‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Full Recap: Who Got Fired 4/3?

On Sunday April 3rd’s Celebrity Apprentice, Meat Loaf had an epic freak out and gave Gary Busey the verbal beat down of a lifetime…

But let’s start at the beginning. Donald Trump loves art – So, he asked the teams to create their own works of art, whether they be paintings, sculptures or any other form of art, and to sell the art pieces for charity. 
Trump also asked the teams to design and decorate 7 New Era baseball caps with the celebrity making the best design getting a “sizable” donation to his/her charity.
Marlee Matlin was the Project Manager for Team A.S.A.P. and John Rich for Team Backbone. Rich’s motivation to star on the show was to raise a record amount of money for charity and to show Trump “What country boys are capable of and how big our hearts can open up.”

Rich warned his team and gave them a declaration of how things were gonna shake out. He told each of them if they didn’t bring in donations, they would be nailed to the wall. Matlin on the other hand used a gentler approach. She asked her team for help. She said, “We must win this task, we must raise a ‘$!##$#*’ load of money,” at which time her hands were blurted out signing a cuss word. [Side note: Did you know they blurt out fingers when sign cussing takes place on TV? Pretty interesting.] She then told her team, “I don’t want any more fighting, I don’t want any more backstabbing. We are a team.”

Matlin wanted to test LaToya Jackson’s capabilities and allow her to prove herself. So, Matlin called upon Jackson to reach out to her rich and famous family. Jackson told the camera she would not be able to get dollars in time from the west coast to New York in the few hours they had for the task, so, she suggested instead to create paintings which would read “I miss you Michael, I love you, something like that to show the sadness and the sorrow and to touch the hearts of people.”

Jackson also lovingly gave up for charity a special t-shirt she carries with her everywhere: A This Is It shirt signed by her brother Michael of which only two exist in the world. She said “this is what Michael would have wanted.” She continued, “We should be an example of the angel that he is…he is such an angel. Thank you guys.”

Jose Canseco had to leave the task and the show permanently due to an illness in the family. Canseco broke down as he told Trump that this father’s long-term battle with cancer had taken a turn for the worst. When Trump asked him if his dad would be OK, Canseco said, “I don’t think so, I think it’s pretty bad.” Donald bade farewell to the baseball champ and gave his charity B.A.T. which assists minor league players who need medical assistance a gift of $25,000.

Team Backbone decided to create one of the baseball caps in honor and with the name of Canseco’s dad. Richard Hatch, the man serving two separate prison sentences for tax evasion, questioned Canseco’s honesty and motives. He thought since Canseco did not raise much money during the team’s first fundraising task, maybe he had used his dad’s illness as a ploy to leave this task. He questioned, “Would Jose stoop to that level? I don’t know.”

Busey managed to piss off Meat Loaf in the art supply store when he asked Meat Loaf if he was buying art supplies for everyone. Meat Loaf told the camera, “My switch is this close and it’s ugly when I get angry.” Boy, was Meat Loaf under exaggerating his anger potential.

When the men go into their work studio, Meat Loaf could not find some of his art supplies (which were in plain sight in the room by the way). He then inexplicably lost his cool and called Busey a “M*ther f*cker” and lashed out at him saying, “I bought those m*ther f*cking sponges. Part of that paint is mine…I am so sick and tired of …” Meat Loaf then lunged at Busey and Mark McGrath bravely stepped in between an overly irate Meat Loaf and a justifiably befuddled Busey. Meat Loaf kept calling Busey the same MF name over and over again. “You look in my eyes and I am the last person in the f*cking world you ever want to f*ck with. You understand me?” We then luckily cut to commercial break.

After the break, and before any of us viewers could catch our breath, NBC cut right back to the feud between the two celebs. Rich took Busey out of the studio. And McGrath calmed Meat Loaf down and stopped him from “ripping Busey’s head off.” Busey came back in right before Rich found the missing bag with Meat Loaf’s supplies. But did that discovery calm Meat Loaf down and make him apologize? HELL NO. He threw Busey’s spray paint can which he had picked up while Busey was outside back at him and yelled at him to “shut the f*ck up.” Rich gave the team a speech about why they were all there and how the charities needed them, so, the men got back to making art. Once Meat Loaf started painting by bouncing a paint-wetted basketball onto a blank canvas, the men looked like they were back on track.

