The Apprentice (U.S. season 7)

Infobox Television The Apprentice
season_name = The Celebrity Apprentice


caption = "The Celebrity Apprentice" Titlecard
winner = Piers Morgan
first_aired = January 3, 2008
last_aired = March 27, 2008 [cite news|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080129nbc03 |title=NBC Says "You're Hired" For Second Season Pick Up Of 'The Celebrity Apprentice' And Announces Live Two-Hour Finale Of Season One On March 27th at 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM ET |publisher=The Futon Critic |accessdate=2008-01-31]
filming_started = October 2007
filming_completed = November 2007
teams = Empresario and Hydra
winner = Piers Morgan
number_candidates = 14
number_episodes = 13
previous_season = The Apprentice 6
next_season = The Celebrity Apprentice 2

"The Celebrity Apprentice" (also known as The Apprentice 7) is the seventh installment of the United States version of the reality television series, "The Apprentice". This season features celebrity candidates vying for the title of Trump's, "Best Business Brain," as a way to revitalize the series, with the winner donating their proceeds to charity. [cite web | url = http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2007/07/20/4355258-cp.html | title = Cdn. version of 'Fifth Grader' eyed | last = Brioux | first = Bill |date=2007-07-20 | accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] [cite web | url = http://www.examiner.com/a-831368~_Apprentice__to_Return_With_Celebrities.html | title = 'Apprentice' to Return With Celebrities | accessdate = 2007-07-20 |date=2007-07-16 | last = Elber | first = Lynn ] This installment marks the series' return to New York [ [http://www.trumpuniversity.com/blog/index.cfm?blogpost_id=1320 McIver, Meredith; "They're Coming Back" trumpuniversity.com; September 20, 2007] ] after spending the previous season in Los Angeles. The series premiered on NBC on January 3, 2008 at 9:00PM. The celebrities lived in Trump International Hotel and Tower. Tabloid editor Piers Morgan was the winner, beating country music singer Trace Adkins in the finals.

Candidates

The following is the list of candidates for this season, with their original team placements. The show went back to its original concept of men versus women. The all-women team named their team Empresario (a Spanish term meaning "entrepreneur") while the all-men team named theirs Hydra (after a monster from ancient Greek mythology.):colorbox|navy The contestant hired the competition:colorbox|cornflowerblue The contestant won as project manager on his/her team:colorbox|orange The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team:colorbox|pink The contestant called at the final boardroom:colorbox|tomato The contestant was fired:colorbox|magenta The contestant lost as project manager and was fired:colorbox|gray The contestant quit the competition

Episodes

Episode 1 - Selling Hot Dogs

*Airdate: January 3, 2008
*Task sponsor: Sabrett (unofficial sponsor; supplied the hot dogs)
*Task scope: Each team had to sell hot dogs on the streets of New York City for as much money as possible.
*Hydra project manager: Stephen Baldwin
*Empresario project manager: Omarosa
*Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: Hydra used their celebrity status to drastically up-sell the hot dogs and Gene Simmons used his contacts to put impressive numbers.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: Empresario didn't use their celebrity status to the extent they could have and chose sound business principles instead. Many hot dogs were sold for lower prices than Hydra.
**Sent to boardroom: Omarosa, Tiffany Fallon, and Carol Alt
*Fired: Tiffany Fallon for assuming that she could save her contact, Hugh Hefner (who could have made a large donation), for a more opportune event.
*Notes:
**This is the first time the winning team as a whole watched the losing team in the boardroom. Prior to this season only the project manager was allowed to do this.
**This is the first season where right after the results are revealed, the firing process begins.
**Tito Ortiz brought his girlfriend Jenna Jameson to help with their task.
**Jennie Finch brought New York Mets 3rd baseman David Wright to help with her team's task.
**Gene Simmons called in many of his contacts (including fellow Kiss member Paul Stanley) to donate money. Marilu Henner did the same, despite Omarosa's original approach of not using the celebrity status on the task.
**$69,324 is the amount that both teams together raised, an Apprentice record. This is the amount that Stephen Baldwin received for his charity.

