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The first-ever all-star Celebrity Apprentice concluded with Donald Trump breaking from tradition and selecting the finalist seated to his right, Trace Adkins, as the winner of the $250,000 prize, which goes to his charity, the American Red Cross. Overall, Adkins raised $1,554,072 for American Red Cross, while Penn Jillette raised $698,655 for Opportunity Village, according to NBC. Jillette’s total for his charity, which helps people with intellectual disabilities get jobs, included $100,000 for having the best-selling Walgreens ice cream. As a reality TV character and contestant, I liked Penn better, and wish he’d won, but Trace made a compelling argument for why he should win, not that Donald Trump has ever used evidence in his decision-making. Overall, the celebrities raised $3.332 million for charity, some of which came from the show and its sponsors. Trump also gave Lil Jon $100,000 for the American Diabetes Association, apparently as a way to make up for firing him for no actual...

« Kim Kardashian Spends Birthday In Museum Without Kris Humphries | Home October 22, 2011 11:30 AM by Jackie Morrison Last week Teresa Giudice was in the hot seat during the first part of The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion . Between accusations back and forth with Caroline Manzo and name calling at her sister-in-law Melissa Gorga, Teresa Giudice fired back at her cast mates. This past season on her reality show has seen the bonds of loyalty between the Manzo family and Giudice clan break irreparably. Now Teresa Giudice is joining the cast of Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump and Victoria Gottti. Reports so far hint that the Mafia princess and bestselling author is poised to rumble with the New Jersey housewife on the set. Victoria Gotti is the daughter of late mob boss John Gotti and is just as tough as the ladies on Mob Wives. She is going to rival Teresa Giudice on the Celebrity Apprentice and the Italian-American women are both known for their strong personalities. M...

The Celebrity Apprentice has another likely contestant: The Real Housewives of New Jersey table-flipper Teresa Giudice. That’s according to a report in Life & Style , which quotes an unspecified “source who said, “Following in NeNe Leakes’ footsteps, Teresa is on the next season of the show.” Besides Teresa, it seems likely that Clay Aiken will also be on the show , which will likely start production within the next six weeks. View the original article here

Richard Hatch was sentenced to nine months in prison today, after being convicted of probation violation in January. 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.” The Providence Journal reports that U.S. District Court Judge William Smith “ordered Hatch, of Newport, to surrender to the U.S. marshals to begin serving his sentence on Monday” and then “Hatch is ordered to serve 26 months of supervised release, requiring him to pay 25 percent of his gross income to the IRS.” While Hatch plans to appeal, this means he will miss The Celebrity Apprentice’s finale in May, and wouldn’t be able to return for Survivor this summer, if producers wanted to bring him back. (There were refuted rumors that producers wanted him to face off against Jonny Fairplay.) Update: Yesterday, Richard posted a note on Facebook that said, in part, “I have done everything ever asked of me by probation, b...

« America’s Next Great Restaurant: Impressing The Public | Home | The Real Housewives of Orange County: “Shameless In Seattle” » March 13, 2011 08:59:38 by Shayla Perry This week on an all new episode of Celebrity Apprentice on NBC , the contestants are tasked with writing and acting out a children’s story about one of their team members.Who gets sent home tonight? Keep reading for everything you missed! Tonight on Celebrity Apprentice, after last week’s big win, Star Jones meets with her heart surgeon to hand over a check in the amount of $169,000 for the American Heart Association, eager to get back into the game to hopefully win more money for her charity. Donald Trump meets with the contestants in front of Madison Square Garden to give them the details of tonight’s task: To write a children’s story based on at least one of their team members, then to perform that story for a group of children and their parents. The teams will be judged on originality, their theatrical present...

