10 weirdest moments of ‘The Apprentice’

Viewers of the first season of "The Apprentice" might have thought things couldn't get much weirder than Omarosa losing Jessica Simpson . Oh, could they ever. Could they ever.

The show's second season started out strange and only got stranger. For a while, the boardroom seemed to have turned into CrazyLand, with Trump trying to think of the oddest thing he could possibly do each week — I'll take away Bradford's immunity ! Now I'll invite all the women back in to whine about Stacie! Now I'll fire two people at once !

Not to mention the bizarre Trump voiceovers , which went unnoticed by some viewers while bugging the heck out of others. And the incessant product placement, with tasks involving Crest, M&M Mars, Pepsi, Levi's and other major corporations. (Looking back, it's shocking that The Donald didn't get David's Bridal to lend its name to the bridal-shop challenge.)

We've searched our memories for the top 10 moments of an exceptionally weird season. Now if you don't mind, we're going to go scour our brains with bleach.

1. Bradford gives up immunity
Bradford could have been an interesting character, but viewers didn't get to see much of the Florida lawyer. In the very first episode, he volunteered to lead otherwise all-female Apex, helping them win the Mattel toy challenge by building MetaMorpher toy cars and winning immunity from the next elimination. Some viewers liked his boldness, others decried his sexism (remember his crack that the men would have to "grow boobies" to compete with "my girls"?). But it was all for naught when an overconfident Bradford went too far, claiming he didn't even need the exemption. An appalled Trump knew Bradford wasn't the worst performer, but couldn't resist punishing him for looking a gift Trump in the mouth. Before Bradford knew it, he was out on the street.    —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

2. Ivana strips on Wall Street
Some reality show meltdowns are entertaining, some are funny, others are just plain humiliating. Ivana had one of the latter. It's too bad, really — after an awful start, she'd started to come around, even inventing a cool jean-fit wheel during the Levi's challenge that she didn't really get full credit for (thank you, Jenn). But any smarts she had went out the window when, in response to Jenn and Sandy's provocative selling techniques, Ivana decided to yank down her skirt on Wall Street for $20. No amount of business smarts was going to get her into Trump's good graces after that one.    —G.F.C.

3. Maria flips out at the photo shoot
Maria and Wes made "Apprentice" history by getting fired together , and it probably wouldn't have happened had it not been for Maria's total freak-out when she was trying to coordinate a Levi's photo shoot. She was a woman possessed, taking over as if the shoot were a pack of hell hounds on burning leashes. When Wes tried to control her, Maria unleashed the fires of hell on him, screaming, "Do not get in my fricking face. ... Back off!" Wes let himself be steamrolled, and so he clearly earned his dismissal. But Maria was the star here. During her tirade, Maria screamed "Give me bitchy or give me death!" to the models she was trying to guide. How fitting that her bitchiness ultimately led to her Apprentice death.    —Andy Dehnart

4. Jenn C refers to customers as ‘old, fat Jewish ladies’
More than one "Apprentice" contestant has been shown the door because they lacked simple common sense and basic manners. If Jenn C. had ever worked at a retail establishment of any kind, she should have known that mocking the customers is the rudest, least professional thing an employee can do. Yet when Apex lost the restaurant challenge to Mosaic, Jenn didn't blame the stark decor or clumping, unhelpful Apex staffers. Instead she tried to place the failure at the feet of two customers, whom she referred to as "those old, fat, Jewish ladies." It was never clear what their age, weight or religion had to do with anything (Stacy later mused "I don't think they were even Jewish") but Jenn's statement was jarring and uncalled for. She later claimed Jewish heritage in her own family, and while she didn't flat-out say anything anti-Semitic, her real-life employer wasn't too happy with her behavior, and fired her shortly after Trump did .    —G.F.C.

