Fancast: Inside TV

by Kennedy, host of Reality Remix

The bitch is back…

I have never been a fan of this reality sycophant, but my fun and fascinating sit down with reality’s queen of mean put her in a different light in my eyes. Normally I find her a little grating (and the mean thing gets boring after the second reality stint) but in person she was downright giddy and charming.

Word from inside Celebrity Apprentice is she’s a nightmare and a half, will do anything to make waves and stay on the show, and she herself admitted off camera that she’s around until at least the sixth episode. Supposedly she gets shut down by Lenox Lewis who only has eyes for his wife. I am really looking forward to this show and I think it’s Mark Burnett’s big chance to redeem himself after jumping Jaws with the LA edition of the Apprentice. Sorry Mark, I’ll never forgive you for the tents.

NBC's "The Celebrity Apprentice," which was previously scheduled to premiere on Thursday, January 3, will now debut one week later on Thursday, January 10. For its seventh season, the series returns to New York City as Donald Trump welcomes an all-star celebrity lineup of candidates who will work to raise over $1 million for various charities. Participants include ultimate fighter Tito Ortiz, Olympic softball player Jennie Finch, Playboy centerfold Tiffany Fallon, gymnast Nadia Comaneci, country singer Trace Adkins, KISS frontman Gene Simmons, boxer Lennox Lewis, actress Marilu Henner, actor Stephen Baldwin, and Omarosa, who must be pissed by the delay.

Tonight, NBC rolls out Celebrity Apprentice, the seventh installment of Donald Trump's reality series celebrating capitalist cut-throats. Although one TV critic opened an article on the show by writing "looks like the worst cast ever," we strongly disagree and in fact look forward to watching the illustrious cast -- which includes Merilu Henner, Piers Morgan, Trace Adkins, Gene Simmons, Carol Alt, Lennox Lewis, Tito Ortiz, Omorosa, and Stephen Baldwin -- battle and connive for their favorite charities. We'll so far as to say we'll watch anything with nutty Stephen Baldwin. If you need more reasons why you should watch, The Donald supplied three:

"I think the number one reason is it’s great and rather - not rather -- it’s great and vicious television."

"Number two, you’re going to learn a lot educationally and that’s the reason I originally did The Apprentice because I was asked to do many reality shows for every network and I always turned them down. And they wanted to follow me around with cameras and I always turned the down. I like this because of the education aspect."

"And number three, you have celebrities that are great people and great characters...they have their fans and I think those fans are going to really like watching them in action."

Trump is pleased with the way the latest version of the show turned out. "I didn’t know whether or not they were going to take it that seriously," he said recently. "I didn’t know whether or not they were going to be as competitive as kids getting out of Harvard and Yale, and Wharton, and all the different schools who, you know, were fighting for their lives. It turned out to be, I think, the best Apprentice we’ve done and that includes Apprentice Number One which actually became, for many weeks, the number one show on television."

"I mean, the level of the spirit and viciousness even was just unbelievable," he added. "And I realized - at first I didn’t understand why and then I realized that each one of these folks have a big reputation to protect and a big brand to protect, whether it’s Marilu or Gene [Simmons], or Lennox Lewis, or Tito Ortiz who as you know is a great fighter also. And, you know, it’s - it was amazing. There was no game playing. There was no fooling around. There was no laziness. There was just a degree that I would never have thought possible.

Why did rocker Gene Simmons take on the challenges of Celebrity Apprentice? Good question, and the legendary KISS frontman said it boiled down to wondering "if the rug is pulled out from under you and you don’t have your support system, your staff, your, you know, your infrastructure, how good are you really?"

"The other thing is that entrepreneurs, it seems to me, by and large are self motivators, self starters. They’d rather do it themselves and sort of outsource and use somebody else’s infrastructure to get to where they want to go – it’s a cheaper model - business model and so on. The question is how’s Gene Simmons in a situation where you’ve got other people? In other words, in a team situation. So it’s a totally different model and I was curious how good I was. I mean, I’m the rat that knew the maze to get to the cheese. But how good am I in a brand new maze?"

According to Donald Trump, Simmons was pretty damn good. "This is what any champion in any field will eventually have to ask himself or herself," Simmons mused. "Once you’ve got enough money, once you’ve got enough fame and the glitz, and the glamour and the power, and the accoutrement of the American dream, when all the flashbulbs are gone and the girls stop kissing you, and you put the awards away and the sun comes up the next morning, and you’re there by yourself - will you get up at the crack of dawn and try to beat your own record?"