Home > Factual > Big Fat Gypsy dress maker to get her own apprentice style reality show? May 24th, 2011 by Anna Howell. 1 Comment We watched in amazement as Thelma Madine, chosen dress maker to the travelling community, transformed gypsy girl’s weddings into huge, fantastical fairytales due mainly to the size and grandeur of their wedding dresses and now we are going to be given an insight into how it is done, according to The Mirror. Thelma, who owns the unique wedding boutique, Nico in Liverpool, has been making over stated and some would say over the top wedding dresses for travelling brides for the past decade. Many boast thousands of crystals and working mechanisms to light the dress and even moving ornaments too. Since the success of Chanel 4's Dispatches spin off series, ‘Big Fat Gypsy weddings’, an unprecedented amount of attention has been thrust upon the designer who even organised the entire wedding of the couple who went head to head with the Royal wedding, and...

It was the most dramatic The Celebrity Apprentice season ever and the least dramatic finale, which ended with Donald Trump giving John Rich the win for no clear reason. Marlee Matlin was not fired, nor did Trump “hire” John Rich, perhaps an acknowledgement of their status as virtual equals, or perhaps just discarding terminology that makes no sense with the celebrity edition of the show. Despite the confetti, it was an oddly flat and abrupt ending to what has been the franchise’s craziest season ever, producing crazy moment after crazy moment , all of which gave us new understanding of the celebrities involved. John Rich’s charity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, receives $250,000, which brings the season total for fundraising to a TV series record, NBC says, of $3,120,852. Both John Rich and Marlee Matlin visited their charities (she was playing for The Starkey Hearing Foundation) to see their work in action, and also performed a song together, “For the Kids,” which ended wit...

NBC scheduled a three-hour Celebrity Apprentice episode last night, and while it was actually just two episodes put together, it was full of the kind of crazy entertainment we’ve come to expect from this season. Here are the highlights, such as they are: NeNe Leakes quits. NeNe has provided some of the best TV this season, both because she’s been surprisingly smart and mature, and because she’s brought her Real Housewives self and thrown down with Star Jones. However, some off-camera wrangling resulted in Donald Trump letting Star Jones switch teams to be away from NeNe Leakes after their epic showdown last week. That led NeNe to quit via a phone call—which seemed faked, because there was no camera on NeNe in the cab, and Trump was incredibly stilted/scripted—and leave us stranded. Later, Trump said, “because everyone calls them a loser and quitter” “So to you, NeNe, I say, you’re fired, and you’re a quitter, and Star Jones kicked your ass whether you like it or not.” Trump makes M...

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night, President Barack Obama repeatedly ripped Donald Trump, referencing events on The Celebrity Apprentice as Trump sat nearby, frowning even through jokes that weren’t about him. Later, Seth Meyers also mocked Trump, although going for predictable jokes, like about his hair. The dinner came just days after Obama unnecessarily released his long-form birth certificate , ending a stupid non-issue that got more media attention than it deserved because Trump’s Apprentice-damaging political aspirations . The thinly veiled racism behind the birther nonsense, which Trump did nothing to conceal by insisting on a radio show, “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks,” was even called out by David Letterman, prompting Trump to cancel his appearance on the show . Anyway, as you can see below, Trump responded to Obama’s jokes by facing forward, his lips pressed tightly together, rocking up and down, as if nodding slightly, although he ...

An episode of The Celebrity Apprentice and the finale of America’s Next Great Restaurant , which were interrupted by breaking news on the east coast and the west coast, respectively, won’t be repeated on NBC, but are online and will be rebroadcast on CNBC this Friday at 9 p.m. ET (Apprentice) and 10 p.m. ET (Restaurant). However, NBC affiliates are reporting that there will be a extended recap before Sunday’s episode of The Apprentice, which is actually a three-hour episode. In the meantime, you can watch each episode on NBC’s web site or Hulu: America’s Next Great Restaurant and The Celebrity Apprentice . View the original article here

Donald Trump’s decision to transition from reality star to nonsense-spewing potential presidential candidate has already threatened Celebrity Apprentice, leading people to tune out when they should be tuned in to one of the better reality shows on TV, from its focus on raising money for charity to its focus on crazypants celebrities. But now, Trump’s decision to use the show’s finale to announce a press conference to announce whether he is running for president or is just full of shit has the potential to further damage the series, because it brings his nutballs politics into a show that is otherwise pretty apolitical. I’ve argued that it’s possible to watch and enjoy the show even though Trump is an ass , but if he starts talking about Obama’s birth certificate on the finale, I hope someone pulls out his weave for being so stupid and hurting his greatest asset. And if he does actually run, it will most likely mean the end of The Apprentice, because NBC would have to give equal time ...

