I hate to say it, but with Gary Busey gone we're left with all competent celebrities. I don't know that she'll win, but I'm really proud of Lisa Rinna for making it this far. I felt like she would have done a good job on her last season had she not been fired. So the only oddballs we have now are Marilu, who has a lot of energy and memories, and Trace who I'm still not convinced gives a rat's ass about any of this. I'd like it to be Penn and Lil Jon in the final two.
Back from the boardroom, Lisa and Penn are still reeling. Lisa is a bit hurt by Gary's accusation that she was yelling, albeit unfounded, and Penn is glad that his one wish to be on a team with Gary Busey came true and lasted far past midnight.
Just after the theme song, during which we remember La Toya was on this show, Lil Jon presents a check to the American Diabetes Association. They gladly accept it.
For this task, Donald Trump rolls in with former winner John Rich (who should not have beaten Marlee. Man, that was a great season). I wonder if he and Trace are friends? Is it racist to think that all people who wear cowboy hats are friends? Anyway, Donald Trump talks about baseball as though he knew anything about it, then introduces the executives for this week's task: Foxwoods Resorts. For the task, the teams will plan a party to show off the luxury Foxwoods experience.
This is a bigger money task, with a total of $100,000 going to the winning celebrity's charity. Lisa Rinna volunteers to be project manager because she wasn't listening when John Rich just told them he has raised all the money for St. Jude Children's Hospital. Marilu volunteers on the other end. Girl fight.
Team Power sits down in their small suite up high in the Barclays Center and tries to figure out what the hell Foxwoods is. The executives come in to tell the celebrities that Foxwoods is a large resort with "something for everyone." Foxwoods resorts has named the five types of people who go to their resort after face cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Joker). Marilu thinks it's great, and I think it's atrocious. The celebrities are to pick one of these characters and design their suite around it. And if anyone is getting shirts made, I'm a Joker.
The resort is also privately owned by a tribe that I won't even try to spell. The executives say they try to incorporate that by playing "native flute music" in key areas around the resort. Sounds fun.
The teams need to pick their character, and Team Power is thinking that Penn will want the Joker. Lil Jon and Marilu like the King, and Trace thinks they should go with either the Ace or the Joker. Lisa and Penn do, in fact, want the Joker. It makes the most sense. Lisa goes to negotiate with Marilu. The negotiation is not a negotiation. Marilu wants the King, Lisa wants the Joker. They split off to be stressed out in their individual suites.
Lil Jon thinks that Marilu should figure out what their entertainment is going to be (the main part) before she decorates, but Marilu is all about the details. Not really a big picture gal, Marilu Henner. She orders a mirror because she wants one, and Trace is not permitted to question her.
"I don't know what the right thing to do is, but I'm pretty sure that ain't it," Trace admits in a confessional. He's right, they probably shouldn't be decorating like a throne room.
For the Joker party, they are planning lots of comedic entertainment (Lisa Lampanelli, Penn and Teller, etc.) and to have celebrity "prankster" chef (what could that mean?) David Burke. This chef has a restaurant in Foxwoods, so it's perfect. Penn has all the good connections. They're even going to try to incorporate Native American flute music, played by a Native American flautist.
Meanwhile, across the stadium, Marilu wants to fit a massage therapist in at this party that will not be relaxing at all, and asks Lil Jon and Trace to figure out the entertainment that could fill in these very tight gaps. Oh, and it has to be "king themed" but not themed like the King character of Foxwoods resort.
Marilu quietly tells Trace that he's curmudgeonly until he finds what he wants to do and then gets excited about it. Trace notes, in his deep voice, that Marilu is too high energy. Trace is bringing in some country artists, though, and having a fun and silly time talking about Dolly Parton's breasts.
Things are shaping up for Plan B with their all-star real life Foxwoods Players, until it snows fifteen inches in New York. Flights are canceled and Penn's Perfect Party is probably ruined. Foxwooooooooooooooods.
Lil Jon and Trace are also screwed, even though their entertainment plans weren't as perfect. Marilu is upset because Trace is too laid back. Trace is also going crazy, and keeps repeating how much he loves "beautiful maidens." They should get out of that small room.
In the other, problem-solving suite, Penn and Lisa are practicing the pronunciation of "Mashantucket Pequot," the name of the tribe that owns Foxwoods. At this point, it seems like Team Power could lose a member. Penn and Lisa are a good team. John Rich stops by and confirms that.
Marilu, in a panic, asked Lil Jon to DJ her King party. She at least wants some beats to keep the party going. Lil Jon is tired, but obliging. John Rich walks in and just casually notes that Lil Jon is the King of Krunk. He doesn't know how tired they are, but it seems pretty obvious to feature Lil Jon as the charismatic king of the rap world and feature him heavily. Marilu is worried about purple and mirrors, though. She thinks the idea of bringing in a king costume is a little silly. She'll do everything king-themed short of that, though.
Lisa and Penn are working on a snow day backup plan: Lisa will do a trick with Penn using her lips as pillows. Meanwhile, Trace secures a country star named Hunter Hayes. And Marilu bent on the king costumes, which Lil Jon and Trace quickly put on. At the end of the night, Trace and Lil Jon are released from detention.
The morning, the snow has melted and things are working out like they always do for television and celebrities. Lisa gets her party set up and all the pieces in place, including a Lisa Lampanelli, who has lost a lot of weight.