5. The tennis reward
Last season, the rewards were generally the least interesting part of each episode. This season, there have been some boring, product-placing rewards (caviar at Petrossian), but we've also had some exceptional ones. One of the best rewards was given to Mosaic, who went to Arthur Ashe Stadium to play tennis with Anna Kournikova and John McEnroe. Raj's presence made this ever the more rewarding, as he shamelessly flirted with Kournikova ("I have a general rule. If you meet a woman of such beauty... you must try, at least," he told her). As a result, she  challenged him to return one of five serves, and of course he failed. His punishment: Running around the stadium in his underwear, which he actually borrowed from McEnroe. As he ran, the two pros, and his teammates, volleyed balls in his direction. From start to finish, it was a raucous good time, for Mosaic and for viewers.    —A.D.

6. Carolyn laughs hysterically during the fabric challenge
When she's not lashing out at the boardroom table, Carolyn Kepcher generally appears to be a cardboard cutout. I'm not sure what she carries in that briefcase, but heavy sedatives would be a good guess. That's unfortunate, because she's often more interesting than Trump. So when she went to watch the men select fabric during the design challenge, we expected more of the same. However, observing the team's out-of-their-element incompetence quickly became too much for her. At first, she chuckled but tried to hold it in, arms sternly crossed as she stifled a laugh, grinning and looking away. Suddenly, though, all that she'd held inside burst forth and she laughed. Tears streamed down her cheeks; although she was heaving with glee, she managed to laugh silently. It was a fantastic glimpse of Carolyn's other side.    —A.D.

7. Apex creates a ‘police state’ New York for its ad
During the eighth episode, Donny Deutsch challenged the teams to create a recruitment campaign for the NYPD that emphasized the emotional, adding that "the real core of this assignment is hitting people [in the heart]." Apex interpreted that as "scaring the bejesus out of every person watching." Their TV ad began with on-screen text that declared "new threats and new enemies require more strength," as if the police force's current strength wasn't enough. Even worse, with tense music in the background, the ad included among its footage a scene where heavily armored cops, guns raised, stormed a subway car that had an apparently dead person on the floor. Apex failed on a massive level to create a campaign that came even close to what Deutch asked for. When Trump watched the ad in the boardroom, he said "there's nothing warm and fuzzy" about it.    —A.D.

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8. Stacie consults the 8-Ball
Stacie J. may be the first reality-show contestant who was brought down by a toy. There happened to be a Magic 8-Ball sitting around when the teams were working on an early project, and Stacie picked it up and started — well, babbling. The 8-Ball weirdness stuck in her teammates' minds, eventually leading to a scene in which Trump had the entire women's team come back to the boardroom to all pile on Stacie. Stacie didn't help herself in that boardroom, hinting that the 8-Ball did indeed talk to her. But really, at that point, the curtains could have started talking in front of everyone and Stacie still would have been a goner. Outlook not so good. Ask again later.    —G.F.C.

9. Gelato flavors and British battleships
There's brainstorming and then there's getting a whisk broom and shaking every last thought out of the dusty corners of your brain. In the challenge where contestants had to invent a gelato flavor, the women did the latter. Alert viewers who listened closely and/or freeze-framed the whiteboard from an Apex planning session saw that actual gelato flavors suggested included lobster, Bloody Mary, fried chicken, peppers, rice and Old Bay seasoning. For gelato! Which is a frozen dessert similar to ice cream! The only similiar "What the..." moment came in the first episode, when Raj pronounced that British battleships were a great source for team names, suggesting "Dreadnought." Don't mind me. I'll just be over here on the Dreadnought, relaxing with my bowl of fried chicken gelato.    —G.F.C.

10. Jenn C. mimics Trump's movements during dinner
The very first reward found the winning team dining in Donald Trump's gold-plated apartment high above New York City. When you're out of your element, or insecure about your general grasp of the rules of etiquette, taking cues from your host is acceptable, even wise. But at dinner, Jenn C. took this to its extreme; she was trying to, as she said, be "as professional as I could." And that she was, if by "professional," she meant "psychotic." She sat to Trump's immediate right and pretended that both of them were marionettes being operated by the same person. As he lifted his arm, she lifted hers. Her gaze was possibly the most disturbing part; she locked her eyes on Trump and seemed to radiate some combination of lust and envy. It probably took everything Melania had not to fling her fork into Jenn's neck from across the table —perhaps the only thing that would have made the dinner more entertaining.    —A.D.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Television Editor. Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.