Somehow, the men managed to complete their work in time and got in their transport van by 3 PM to beat the hellish Friday afternoon New York traffic. Once they got to the gallery, the men finally got into the spirit of the assignment and things started moving more swiftly.

The women were slow on their artwork and kept pushing back their departure time for the gallery. They did not leave until 5 PM on a Friday and got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Meanwhile, the men finished setting up their gallery and had time to relax, smoke, and chit chat.

NBC cut to Meat Loaf having a sit down with Busey. “I did the wrong thing in yelling at you this morning. It didn’t solve anything and I am so embarrassed by it. And I am so upset by it. Nothing ever gets solved when people do that,” confessed Meat Loaf. All Busey could mutter as he listened mostly quietly is, “I know, I am aware of that.” Meat Loaf then cut him off and said, “I have been beating myself up all day for it….I have to apologize and I am really really sorry.” Busey simply said, “I accept your apology.”

To the cameras, Busey said, “Meat Loaf had a battle going inside him and the best way he knew how to win it is to confront me in a confrontation of death. Beating me senseless, that was his way of confronting his own anger.” Busey then suggested to Meat Loaf to go to anger management and Meat Loaf admitted he already had. The two men then hugged it out. Busey came back to the camera and said, “Meat Loaf excelled to the level of dancing on a rainbow with no fear. And no doubt.” I’m really starting to really like Busey.

Back to the women’s camp. The ladies finally arrived at an empty gallery but their art had yet to arrive. The women started panicking because they could not start raising funds without the art. With only 5 minutes left until the opening, the art arrived and the women went into a mad rush to display everything. The women opened the gallery doors even though they were not done with their displays. But there was hardly a shopper waiting to come in.

The men on the other hand had a gallery full of people and were rolling in the dough! The celebs, other than Hatch, brought out all their very rich and extremely generous friends who ended up buying all the art.

Over time, the women started making more money as they started taking donations over the telephone and as more buyers came in the gallery. The women got three individual donations of $99,000 each over the telephone, one of which was for the sale of MJ’s shirt. They probably would have raised even more money had there not been a limit of $99,000 on credit card sales.

Not to be outdone, Rich sold his Gibson guitar which he hand-rhinestoned and had signed by the entire cast for a whopping $470,000.

Federico Castelluccio, star of The Sopranos, is also an accomplished painter and was asked by The Donald to come and select the winner of the baseball cap competition. Castelluccio chose Jackson’s hat which contained a replica of MJ’s hand as a design. So, Jackson won $25,000 as a result for her charity, AIDS Project Los Angeles.

In the boardroom, Rich said Lil Jon and Meat Loaf were his best artists. Meat Loaf admitted to having lost his temper to Trump. Everyone stood up for Rich’s management style. The women also praised Matlin’s passion and poise. Even Star Jones said, “It was an honor to work with [Matlin].”

When all was said and done, an incredibly-impressive fundraising record was set. In fact, so much money was raised by both teams that before the winner was announced, Trump made this offer: If both teams agreed, the the project manager of the losing team would keep the money he/she had raised for his/her charity instead of winner take all. Both teams agreed instantaneously.

The two teams raised a combined amount of $1,640,000 (including Jackson’s $25,000 prize) which was more money than ever raised in any single season of Celebrity Apprentice. The men raised $626,908 of that amount. But the women did even better if you can believe that! They raised $986,000 and obviously, won the task. Matlin is playing for Starkey Hearing Foundation and Rich for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital both of which will be much more wealthy after this episode. Trump threw in an additional $14,000 of his own money for the winner, making Matlin’s contribution to her charity a cool million.

