Random Reality – Interview with Celebrity Apprentice's Donald Trump, Gene Simmons, and Marilu Henner

Features, Interviews, Shows

The Apprentice returns for a seventh season in less than a week, but this time it will be a little different. Donald Trump has picked 14 celebrities to be on this season. They are all playing for charities of their choosing, but one-by-one Donald will still say “You’re fired!” The show premieres on NBC on Thursday, January 3 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

To help promote the first ever Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump, along with legendary KISS rocker, Gene Simmons, and famous actress, Marilu Henner, did a conference call with members of the media including myself. They all had a lot to say about the show. Here are the highlights of what they said in this conference call for Celebrity Apprentice


Donald, is this group able to live life and kick ass in life better than the others?

Donald Trump: Well I’ll tell you what really surprised me was the fact that – and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting. These are people that are successful celebrities, some unbelievably successful like Gene and, you know, his record, it’s been amazing what he’s done over the years. And we’ve really had an amazing crop of people. And I didn’t know whether or not they were going to take it that seriously. 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 think this is even better. And the level of, I don’t want to use the word viciousness, but I will…

Marilu Henner: You can use that word.

DT: You know what I’m saying, Marilu. I mean, the level of the spirit and viciousness even was just unbelievable. 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, or Lennox Lewis, or Tito Ortiz who as you know is a great fighter also. And 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.

Donald, in your book you talk about 98% of people get by, but it’s the 2% who are the elite in this country. And if these are the 2%, why would they even try to attempt this? What do they have to prove?

DT: Well I think because the show’s been so successful that they wanted to be on it in some cases and in other cases, I think you should probably ask Gene or Marilu that question.

Gene Simmons: You know, it’s interesting. I’m lucky enough, blessed to I guess be the king of my own domain, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. But the question is if the rug is pulled out from under you and you don’t have your support system, your staff, your infrastructure, how good are you really? The other thing is the 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?

Gene, did you surprise yourself in this maze?

GS: Oh, I am fantastic.

DT: I will say that. I mean, maybe I should answer that one. Gene and Marilu, they were really fantastic. They did amazingly and they’re great characters. Gene is a wild man, there’s no question about it. He did amazing.

Gene, how did you surprise yourself?

GS: Yeah. This is what any champion in any field will eventually have to ask himself or herself — 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? In other words, ultimately every champion hopefully is only in competition with themselves. I want to thank Donald for giving me, personally, the opportunity to get out there, roll up my sleeves and just go for it. I mean, this was a delicious experience.

DT: But Gene made a very tough decision and a decision that maybe wasn’t, in terms of survival, the greatest decision. But in terms of other things, was a brilliantly-made decision, and in terms of morality. You know, he’s a very straight shooter and that’s one of the things you’re going to find out about Gene, as an example, on The Apprentice. He really made some tough decisions, but they were very honorable decisions. He was true to himself.

MH: I think everyone was going for their personal best. And I myself love the show. I’m a huge fan of the shows. I wanted to do it as soon as I heard they were doing a Celebrity Apprentice. And I thought, I want to see what it’s like to get out there, work as hard as I know that they have to work and see what happens. And I think every single person rose to the occasion and there was never any kind of down time so nobody could sit on their laurels even for a dinner or whatever. It was just go, go, go and I think everybody had the, you know, the spirit and the thrill of the hunt inside of them, and it was great to see everybody in action that way.

DT: And that’s what surprised me most, that people that have been heavyweight champions of the world and lots of other things like KISS and Marilu with her great success on television, that they were almost more competitive than young kids starting out with great educations. They were more vicious. There was no games. I mean, I thought there would be. I thought there’d be joking around and it might be – and which would not have been good, actually. But I thought that might be the result. I was saying at least 50/50. It was just the opposite. They wanted to win. And when you think about it, they have a big reputation or a big brand to protect. And that’s what happened.

Whose idea was this to go this way with celebrities?

