Previously: Trump switched up the teams. Brian was absent. All detergent sent some executives on the show so that no one with a sense of humor would ever buy its product again. Everyone lost, but Trump didn't factor the task into the elimination: He sent Tionne home for pulling a Baldford, and Khloe for skipping out on her DUI classes to be on the show (and vice versa).
Back in the viewing room, everyone believes it's no question that Clint will be the one fired, since he was the only one who had anything to do with the video. Joan says she won't work with him again, so he better be fired. In walk Clint and Natalie. No one hides their shock that Clint's there instead of Khloe, and Joan interviews that she can't spend two more days with Clint, because she had stomachaches last time, and she doesn't find this fun. She thinks he's a jackass. Clint says it's his fault, and that he took them because he thought they were safe. Melissa says she did the same thing, then she interviews that Khloe wasn't taking her DUI lightly and Trump shouldn't have punished her for trying to change. Everyone's really pissed at Trump, talking shit about it. Annie throws in that Clint's video sucked, and he's all, "Thanks." And, with that: "Money, money, money." If Claudia weren't in the opening credits, I wouldn't even remember her. I mean, come on: A Deal or No Deal suitcase model? Really?
It's morning, as the teams line up on the street. It looks very cold. Trump arrives and puts Brian on Athena. Trump asks if anyone has a problem with the boardroom last week, and Joan does. But Trump says he really hated what Khloe did. Joan tries to say that she was getting over it. Trump hopes she's right, but he thinks he really made her understand the importance by treating her like shit. Trump moves on to this week. He tells everyone what a big problem identity theft is and then introduces Todd and Andrew from LifeLock, a wonderful company that helps end the problem of identity theft. Todd tells them their task is to create a package and retail store display for LifeLock. The trick is that LifeLock's a service, so they must make the intangible tangible. They'll be judged on brand messaging, originality and overall design. Trump tells them to pick project managers. Natalie will lead KOTU, and Brian will lead Athena. Annie interviews that she and Jesse are the last people who haven't been project manager, which is on purpose in her case. Natalie's nervous to lead Clint and Joan. Trump says Ivanka and George will be his eyes and ears and the winning project manager will get $20,000 for his or her charity.
Natalie and Joan run to get some supplies while Herschel and Clint are in Brooklyn. While they walk, Joan tells Natalie that their current display doesn't catch a woman's eye, so they should use Herschel in it. She then interviews about how very naïve Natalie is. She sometimes wonders what rock Natalie crawled out from under, but at least she was smart enough to sit back and let other people (read: Joan) take over. She says Clint would never do that. Natalie decides they should use their celebrity, so they call to tell Clint and Herschel. Joan makes the call, and talks to Clint. She tells him that everything stays as it is, but they're adding their four faces peeping around from behind the safe. Clint's concern is the time crunch for the construction guys. They say it's fine; it can be done from back at KOTU headquarters.
Clint sees Brande and takes off, saying there's a spy in their midst. Herschel follows him, trying to talk the whole time, and basically whining that Clint won't let him ask a question. So, Clint tells the ladies Herschel's breaking down, sets the phone down, and leaves. Herschel tells us Clint's a control freak, so he runs off with the phone all the time, and then he leaves like a little girl if he doesn't get his way. Yeah, I agree. But they're all sort of whiny, so I can't tell if it's worse than anyone else. Herschel gets off the phone and tells Clint to stop acting like that. Clint says if they're going to do this new idea, they have to shrink the safe by the size of their heads. The construction guy thinks he can do that, but Clint's stressing that all of the elements aren't going to come together with these late changes.
The CD with all of the graphics on it is blank when Athena's construction guy tries to open it, so Brande calls the rest of the team to ask them to email it, because having the graphics is sort of important. Jesse's in the bathroom again. Poor Jesse. They e-mail everything except the photo of CEO Todd, so Brande calls again and they send that. Annie is in crisis mode about their 8 p.m. deadline to get their decals to the printing place (I guess for the packaging). Melissa hates it, and says at one point, "Inhalate, exhalate." George walks in to Athena and no one notices him. They all tell him what they're doing, but George tells us he didn't see much in the way of real creativity -- just a lot of boring facts and figures. He tells them they seem calm, but Annie assures him she's panicking.
