The Celebrity Apprentice -- Now It's a Cliffhanger!

Things are getting exciting on The Celebrity Apprentice and in case you accidentally missed last night's show, you may be interested in a rundown of the events. As you may remember, last Sunday (May 9th) had ended on an emotional note with the sad departure of Cyndi Lauper.

This week's show began with the triumphant arrival of Holly Robinson Peete back at the Celebration Suite. There they all were, the remaining five survivors now jubilant and hoisting a few to celebrate their near brush with destiny. Then suddenly came a phone call summoning them back to the Board Room.

In the Midst of Life ...

Yes, before their champagne flutes had even been drained, the five contestants who had lived to fight another day were again confronting Mr. Trump who promptly fired Maria and warned that two more people were going to be dismissed based on the results of their interviews with Joan Rivers and Bill Runcic (winner of one of the old The Apprentice shows). This "winnowing out" process claimed Curtis Stone and Sharon Osbourne who had to leave in the ignominious cab, joining the ranks of those who will be missed.

Tasks are Assigned

Holly and Bret were now left to duel it out together and they were given their assignments - each one is supposed to develop a new Snapple Tea flavor along with a commercial to market the new product. Holly was joined by a returning Curtis and Maria, while Bret was reunited with Summer Sanders and Daryl Strawberry.

Each three-person team was provided with laboratory space and everything they needed (including a Snapple R&D technician to assist them) for developing the new products. After much planning and crucial negotiating, the teams came up with ideas. Bret's team toyed with the concept of "Trop-a-Rocka" but ended up producing a sugarless version of Snapple Tea called "Pear Plum Nutty" which included cinnamon and Holly's team developed Compassion Berry, a combination of Passion Fruit and Strawberry.

Making Commercials is Harder Than It Looks

Bret intended to film two commercials - one serious and the other a bit silly - but was broadsided on both projects by the fact that nobody could seem to find him a Dolly truck to facilitate the camera work he wanted. Meanwhile, Holly had selected the actors she wanted for her commercial but didn't have the heart to dismiss the rejects. Curtis took care of breaking the bad news to them ... and thus we came to the end of The Celebrity Apprentice for May 16.

Who knows who will win but my own prediction is a lot of people will be glued to their sets, watching how this all turns out in the Grand Finale next week.