DT: Well old regime at NBC wanted to do The Apprentice again. When Ben Silverman came in, he loved the idea of Celebrity Apprentice. He loved it right from the beginning. So I would say it was a combination of Ben and Mark Burnett and myself, as an idea. But it was going to be a regular iteration and Ben loved the idea of Celebrity as opposed to the regular.

Donald, if you’d been a contestant on this show, could you have beat out the other celebrities

DT: I’m not sure I could have. I’m telling you, they are really tough, competitive people. Now some are better than others. When you’re talking to two very good ones, in all fairness, but some are better than others. Some weren’t so great. And some surprised me, no one I’m mentioning names. But some surprised me how good they were and how different from their image they were. Others were a little bit more disappointing and that’s quite exciting in itself. I mean, there were one or two that I thought would be superstars that weren’t. There were others that I wasn’t so sure of and they were phenomenal. So it’s very interesting television.

Gene, what could you have been besides a rock star?

GS: Oh, anything I wanted to do. I started off as a sixth grade teacher in Spanish Harlem. Worked for Vogue Magazine as the assistant, the Man Friday to Kate Lloyd, the Editor in Chief and just did lots of stuff. Worked as the Assistant to the Director of the Puerto Rican Interagency Council, a government funded research and demonstration project – you don’t want to hear it. you’d get bored to death.

Gene, how were you approached to do the show?

GS: I went to a restaurant and I saw the powerful, attractive and world-famous Donald Trump there. And on the way out, we exchanged pleasantries and it was sort of “Hey, you want to do the show kind” of thing.It was very fast and I went to myself, “Well I got a lot of stuff, KISS is going back out on tour. I got to tie my shoe and – wait a minute. That’s an interesting idea.” Of course I thought – because I’m delusional, I thought I was going to sit in the judge’s seat with him. I didn’t know he was going to throw me right into the pits of hell, which you know was even more exciting because let me tell you something about the lady that’s on the line with us, Marilu Henner, all smiles and innocent, and little miss goody two-shoes. She’s a killer.

DT: It’s true.

GS: She’s a killer. Don’t let the lipstick and I eat health food stuff fool you. She’ll kill you.

DT: And one other thing. I think it’s important to say for every person we took on the 14 people, and you have a list of who they are, but for every person we took on, we turned down five. You know, I never knew there were so many celebrities, to be honest with you. But we turned down five – there are many, many people more than what we have that wanted to be on the show. And we turned them down strongly. Now there were a few that really wanted to be on the show but they didn’t want to be fired. I mean, I could name a couple that are really good. They loved it. They wanted to do it. They loved the show, but they didn’t want to be fired. They just said they can’t handle that, and, you know, frankly I fully understand that. The fact is that we turned down five for every person that accepted. Anyway.

MH: It was a great mix, too, because I think everybody brought something different. So the blend of characters and, you know, what everyone brought to the party was really – it’s going to be a lot of fun for people to watch and nothing like anyone expects.

DT: Well one thing that’s important is that it really isn’t just celebrities.

MH: Oh no.

DT: It’s celebrities that have made money in other things like Gene with what he’s done is amazing beyond KISS and Marilu, the same thing. So these are people that have also done things in business and they’ve made money doing things, whether it’s investing, whether it’s real estate, whether it’s selling paraphernalia, whether it’s – whatever it might be. But they’re all people and a lot of celebrities don’t have that. You know, a lot of celebrities are, you know, pure actor, pure this, pure that. And they can’t qualify for the show.

MH: And I think also with some of the tasks coming up, you’re going to see people do something they’ve never done before. But because no one else wanted to do it, they step up to the plate and they go oh I’ll try this, I’ll try this. I mean both Gene and I were doing things that we’ve never done before. And…

GS: You promised you wouldn’t say.

MH: Not that I thought that could be possible.

Will this show determine how future Apprentices will go?

DT: It might. As I said, it’s five to one and if people really like this, we could do another – conceivably, another celebrity one as opposed to going back to the regular.

MH: I would tell anyone who wants to do it, though, make sure you have a lot of energy…

DT: Right.

MH: …because it takes real stamina to do this show. And that’s what I fed off of and I think Gene would agree with me.

GS: Anybody curious about the hours you’re spending?