The Donald then threw another monkey wrench into the game. Because the men had raised so much money, he asked the women to decide if everyone on the men’s team should be safe that week as a prize or if the women wanted Trump to actually fire a man from Backbone. Star Jones tried to whisper into Matlin’s ear and Matlin said, “I’m deaf, Star, I can’t hear!” Matlin then said she wished she wasn’t put in that position but then said she had an idea but asked for 30 seconds to consult with her teammates.

After talking it out, Matlin said, “With all due respect, my heart goes to Jose and his family. And I would do the same exact thing. Now, in terms of the team, which I congratulate them wholeheartedly for raising that much mullah, we have gone through hell with three firings in a row, and it was all business and I suggest you fire someone because it’s all business.”

With that Trump asked Rich who his weakest team player was. Rich said in this task he would have to rank the players by the amount of money each raised. McGrath raised $20,000. Lil Jon $10,000 -15,000. Meat Loaf about $11,000, leaving Rich with having raised most of the money. Hatch raised the least but Trump strangely used Hatch’s four years in jail as an excuse of why Hatch was not able to raise money. Trump asked the women who he should fire and the ones asked named Hatch.

Rich admitted moving forward the weakest link on his team would be Busey because the team will need more focus. The rest of the team agreed and named Busey as well. But Trump stood up for Busey and said, “I love the brilliance…I think Gary is a different kind of a guy. I think he’s very deceptive. I think Gary is really a very solid guy even though sometimes he pretends that he is not.” Busey agreed with Trump,  and called himself, “Secretive and mysterious.” Matlin then stood up for Busey and called him, “Brilliant.” She told the men Busy is “More brilliant than I think any of you realize. He knows how to play the game and you need to look at the bigger picture..he is very passionate. He will fight.” Matlin suggested Hatch be fired.

So, in the end and without warning or asking Rich to leave the boardroom only to come back with his two weakest players, it was Richard Hatch which heard the famous, “You’re fired” words from Trump. Hatch was shocked! “I didn’t get to defend myself! I had a whole list!” No matter Hatch. Goodbye.

‘Celebrity Apprentice’: Who Got Fired?

SPOILER ALERT:

Dionne Warwick called NeNe Leakes a “coward” on Sunday night’s Celebrity Apprentice, but at the end, it was Dionne who was fired in the boardroom.

The episode started with the men going at each other after their last win. Mark McGrath told the camera it was a miracle that the men had won. And the women were wondering how they could lose to a Gary Busey-lead team.

For this week, the two teams were tasked with creating a 30-second commercial spot for a new ACN video phone. NeNe and Lil Jon were the Project Managers for their respective teams.

After meeting with the company executives who emphasized the need for emotion in their ads, Team A.S.A.P. decided to tell a heart-warming tale of a father and mother calling their daughter who lives overseas in France. Marlee Matlin played the part of the mother to show that a hearing-impaired person can speak to her daughter on the video phone through sign language.

All seemed to be going OK for the women until they had to edit the the commercial late into the night. Diva Dionne asked NeNe if she could leave the team and go get some sleep. NeNe just looked at her and said “go,” but was not happy with Dionne’s move. NeNe told the cameras afterwards: “I am not her babysitter. She can leave anytime she wants to. But, daaamn, if everybody else is sticking it out, then so should she. Nobody cares about her being a legend!”

The men also met with the company execs who seemed quite conservative to Team Backbone but the guys decided to go a completely different direction than what the execs recommended: They gambled by going more modern and humorous and hoped to make their video ad go viral.

The back story of the men’s video involved a grandfather and grandmother calling their grandson (played by Jose Consaco) and meeting the grandson’s male fiancé for the first time through the video call.  

It was close, but Team Backbone won the challenge which sent the ladies of Team A.S.A.P. to the boardroom once again. 
Marlee and Star Jones were pointing to LaToya Jackson as the weakest link. LaToya had had eye surgery just a few weeks before and woke up that morning without the ability to see. So NeNe could only assign her the menial task of time keeping. LaToya stood up well for herself in the boardroom, so, she was spared.