Gary Busey has finally exited The Celebrity Apprentice, just as his brand of insanity was starting to get old. As Donald Trump is fond of telling himself, he had no choice but to fire Gary, whose antics have essentially made John Rich, Lil’ Jon, and Meat Loaf as crazy as he is. Meat Loaf was reduced to a stuttering mess in the boardroom, where Trump framed the firing as essentially for the benefit of Meat Loaf’s mental health. It was for ours’, too. While Gary’s ridiculousness has been entertaining, it was very frustrating during last night’s episode, most likely because the editing let us see him through the other three men’s eyes. John Rich’s reaction told us everything we needed to know. He’s so mild-mannered and he has clearly been driven to insanity, if not a spectacular Meat Loaf-style breakdown , by Gary’s antics, and last night, the team—except Meat Loaf—basically checked out to let Gary fail. The episode was edited to suggest that John Rich’s theory was right: Gary Busey is e...

The Hearst Corporation has bought half of Mark Burnett Productions, but will not own any part of Survivor or The Apprentice. Everything else he produces will, however, including Shark Tank and the upcoming X Factor clone The Voice . Burnett “had been trying to sell his company for several years, particularly as he struggled to develop a new blockbuster hit,” the Los Angeles Times reports . But he told the newspaper, “I’m looking for that next act in my career. And Hearst provides a big burst of energy and the ability for me to work with new people.” Hearst owns a lot of media properties : In addition to its newspapers and magazines, Hearst owns part of cable networks including Lifetime, History, A&E, and ESPN. Hearst’s Scott Sassa told the paper, “We were not looking to be in the television production business. … The one thing that is certain is: Good content will continue to be critically important no matter what’s on the screen.” The company will now “focus on media content, p...

It’s difficult to imagine Meat Loaf’s freak-out on The Celebrity Apprentice getting any more entertaining. It’s definitely an instant reality TV classic. Jimmy Kimmel Live has helped to immortalize it by replacing the video, using the audio on top of an old Looney Tunes cartoon. Meat Loaf is Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny makes a fantastic Gary Busey, and we all win. View the original article here

Another week, another ridiculously freakin’ awesome episode of Celebrity Apprentice, from Richard Hatch floating the possibility that Jose Canseco pretended his father was dying of cancer (in order to get out of a fundraising task) to NeNe Leakes telling Star Jones how to get paint off her hands (using water in the sink). And that was before the batshit crazy boardroom, when Donald Trump threw out all the rules after revealing that “we’ve never raised this much money in a whole season.” In an art auction challenge, the men raised $626,908 from the art they created, but the women raised $986,000 “for an all-time Apprentice record.” Trump gave $14,000 to bring that to an even $1 million, making the total more than $1.6 million. Trump called it a “very sad situation” because one team had to lose, so the project managers, John Rich and Marlee Matlin, agreed that each team could keep their earnings for their charity. Later, he gave Marlee the option of firing no one on the men’s team becau...

« Secret Millionaire: Want To Become A Secret Millionaire? | Home | Reality TV Magazine Contest! » April 1, 2011 02:00:53 by Shayla Perry When soap star Lisa Rinna was fired from Celebrity Apprentice , she suspected that some of the women on her team – namely Star Jones and Dionne Warwick – had planned to have her fired from the start. But while co-hosting Access Hollywood Live with Kit Hoover, Rinna not only revealed that her suspicions were true, she also told which of her co-stars on the NBC reality show let her know about the sinister scheme. “I have to thank those girls because they made me look really good. You made me look real good girls!” Lisa Rinna said of her Celebrity Apprentice co-stars, Dionne Warwick and Star Jones . “We had moments where we got along. We had a good time… We’re raising money for charity. Women get like that, you know?” Rinna admits that when she signed on to do the show, she was initially excited about her all-girl team; but those feeling soon went...