The boys are back with the rest of KOTU. Natalie asks Joan how the brochure should open, but Joan turns it back on her and Natalie just shrugs. Joan interviews that Natalie's not a great leader, but is very average. They are coming up with thought bubbles to go with each of their heads, and Clint comes up with "I may lose my voice on tour, but I'll never lose my identity" for himself, "As a running back, LifeLock is one line of defense I would never want to go up against" for Herschel, and adds the finish to Natalie's, "The best numbers in my golf life have been..." Clint adds: "63, 65" and Natalie finishes it, "And hole in one." Joan interviews that she hated Clint last week, but this week they both know they have to put it together. He comes up with her quote: "People may steal my jokes, but they'll never steal my identity." She loves it. She tells us Clint's very funny, but is very stubborn. She decided this week that he's not going to change, so she moves around him. They get their stuff to the printer by 8, and Natalie thinks they should quit for the night. Herschel thinks they should go back to work on their safe, which they can do until 10.
The executives sit down in front of KOTU's safe, and Natalie walks in and says she's Joan Rivers. Clint walks in and says he's actually Joan Rivers. Herschel does the same. Then Joan walks in and says, no, that would be her, and thanks to LifeLock, she's going to be the only one. Joan talks about their display and packages. Todd compliments on the presentation, and KOTU leaves.
The executives arrive in Athena's presentation room, and we see the plain white board now has lots of stuff on it: picture of CEO Todd, and a bunch of red things that we can't read. Brian talks about it, and he is enthusiastic, but it's still really not good. It's just red and black type on paper, with a picture. Bo-Ring. And, by the end, Brian's just reading off his cards. Todd thanks them for their "Nice work." Brande interviews that Brian did a great job, and that she could see on the executives' faces that they were "in awe." Okay, I did not see that at all. Anyway, she's feeling good about it, which is even further evidence that she knows nothing and did nothing, because I think everyone else at least realizes they blew it. Commercials include Carolyn shilling for LifeLock. Is that weird? Since Trump fired her.
The celebrities enter the boardroom, where George and Ivanka sit. Enter Trump. He asks Natalie if she thinks she won. She says she doesn't know, so he asks if she didn't like the job her team did. She thinks her team was incredible, actually. He asks who was incredible, and she says everybody, despite the issues. He asks why she's not sure they won, then, and she says she doesn't want to jinx her team. George laughs! He laughs! Natalie says that Clint and Joan worked together and got along great, so Trump asks Joan what she thinks. She says Clint's stubborn as hell, but terrific. She says she'd go see him in concert now, but only if he gave her the tickets. Clint says he got along great with Joan. Trump asks what Clint thought of Natalie as project manager, and he compliments her. Joan ranks her a high 7 or 8 out of 10. Natalie's happy, but Trump points out 7 or 8 isn't the best. She's happy, though.
Trump asks Brian about his team, and Brian says they did a good job -- that everyone did what they were supposed to do. Trump asks Brande, who thinks that's true. She says she and Jesse were kind of off on their own, though. Trump asks Melissa who was the weak member of the team, and she repeats they were separated, and says Jesse was very sick. They all commend him for being there, despite being sick. He tells Trump he got a stomach virus from his daughter, but he's feeling better.
Trump asks Ivanka to tell us how KOTU did. The executives thought their idea was very original, with great use of celebrity. They didn't like that the display units didn't house the packaging -- that they'd have to call a number to get the packaging. Trump points out that's a huge negative. Trump wants to see the project, which Ivanka pulls out, saying it's incredibly well-fabricated. It's a little safe that you open up to reveal all of the stuff about LifeLock. Athena thinks it's good, too.
