Gene Simmons is Fired?!?!

Up until last week, Gene Simmons of Kiss has been a contestant on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice reality TV show. Being a long-time Kiss fan, Gene was of course my somewhat biased favorite celebrity on this show. In the 1st 2 weeks he seemed to be one of the strongest business minds (leading the men's team, Hydra, to 2 consecutive victories). The Donald thought to shake things up and asked Gene (on the heels of his previous victory as project manager) if he'd like to be project manager for the women's team. Gene, being the omnipresent ladie's man (if you ask him), agreed.

As the 3rd week's competition unraveled, Gene once again appeared to be on top of things; taking swift control of the direction of the project. He continued diligently in his pre-ordained direction with limited input from the rest of the "team" (here was his mistake, he sent only 2 team members to meet with this episode's client-Kodak, and that meeting didn't go as well as team Hydra's did). Had their meeting gone more smoothly, and the client gotten thier point through to the 2 women representing the team, I bet Gene would still be among the celebs.

I work a 2nd job part-time in retail myself, so I know a good strategy to make a sale is always to let the customer know when & how they'll get more bang for their buck. In the case with the Kodak printers, the most bang for the buck came with their new ink (if the stacks of paper were to be believed, the same amount of the new ink could print more than double the amount of pages). Team Empresario's representatives from the client meeting did not convey this message to the project manager-Gene...

In the end, the client preferred the men's team's "Mobile Experience" for Kodak's new 'revolutionary' ink & printers, and the women's team, along with Gene, won another trip to the board room.

As the board room drama unfolded, Donald seemed determined to lay the fault on the overly talkative team member who gave the Kodak rep a bad impression in the initial meeting. Gene, being Gene, refused to bow to the Donald's implications & turned the blame on Kodak itself for making the "wrong decision". He repeatedly said that he trusted the team member that Donald & Kodak were witch-hunting, and vowed to stand by that person. In the end he brought the last 2 people Donald would consider firing back to the board room with him.

Gene seemed to dare Trump to fire him, and in the end he did. Did you think Donald would fire his favorite ratings-getter Omarosa? Think again, farewell Gene...

So this week's episode is no longer a must-see event for me. Too bad Trump, you almost had faithful viewer in me, until last week. At least it wans't a total loss for Gene, since he'd won the previous week's challenge as project manager, his chosen charity (pediatric AIDS) received a hefty donation.