Filling in for Brooke tonight on the recap, and -- wouldn't you know it? -- it's Tar Heel homeboy Clay Aiken's star turn as project manager this week. Even though he will tell us repeatedly throughout the episode that he's "not a party person," Clay steps up to lead the men's team in ... planning a party for a new flavor of mock cocktails from Crystal Light.

His competition on the women's team is Aubrey O'Day -- she of the burnt orange hair piled atop her head like a Whoville denizen from that live-action Grinch movie. And guess what? Aubrey informs us she knows how to party, seeing as how she was once in Diddy's entourage AND was a sorority girl. Clay notes that Aubrey has been a party girl since she popped out of her mother's -- Wait, WHAT did he say? (Clay, please. This is a family recap.)

The men's team's Crystal Light flavor is peach bellini, so they come up with a beach-themed party with the tagline: "Life's a peach." Things generally go smoothly, though when Ivanka Trump shows up to check in, Dee Snider talks a little smack about Penn Jillette (who fought so memorably with Clay last week.)

Even though the drinks are allegedly nonalcoholic, the men's event has all the basics of a spring break frat party -- bikinis, limbo contests, lots of sand, tats, Kathie Lee and Hoda. (OK, there must be some real alcohol there somewhere.) Lots of Claymates show up, and Clay, above with Arsenio Hall, does a version of "Under the Boardwalk."

In my recap of last night's "Celebrity Apprentice" episode, I explain how there was a little drama on the men's team when Clay Aiken took on Penn Jillette (right) after Clay felt Penn was unfairly criticizing the ideas of teammate Lou Ferrigno.

The real drama may have taken place off camera. 

Immediately after last night's episode aired, fans were using Twitter to tell Penn Jillette what they thought of his behavior on the show. Some fans were positive, others chastised him for being a jerk to Lou. In some of his responses to fans, Penn seems to allege that there was an altercation during filming in which he was struck by The Incredible Hulk himself.

Here are some of the tweets:

Finally, there was a little Clay Drama in last night's "Celebrity Apprentice."

In this photo, Clay Aiken is in the act of telling off Penn Jillette. During a brainstorming session, Penn was critical of the ideas of project manager Lou Ferrigno, and it got on Clay's last nerve. Clay went off, telling Penn he believed he was setting Lou up to fail and calling Penn's attitude "condescending." Penn listened quietly as Clay clenched his fists and exclaimed, "It's frustrating the hell out of me!"

As "Celebrity Apprentice" face-offs go, it was pretty lowkey, perhaps because Penn didn't really engage, he just sat and listened with a scary look on his face. But apparently, the men are intimidated by the Vegas magician so they were impressed that Clay stood up to him on behalf of Lou. Arsenio Hall was especially impressed, commenting that Clay was "handling his business." Lou was also grateful and commended Clay for "putting Penn in his place."

Lou also compared Penn to the devil, so ...

(Update: Penn seems to be accusing Lou of hitting him during the taping of the show.)

Tonight's "Celebrity Apprentice" challenge was to come up with a presentation to promote the new Buick Verano. Or as pop singer Aubrey O'Day called it (twice! during the presentation!), the Buick Verona.

It was a car challenge and the men have Michael Andretti on their team, so of course, their team leader was Adam Carolla. Michael didn't want to be the leader and told Adam to take it. Adam's a gear-head, so he wanted it and felt he was a good choice.

The leader of the women's team was Debbie Gibson. That's right -- the Debbie Gibson! (Yeah, I'm not impressed either).

For those who like consistency in your reality television, yes, Lou Ferrigno once again felt horribly under-utilized and complained that his team doesn't appreciate everything he brings to the table. He wants everyone to know that he is capable of so much more than being The Hulk. To prove that, he pitched -- hard -- that he get to dress up like The Hulk for the Buick presentation. No thanks, Lou.

