“The Celebrity Apprentice” Week 5: Tito Ortiz Away on Assignment

[Warchief]

In a Sopranos-like episode full of betrayal, double agents, sabotage and million-dollar deals, UFC fighter Tito Ortiz was nowhere to be found.

In a special two-hour episode of “The Celebrity Attendance,” the two teams were tasked with an assignment from Crocs, Inc., a shoe company that’s grown into an international powerhouse thanks to word-of-mouth advertising for its comfortable, brightly colored slip-on shoes. Crocs has created a one-of-its-kind recycling program for its lightweight plastic shoes, and company executives wanted the two teams to develop in-store recycling receptacles and accompanying marketing campaigns.

However, early in the episode, host Donald Trump announced that Ortiz, just two weeks removed from his successful stint as a project manager, would be gone for the challenge, tied up at “a fight.“

It wasn’t his fight, of course. Based on the show’s October-November filming dates, Ortiz was most likely at an Oct. 26 “ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series” event, which took place at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, Calif. There, Ortiz cornered his fighter Aaron Rosa, who suffered a second-round submission to Jared Hamman in the night’s main event.

Back in New York City, the men’s three-week winning streak came to an end thanks to a corporate-espionage plot that went bad. Sent to the women’s team as a spy, Sopranos star Vincent Pastore eventually flipped, becoming a double agent, only to find himself playing both sides. In too deep, he was busted by the women’s team and left to fend for himself by the men’s project manager, Piers Morgan.

When it was announced that the women’s team soundly defeated the men’s team (project manager Carol Ault earned a big fact check for the Tony Alt Memorial Foundation), Pastore found himself on the chopping block. Even though most of his teammates rallied around him in the end, Pastore announced his resignation from the competition — and Trump accepted.

Ortiz returns next week as the men’s team tries to improve its 3-2 lead over the women.

“The Celebrity Apprentice” Week 5: Tito Ortiz Away on Assignment -- MMAjunkie.com