Dionne, on the other hand, gave The Donald some attitude. When he asked Dionne whom he should fire, the music legend replied, “I’m gonna take the opinion of everyone else, I’d fire me. Fire me!” Then she gave Donald Trump a defiant “I dare you to fire me” glare.

Star Jones spoke up and expressed her unwillingness to ever quit on her charity which made Dionne look even worse to The Donald who hates quitters in the first place.  Jones said, “May I just say this is endemic of one of the reasons why we lose. This is about charity. And I just could not imagine walking in here and saying to you, ‘you can let me go’ without having accomplished the reason of why I have come here.” Warwick then tried to back pedal and say “I would love to stay here, I am a team player,” but it was too little too late. “Dionne, you’re fired,” lashed Donald. And with those words, a whole bunch of people started cheering inside, both inside the boardroom and all across the world!

It was not over though. NeNe approached Dionne outside the boardroom, hugged her and said good-bye but Dionne lashed out: “You’re a coward, baby!” “Why am I a coward?!” asked NeNe, genuinely surprised. “Because you didn’t tell the truth!” said Dionne….and the women quibbled a bit….till Dionne said, “Let’s not do this!”

Meanwhile, inside the boardroom, Donald told Donald Jr. and Ivanka: “[Dionne] looked me in the eye and challenged me to fire her. And no one gets away with that!”

Celebrity Apprentice: Show Recap

Another week of craziness went down on Celebrity Apprentice and this time, it was Gary Busey and Niki Taylor who were in charge of Backbone and A.S.A.P. teams, respectively.

You know you were waiting all season for Busey to take charge, admit it!

Oh poor Busey. Although he was named Project Manager, he never seemed to be fully in charge. Of anything. He seemed discombobulated throughout the whole episode which is hard to do considering he spent half the show shooting the breeze with teammate Jose Canseco – to the point that Mark McGrath took video evidence of the two wasting time in case he needed proof in the boardroom.

But despite his lackadaisical yet somehow manic project management style, it wasn’t Busey who lost the task. In fact, his team won overwhelmingly over the Taylor-lead female team which left Taylor as the one hearing the dreaded “You’re fired!” words from Donald Trump.

In case you missed the show, here is a recap:

This week, our favorite B-List celebrities were tasked with promotion of camping gear and RV’s through a display in middle of New York city. 

Taylor seemed to be up to the task at the get go. She picked the theme of “camping in the 21st century” after she and fellow contestant and Playboy Playmate Hope Dworaczyk figured out what century we currently live in. Taylor then assigned each celeb on her team a room in the RV to decorate; a tactic which seemed like a pretty solid form of delegation at the time.
Not before long, lots of bickering broke out on both teams involving just about everyone. NeNe Leakes (Atlanta’s Real Housewives) and Star Jones started their feud when Jones once again tried to take full control of the team. Taylor and Dionne Warwick openely had a disagreement in front of customers during the presentation part of the task. Warwick went so far as to call Taylor a “hussy” behind her back after the argument ended.
Taylor was not the only one disgruntled with Warwick. Marlee Matlin labeled Warwick the weakest link when Donald Trump, Jr. came on site for a visit with Team A.S.A.P. 
On the men’s side, McGrath seemed to be one of the few busting ass to get the job done while Busey and Canseco did absolutely nothing for long stretches of time. Country singer John Rich became heated when Canseco called Rich’s country RV jingle “hickish,” and Survivor’s Richard Hatch implied country music fans are uneducated. 
Somehow Busey was unaffected or unaware of all the tension on Backbone. He told Ivanka Trump: “It’s going great. Every team member I have is like a color of the rainbow!” Not sure what rainbow Busey dreams up in his head.

In the Trump boardroom, things got eerily boring. Taylor took full responsibility for her team’s loss and laid dead. There was no arguing, no mudslinging, no almost fist matches. But Taylor’s lay down was a move which Trump surprisingly admired.

“Niki, you’re basically willing to take responsibility for your loss? I respect that. Niki you’re fantastic, but other than that, you’re fired,” said the Donald.

