The producers of 'The Apprentice' must take an hour to cook minute rice because it took three hours to shoot a 45 minute episode. The fights were enjoyable and the mishaps were brutal, but the real story was the amount of dead air filling the ad-heavy time.

Prior to kickoff, I began to wonder how they were ever going to fill three hours when half the task was portrayed last week. In the show's first frame, my question was answered. They’re going to pack it with substance-less fluff. We’re treated to yet another recap of the entire season. Thank Goodness. It’s been a whopping four weeks since we’ve had a complete rehash so I was pretty thankful to be brought up-to-date.

As annoyed as I was by the sixteen minutes of my life that I'll never get back, I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed it. It was refreshing to see crazy Stacie acting crazy, bald Bradford acting bald, Raj confidently throwing his rap in hot pants, Jen in her jeans and Ivana in her lingerie that was so unrevealing that the only person turned on was George. It all leads right up to the remaining contestants, who to some were no surprise at all.

Since Sept 10, the final two has been all over the web. A reality gambling web site pulled the odds off the board because of an unusual betting pattern for two contestants. Those two contestants were Jen and Kelly. I fought as long as I could to avert my eyes to this spoiler, but finally gave in one hour prior to last week’s episode. So far, the gamblers are five for five by my count on reality spoilers. Thank God for live television so at least when Kelly takes it home we can feign excitement.

We kick off the actual episode around 8:30 p.m. with the Donald singing the praises of his hotshots. He brags that “Jen has managed to avoid conflict and remain level headed under very, very intense pressure.” That’s because she hasn’t done anything Donald. The only opponent she has defeated is a Yorkshire Terrier’s hang nail.

Kelly is a sure thing. We all know this, even early on, that his Polo task is money in the bank. Even when he drafts Elizabeth first which ranks slightly ahead of Kwame picking Omarosa and slightly behind the Blazers picking Sam Bowie, he’s still a sure thing. Even while his team is outside having a track meet while he’s banging out spread sheets, he’s still a sure thing. Even when he's lost with his first round pick searching for a Xerox machine in the Connecticut wilderness, he’s still a sure thing. Even when his team gets drunk and starts playing patty cake followed by Old MacDonald by debating between a frog and duck sound, he’s still a sure…Well, maybe it's time to check in on Jen and see if she’s able to gain some ground on the not so sure thing.

Jen is doing a decent job managing a charity basketball game. At least I think she is, she’s not really on the screen. She delegates all the significant responsibilities elsewhere. She asks Pamela to handle the NBA conferences which might be a good thing seeing as how she’s eye level with most of the league. She then delegates some of the planning to her sponsors who are put off by their involvement.

Things start to break down around Jen. I’m guessing the problems were scripted but who cares, they added much needed value. For starters, Chris Webber cancels as MC. Jen tries to call a timeout but realizes she doesn’t have any. She lays into Webber’s assistant and I like it. (As an aside, Webber is reported to be contemplating a lawsuit against the Apprentice for using his name.)

Pamela, who I think is pumped about the opportunity to reel in a fish her size, is dressed skimpier than normal. She’s got some midriff going and I’m rooting for her. However, when the players arrive, they try to post her up, before realizing she’s not playing.

Back at the polo grounds, the scripted problems continue. Kelly is informed that the WISK insignia which is to be emblazoned on the field could frighten the horses, so it needs to be moved. He comes through with a blockbuster idea. He thinks they should move the logo closer to the grandstand so that actual people can see it. This makes sense because if they do it near the field, not only will the horses get frightened but they’re much less likely to buy WISK than humans.

Back at the courts, the power goes out, which is typical. It’s not suspicious at all. It’s the middle of the day, the weather is perfect and the power goes out because two television screens are running. The XBOX nerd gets huffy because he can’t play XMEN. Jen gets them up and running on a generator and the nerd is pleased.

Jen nabs the commissioner of the NBA to emcee the event in Webber's absence. She then delegates the microphone toss to Pamela. Stern does well, but he still suspends Webber for the year.

At the end of the day, things went off pretty well but both had problems. Kelly brought Trump to dirty, broken seats for the polo match and the bathrooms for Tony Bennett rivaled a frat house. Jen forgot to say bye-bye to Trump which he didn’t care for, but all-in-all the events went off without any major damage.

After the tasks were completed, we’ve still got around four or five hours to kill so Donald tosses to Regis to interview people in the audience on who should be the next Apprentice. He interviews Bill Rancic, he picks Kelly. He asks his staff, they pick Kelly. He asks his CTO, COO and CFO, they all pick Kelly. They interview Jen’s mom, she picks Kelly. Jen’s reference stands up, he picks Kelly. It literally got to the point where they were interviewing nobodies in the audience. The entire twenty minutes was a boring disaster except when they tried to ask the COO what he thought. Unbeknownst to anyone including the Donald or Regis, this guy doesn’t speak any English except for the word Kelly. He looked like he was swallowing his tongue. The only thing he could talk about was how he couldn’t talk about anything. When he sat back down, I thought he might cry. If you missed it, I feel genuinely sorry for you. It’s hard to put into words how awkward it was.

By the time the final two are brought in to debate, I’ve lost some interest. I’ve stop taking notes and I’m bitter.

Despite the half hour of nothingness, the boardroom brought the house. Jen was unfettered by the entire Western hemisphere picking against her as she came out firing. Every word was meticulous, every response was on beat. Trump fired at her, she fired right back. You could see he was tensing up because he wanted to pick Kelly. When things calmed down, Trump looked at consistency in leadership and winning percentage so Kelly, “you’re hired!”

At the end of the day, I’m a little disappointed at the amount of fluff. By the time Jen and Kelly went at it, I had completely lost focus. We understand Donald that promotion is a big part of the funding and a big part of your paycheck, but you have got to tone it down. It reached a new low when Sugar Ray Leonard stood up to promote his new show and it took him sixty seconds to say twelve words just edging out the COO who said one.

Don’t take it too personal, you’ve still got the best show on television but the product placement needs to be controlled. Pitting college graduates against street hustlers in the next one is the kind of idea that Survivor just can’t seem to find. It’s brilliant. And I can’t wait. I’m just hoping that the producers take a good, hard look at season three in the editing room and the problem will be rectified. Judging by your ability to change in the past, I’m sure it will be.

Thanks for another great season.