Season 4 finale of Celebrity Apprentice aired May 22, 2011 and a new winner was announced when the night ended. But let’s start with the most important note: This show raised over 3 million dollars for charity this season. CONGRATS to the entire cast for that accomplishment.
THE TASK
Now, back to the recap summary of the show. We last left our two remaining contestants in a rush to complete their events to promote the launch of 7UP Retro. Marlee Matlin had the help of Meat Loaf, La Toya Jackson and Richard Hatch. John Rich‘s teamwas stacked with Lil Jon, Star Jones and Mark McGrath.
Last week’s show ended with Def Leppard‘s manager throwing a monkey wrench into John’s plans. He called John and said his drummer won’t play kick drums. Instead of working things over the telephone, John told him he would deal with him in person once they got there. Marlee’s team was having problems of their own. Jeffrey Holder’s (the 1970’s voice of 7UP) lawyer refused to let Jeffrey sign the release. Meat Loaf called Jeffrey’s manager, Chuck, in an effort to resolve the issue but when he could not get a hold of him, he totally lost it and screamed, “I am gonna throw this f*cking phone across the room.”
Meat Loaf somehow ended up working out the logistics with Jeffrey Holder. Jeffrey showed up to shoot the commercial and was his old charming self — everything went great. John Rich met with Def Leppard’s manager and the band. John started to tell the band about his charity, St. Jude’s which Def Leppard had never heard about?! Weird. Anyway, John was hoping he could win the band over with his passion for the charity. The band seemed unmoved at first, but then agreed to the creative direction John had in mind.
For event set up, Marlee’s team seemed lost and felt that they had no direction as what to do, but somehow, the finished room looked pretty cool. John’s team on the other hand seemed very organized when it came to set up and created a fantastic look and feel for their event space. Mark McGrath even called the display, “breathtaking.”
Marlee did a fantastic job of meeting Trump and the 7UP execs at her event. She also kept in close contact with them throughout her event. She also did a fantastic job during the presentation part. Her commercial, “feel the love,” however, felt amateurish to me. It was basically La Toya, Meat Loaf, Richard and Marlee playing characters from the 70’s with no backdrop or props. The Harlem Globetrotters put on a great show, but, that was to be expected. Overall, Marlee felt happy with her efforts and said she worked her butt off even though it was worth the money she raised for charity. She said, “John, don’t ever underestimate me. I am the Celebrity Apprentice.”
John on the other hand, kept having people give him money ($275K) for his charity even though this was not a fundraising challenge. He failed in a major way when he did not meet and welcome Trump and the 7Up execs to his event. Their commercial had a story, it was funny, and well made. But John goofed again when he introduced Def Leppard and the band was no where to be found. OOPS! Embarrassing! John introduced them 20 minutes too early! WHAT? ISN’T HE THE MUSICIAN? He should have performance timing down perfectly. Would Trump forgive this major gaffe especially given the fact that John had failed to welcome the big wigs earlier? Only time would tell.
John redeemed himself. He quickly made “lemonade out of lemons,” by grabbing a guitar and singing on stage, “Don’t fire me, don’t fire me, Mr. Trump. There must be someone else you can bump. Cause that girl is kinda crazy and that guy is kinda lazy. So, don’t fire me, don’t fire me, Mr. Trump.” He then gave the crowd an impromptu concert. IMPRESSIVE! This is where Matlin really messed up: Giving John a concert task. Of course John had the right skills to cover up a huge blunder. John then introduced Def Leppard for a second time, and they showed up on cue this time and rocked the stage. What I would have given to be there! John was hoping that all his efforts would land him a win and another check for $250K for his charity.
TRUMP MEETS WITH 7UP EXECS TO CHOOSE WINNER
Trump met with the 7UP execs after the two events were finished and the execs said both celebs had exceeded expectations and that they would hire both of them. Marlee, they said, was an unbelievable salesperson and John a fabulous marketer. They liked the Globetrotters and “feel the love” theme. They loved John’s display. They were disappointed that John did not greet them until after the show and they did not like his timing error with Def Leppard. They disliked the level of signs at Marlee’s event. They liked both cans and both commercials and told Trump he had a tough decision on his hands. The execs like the cans so much that both are available for sale nationwide.
IN THE PRE-TAPED BOARDROOM
John cleverly blamed the Def Leppard timing faux pax on being “rattled” by having received almost $300K right before that moment. Marlee realizing she was being outfoxed, interrupted, “Wait, wait wait, wait, is this a fundraising task? I don’t understand.” Donald said it was not a fundraising task and although he could not give John credit for that, he admitted that maybe deep down inside he actually was. Marlee, who had previously failed on a fundraising task after having admitted she had tapped out her friends, said she could have raised double what John raised if this was a fundraising task. Ivanka said, “The point is, John went above and beyond cause he could and because it was the final task.”
David Cassidy who did not get along with Richard on the show was all too giddy about the latest outcome on Richard’s legal troubles. Remember, Hatch called Cassidy “little people” which terribly offended Cassidy as it should have. Cassidy told Trump: “I think he actually is in the right place at the right time. I honestly think when you take the low road, where else would you end up but on a cold slab somewhere and quite frankly, I think it was just. I thought it was vindication. And I told you Trump, everyone told you to fire Hatch instead of me.”
Rinna blamed Star Jones for her short-lived stint on the show and Jones responded, “It’s a game, Mr. Trump. Bring your A game!”