Did Donald Trump’s Fascination With Lisa Rinna’s Surgically-Repaired Lips Save Her On ‘Celebrity Apprentice’? Read The Recap!

Did you catch Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night? If not and you want to find out who got fired by Donald Trump, look no further.

THE RECAP: The Donald asked the two competing teams to each create a children’s story book. As part of the task, the teams had to also put on a performance telling the story to a group of four and five-year-old children.

Meat Loaf joyfully stepped up as the project manager for Team Backbone. Lisa Rinna, on the other hand, was not able to wiggle her way out of being pushed into leading Team A.S.A.P. As it turns out, some of Rinna’s team members nominated her as the team leader so they could watch her fail and be kicked off the show.

Team Backbone told the story of a sad Lil’ Jon and Team A.S.A.P. took a page out of The Wizard of Oz and tried to tell the tale of a lion, LaToya Jackson, who could not roar.

Dionne Warwick proved to be a diva on the warpath with anyone who crossed her way, but especially team manager, Rinna. Star Jones also brought out the big guns and they both fought Rinna every step of the way, including insistence that their names be on the cover of the collective team’s finished book. “The story was conceived by Dionne Warwick, written by Star Jones. Give credit where it’s due,” Warwick complained to Rinna.

Well, the women lost in the end because their moral lesson (created mostly by Warwick) of “just be yourself” was way to heavy for children, plus the font used for the book (chosen by Jones) needed a magnifying glass to be legible. Rinna of course brought in Warwick and Jones into the boardroom for Team A.S.A.P. and the three faced The Donald in a fight against elimination. Well, at least two of them were ready for a fight.

Team Warwick and Jones combated sole player Rinna who not only failed to stand up for herself, she admitted she has “so much to learn” as a project manager. The Donald loved Rinna’s surgically repaired “new lips” and so much as said so but that admiration did not save Rinna from getting the big “You’re Fired” tagline spewed at her face.

‘Survivor’ Winner Richard Hatch Going To Jail. Again.

Let’s hope Donald Trump has no intention of picking Survivor winner Richard Hatch as his next apprentice on the current season of Celebrity Apprentice because Hatch may not be around to fulfill his Trumptastic duties. Why not? Hatch may be heading back to jail; real soon.

Hatch served over three years in prison from 2006-09 for failing to file and pay taxes on his $1 million Survivor prize winnings. Once he got out of jail, he was placed on probation and among other conditions, he was required to file and pay his 2000 and 2001 taxes.

Apparently, Hatch has failed to learn his lesson and has not done what the rest of us do: Pay Uncle Sam. His punishment? He’ll be returning to jail for an additional nine months. The AP reports that the judge gave him “three months longer than the guidelines to deter him and others who would flout the terms of supervised release.”

Hatch’s sentence is scheduled to start on Monday, but he says he will appeal. We shall see if he wins his appeal. Or here is a better idea Richard: PAY UP! We all do.

Donald Trump Heads To Iowa To Prepare For Possible Presidential Bid

Pay close attention ladies and gentlemen: Donald Trump is taking his first serious step towards a possible run for the job of the President of … the United States of America. Good lord.

Trump says he will soon head to Iowa, the site of the first caucus next February. Why? He wants to get some face-to-face time with Iowa residents before deciding if he wants to run for office. THE OFFICE.

“I will meet many, many people– maybe all of the people,” Trump tells the Des Moines Register“If I decide to run, I will be shaking hands with everybody.”

Trump is setting plans in motion as early as Monday. Fox News reports that one of Trump’s top business associates, Michael Cohen, is heading to Iowa Monday to promote a potential presidential bid.

Trump told the Des Moines Register that his top to-do list item if he makes it to the White House would to make sure the United States remains economically competitive in the world. How would he do that? By setting up tougher trade regulations with China who he believes is not trading on a fair scale with us. “We don’t need to be free trade with a company that’s making a $300 billion profit,” he said about the trade deficit.