MH: It was worse for the women because we had to go to hair and makeup, but…

GS: What time did you start the day, Marilu?

MH: Sometimes we’d start the day at 4:00. The latest we started our day was at 6:00 and then we’d sometimes finish at midnight or 1:00 in the morning.

GS: No lunch hour breaks, nothing.

MH: You did everything on the run. But it was, you know…

GS: You’re doing everything on the run. And how many days out of the week?

MH: Every single day. We got one day off. So what was incredible about this is that you either woke up with that oh, I love the smell of competition in the morning or you didn’t, you know. For those of us who did, we loved it. We…

DT: And there were a couple of people that really broke down and couldn’t go through – it was a lot of work, a lot more work…

MH: A lot.

DT: …than they’ve done in a long time.

GS: We can’t be specific, but the truth is that there was literally more than one doctor that was brought on to the set because of the physical, well, exhaustion is an easy way to say it.

MH: You know, the biggest difference is that with the other Apprentice, you know, how you see people win a task and then they have a nice little dinner where they all go out. Forget it here. We didn’t have that because we just kept going, going, going and it was fine. You know, you literally woke up and started all over again. And you could see the people who fed on that and the people who didn’t.

Donald, was the show made any different, the game itself because it was celebrities or did you completely do it just as hardcore as you would for the regular apprentices?

DT: Just as hardcore. But we don’t – and I’m not saying anything out of school, we don’t do the little rewards at the end where you’ll go for a dinner or you’ll get a, you know, jewelry from Harry Winston, or you’ll do this or that. We didn’t do that because frankly I never found it that interesting where it – the cameras would follow them to a reward dinner or something.
We don’t do that. We do something that’s really interesting and I assume I can say it and if I can’t, who cares, I’ll say it anyway. During the firing and the grilling, the team that wins goes into another room. We’ll call it the War Room and they watch. And the cameras are on them as they’re watching. And that’s far more fascinating than having that team go out and, you know, go to dinner. So we’re having them watch almost up to the firing – not the firing itself, but almost up to the firing and getting the reaction. And it’s an amazing reaction.

MH: And also you got to learn other people’s strengths and weaknesses that way as well.

Donald, was there any specific criteria for when you guys were choosing which celebrities would actually make the final cut?

DT: Well from my standpoint, it was really a question of competence. And we had a lot of competent people and highly competent. But from my standpoint, it was really a question of competence, who did the best job, who did the best job not only at that task, but in the previous weeks. So in that sense, it didn’t change that much. It’s all about competence.

Is Omarosa is the only one who was asked back? Do you think she had an advantage or was it completely starting all over for her?

DT: No advantage. She’s just very smart, very tough and she did very well. She’s a very capable person. She is a tough, smart person. Some people liked her. Some people hated her beyond anything I’ve ever seen, and she did very well.

Gene, it’s been a long time since you had to really take orders from someone. You’ve always been the boss or combining with other people. Was that experience difficult at times having someone tell you what to do and to be able to tell you you’re fired?

GS: The description of that isn’t quite on, so respectfully, here’s how it worked. You’re given a task – the team is. And then the team is responsible for picking their leader, who’s the team leader for that task. And then everybody has to go out and the team decides, but certainly the team leader basically picks you’re going to tie the shoelaces at 3:00. You’re going to shine the shoes over here. You’re going to do that. And so the challenge for me, I have to say and it bears repeating, is how am I in a team situation? I’m used to basically, you know, looking to myself for inspiration. I pick up the phone. I try not to have assistants and it just gets in the way. This was really exciting because you’re dealing with people who are successful in different areas. And, you know, it’s like pieces of a puzzle except they’re from different puzzles. You put them together – you’re not going to get the picture you think you’re going to get. Let me tell you something, this is about as exciting television as I would ever want to watch. This is not only a conflict of – well you got men and women working together. That’s enough.

Explain more about the structure of the show. Is it what we’re familiar with? Does everyone live together like they have in seasons past? Is this a little bit about what’s new this season and what’s different, or what you can share?