George tells us what the executives thought of Athena: They loved the presentation, and that the display nailed brand messaging. But they felt that what the team did was a spin on what they already do. There wasn't much creativity. They did love that the product was for sale on the display, though. Trump asks Brian who he thinks won. Brian doesn't know. Trump says it wasn't Brian. It was KOTU. He congratulates Natalie for winning $20,000 for her charity: Boys & Girls Club. Another LifeLock commercial, which has CEO Todd showing his Social Security number, which is what Athena had. So, they didn't win, but they did have their idea stolen. At least there's that. (Or had LifeLock already done that? If so, they were really not creative.)
KOTU heads up to watch the boardroom on the screen. Joan's sure Melissa isn't going home. Annie told Joan how bad Brande had been, so Joan's confident and happy, so she happily drinks champagne with KOTU. Joan tells everyone that Brande's going home. In the boardroom, Brian explains that they thought sticking with Todd as the guy was the way to go after meeting with Todd. They felt like he loved being the guy. Trump asks if KOTU had a celebrity advantage with Joan and Clint. Brian says no, and Jesse agrees that it wasn't an advantage, but better packaging. Trump says they loved the celebrity use, but really the packaging. Trump asks George who was the reason for the defeat, and George says he won't pin anyone down, but he knew they'd have a problem time-wise. Trump asks Annie if the project manager is to blame for that. She says she kept bringing up the time issues, and Brian kept saying, "It's okay. We're fine." Brian says that's true, but he felt there were other issues. George says Brian was a laid-back project manager, which Trump says is how Brian is. Annie says the time management is all she didn't like about Brian, so Trump asks who was the weakest member of the team.
Trump asks Amanda to bring them back in, so she calls the room, and they all think "Uh-oh," but Joan can't wait to get in to find out what's up now. Trump asks them all to sit down. He congratulates them on making it to the final eight. He says they've been through a lot, worked hard, and they're all smart and tough. He says he called them back in because their task starts right now. Everyone looks tired and surprised. Because I think they usually go home for the week, right? I don't know. This celebrity version confuses me a little. And not just because these people often make no sense. Joan says she's never worked so hard in her life.
Trump tells them there's nothing so difficult as raising money in this economy, but that's what they're going to do: have a fashion show fundraiser auction. He says Ivanka is a very special person, who has designed a jewelry line that's doing very well. They'll be auctioning her jewelry. They will choose models and everything else, and one member of each team will be the auctioneer. Annie's going to be project manager. KOTU is going to have Herschel do it, but Trump recommends Joan. Annie tells Joan she's going to crush her, but Joan interviews that she'll kill to win because Annie's two-faced. She bluffs and lies, just like in poker. Trump says he'll be in the audience to see how they do.
Annie has Athena seated up in the suite. She tells Jesse they need cool brochures. She wants Melissa to pick the jewelry. Melissa tells us that her mom runs a successful jewelry company, and she works for it, so this is perfect for her. She'd like to choose clothes, too, but Annie snottily says that Brande's going to be the head of that, because she knows the most about beautiful women. Melissa says this is her forte, but whatever. Brande says she'll call the modeling agency. She says they're going to win this thing, because this task is right up her alley. She gets on the phone, and they get the pick of ten models, who are coming over now. Brande's on the phone, getting evening gowns. Annie's so happy with Brande. Melissa's seething, because Annie hated Brande last task and now is telling her how great she is. Brande and Annie sweet-talk to each other, and Melissa feels stabbed in the back at this change of events.
At KOTU, Joan's giving everyone chores: Natalie gets to go choose the jewelry. She's going to find the nicest, cheapest stuff. Joan explains that she wanted Natalie to feel part of the team, so she had her do it, especially since she's straight, which is very unusual for a golfer. Um, Joan, I don't think that's at all true. Joan has Clint be the auctioneer, and he says he's done auctions before. Joan interviews that Annie is a manipulator who would spit on the ground and drown her mother in it if it would get her a step ahead. Joan's asking everyone how much money they can bring in. Natalie thinks 20 to 25 grand. Clint thinks 25 to 30. Herschel knows he has 40. That's $105,000. Natalie says it's hard going up against Annie, who is the strongest fundraiser. Joan says Annie's been telling them all about her unlimited funds, so she got her people on it immediately.