In the final task to create a VIP party sponsored by Kodak, Joan Rivers beats Annie Duke in snatching the title of 'The Celebrity Apprentice'.
- May 11, 2009
AceShowbiz - In the May 10 finale of "The Apprentice" second celebrity edition, Joan Rivers came out triumphant. The comedienne won over poker player Annie Duke who has been personally her nemesis throughout the competition, in the challenge to set up a pre-theatre VIP party experience for patrons attending Cirque du Soleil's hit show "Wintuk."
Here's what happened on the three-hour event. Donald Trump coming out of the mist at American Museum of Natural History, shaking hands with some people and announcing that the show will be back in 2010 for another season. He wished everyone a happy Mother's Day and the recap of the season was played. Annie said that in her life she has been playing game and so she can't be beaten this time. Joan said that this was good versus evil and it meant that she would win.
The show kicked off with the scene after last week's board room where Annie asked for some kind of respect for her and her friends from Joan. But Joan refused to give Annie any and then left the room. Both of them then met Mr. Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Jr. at Two Times Square. Mr. Trump then announced that each of them will be backed up by the fallen apprentices because it is a huge project.
Dennis Rodman, Tom Green, Clint Black, Herschel Walker, Brande Roderick, and Melissa Rivers were back on the scene. Annie got to pick first and pointed at Brande. Joan picked Herschel first in knowledge that Annie would not choose her daughter Melissa. Thus in Annie's team are Brande, Dennis and Tom. In Joan's team are Herschel, Clint and Melissa.
The exec from the sponsor of the VIP event, Kodak, came to explain their part. The challenge will be judged based on: Kodak product integration, celebrities in attendance, charity integration, overall guest experience and money raised. It will be a silent auction and tickets for Cirque Du Soleil will be sold on the street.
On with her team, Joan said it out loud that they were there to fight the 'evil' Annie Duke. On the other side, Annie encouraged her team mates to beat the others because Brande had been insulted previously. Dennis was the first to bring money to the team, $20,000 from Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons.
Each team then met Jeff from Kodak, who explained that the VIP feeling was most important. Joan then started dividing her teammates into sections. Melissa was in charge of the pictures, Herschel was on the money while Clint was on the tickets. The history of both Annie and Joan in the competition, was then given a recap. Annie was in the winning team 7 times while Joan was in 6, but Annie was 2 times winner as Project Manager.
The time came when they had to meet the event organizers. It was obvious in Annie's team that the women controlled everything while Tom and Dennis simply waited for an order. Annie jotted in the idea of ice sculpture while Joan wanted the color theme to be yellow, white and red.
Ticket selling time. Tom was sent out to sell 80 tickets, accompanied by Dennis. He was shouting on top of a double-deck bus and almost got hit by a traffic light. Meanwhile, Herschel and Melissa went to Times Square to sell their tickets but Herschel made the attempt to persuade his friend to buy all the tickets. So the tickets went for free.
Joan had a visit from Ivanka and Donald Jr, and was told that Kathy Griffin was coming to the auction. Thus, Joan was full gear on getting people to come to the venue, but she had disagreements with the event planner. In the mean time, Melissa was doing her job of taking pictures using Kodak Easy Share camera at Times Square. While Annie was chipping ideas with her event planner, Joan fired hers and replaced him with her friends. The drama about event planner continued when the owner, David said that the whole firm quit from having anything to do with "The Celebrity Apprentice" because he was so offended.
With no event planner to back them and only 12 hours to the actual event, Annie and Joan found their own way. Annie called up her friends while Joan sought help from the people of her choice of charity. Annie's team was lacking of celebrities that would come to their party and worse, Joan's celebrities had canceled their attendance. But Annie was progressing in the venue designs with the help of her friend, Sarah. Joan meanwhile, was doing everything to get celebrity-lookalikes to come to the party.
Clint and Herschel were in charge of the videos and Melissa suggested the "things people share" idea. However, things were not so good over at Annie's with Tom screwing the time codes for the video. And before long, it was show time.
Impersonators had come to the venue, including that of Joan Rivers' who greeted people on the red carpet. Dennis was pulling his drag queen persona while Brande used her charm to welcome people to the event. Joan's parties were crowded with gays and things were adding up when Kathy Griffin showed up. Donald Trump arrived at the venue of Joan's first and then Annie's. Jeff was generally impressed with the endorsement of Kodak at both auctions.
A woman whose uncles died of AIDS gave Joan's team $50,000. The Cique du Soleil performance was then begun.
It was time for the boardroom. Mr. Trump was proud of Dennis, and reminded Melissa of her nasty exit. He also mentioned that he did not like the celebrity impersonators and said that Annie's investors were mostly her poker friends. Annie then attacked Joan, claiming that the event planner quit because of Joan. Then Joan fired back saying that the money Annie raised was mafia money.
The truth came out, Joan raised $150,830 while Annie brought in a staggering $465,725. Donald Jr. said that Annie won in terms of the money raised and the charity integration but Joan was triumphant on the celebrities in attendance, guest experience and Kodak integration. Each of the other celebrities then were welcomed back to the studio and gave their insight about each other while Mr. Trump weighed in who should win. Jesse James leaned on Annie while Dennis and Scott Hamilton supported Joan.
Mr. Trump then gave a brief introduction about the charities. Joan's was for hunger and AIDS while Annie's was "Refugees International". Last season's winner and the runner-up Piers Morgan and Trace Adkins then came on the stage to address the success of their participation in regard of their charities. Both Piers and Trace confided on Joan to win.
Joan and Annie then got to defend themselves. Joan spoke first, saying that she represented winning and business in the new way which is honorable and charitable. Annie emphasized on the fact that she raised more money, won more challenges, and did not treat people badly. There were a great amount of arguing and interrupting from both finalists.
Ivanka opined that Annie was a great game player but Joan had the tenacity. Donald Jr. said Joan was awesome but admired Annie's game plan. Mr. Trump then concluded that he thought Joan was a good role model and fired Annie Duke. Consequently, Joan Rivers is the champion of "The Celebrity Apprentice" 2.