DT: Well we don’t want to change too much. You know, the show has been very, very successful so you can’t obviously change too much. But they do live together. It’s not a total focus like it was in the past to living together. The boardroom becomes more of a focus than it’s ever been, which is what people like. What people have really proven to like over the past seasons is the boardroom. And this is the biggest and longest boardrooms we’ve ever done.

Gene and Marilu, what was it like to not live in your familiar surroundings? You didn’t get to go home at night and go to sleep in your own bed? Did that make things more challenging and more difficult?

MH: Well it’s always more challenging to not be at your home base. But once, you know, we shot in New York and I live in Los Angeles. So just going to New York, you know, I showed up to play. I threw myself into it as a full service person and, you know, full service contestant. And I think everybody else had that attitude, that there’s a real check your egos at the door or bring them along and make them interesting. And we were so focused on the tasks at hand and what you had to do. So being in the same sort of structure and having our own rooms and stuff like that was not a problem. That wasn’t even an issue, you know. What we really had to do because of the concentrated period of time, it was more about the tasks, the boardroom, getting along with your teammates, you know, being the project manager and assigning people and all that kind of stuff.

DT: But they were very comfortable because they lived in a very great hotel…

MH: Yes.

DT: A Trump hotel. So it was good.

MH: No, it was beautiful. It was fantastic.

DT: So they were comfortable.

GS: My problems went farther than the end of the day shooting. We would sometimes finish at midnight, sometimes at one o’clock, and during the day cell phones are off. I can’t get to do my emails. So then you’d have to sit down and keep the plate spinning. You know like that guys that’s got ten plates. If you move away from one of the plates, they fall so you got to keep them all spinning. And I’d have to do that in the middle of the night. It was tough.

MH: The sleeping, you know, I think the first week I averaged two and a half hours a night. Because that’s just what you had to do.

Did that factor into your decision to do this that you knew you’d be kind of putting everything else on hold while you participated?

MH: Well I’m writing a book right now called “Wear Your Life Well” and one of the things I talk about is about your comfort zones, and facing your fears, and self-sabotage in all these different chapters. And I was seeing it in action. So I welcomed the experience.

GS: Write nicely about me, please Marilu.

MH: I do, of course. Wonderful things.

GS: And I’m writing a book now too called “The Historical Perspective of the Oldest Profession in the World”.

Did you think at all about the fans will now see you differently and that the way you’ll be perceived will be different? Were you thinking about that during the show or even before the show?

MH: I think if you’re comfortable with yourself you know you’re representing yourself. Now what ends up on the cutting room floor, I don’t know. I mean, you know, I haven’t seen the show yet so I have no idea. But, you know, if you’re in there to play the game the way – and represent yourself – and I think Gene and I probably had some advantages over some of the other people because we’re both used to being on camera. So we didn’t have a different personality if the camera was on or not, you know…

GS: The disadvantage I had respectfully is that I come from, you know, the boogeyman world which is that if you’re in the rock world – I mean, I do some other stuff, but if you’re in the rock world you’re supposed to be big and bad, and you’re supposed to be surrounded by beautiful women all the time. And, you know, the accoutrement, the posse and the guys and, you know, you flinch and somebody brings you champagne. I don’t drink at all by the way. So in some ways this goes certainly against what I’m supposed to be projecting. But so what.

MH: But you were at least surrounded by the beautiful women, Gene.

GS: That’s right, Marilu. And by the way, you were a very clean, roommate.

Donald, is this a case of, even if you have a successful commodity, that sometimes you have to freshen it up? Or is there a fear in the back of your mind that when you do mess with something it could end up being a new Coke?

DT: Well maybe it’s a combination of both. You don’t want to change too much of the formula because it’s been so successful and it’s got, you know, the highest demographic. It’s done really well. And even when they moved it to Sunday night late, it did well. But I mean, it was a ridiculous time because we’ve always had a very young audience and, you know, we have a young entrepreneurial type audience. Kids love The Apprentice, but how can they watch it at 10:00 on Sunday because they’re supposed to be sleeping, right? So their parents may want them to watch it, but they also want them to go to sleep because they go to school. So it was ridiculous as a time. So I think it’s really a combination of both. You want to make little changes, but you don’t want to change too much. And we made some little changes actually. I mean, I think that the best change of all is the boardroom is going to be much longer than in the past because that’s what everybody liked. And even if you looked at the tracking, the boardrooms always drew the highest score.