Stay tuned…

Donald Trump Announces Cast Of Celebrity Apprentice 2011

Celebrity Apprentice is one of my guilty pleasures – I don’t ever miss a moment of watching D-List celebs getting down and dirty, ruthlessly duking it out for the fake title of Donald Trump’s apprentice. This season kicks off March 6th on NBC, but I just don’t know if anyone can trump last season’s full-hearted attempt at the crown and eventual champ, Bret Michaels, but here is the cast that will try:

Teen idol David Cassidy
Atlanta’s Real Housewife NeNe Leakes
LaToya Jackson
Lisa Rinna
Gary Busey
Baseball’s Jose Canseco
Survivor winner Richard Hatch
Lil Jon
Meat Loaf
Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath
Country music’s John Rich

Playboy Playmate Hope Dworaczyk
Star Jones
Oscar winner Marlee Matlin
Model Niki Taylor
I’m pretty excited at this list, especially since it includes hottie Mark McGrath! What are your thoughts on these 16 celebs battling it out for charity? Who’s the biggest surprise, and who do you think will win? 

Donald Trump Is Considering A Presidential Bid In 2012

“President Trump” does have a certain ring to it! I mean, if The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, can become the governor of a major US State, why can’t The Donald become the President of the whole entire thing? As they say, “Only in America.”

Donald Trump, the real estate tycoon, told FOX News that he is “seriously considering” a presidential run in 2012.

“I’m a Republican so if I did anything, I’d do it, I guess, as a Republican,” Trump told FOX on Tuesday. “I’m totally being serious because I can’t stand what’s happening to the country. First time I am being serious about it. That doesn’t say I’m going to do it.”

Shockingly, I know, Trump lacks no confidence when saying he has the “finesse” to be the leader of the free world. Trump said: “We have no common sense. And we’re losing the country. Mark my words, if we keep going this way, we’re losing this country. It will no longer be great. It’s not respected to anywhere near what it used to be.”

Tami Farrell, Miss California- EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.

   One night in May 2009, I locked myself and my dog, Jovi, out of my apartment but luckily ran into one of my neighbors who invited me into her home while I found a way back into mine. The neighbor, Tami Farrell, is a sweet, petite, beautiful blonde. I had met her through mutual friends when I first moved to LA in 2008 and she later happened to move three doors down from my apartment.

Tami and I chatted for a while that night and she eventually mentioned that she had to get up really early the next morning for a TV interview. That incidental comment surprised me as I had no idea why Tami, literally the sweet “girl next door,” would be getting interviewed by a major TV show in a matter of hours.

Unbeknown to me, Tami was the first runner-up Miss California 2009 and, in a matter of a few hours from the time I spent in her apartment that night, would find herself in the line of fire in the most heated Miss California controversy in recent memory. As you may recall, Carrie Prejean, the winner of Miss California 2009 got into a heap of media trouble for her answer to a question regarding gay marriage posed to her by Perez Hilton during the 2009 Miss America Pageant.  

Prejean was later fired by Donald Trump for reasons supposedly unrelated to the media heat brought on by Perez and others, and it was Tami who was forced to step into the crown of Miss California amidst this chaos. And, wouldn’t you know–the Celeb Magnet would also find herself in the middle of all this, unwittingly.

Fast forward a year later. I recently sat down with Tami in a local Starbucks for my first official interview with a celebrity, and to find out how Tami fared in that whole controversy and what she has been doing since the end of her Miss California title a few months back. Tami, dressed in a plaid shirt and cut-off shorts, couldn’t have been more unassuming, charming and open with me during our chat, all the while sipping on her Frappucchino.

Tami, originally from a small town in Oregon, always wanted to play sports. She grew up a tomboy. But when health issues derailed her sports ambitions, she turned her focus to acting instead. Her parents wanted her to have a normal childhood, so, tried to veer her into something less time-consuming than acting. Tami says with a chuckle, “I don’t know why they thought this other route would be better, but we all ‘comprised’ and my parents let me pursue beauty pageants instead.” Tami did well -She became Miss Oregon Teen USA in 2002 and reigned until she won the Miss Congeniality AND the Miss Teen USA 2003 title in Palm Springs, California on August 12, 2003.

