Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With Ian Ziering At The Celebrity Apprentice 2015 Finale Red Carpet

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There is no question that the reason I was so invested in The Celebrity Apprentice this season is because of long history with Ian Ziering.

As mentioned in my first interview with the actor earlier this season, I first met Ian when I was 12 years old at an appearance that he made at Canada’s Wonderland. Ziering was doing a Q & A session at the event and upon its conclusion, the former 90210 star met lucky contest winners after. Despite not winning the random draw, my dad managed to sneak me in and I am quite positive that this moment is what spurred my decision to work in entertainment journalism.

Almost 20 years after our first photo was taken, in 2010 I was in Los Angeles and filming the third season of my reality series. One afternoon, while shopping for groceries, I spotted Ian at the same Ralph’s and approached him. I showed Ian the photo from 1992 (I had since graduated to a smartphone with the capacity to pull up photos from more than two decades ago) and we shared a laugh over the story and redid the same pose from the original photo.

This year, when it was announced that NBC would be airing a new season of The Celebrity Apprentice and I saw that Ian Ziering was one of the participating cast members, I felt like everything had come full circle. I have been covering The Celebrity Apprentice since its inception and I thought that my chances of interviewing Ian at the finale were quite good. Initially, I wasn’t sure that the show would have another live finale (since its episodes were being run in pairs ensuring a shorter run before the season premiere of The Voice) but when NBC decided to do the live finale, I knew that the stage was set for me to get the last photo to complete my trio.

I caught up with Ian at Monday’s Celebrity Apprentice finale and we discussed our first meeting along and he elaborated on what filming The Celebrity Apprentice was like. He also discussed being placed on Team Geraldo on the show’s final task and what it was like working with the television personality after they had clashed so many times during the season. Finally, I asked Ziering about the chances of there being a 90210 reunion on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, considering the recent viral success of the Saved By The Bell reunion on the same late-night program.

Check out the video above!

Here’s the trio pic with Ian.

IanZieringTrio

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.