Gene, was it easier for you to say yes to do this because you’d been through that sort of reality show with all those cameras around and everything?

GS: No, this is not a television show. I mean, it is because you’re going to be watching it on TV. But when somebody says – 15 people line up at the front line and when the gun goes off you’re in a race, you’re too busy running the race and trying to win. You’re not thinking what’s my best side – better pull in my gut so I look good on TV. This is different. This is not a reality show. This is more like a news truck catching an event as it happens.

MH: I mean, we never re-shot anything. No one every put scripts in our hands or gave us anything. Everything you see is totally fresh and live and you don’t even know that a camera is on you.

GS: So it’s very different from anything else I had ever done.

Donald, were there any celebrities that you had a hard time getting for the show?

DT: Well, I would say that the ones that were on the show pretty much felt very comfortable in their own skin. They wanted to be there. I think we can say that about Gene and about Marilu. You know, they understand themselves. They’ve got confidence in themselves. And generally speaking, I would say no, most people wanted to be on the show. We didn’t have to do a hard sell on most people. If anyone.

Donald, give the success of the show how has your celebrity changed since the first season? Has it become easier or harder to conduct daily business?

DT: Well I think I was very well-known, but I’ve had numerous Number One Best Selling books and I’ve had a show that became, in many weeks, number one and a top, top show. And they said, which is more important? Well there was an awfully good feeling just to have the Number One book on the New York Times List, right? But this is a much different level in terms of – certainly in terms of exposure and in terms of celebrity. So I would say that it has changed. I thought I was very well-known before, but now – you know, where it’s changed mostly is with young kids. I mean, 10-year-old kids now come up and they say you’re fired, you’re fired. And those were not my generation. These are not children that probably would have known who Donald Trump is, but they all know now. So certainly in that group, I’m much better known.

MH: I think your sense of humor got to come out so much more on the show. You know, seeing you on The Apprentice and knowing you before I saw you on The Apprentice – once you were on The Apprentice, I think sort of like your charm and your sense of humor, and the fact that your kids are there and everything else – you get to see a, you know, a bigger picture of someone. So it also makes the whole experience a lot more human and something people can connect with a lot more.

DT: Well it is interesting because over the years people have said you’re a much nicer person than we thought and yet all I do is fire people. So I fire people and so I said basically that’s not very much of an indication of how nice a guy I was before. I mean, it wasn’t very good. But, you know, I fire people and think I’m a much nicer person. So you have to explain that one. I can’t.

Gene, from a business standpoint, what do you admire most about Mr. Trump?

GS: I like that he changed his own business model, respectfully, and this is from the peanut gallery on the outside. Being in the real, real estate business of getting banks and having them hound you and actually going in there, the idea that Donald has become his own brand – his name and likeness are even bigger than his business. So it’s gotten to the point where Donald Trump is the Good Housekeeping seal of good business, which is to say that if I want to do real estate or almost any other venture, you stick the name Donald Trump on there and he appears once, and you’ve got a business that’s going to go sky high. That is a real accomplishment.

DT: Yeah. I love Gene also. Thank you, Gene.

Donald, as a celebrity yourself is there any celebrity reality show that you would participate on, like Dancing With the Stars?

DT: Well a number of them have asked me, but I really don’t think. Certainly, as long as I’m doing what I’m doing it wouldn’t be appropriate. And I don’t think I’d be inclined to do it. I don’t see myself wanting to do that but I’ve certainly been asked. It takes a certain something to agree to do that. And it’s not easy, as Marilu was saying and Gene about how hard they had to work and everything else. And it’s not the work thing. I don’t know that I’d want to subject myself to what they get subjected to.

Are there any celebrity feuds that started as a result of this show?