As a result of her 2003 win, the then 18 year-old small-town girl took her second flight ever the next day and landed in New York City. As if that wasn’t a shock in itself, on her second day in the Big Apple, New York City went completely dark as the result of the Great Blackout of 2003 which knocked out power in much of the Northeast for over a day and longer in some areas. A lot to take in for a teenager, but Tami was ready for the challenge and welcomed the opportunities which lay ahead: She started working with Donald Trump on various projects and shared a luxurious Manhattan apartment with Amelia Vega (Miss Universe 2003, of the Dominican Republic) and Susie Castillo (Miss USA, 2003, of Massachusetts). The three of them had so much fun living together that Tami suggested to Donald Trump that he make a reality show out of it.

Tami also enrolled in a six-week “Summer in the City” on scholarship to The School for Film and television in New York City. Most importantly, she got to fulfill one of her heart’s desires: Work on philanthropic projects including the American Heart Association and Sparrow Clubs USA (a national non-profit organization of teenagers assisting children in medical crisis) and raised an incredible $21million Dollars for these charities. When I asked Tami how she achieved such an awe-inspiring feat at such a young age, she was quick to respond: “We must live up to our own expectations and go after our dreams. There is a quote I live by: ‘We limit ourselves sometimes by believing the sky is the limit, when there are footprints on the moon.’ ”

I asked Tami to tell me something funny about her time in NY. She told me about a day when Donald Trump was in a bad mood, going over budget issues with key executives. In walks Tami, interrupting the bigwigs to deliver her home-baked brownies. The President of Miss Universe later told Tami that after Donald took a few bites out of a brownie, his mood changed completely and said, “She makes good brownies.”

Immediately after her year in New York, Tami moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career but reality hit her hard instead as she had to take on three simultaneous jobs just to make ends meet. She continued to study acting at night and auditioned during lunch breaks. She also saved her money so she could one day record a CD, but another health scare set her dreams back yet again. She grew very sick two years ago and doctors found tumors in her thyroid which required invasive surgery. Luckily, the tumors were benign, but the surgery took its toll on Tami and recuperation proved to be a hard road. One day, she received an unexpected call from the Miss Malibu Pageant to see if she wanted to run for Miss California as Malibu’s representative. Although she would have been honored to represent the State of California, Tami no longer had any interest in pageantry; she wanted to heal and continue with her acting career. She did not know what to do; she did not want to turn down this amazing offer without being absolutely certain.

So,Tami did the only thing she knew to do; she prayed to God and “challenged” him to show her the path she should take. After praying, she opened the Bible and pointed to a random section and found the Book of Esther. The story of Esther reads that the reigning King of the Persian Empire was looking for a wife and sent his guards to find the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. The winner of this first-ever beauty pageant, Esther, was a poor Jewish girl, a secret she kept from her new husband. Despite her apparent shortcomings, Esther eventually ended up saving the lives of all the Jewish people in the kingdom by convincing the King to set aside a decree meant to kill all the Jewish people. Tami further relied on Esther 4:14: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Tami said the Story of Esther, along with this quote in particular, made her realize that even though a beauty pageant was not what she wanted, God was telling her that even though Tami could not see the reasons at the time, God had laid out His own road for Tami to take. As crazy as it sounds, the road included a trip through the Miss California Pageant. With that realization, Tami called the Ms. Malibu officials and accepted their invitation to represent Malibu in the Miss California Pageant.

As it turned out, the Miss California Pageant was exactly what Tami would need. It forced her to get her life back after a serious illness: She got back in shape, had something new to look forward to, and found herself again. She was no longer the girl who was sick; she was the girl who was focused and ready to take on the world. Although she did not end up winning the crown, and came in second to Carrie Prejean, Tami used the publicity she gained during her run for Miss California to promote her dearly-cherished charities and re-start her acting career.