And did he? "This was a delicious experience," Simmons said.

By Bob Hellman
Celebrity Apprentice Correspondent

Few people are deserving of public recognition by one name. They’ve had to achieve a certain celebrity status for actually accomplishing something with their career. Now, that being said, which name doesn’t belong among these. Elvis, Madonna, Clinton or Omarosa? Yes, Omarosa. Exactly who is she? She’s famous for being a “contestant” on the first season of The Apprentice. Other than that, nothing else. Well, she’s back for season 7. And she’s as annoying as ever. (And I’m in love with her – but more on that later.)

My poor head has a rash from all the scratching it’s endured trying to figure out exactly why she’s on “Celebrity Apprentice.” I’m only able to come up with one conclusion. Pictures. She must have incriminating photos of Trump. But there she is in all her “in your face” glory. OK, let’s get to the show. The “celebrities” featured this season leave a little to be desired. Marilu Henner, Carol Alt, Lennox Lewis, Tito Ortiz, Nadia Comaneci, Nely Galan, Piers Morgan, Tiffany Fallon, Country singer Trace Adkins (which I only figured out because of his big cowboy hat), Vincent Pastore, Gene Simmons and Stephen Baldwin. I guess Alan Thicke and Denny Terrio were both unavailable for this season of celebrities. The one highlight of the show was actually not part of the show, it was a commercial for the upcoming season of Gene Simmons’ reality show, “Family Jewels.”

But in this first installment the celebrities were instructed to sell hot dogs on the streets of New York. By the way, all the money goes to charity. It was broken down into two teams, women vs. the men. The ladies chose a name for their team, “Empresario“, and the men chose the name “Hydra.” These sound more like names of characters on The Power Rangers, but that’s cool. I would have chosen, “Hot Tamales” for the women and “Bloated Dudes” for the men. Hydra sounds like a procedure my proctologist would perform.

Sadly, the women blew it. No pun intended. Omarosa decided they would go with a business plan to sell the hot dogs and not utilize the so-called celebrity status of her ladies. I’m still waiting to hear the business plan by the way. After they weren’t able to make any real cash, getting one dollar for a bottle of water, they figured out, “hey, why don’t we call rich people we know and shnorra off them?”

Meanwhile back at team Hydra headquarters, it took all of three seconds for Chaim Witz -- I mean Gene Simmons (that’s his real name btw) -- to work out that he can make some calls and get rich multi-multi (that’s my expression for super-wealthy folk) friends to pay 5k and upwards for a dirty water dog. (Personally, if I’m going to spend 5k on a hot dog, it had better be F’n grilled!) The ladies completely failed to use their celebrity status properly. Even worse, they had a former playmate of the year, Tiffany Fallon, and they didn’t use her attributes in the least!

C’mon, I’m a male viewer and she’s a Playmate, figure it out! The women wore dumpy t-

Ah, the magic of Stephen Baldwin. The charisma of Omarosa. It's worked. NBC has ordered a second installment of Celebrity Apprentice to hit the air in January 2009, the peacock network announced yesterday. Variety noted the stars have given the series a "new lease on life" after nearly being pronounced dead months ago. "This revved-up installment of 'The Apprentice' has been a game changer for the series," NBC reality topper Craig Plestis said. Producers "are already getting calls from high-profile celebrities who want to challenge themselves in season two."

Nudity on the next Celebrity Apprentice? You bet. The celebrities go in search of the money shot, as the Donald calls it, as they work together to create a four page advertorial for Dial Yogurt Body Wash, to be featured in Redbook Magazine's April issue. One team goes with a natural theme, the other team creates a sexy ad featuring Carol Alt in bed with a male model. Last week, each team was responsible for writing, directing, and producing a sales segment live on QVC. It was Quality, Value, and Chaos on this task, as Marilu Henner was faulted as the project manager and fired by Trump for not utilizing the alternate pay system, which could have potentially increased their overall sales. She joined Tiffany Fallon, Nadia Comaneci, Gene Simmons, Jennie Finch, and Nely Galan among those already axed. Watch clips and interviews from past episodes by clicking here.

NBC's Celebrity Apprentice hasn't yet found a winner, but the network is already busy casting the next season, and a friendly source emailed today that three stars have enlisted: Joan Rivers, Dennis Rodman, and Geena Davis. At least Omarosa wasn't asked back. Stay tuned for more info as it comes in.