DT: Unbelievable. I mean, we obviously can’t talk about them, but there’s some unbelievable hatred among people on this show as the show goes along – beyond anything that I’ve seen, beyond anything in The Apprentice 1 or 2 where there’s some unbelievable feuds also, as you remember.

GS: I started to hate myself. So…

DT: There are some feuds here that are not even describable. You wouldn’t believe it.

MH: A couple times it definitely crosses a line and people are shocked.

Donald, as far as dealing with the young business people who were hungry for success and want to work for you, and dealing with the celebrities who are already successful – was there a big difference?

DT: Well I thought that it would be more difficult dealing with these celebrities and probably it was because, you know, you’re dealing with a certain level of sophistication that you didn’t have in the other kids, even though they were, you know, most all cases really smart or really well educated from the best colleges. But yeah, I would say dealing with the celebrities is more difficult. because they’ve developed, for the most part — not all of them frankly — but for the most part they have a level of confidence. I mean, you think dealing with Gene Simmons is easy? Trust me, it’s not. You’re dealing with a smart, cunning guy and I think that comes out. And we had some, you know, amazing times – both good and bad. Not Gene and I – I mean, all of us. it was a very interesting mix.

MH: I think also because, you know, we weren’t all vying for the same job and everyone was really out there representing themselves. I think that people could be competitive in a way that was very different. You know, I think people were standing up for themselves more because nobody was having to make nice-nice or whatever. And I think when you – because some of us knew others from the group, there’s a familiarity that helped us as well, sort of cut to the chase. You know what I’m saying? We didn’t have to sort of be – I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly people get right in there and know how to, you know, get at each other.

DT: By the way, millions of dollars by some of them was raised for their charities. And a lot of the celebrities — and I know Gene and Marilu are two of them because they really felt strongly about their charity. And I think that’s another reason why they were so competitive. But in a number of cases – individual cases, millions of dollars was raised for their individual charity. It’s a lot of money.

What would be the top three reasons to watch this season for fans who are like I don’t know if I want to watch?

DT: Well I think the number one reason is 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. And, you know, Gene and Marilu, and others, they have their fans and I think those fans are going to really like watching them in action.

MH: And I think people will be able to relate to, you know, any one, two, three people and say oh my gosh, how did they do it? Oh, that’s how I am in a group? Oh, did that work? Did that not work? I think people will definitely – there’s going to be a strong relatable factor and then you can look beyond to see what the celebrity has done in their personal life or in their other business life. So I think it sort of takes it to another level. You know, as much as people related to the different characters on the other Apprentices, they might say oh my gosh, now I can read up on Gene Simmons and the things he’s done or I can read up on Marilu or, you know, whomever. So I think it helps it grow exponentially.

DT: So when it’s all said and done, a lot of knowledge is to be gained by watching and that’s ultimately why I did The Apprentice in the first place.

MH: And it’s fun. It’s fun to watch.

Donald, is it harder to fire celebrities?

DT: The answer is yes. In some cases in particular, I really had a hard time firing some of these people because I’ve known them not necessarily personally, but I’ve known their achievements. And possibly firing Olympic Gold Medalists or Champions of various things, you know people that I’ve watched is certainly not an easy thing to do. It’s much more difficult. And that was, to me, the biggest difference between this and firing some young kid from Harvard who did a bad job. That was not hard for me, but firing somebody that I, in many ways, grew up with or watched over the last 25 years or 5 years or 2 years, was much more difficult because they’re people of great achievement. And it’s hard for me to fire people of great achievement. But they deserved it and they got fired.

Donald, do you have a dream contestant to be on this show like maybe your friend Regis or Tony Bennett ?

DT: Well I couldn’t have Tony Bennett or I couldn’t have Regis because I wouldn’t have the heart to fire them. Right? How could I fire them? Now Gene is a friend of mine, he’s a great guy, but Gene is a tough cookie and it might be fun and I’m not saying – maybe he went all the way, but, you know, firing Regis, how could you do that? Gene would agree with that. How can you fire Reg?

GS: No, you can’t. The man has got more television hours than anybody can…

DT: Yeah, he’s a sweetheart.