Episode 2 - Pedigree Community Awareness Ad

*Airdate: January 10, 2008
*Task sponsor: Pedigree
*Task scope: Each team must create a heart-warming commercial advertising both Pedigree dog food and the Pedigree Adoption Drive.
*Hydra project manager: Gene Simmons
*Empresario project manager: Nely Galán
*Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Terry Lundgren
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: Hydra utilized Trace Adkins' deep voice for the voice-over, and had Lennox Lewis. a mega star in sports, star in the commercial, making it a success.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: Empresario did not utilize any celebrity power to sell the commercial, and the voice-overs were undesirable for broadcast.
**Sent to boardroom: Nely Galán, Carol Alt, and Nadia Comaneci
*Fired: Nadia Comaneci, for not showing leadership abilities concerning other people. However, Trump said that Nadia was a great leader of herself.
*Notes:
**Carol Baldwin and his sister came to Trump Tower to receive the money Stephen Baldwin earned last episode
**Tito Ortiz and some of the other members of Hydra grew a bit restless while Gene Simmons and Stephen Baldwin were doing all of the editing by themselves.
**Nely Galán chose to see the clients who were to judge this commercial and Gene Simmons didn't. Trump has made many comments that you should always talk to the clients so you really understand what you are looking for. However, in an ironic twist, Hydra, despite not going, won the task.
**Hydra's commercial was shown at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
**Gene Simmons took the risk of not meeting with the Pedigree executives when making the commercial, believing that time was of the essence.
**Gene Simmons insulted Ivanka by brushing off her requests for a status report with "She'll wait." In addition, Simmons asked her if she would tell Empresario what the men were doing, accusing her of female solidarity. Gene subsequently apologized to Ivanka in the boardroom.
**Gene Simmons won $20,000 for his charity in this task.

Episode 3 - Mr. Outside the Box

*Airdate: January 17, 2008
*Task sponsor: Kodak
*Task scope: Each team must highlight Kodak as an ink producer with significant cost reduction to consumers. Each team was provided with an empty Airstream trailer to use as part of their sidewalk promotion.
*Hydra project manager: Tito Ortiz
*Empresario project manager: Gene Simmons
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jim Cramer
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: While their presentation was not as refined as Empresario, Hydra was on target with the message Kodak wanted to promote (the reduction of ink costs with their printers). In addition, Hydra raised more revenue than Empresario.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: Even though the judges believe that they had a better presentation, Empresario did not use the appropriate message, focusing more on the functions of the printer and not so much the ink.
**Sent to boardroom: Gene Simmons, Jennie Finch, and Omarosa
*Fired: Gene Simmons, by default, as the other two candidates selected for the boardroom were not at fault. He believed his approach to the task was correct and the executives from Kodak failed to see it, therefore, he took full responsibility of his actions and essentially "tried" to get fired.
*Notes:
**Gene Simmons moved to Empresario and became project manager at the invitation of Trump at the start of the task. This marks the first time that in two consecutive tasks a contestant was a project manager in separate teams (Hydra in Week 2, Empresario in Week 3)
**A combination of Stephen Baldwin, Lennox Lewis, and Tito Ortiz tipped a conference table at the end of a photo shoot. This resulted in a coffee spill which damaged the designer's laptop.
**Alec Baldwin was brought in by his brother Stephen to help Hydra, and bought several printers.
**Jim Cramer hated the sloppiness of Hydra's presentation, saying that it felt like a place to throw garbage away and not a place to learn about Kodak ink.
**Gene Simmons originally wanted to bring in Omarosa only. Trump felt that bringing her only was sabotaging his chances to stay in the show, as he implied that Nely Galán should be brought in. He allowed Gene to invite one more person to bring back and he decided to bring back Jennie Finch.
**Trump advised Gene that the Kodak executives did not like Nely's approach at their meeting, and felt that Empresario's message was not the right one; however, Gene insisted that Nely not be fired, and that the executives were wrong in their message. Even when strongly advised by Trump to bring back Nely, Gene refused to do so, and ultimately, his independence and steadfastness to his beliefs got him fired.
**Tito Ortiz won $20,000 for his charity.

Episode 4 - A Knight on Broadway

*Airdate: January 24, 2008
*Task sponsor: Nederlander Producing Company of America
*Task scope: Each team must sell tickets to Broadway shows. The team that raises the most money wins.
*Hydra project manager: Vincent Pastore
*Empresario project manager: Marilu Henner
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Vince McMahon
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: Hydra was able to get $2,000 dollars above Empresario with a minute and a half to go by securing $10,000 dollars from Richard Branson, Piers Morgan's contact.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: Only lost by $2,000 dollars; the money Nely Galán had arranged came too late to be counted toward their total.
**Sent to boardroom: Marilu Henner, Carol Alt, and Jennie Finch
*Fired: Jennie Finch, for her discomfort working in a cut-throat business environment like "The Apprentice".
*Notes:
**Marilu Henner had help from David Hyde Pierce from the Broadway show Curtains. Bob Saget also came in to Hydra's area to buy tickets.
**Vincent Pastore praised Piers Morgan for bringing in the big bucks and willing to get his hands dirty. He also called him the MVP of Hydra.
**Marilu Henner chose Jennie Finch and Carol Alt as she felt they were the weakest players on the team.
**Members of Empresario started to become concerned with the effect Omarosa was having on the team, with Carol Alt verbally denouncing her while Empresario was in the boardroom.
**Ivanka Trump stated that Marilu Henner is their only shot at a victory as she only comes up with the big ideas.
**Vincent Pastore won $50,000 for his charity on this task.

