced Holly Robinson Peete into the role of project manager, both feigning total ignorance of room design. Holly balked momentarily but accepted the mantle and ran with it. She was horrified at the prospect of working with two ‘loose cannons’ but soon warmed to Michaels, who has become more effective with each passing week.

Kanellis was miffed that Curtis quickly became Sharon’s right hand sidekick, relegating her to the role of purchasing paint and seeing that it got applied to the apartment walls. Osbourne waffled until nearly the 11th hour on paint colors, causing each one of the team members to phone friends to come to the rescue in an all night painting party.

Osbourne and Stone scored nearly $100,000 of free merchandise to stage the apartment, including $10,000 in kitchen gadgets and props.

Holly single-handedly made decisions and chose furnishings that she felt would provide a Zen feel. She nixed nearly every idea that Cyndi came up with, but finally told her that she was in charge of the celebrity bedroom. The only advance direction Lauper got was that the space should be red. The singer attacked the project with a vengeance and Holly had to grudgingly admit that the woman had a definite flair for pulling together the themed space, that Cyndi dubbed the ‘Rock & Roll Zen Den’.

Bret painted and took photos of the New York City skyline that he had blown up for wall art. He was gone for part of the task because his band had a gig. Peete lamented the fact that her only ‘sane’ team member was abandoning her.

The spaces were judged by BridgeStreet President & CEO Lee Curtis. He thought that the Tenacity project had too much going on. He said it was “more cheap than Zen”. He hated the sea foam green hue on the walls and said the effect actually shrunk the space. He did love Bret’s artwork and Cyndi’s red celebrity room.

Lee Curtis thought Rocksolid’s space looked expensive and was impressed by the way Sharon and Curtis leveraged their celebrity status to get the furnishings at no cost. What he didn’t like was their celebrity room, which he said fell short and resembled any ordinary meeting room. He was also surprised that the bedroom had no dresser. Sharon remarked that celebrities don’t use dressers.

Back in the boardroom, it was announced that Sharon, Curtis and Maria won the task hands down for Rocksolid. Holly, Bret and Cyndi were then pitted against each other by Trump to see who could effectively fight to remain on the show for another week.

Bret ducked his head during most of the back and forth between Holly and Cyndi until Trump finally decided to drag him into the fray. It seemed at one point that Bret might get the boot but then the momentum shifted again and in the end it was Cyndi Lauper who was fired.

Next week there will be another elimination, followed by intensive interviews of the remaining four. The grilling will be led by last season’s winner Joan Rivers, followed by two more firings. The remaining two will go against each other in the finale.

See video below:


Photos: Celebrity Apprentice promo photos