Donald, could you be Gene’s assistant or apprentice for the day?

DT: I’d have a hard time. I’d do it if I had to, but I’d have a hard time. But you learn from Gene. Let me tell you…

MH: Oh, you do, definitely.

DT: He is a very instructive guy and if people watch his moves on the show, they will learn. You learn from Gene Simmons, believe me. In fact, I can tell you that some of the people on the show who are smart, cunning, successful people, they learned from Gene Simmons.

GS: The smartest thing anybody was worth their mettle — heavy metal or otherwise, that was the pun of the day — you may think you understand who’s really good at what they do and who’s – let me tell you something, the women on this show – I’m going to say it again, that includes Marilu, will not only surprise you, they will kick your ass. They are every bit as competitive and entrepreneurial as the guys. And that’s all I can say.

When the three of you were starting out in business, what’s the best bit of advice anyone every gave you when you were young and first starting?

DT: Never give up.

MH: Yeah, no matter keep moving. And also, find something you love to do and then get someone to pay you for it.

Donald, will we see your wife on the show?

DT: You do actually see my wife and also Ivanka’s on the show and Don is on the show. And George is on the show. And then we bring in some great entrepreneurs like Terry Lundgren, the head of Macy’s Federated Departments, which is Macy’s now, and others are brought in. We have Vera Wang. We have Jim Cramer. We have Erin Burnett from CNBC. We have some great people on the show – business people.

Do you think you’ll have another Celebrity Apprentice?

DT: Well that’ll be interesting. Everybody wanted The Apprentice on again, but this – as I told you, Ben Silverman loved the idea of the Celebrity Apprentice. So I think what we’ll do, and you heard me say this, so many people got turned down – we turned a lot of people down. I’d never realized there were so many celebrities and these are well-known people that got turned down, very well-known people. And the answer is if people like what we’re doing – if people really like it, and I think they will – I think it’s the best we’ve done, including Season One, which was a phenomenon. I believe that if this is as successful as I think it will be based on what’s been done and said, I think, you know, there’s a possibility we might do another Celebrity Apprentice. Because if you look, Dancing With the Stars is celebrities every season, so we may very well do that.

Marilu, why do you think you have the qualities to win this show?

MH: Because I’m competitive. I’m smart. I’m healthy. I know how to get along with people and get good things out of people – get the best out of people. And I love the game. I love the game of The Apprentice.

GS: Marilu is so funny the way that she talks. She’s a killer. Don’t believe her.

DT: And she really is. She was great on the show.

MH: Oh, I had a great time. And I just want to say, you know, before everybody goes how fabulous Don Jr. and Ivanka are. I could not be a bigger fan of Donald Trump’s kids. They – I mean, I adore both of them and they were one of the biggest surprises to me because – not that I went into it thinking otherwise, but just seeing them in action and the fact they always have access to what they’re saying and they always know how to express themselves so beautifully, and were so clear, and so smart about every single thing that they did and said. It was – I’m a huge fan for life.

DT: Thank you, Marilu.

MH: Really something.

DT: Very nice.

MH: Great parenting.

DT: Thank you very much.

Donald, how did Ivanka, Donald Jr., and George handle having to deal with these celebrities?

DT: Well it was a little bit like me, but maybe even actually more difficult because Ivanka’s 25 years old. She went to the Wharton School of Finance. She got great marks. She was a very successful model and then she just went to college. She was always a great student. But when you don’t have the age and you don’t have the experience, and you’re dealing with people that have become champions of their field, it’s a little tough to be rough and tough and smart. And I think they were careful about that. I think they were very respect- probably more respectful than I was toward the celebrities. And I wanted them to be. It’s not appropriate as an example for Ivanka, who’s 25 years old, to be shouting at Lennox Lewis and/or Gene Simmons, or Marilu. You know, at so many of these people on the show. So they did it with respect. They criticized, but they criticized with great respect. And that was a very fine line. That’s a very tough thing. George was terrific too.

MH: He was. He was exactly what you would have expected. You know what else though?

DT: He never changes.