In the King suite, Trace and Lil Jon move an awkward, majestic mirror around and nobody knows what it's for. Lil Jon was unable to be the DJ because the equipment fell through. Marilu is incensed by the fact that she missed a detail. All those memories can make a woman nuts.
The event begins, celebrity chef, Pequot flute music and all. David Burke went through thousands of calamari to choose ones that would look like a breaded joker's hat. That's excessive, I hope he's getting paid a lot.
Meanwhile, Marilu's party literally has a chess demo. The only thing more boring than chess is watching someone else demonstrate it. Congratulations, Marilu, you have the least cool party ever. Trace and Lil Jon are flabbergasted; not expecting this chess move at all. But they are just pawns in Marilu's horrible, boring game.
Oh, but that's not the only low-rate entertainment Marilu was able to secure. She also got Countess LuAnn de Lesseps from The Real Housewives of New York to stand there and ... stand there some more. Maybe to help sell people on the idea of the chess game. Oh and the poor massage therapist has to lean over this insane tall-backed chair to try to reach people's shoulders.
Trace tries to save the terrible party with his Country Music New Artist of the Year. Hunter Hayes is at least gentle enough for this party, and at least there was some music at all. And John Rich likes it, and that's important this time. I really, really like the way the Foxwoods executive awkwardly lurched toward Hunter Hayes, telling him he is "the man!"
Lisa is feeling good about her party, which has all the elements necessary for an actually good party. Penn and Teller start the entertainment out with a needle trick, for which Teller swallows embroidery needles, then brings them out on a string. It's insane and a little gross, but cool.
, Lisa Lampanelli plays to the small room with some risqué roast behavior. The crowd is a bit conservative for this set, and the look on the Foxwoods executive's face is not one of joy, especially when she mentioned that she performs at Foxwoods. She might get fired, now that they've actually seen the show.
The executives meet with John Rich and Don Jr. to talk about the tasks. I'm sure they'll say both teams did a great job, when that could not be farther from the case. They start out with brand integration. Both teams did a good job with brand integration. It almost seems like these boring guys preferred Marilu's party. They didn't like the chess, though, nor did they "get" the flute music at Lisa's party. Even though they mentioned it specifically.
"Each suite was very fun, had great entertainment, and could be an enjoyable experience," the Foxwoods executive lies to Don Jr. We'll see what they really thought in the boardroom.
In the boardroom, Donald asks Lisa Rinna whether she liked the suite or the party better, like that's even a legitimate question. Lisa says she likes both, and brags on the experience a bit. Marilu tries to talk her party up, but probably realizes how lame her party sounds as she's describing it.
Lil Jon comments on Marilu as a leader, and compares her to a hamster on a wheel. Marilu combats that with thinking Lil Jon is untrustworthy with "visual things," and Donald Trump negates that immediately. He likes doing that, the Donald.
, Marilu calls Trace out for being "curmudgeony." Trace pipes up (down) that they should have fought for Joker, just to take it out of Penn's hands. Trace likes strategies, and doesn't care for details. He also likes cavemen, we've learned. John Rich agrees that Penn should not have had the Joker suite, because if we're talking chess that is a checkmate for the opponent. The cowboy hats are slowly merging.
"Do you know what they call him in the rap world?" John Rich asks Marilu about Lil Jon. She responds perkily that she does not. He's called the King of Krunk. Marilu responds that she wanted Lil Jon to "be doing the DJ thing." Marilu keeps insisting that the idea is really sort of what she was going for, and Lil Jon should have put himself out there as the King of Krunk. It disintegrates into "he said, she said" from there until Marilu can latch back onto Trace being in a bad mood.
The positives for Marilu's party are: the chair massage. The negatives are everything else. They even said, "the chess master was a big miss." Marilu disagrees with the executives, who are the experts on their own brand.
Don Jr. tells Lisa that the executives loved their attention to detail and theme. On the negative side, the décor could have been more "casual and fun." No comments about whether or not Lisa Lampanelli will be asked to continue her run at Foxwoods. Lisa wins the task, of course. Marilu will continue to insist that chess is a good party idea all the way into the limo.
But yeah, chess was a huge miss and it was Marilu's idea. She fixates too much on the details, and doesn't see the big picture.
"Chess!" Lisa whispers to Penn in the suite, watching the boardroom from the safety of Trump Tower, "what the heck!"
Then, Marilu blames Trace for not pulling his weight by securing the entertainment she wanted (like a chess master, I suppose). She says that Hunter Hayes, who the executives obviously loved and thought was "the man," was not the wow factor she was looking for. John Rich mentions again that Lil Jon is the King of Krunk. She's toast.
Donald Trump questions whether Trace tried hard, or tried hard enough. Penn and Lisa notice that Trace is surly, and admitted to not having had a good idea in the last three tasks. Suspicion confirmed: Trace doesn't actually care. Marilu clings to this, her last saving grace, and suggests that Trace be fired because he dropped out three tasks ago.
Marilu, intense and insistent, compares herself to Joan Rivers and drives home that she has everyone's back. Donald starts his firing speech, and Marilu interrupts him with further rebuttals. But she's the project manager, and Donald Trump has made up his mind. She won't even admit that she made any mistakes, so that's how it will be. Donald Trump might not be able to beat her down, but he can send her down the elevator. He finally gets all his words out, and Marilu rolls her hamster ball into that final limo.