One day in May 2009 while working at a Beverly Hills store, mopping the floor very much like Cinderella, she received a call from Billy Bush who asked her, “Did you watch the Miss USA Pageant?” Tami had not. Billy continued, “She’s gonna get fired.” The “she” Billy was speaking of was of course Carrie Prejean, the reigning Miss California. As soon as this call came in, so did the paparazzi. Every TV program wanted to interview Tami. The feeling was “weird”, especially when Donald Trump announced shortly thereafter that Prejean was keeping her title.

A month went by and while Tami was visiting family in Oregon in June, she received another call, this time from Keith Lewis, Executive Director of the Miss California Pageant. Keith wanted Tami to be in his office the next morning because Prejean was at last losing the title. Tami made the 10-hour trip back to Los Angeles via car, and received numerous calls from reporters during the trip.

She went in to the Miss California office, and while waiting in the reception area to meet with Keith Lewis, she saw herself on CNN, and already named as the new Miss California. After her title became official, she had the craziest day of her life, appearing at 28 interviews in a 24-hour period. The hardest part for her was being immediately put in a position to have to expose her beliefs on gay marriage, an issue which she had not chosen to advocate for either side. Tami said of course she has her own opinions on the topic, but she did not want to champion an issue she wasn’t passionate about or which would cause more negativity and division. Instead, she used the media spotlight and frenzy to focus on her own passions: the charities she holds close to her heart.

Since her title ended, she has re-focused her energies on her acting pursuits and has written a screenplay named, “Man Band.” Written with Will Ferrell in mind as the main character, “Man Band” is the story about a bunch of middle-aged musicians who want to reclaim their fame 20 years after they were members of the first-ever greatest boy band. Tami is holding out for Will Ferrell to read the screenplay and agree to play the main role, “Bobby.”

And Tami is doing all she can to get Will’s attention: She has pulled all of her “stalker” moves and even showed up at Will’s production company with a batch of cupcakes and the screenplay, attached to a picture of her as Miss California with a bubble that read, “Please read my script.” She left the screenplay with the receptionist and walked away, thinking, “He is so gonna call me today.” Nope. Will never called. But Tami is not giving up; she intends on making as many return trips as are necessary to get his attention and will go back with a CD of every boy band she can think of, one per week, until Will gives in and agrees to play the role of Bobby.

She has also finished a second screenplay, looking for acting representation, taking meetings with agents, and if that all isn’t enough, planning a 1940’s old Hollywood-themed wedding to her sweetheart of five years, Buddy. When all is said and done, Tami views her beauty pageant crowns, each as a double-edge sword: “The crown gets me in the door but then, I am held to a higher standard in auditions. The crown is not a magic wand that changed my life forever; I still have to pound the pavement every day and continue to chase my dreams.”

Tami, I wish you the best; someone as sweet as you, deserves her dreams; and if Will Ferrell is a smart man, he will call you back immediately.

You can see Tami on NBC’s Money Drop!

Bret Michaels is Donald Trump’s New Celebrity Apprentice. Shocker.

The Celebrity Apprentice season finale came down to two finalists: Bret Michaels (”I’m a problem solver. A rock ‘n’ roll MacGyver) and Holly Robinson Peete. Bret made a triumphant return to the finale despite two-life threatening health setbacks suffered over the past month. Holly was moved to tears when Bret joined her on stage, and could not have summed up Donald Trump’s dilemma better: “Who in America isn’t crying [for Bret’s return’]”. She continued, “Mr. Trump. My five-year old son woke up this morning and said, ‘Mommy, I love you but I’m kinda pulling for Bret.’ “


Like I had said earlier in the week, with all of Bret’s recent health problems, in addition to his life-long battle with diabetes, did Donald Trump have the heart not to, or any choice for that matter but to, pick Bret as his next celebrity apprentice? The clear and final answer, was “no”. And with that, we congratulate Bret for winning the Celebrity Apprentice crown and being “hired” as Trump’s new apprentice. We also congratulate Holly for coming in second in what seems to be semantics only as both finalists walked away with an additional $250K each for their respective charities.