MH: I think everybody came into it as though they were – you know, they felt like an A player and they were with a bunch of other A players. So everybody’s game went up and I think that everybody in the group felt like okay, you know, I’m in this and I better step up to the plate. And so I don’t think people started to back down or whatever. And I definitely think that Ivanka and Donald Jr. felt the same way – that they came up to the efforts as well.

DT: I think in a way they had the hardest task of all of us because they’re so young. They’re very accomplished at doing phenomenally well. They’re very, very smart. They were great students at the best schools and all of that. But, you know, the age factor I think gave them the hardest task of all. But I think they handled it very well.

Marilu, how did you handle the stress of the boardroom and having to criticize your fellow teammates, as well as take that kind of criticism?

MH: Well that was never easy, but sometimes it was easier than others. You know, sometimes – the boardroom was really interesting. I can see why people like it the most because that’s where everything comes out. You know, it’s kind of like a group therapy session and all of a sudden things are being said that you knew were sort of people’s hidden thoughts and agendas, and now all of a sudden they’re completely out in the open. And, you know, and Donald had to definitely throw the questions to certain people. And when he would do that, you’d hear certain things come out and then things had to be sort of tampered down. And it was really interesting. It was like being in a big, dysfunctional family with a therapist, but you all had to continue working together just like in a family. So it was – I think it’s definitely the most interesting part of the show.

Gene and Marilu, did you get to meet other celebrities that you might want to collaborate with on the business side later after the show is said and done?

MH: Oh definitely. There were definitely friendships, you know, made and bonds, and everything else. I definitely think there are going to be some people and I hope, you know, I hope Gene invites me on his show. I want to come onto Family Jewels, definitely.

GS: You’re sweet. My Simmons Abramson Marketing firm is about to be hired by the Island Nation of Turks and Caicos to be their marketing branding entity. And Lennox was talking about finding, you know, a nice home someplace where it’s private and this is paradise. So when he comes up for air and when I do because the show is not over filming yet, and we may or we may not be in the final episode. I intend to introduce him tothe Premiere, Michael Misick and I’m sure it’ll work out.

Gene, what did you find out about Donald Trump from this show that you didn’t know or didn’t suspect?

GS: Well the people who have a problem with Donald Trump and the “You’re Fired” routine aren’t pragmatic. You know, they think you’re supposed to say nice things in life and that, you know, nobody can be fired. The truth is that in life, if people don’t like what you do or you don’t make sense, it’s nothing personal. It’s business. So last time I checked, this is business and how you feel about it personally is beside the point. So my suggestion for everybody watching this show, put on your thick skin ‘cause – buckle up. It’s going to be a rough ride.

Donald, as a businessman what is your perspective on the writers’ strike? Do you foresee a potentially positive resolution to all of it?

DT: Well it’s interesting because NBC put us on Thursday night, which is I guess considered the primetime, prime location – the 9:00 Thursday slot. This was announced long before the writer’s strike or before they knew it was going to happen. Everything I hear about the strike is that it should be a strike that shouldn’t happen. I’m just a little surprised because everyone I know in the business is surprised that so much is being lost over something that really – a lot of people don’t think the outcome is going to be that great from the writers’ standpoint. And they’re a little bit surprised that it’s gone on this long. And you have to understand, I know nothing about the strike other than people are very, very surprised that it’s gone on this long and this heated.

MH: It almost seems like there’s another agenda or something that, you know, not everybody knows about. And I think that what’s going to happen is they’re going to end up settling with the directors first and that’s going to sort of back end into the writers’ strike getting settled.


Celebrity Apprentice premieres on NBC in the U.S. on Thursday, January 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Celebrity Apprentice premieres on the GLOBAL network in Canada on Thursday, January 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Sir Linksalot: Celebrity Apprentice

I'm not embarrassed to say that my favorite television show of all-time is The O.C. I live by the motto "you can't fight fate!" More importantly, I watch WAY too much television, but I do so for the benefit of everyone reading this now. So to my mom and my wife, I say thanks for reading! To everyone else that might stumble across this, remember TiVo should be your best friend!