Trump then turned his sights on Gary Busey – the clips of his old tactics reminded me of how crazy this man really is. Crazy as a fox? I can’t tell. Remember some of the gems he’s said: “There are two things you never want to do: One is pet a burning dog and the other is fry bacon naked.” Trump asked him if he liked Meat Loaf and upon saying yes, Gary and Meat Loaf hugged it out. Meat Loaf then said he understands Gary because he had “some head trauma” and Meat Loaf himself has had “18 concussions and a fractured skull.”
Trump told Lil Jon he’s become even more likable and popular since the show. Agreed. Lil Jon said, “Gary came out to hang with me in Vegas. Gary is good people.” When asked how he liked being on Celebrity Apprentice, Lil Jon said he liked it but he wouldn’t do it again because “it’s very hard.”
Trump called NeNe “original” just like 7UP. And of course NeNe was all smiles. Once they showed the clips of NeNe, she seemed somewhat embarrassed to me. She told Donald she does not regret leaving (quitting really, read the full story here) because she did what was best for her at the time. She said “Star bothered me a lot….I am absolutely OK now, I don’t hold grudges. That’s just not who I am. I was very honest in the things I said [about Starr] and I stand by them.” Star responded, “Well, I had an amazing time on the show… but I was a little disheartened as I watched the episodes unfold [on TV] throughout the season to see that NeNe used this amazing platform to attack every single black woman on the show…” NeNe interrupted and said, “Let’s not go there with ‘black,’ it’s not about a racial thing…you used this platform to be very backstabbing and very manipulative.” As NeNe was talking, Star talked over her, “Tonight is about John and Marlee.” Trump stopped them. Star said, “Excuse me, I’d like to actually finish my statement tonight. Tonight, I’d like to say as a professional woman I was embarrassed as were so many professional women around the country.” Yes, Star, I too was embarrassed. But not just by NeNe’s conduct, but yours as well.
Donald turned to La Toya who cutely giggled. I love her. Trump said, “NeNe really went after you…called you Casper the Ghost and yet for some reason you seem to really like NeNe but not Star, why is that?” La Toya responded, “I truly believed and I knew Star was using NeNe as her mouthpiece. Star was really manipulating everything that was going on. NeNe didn’t realize she was being used…When I showed NeNe, she said, ‘you are right.’ She caught on to it. NeNe deep down inside when I got to know her, she has a really good heart, and I forgave her.”
LIVE BOARDROOM
Marlee looked gorgeous. And John looked like a handsome cowboy. Loved his move of bringing Donald a cowboy hat. And it suited The Donald. When Trump asked the fired cast who they wanted to see win, Meat Loaf and NeNe said they liked both. Star said the $275K John raised last minute should get John the win. Lil Jon of course picked his buddy John. La Toya also picked John because he executed himself well. David Cassidy picked Marlee. McGrath put it best: “Marlee had the best week ever in Celebrity Apprentice history; John had the best season ever on Celebrity Apprentice history.” Trump didn’t even bother asking Hope, Gary, Lisa or Nikki.
John and Marlee then sang a moving song About The Children. And then it came time to choose a winner. When Donald asked for a raising of hands of who should win, Hope, Mark, Nikki, Lisa, Meat Loaf, Star, La Toya and Lil Jon raised their hands for John to win. “That’s surprising,” said The Donald. Then he asked who thinks Marlee should win, Nikki, Lisa, David and Gary raised their hands. Lisa and Nikki giggled since they raised their hands for both candidates. NeNe did not raise her hand for anyone. Lisa defended herself because both were deserving.
AND THE WINNER IS….
Marlee said she should be picked as the winner because her charity is her life. She said she has always faced and beat barriers in her life and that she, like Trump, never takes no for an answer. She also said she worked her butt off to win no matter what it took. And she also mentioned she’s raised the most money in a single day.
John said he should win because his charity literally saves the lives of kids. And he said there was not one thing he did not exhaust all season. He listed his wins as: Raising over $1million, brining Nikki Taylor back to help the men’s team, getting Twisted Sister, and serving as project manager more than anyone else this season. He said his “body of work” over the entire season was superior to that of Marlee’s. Marlee disagreed because John did not see Marlee at work.
When it was all said and done, The Donald said this was his toughest decision ever but picked John Rich as the winner and his Celebrity Apprentice. He said from the beginning John has been a leader, strong, sharp and smart, and he could not ask anything more of him.
Here is a great video clip recap of the episode. I will post the full episode shortly as well:
On Sunday April 3rd’s Celebrity Apprentice,Meat Loaf had an epic freak out and gave Gary Busey the verbal beat down of a lifetime…
But let’s start at the beginning. Donald Trump loves art – So, he asked the teams to create their own works of art, whether they be paintings, sculptures or any other form of art, and to sell the art pieces for charity.
Trump also asked the teams to design and decorate 7 New Era baseball caps with the celebrity making the best design getting a “sizable” donation to his/her charity.
Marlee Matlin was the Project Manager for Team A.S.A.P. and John Rich for Team Backbone. Rich’s motivation to star on the show was to raise a record amount of money for charity and to show Trump “What country boys are capable of and how big our hearts can open up.”
Rich warned his team and gave them a declaration of how things were gonna shake out. He told each of them if they didn’t bring in donations, they would be nailed to the wall. Matlin on the other hand used a gentler approach. She asked her team for help. She said, “We must win this task, we must raise a ‘$!##$#*’ 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.
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.