« America’s Next Great Restaurant: Design Time | Home | The Real Housewives of Orange County: “Body Shots” » March 27, 2011 08:31:05 by Shayla Perry Tonight on an all new Celebrity Apprentice , the celebrities get ready for their close-ups when they’re tasked with creating 30-second commercials for a video phone. Will Oscar-nominated Gary Busey’s “genius” talents come in handy for team Backbone, and which celeb does Donald Trump send packing? Keep reading for everything you missed! This week on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, after Niki Taylor’s graceful exit from the competition, the ladies are still surprised that they have once again lost to team Backbone (and to Gary Busey), but eager to prove themselves as worthy opponents. Gary Busey presents his charity with not one, but two, checks for $20,000 and then meets with Trump and the other contestants to learn about the next task. Tonight, they will be creating  30-second commercials for ACN’s new video phone, then present their co...

« Big Brother: Winner Adam Jasinski Sentenced To Four Years In Prison | Home January 22, 2011 12:00:28 by Paula_Kosowski Michelle “Bombshell” McGee doesn’t think former lover and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Jesse James’ relationship with Kat Von D will last. Keep reading to see what she had to say about the couple and her ex… According to TMZ, James’ former lover Bombshell” McGee doesn’t think the relationship will last ’til the wedding and says she’s willing to put money on it. “A pig’s a pig, right?,” the tattoo model and ex-stripper tells TMZ of James. “I would be surprised if they made it to the altar. But hey, I thrown divorce parties too, right?” McGee also has some comments for James’ fiance tattoo artist Von D in UsMagazine.com. “Kat what in the world are you thinking?” she tells the magazine. “I was with Jesse during his marriage — the guy’s not faithful, he doesn’t have a faithful bone in his body!” McGee tells Von D James will cheat again. “If he did it to me, if he did...

Minute for minute, The Celebrity Apprentice is the greatest reality show on broadcast TV right now. Survivor has its strong moments and episodes, sure, but Donald Trump’s collection of celebrities consistently delivers non-stop surreal entertainment, as did his orange skin tone last night. I refuse to recap it because that would require typing the whole episode, and it’s more fun to just watch it. And there’s so much worthy of highlighting, like Niki Taylor, first-season host of Bravo’s Make Me a Supermodel , who admitted last night, “I’m not the best at presenting.” Perhaps that’s why Bravo got rid of her for season two, and shouldn’t have hired her in the first place. (She was fired by Trump last night after taking the blame for her team’s failure, so she basically quit; Trump and others praised her, which is weird because Trump usually wants people to fight, especially for their charities. I think she knew she couldn’t cut it verbally or intellectually, and decided to not spar with...

« Worst Cooks In America: Jeff Longcor Talks About His Experience On The Show | Home | The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Camille Grammer on Meeting Kelsey Grammer’s Fiancee Kayte Walsh » January 14, 2011 11:00:10 by Paula_Kosowski Business mogul Donal Trump officially announced new cast of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice last night on Jimmy Fallon . Keep reading to see who they are… The 11th season of Celebrity Apprentice will feature some big name stars, according to Radar Online. The website reports Trump told Fallon who the contestants will be on Thursday night’s show. This season’s 16 celebrities competing for the charity of their choice will be: Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes , rapper Lil’ Jon, first Survivor winner Richard Hatch , former “Partridge Family” teen idol David Cassidy , controversial singer LaToya Jackson, strange character and actor Gary Busey, rocker Meatloaf, country singer John Rich, Sugar Ray’s lead singer Mark McGrath, acclaimed actress Mar...