Salon.com > Celebrity Apprentice

Did a Salon excerpt ruin Penn Jillette’s chance to win “Celebrity Apprentice”?

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:06:00 +0000

In November 2012, Salon published an excerpt of the magician Penn Jillette's memoir, "Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday," in which he unloaded about his experience as a cast member on "Celebrity Apprentice." After describing an uncomfortable confrontation with co-star Clay Aiken, here's what he wrote:

No one loves anyone on the set enough to say, “Hey listen, man, take a little break and think about this.” No one cares. We’re all trying to save our own sorry asses. Then the next day, Trump says something insane like, “I’m glad you showed some backbone. I like passion.” He means, of course, he likes passion for his little TV show, but it feels like he’s saying the outburst was a good thing. We’ve chosen to make this whackjob, with the cotton candy piss hair and the birther shit, into someone we want to please.

Jillette didn't just choose to return to "Celebrity Apprentice" for its all-star season, which concluded its run last night. The series had already begun filming when his piece was published on Salon.

“Celebrity Apprentice” finale ratings hit a new low

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:21:00 +0000

The finale of "Celebrity Apprentice," up against tough competition in the form of ABC's Billboard Music Awards, won't give much confidence to those hoping for a 2014 season.

Though Donald Trump's team insisted to Salon that the show will be returning despite having been left off the NBC schedule, the ratings were down 24 percent from last year, with a mere 5.6 million viewers tuning in to see country singer Trace Adkins claim the top prize. Until today, last year's finale ratings had been the lowest in "Apprentice" history, at 6.8 million; before that, the 2011 finale ratings had been sharply down, too, coinciding with Trump's emergence as a leading voice of the "birther" movement.

There's some good news for Trump today, though; the big finale did see an increase over last week's penultimate episode.

Donald Trump’s camp says “Apprentice” isn’t cancelled; no word from NBC

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000

As NBC put on their "upfront" presentation highlighting next fall's programming to advertisers, they shone a spotlight on renewed programs like "Parks and Recreation," "Parenthood," and "The Voice."

One long-running series, though, went unmentioned, according to journalists in attendance: Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice."

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The reality competition show was also left off a grid depicting NBC's schedule in fall 2013 and spring 2014, suggesting that it would not be returning for another season next year.

Donald Trump had previously tweeted that the show had been renewed.

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A representative for Trump, special counsel Michael Cohen, emailed Salon: "You need to do just a little research to learn quickly that you are absolutely wrong. Celebrity Apprentice has been renewed again." Reached by phone to ask about the disconnect between Trump's claims on Twitter and the upfront presentation, Cohen said: "There's no disconnect. It's been picked up." He cited a Huffington Post piece saying the show had been renewed. That piece was an aggregation of a Hollywood Reporter story -- one that cited Trump himself as its source.

Donald Trump to “Modern Family’s” Danny Zuker: “You are a loser”

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:20:00 +0000

Another day, another opportunity to be called "a loser" by Donald Trump. Today's target: "Modern Family" writer and executive producer Danny Zuker, who pointed out via Twitter that Trump's two-hour "Celebrity Apprentice" episode last night was not quite as successful as Trump says it was:

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NYMag's Joe Adalian pointed out that at 10 PM, the show technically was No. 1 -- but that represents only a chunk of the two-hour episode:

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Zuker, who had to have known he was trolling Trump, then became ensnared in a Twitter battle with the human tramp stamp:

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Inside the “Celebrity Apprentice” charities: The good, the bad and the defunct

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:10:00 +0000

“The Celebrity Apprentice,” viewers are constantly reminded, is about charity.

The celebrities competing for the approval of Donald Trump can get big cash payouts for their favorite charity. Each episode sees corporations, celebrity guests, or private citizens putting up money that ultimately goes to whichever competitor managed the winning team.

There’s no way for General Motors, or for the celebrities and civilians hit up for donations, to know exactly where the money will go: that’s decided toward the end of the episode. Indeed, last season’s premiere saw model Patricia Velásquez deeply upset; she’d worked with fundraising contacts to raise money for a charity with which she was deeply associated, but because her team lost, the money all went elsewhere.

And some of the charities, according to an audit of selected charities performed by independent evaluator Charity Navigator at Salon’s request, may be less-than-ideal custodians of charitable donations. While many of the charities are unimpeachable, future donors might still pause before throwing money at “Apprentice” before knowing where it’ll end up. (We reached out to Donald Trump's camp to ask about how they vet charities for "Apprentice" and have not heard back.) Here's a look at some "Apprentice" charities that we flagged for Charity Navigator's review -- and that fell short of the evaluators' best practices.

Donald Trump and Mark Cuban are fighting on Twitter again

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Donald Trump and Mark Cuban are in a Twitter war for the umpteenth time. The last time they fought, the Mavs owner dared the quasi-real estate mogul to shave his head in exchange for $1 million, and later asked him to donate to Sandy relief. The jab was in response to Trump's "surprise" announcement in which the personality-less personality challenged President Obama to show his college transcripts in exchange for a $5 million donation.

Now, the Donald is at it again. On Sunday, Cuban's team, the Dallas Mavericks, lost against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Trump tweeted:

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Trump then asserted that he is "much better looking" and "far richer" than Cuban, who plays golf with "the power of a little girl," "is physically weak," "pathetic," and a "weak man with a big mouth."

Donald Trump's tweets:

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Trump, rejoice! “Celebrity Apprentice” ratings slightly up

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:20:00 +0000

After Donald Trump's "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" got off to a weaker-than-usual start this season, we speculated that his political advocacy might have damaged the series (on which he doesn't appear, much, but for the very beginning and the end of each two-hour episode).

Instead, after Trump's speech at CPAC at the end of last week, in which the real-estate magnate took Mitt Romney to task for not talking enough about his success, "Celebrity Apprentice" improved from the previous week both overall and in the prized 18-49 demographic. Indeed, the series won the 10 p.m. hour among that demographic by the largest margin of the season against "The Mentalist."

With just about everything else at NBC flatlining, Donald Trump -- and competitors including Dennis Rodman and Gary Busey -- shall stay employed for weeks to come.

Must-see morning clip: Donald Trump addresses Lil Wayne tweet and “Celebrity Apprentice”

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:25:00 +0000

Salon's favorite centerfold, Donald Trump, stops by "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to address his hacked Twitter account, Gary Busey and the upcoming season of "Celebrity Apprentice":

Penn Jillette’s secrets of “Celebrity Apprentice”: Donald Trump is a whackjob!

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0000

I did "The Celebrity Apprentice 2012" as kind of a work/study thang. TV networks are dying. The death throes of religion give us jihads. The death throes of television give us reality shows.

Our sucky TV culture is all PBS’s fault. In 1971, they put a camera crew into the home of Bill and Pat Loud and their children and, in 1973, put everything the crew filmed on TV. The show was called "An American Family," and viewers watched the Louds’ lives as though it was a TV show. It was a TV show. The Louds went from happy family to D-I-V-O-R-C-E and America watched it happen. Their son Lance became the first totally out gay guy on TV (I guess no one counts the "Hollywood Squares" and "Bewitched"). When Lance died of hep C and complications from HIV years later, there was another TV show.

Before "An American Family," you would have bet your ass and your colonoscopy video that if you put TV cameras in a room with people, those people would behave better. They’d be kinder, wiser, more measured and more loving than they would be without the cameras. The whole world is watching, so be at your best.