Episode 5 - The Croc and the Rat

*Airdate: January 31, 2008
*Task sponsor: Crocs
*Task scope: Each team had to come up with a marketing campaign dealing with donating shoes to children in Third World Countries.
*Hydra project manager: Piers Morgan
*Empresario project manager: Carol Alt
*Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.
*Winning team: Empresario
**Reasons for win: Despite the judges worried about the cost of their campaign, they created the most effective and creative marketing approach.
*Losing team: Hydra
**Reasons for loss: Their marketing plan was viewed as not being as creative as the other team's design. Moreover the team has been criticized for not having the "entire campaign package" as the other team has. Even though Trace Adkins slogan of "Wear Them, Share Them" were generally liked, Hydra only prepared a donation bin without any further backup e.g. flyers, T-shirts etc.
**Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom needed
*Quit: Vincent Pastore, due to his resentment of the backstabbing environment. He also did say that he would have stayed if Piers Morgan was fired.
*Notes:
**In a confessional, Omarosa calls Carol Alt a twit and says that she dislikes her. However, Omarosa is the first person to rush to hug Carol.
**Vincent Pastore and his ex-wife, Nancy Berke, ate at a café and he surprised her with the check he won in the last episode.
**Piers Morgan assigned Vincent Pastore to spy on Empresario, causing strife among both teams. During the end of this task, Piers lost the respect of Vinny, Stephen Baldwin and Trace Adkins as they said that Piers should be fired. This episode also ignited the future wars with Omarosa and Stephen. Even Nely Galán was disgusted by his actions and hoped that Piers would be fired.
**Stephen Baldwin denounced the espionage to Hydra, yet he still went with Piers Morgan to joke around Empresario
**References were made to "The Godfather" with Donald Trump being compared to Vito Corleone and Vincent Pastore being compared to Luca Brasi.
**The final scenes of the episode were a parody of the series finale of "The Sopranos".
**Tito Ortiz was absent from this entire task because he was attending a fight. He was not penalized, and returned for the next task. This is the first time that a candidate that was still an active player were not there for the revealing of the results.
**Carol Alt was the first and only woman this season to win as project manager.
**It was the first 2-hour episode of the season.
**Carol Alt received $20,000 for her charity. In addition, since she was project manager for this task, 10,000 pairs of shoes went to Third World Countries in her name.

Episode 6 - Window of Opportunity

*Airdate: February 7, 2008
*Task sponsor: Vera Wang by Serta
*Task scope: Each team is to create a “Living window“ using actors and actresses in a shop window to promote the new Vera Wang mattress line by Serta.
*Hydra project manager: Lennox Lewis
*Empresario project manager: Omarosa
*Judges: Donald Trump; George Ross; Donald Trump, Jr.
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: The Serta executives wanted to move away from an existing "bridal" image, information Hydra learned during discussions with Vera Wang and the Serta executive; Hydra used this information to help think outside the box, thus fashioning a more creative and original window than Empresario.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: Empresario used a display using a newly-married theme, which was too conservative and lacked creativity.
**Sent to boardroom: Omarosa, Marilu Henner, and Nely Galán
*Fired: Nely Galán, for not helping Omarosa coming up with a better concept and for being less than stellar in past tasks.
*Notes:
**Before this task began Stephen Baldwin was persuaded to move to the Empresario team by Mr. Trump. This was suggested to stop Stephen resigning over a clash in the previous boardroom where Piers called Stephen a hypocrite. This is the first time that Trump moved someone over to another team without the intent to even the teams out.
**Tito Ortiz came back from his fight last week.
**Omarosa respectfully declined Stephen's invitation to Trump, but Trump didn't want to hear anything about it.
**Stephen Baldwin missed the first day of this (two day) task, due to a prior church commitment.
**Originally, Omarosa was going to bring Stephen Baldwin back by default for going for his church commitment, but Trump believed that it was not a good decision, mirroring Gene Simmons' firing. However, unlike Gene, she listened, and after a short pause, she brought in Marilu Henner and Nely Galán.
**Lennox Lewis won $20,000 for his charity.