I won't say who got fired till after the jump, but I also don't think anyone will be terribly surprised to hear that Clay Aiken survived another night on "Celebrity Apprentice" --  despite not being the right "genre of gay" to lead his group in this week's fashion challenge.

The "genre of gay" determination was made by Arsenio Hall (before you get riled up: it was a joke!!). Arsenio, it turns out, knows a lot more about women's fashion than either of his team's gay members, Clay and George Takei.

And yes, we all know that's a sterotype. Let's move on.

Last night's "Celebrity Apprentice" had a Medieval (or if Victoria Gotti is writing this, "mid-evil") theme, which was befitting the epic amount of drama on display.

The teams were charged with putting on shows for Medieval Times, with the audience voting on the winner. The men, led by Penn Jillette, went with your basic flashy, corny, fast-paced, action-packed show, designed to appeal to kids and their parents. The women, led by Lisa Lampanelli, decided on a mash-up spoofing "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," "Jersey Shore," and "Celebrity Apprentice."

The "Real Housewives" show was less popular and the women had to send someone home.

Our homeboy Clay Aiken was at the center of some of the early drama, as his tambourine shaking during rehearsal spooked a horse, which threw Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider. Snider's finger snapped at the base and will require surgery to repair.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Clay Aiken made his debut on "Celebrity Apprentice" tonight, and we're happy to announce he survived his first boardroom showdown.

In fact, Clay proved himself a savvy player in the night's first challenge, which was running a sandwich shop in midtown Manhattan. The teams (men vs. women) were judged on how much money they could raise in one business day. Notice I said "raise" instead of "earn" because the only way to win these types of "Celebrity Apprentice" challenges is for the celebs to get their rich friends to come and donate thousands of dollars.

Raleigh’s Clay Aiken is competing on the new season of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” which debuts tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC.

On “The Celebrity Apprentice,” figures from the entertainment industry form teams -- usually men vs. women -- and compete in business-themed tasks around New York City to prove their worthiness to host Donald Trump. The contestants compete for charity, and in many cases, for the chance to rejuvenate a stalling career.

Some of the celebrities who will compete alongside Clay this season are Lou Ferrigno, Arsenio Hall, Dee Snider, Cheryl Tiegs, Debbie Gibson, Lisa Lampenelli, Penn Jillette, Adam Carolla, Michael Andretti, and George Takei. Several reality show stars are also involved.

The first task for the stars will be running a midtown sandwich shop for a day. In a preview released by NBC (video below), Clay is shown convincing a businessman to pay $1,000 for a sandwich instead of the already generous $500 he was offering.

We joined in on the speculation back in September that Clay Aiken would be competing on the next season of "The Celebrity Apprentice" -- and we were right! (Okay, technically, the Reality Blurred blogger was right, but we happily glommed on!)

The Raleigh native, who was a runner-up on the second season of "American Idol," was officially announced yesterday as a member of the 5th season of "The Celebrity Apprentice," which also features Arsenio Hall, Lou Ferrigno, Cheryl Tiegs, Penn Gillette, Debbie Gibson, Adam Carolla, and others.

In an interview with "Today.com," Aiken said he respects "Celebrity Apprentice" host Donald Trump more than he respected Simon Cowell, the head judge on "American Idol," because Trump's "success is real outside of TV." Ouch.

Much has changed since we last saw TV One's take-off on "The Bachelorette."

First of all, "Donald J. Trump Presents" has been removed from the title making it just "The Ultimate Merger" (TV One, 9 tonight). Whether that's because the Donald tarnished his brand with African-Americans because of his questionable attacks on President Obama's birthplace or because having  "Donald J. Trump Presents" in the title is ridiculous, we'll never know. There's mention that the hotel is Trump-owned, but this time there's no offensive warning to the men not to damage any property. Yep, that actually happened.

Despite the fact that she didn't find love, Omarosa isn't back (she found it off camera with actor Michael Clarke Duncan); instead another one-namer, model Toccara sorts through 14 men to find Mr. Right.