The Celebrity Apprentice Snapple

I don't know how many of you follow reality shows, but Kevin and I are huge reality show fans. Apart from the Amazing Race, The Apprentice comes in a close second. The past Celebrity Apprentice was one of my all time favorites, with the celebrities raising so much money for their charities and also the drama of Bret falling sick (and wondering if he would make it for the finale). When Trump revealed their final task, I was so excited. You see, both Kevin and I loveeee Snapple (it's our fav drink!) and the celebrities were given the task to create a new flavor for Snapple as well as design the packaging and shoot a commercial for Snapple. Then, both the flavors would be on sale to the American public and portions of the sale will go to their charity.

So, after the finale, we went all over to search for the Celebrity Apprentice Snapple but we couldn't find any. Then, a few weeks ago, we started to see Holly's Snapple pop up at various shops but we still couldn't find Brets. At last we found both Holly and Bret's Snapple (there were only a few cases of Brets on display, tucked away in some corner) in Shoprite a few days ago and we decided to give it a taste test. We all know by now that Bret won the Celebrity Apprentice, but was his Snapple really the better tasting one?

Before we get into the taste test, let's take look at the packaging (since that is part of the task too!). Unlike the regular Snapple products, both Holly and Bret's Snapple had dark colored labels. The Snapple executives were right when they said that it was a bad move, on the celebrities part to choose such dark colors. When you look at the bottles on the supermarket shelves, together with the other Snapple flavors, it really doesn't stand out at all. It just sort of blends into the background. Now, what about the name of the product? Bret's diet Snapple is called "Trop A Rocka". I guess it's becos his used a blend of tropical fruits, hence "Trop" and he also wanted to keep to the rock n roll theme that he was going for. Not too bad of a name, but it isn't really all that. Also, I noticed that there is only a small logo of his charity on one side of the packaging and he focused mainly on him endorsing the drink, rather than the charity. It's more like this is a Bret Michaels creation. Holly's Snapple on the other hand had a really smart name. It's called "Compassionberry Tea", since it was a blend of Passionfruit, Strawberry and the compassionate care that her charity has for autistic children. Very smart name. Also, you can see from her packaging that it was all about her charity. The charity name (Hollyrod Foundation) is plastered in front of the package and there is even a short write up about her charity and what they do on the side panel. So, in terms of color, packaging and name choice, I would say that Holly wins!

Now, the taste test. First up is Holly Robinson Peete's Compassionberry Tea. It was really fun to watch the episode where they had a chance to go to Snapples taste lab and choose flavors for their creation. I feel that Holly made the right choice to fight for Passionfruit (Bret also wanted passionfruit but gave that up to Holly). When you first open the bottle, you can already smell the fragrant smell of passionfruit. Upon tasting, I felt that it was a tad bit too sweet and the taste of strawberry can be a little bit overpowering at times. I only wish they had gone slow with the strawberry and added in a little bit more passionfruit. Do not get me wrong, it wasn't bad. Just that, it wasn't really the greatest as well. However, with that said, I still can see myself drinking this. So, good job Holly.

I was a little bit excited to try Bret's Trop A Rocka because he is the Celebrity Apprentice winner and this is the winning Snapple flavor. I also kept in mind that this is diet Snapple, so it is going to be a little bit more diluted tasting and not as sweet. When I first opened the bottle, there was this really weird smell that I couldn't really place. I was thinking to myself, coconut? It was really weird. I then drank a big mouthful and all I could say was "OMG! This won???" Let me just say it straight up. It's horrible! When it first hits your mouth, you do get a little taste of the mango and pear blend (which I feel isn't really that great of a combination). However, that taste doesn't last long at all. The tropical fruit blend fades away and this horrible tasting, somewhat spicy tasting thing take over. It just hits you hard. That's the same horrible smell that hit me when I opened the bottle. I really couldn't place that taste but once Kevin tried it, he told me it was cinnamon! Yes! That's it! Cinnamon! Wayyy wayyy wayyyy too much cinnamon. It just made the whole drink taste awful! I thought that Curtis and Maria was just faking it when they said that it tasted horrible but I guess they were not. It is bad! Very bad. Now I understand why we couldn't find many of Bret's Snapple on sale. I guess Snapple also knew that it wouldn't sell well and only made limited amounts.

So, in conclusion, I feel that if the choice of who wins Celebrity Apprentice is based solely on this Snapple task, Holly should have won hands down. Not only was her packaging better, her choice of name for her creation and taste was also better. I do not want to be mean, but if Bret didn't get that brain hemorrhage and fought to come back for the finale, would he still have won? I seriously don't think so. Therefore, in my eyes, Holly is the Celebrity Apprentice. That title was robbed from her, just for TV ratings. I think it takes no genius to figure that out. Now, will you please excuse me. I am going to get myself another bottle of Compassionberry Tea =)