Episode 7 - The Mane Event

*Airdate: February 14, 2008
*Task scope: Each team is to make the most money using horse carriages located in Central Park.
*Hydra project manager: Piers Morgan
**Tension: Within the first five minutes of the task, Piers Morgan actually fired Omarosa. However, she refused to leave and their feud continued.
*Empresario project manager: Trace Adkins
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, George Ross
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: Despite an ongoing battle of choice words with Piers Morgan and Omarosa throughout the task, many of Piers, Lennox Lewis and Carol Alt's contacts came last minute which helped propel Hydra to their win.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: It was very hard to pinpoint any specific moment that Empresario did that caused them to lose because they always managed to have the carriages moving and they worked in great unity. Most likely it was Hydra's last minute donations that caused them to lose.
**Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom needed
**Fired: "No one" due to the team's unity and hard work (first time in "Apprentice" series).
*Notes:
** Tito Ortiz and Trace Adkins headed to Empresario while Omarosa and Carol Alt moved to Hydra. In addition, this is the first time ever that one episode had two separate corporate restructurings. Towards the end of the episode, Trump declared that Omarosa returns to Empresario and Marilu Henner moves to Hydra.
** This is the first time where Trump picked the newly reshuffled teams (candidates were able to choose their own teams in previous seasons).
** In another Apprentice first, Trump asks for volunteers for Empresario to resign to make his decision easier.
** For the second time, Tito Ortiz enlisted in the help of his girlfriend, Jenna Jameson for money. Stephen Baldwin also, once again, enlisted in the help of another Baldwin brother, Billy Baldwin, to help with the carriages.
** Trace Adkins received a surprise when John Rich of "Big & Rich" assisted with Empresario.
** Trump actually hoped that Hydra would lose in order to get rid of the friction of Piers Morgan and Omarosa.
** The problems between Piers and Omarosa increased dramatically when Omarosa made repeated allegations and references to Piers' former marriage and children. The hostility resulted in Piers telling Trump that he will not work with Omarosa again and Trump will have to fire him, or he should separate them; Trump chose to separate them instead of firing Piers.
** Marilu Henner is the first person in Apprentice history to work with every castmember at least once during the season (she worked with Vincent Pastore for the Crocs campaign).
** Piers Morgan won $65,000 (Original is $64,857) for his charity.

Episode 8 - Quality, Value, and Chaos

*Airdate: February 21, 2008
*Task sponsor: QVC
*Task scope: Each team is to promote their selected products on QVC live on television.
*Hydra project manager: Marilu Henner
*Empresario project manager: Stephen Baldwin
*Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump, Jr.
*Winning team: Empresario
**Reasons for win: Trace Adkins, who was selected as the speaker for the promotion, was speaking calm and promoting the vacuum. Donald Trump liked the fact that he used nuts and bolts to promote its strength. Additionally, they offered an installment payment plan ("Easy Pay") for their product, which Hydra did not. Empresario raised $43,000.
*Losing team: Hydra
**Reasons for loss: Hydra at a lower pricepoint, did not bring in as much revenue as Empresario due to not knowing that QVC has an alternative payment plan. Also, Trump believed Marilu Henner talked too much in advertising her product.
**Sent to boardroom: Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, and Piers Morgan
**Fired: Marilu Henner, for not bringing back Carol Alt who should be responsible for their loss on the fact that she worked with QVC for five years but claimed not to know of Easy Pay. Her talking too much strengthened Trump's opinion of firing her.
*Notes:
**As per last episode, Marilu Henner and Omarosa switched teams.
**Piers Morgan called Lennox Lewis "sleepy boy" in the boardroom. Trump took it as an insult to Lennox.
**Originally, both teams wanted to use the ladder kart for their segment. A coin toss determined that Hydra would take the ladder kart and Empresario won the ladder.
**This marks the only time that Hydra had someone fired from their team all season.
**Carol Alt and Marilu Henner both have done multiple stints on QVC, yet both of them were unaware QVC offered a payment plan.
**Trump made a comment of noticing Piers Morgan sweat.
**Omarosa wanted Trace Adkins to practice his segment before going out to do it live; however, Stephen Baldwin opted not to do so.
**Stephen Baldwin won an additional $20,000 as project manager. So far, he raised a total of $89, 324 for his charity.
**This was the second and last time Empresario won.

Episode 9 - The Money Shot

*Airdate: February 28, 2008
*Task sponsor: Dial Corporation and Redbook
*Task scope: Each team is to design a 4-page photo essay to promote Dial Corporation's Dial Yogurt on Redbook.
*Hydra project manager: Carol Alt
*Empresario project manager: Tito Ortiz
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, George Ross
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: Their message of incorporating both the "Redbook" target audience and the Dial brand worked well. Using Carol Alt as the model worked for the target readers of Redbook.
*Losing team: Empresario
**Reasons for loss: They didn't take the necessary risks by adding more provocative images of Trace Adkins and the message was unclear. It didn't help also that Tito Ortiz appeared to be noticeably nervous in the presentation which affected their performance.
**Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom needed as there were only 4 members left in the team.
**Fired: Tito Ortiz, for a shaky presentation and for letting Stephen Baldwin steamroll him for all the decisions made for the team.
*Notes:
**Carol Alt has admitted that it was a good choice for her to be project manager as she has been on the cover of Redbook five times.
**Omarosa actually stood up wanting to be the project manager. However, after hearing that Trump was most likely going to fire a project manager of the losing team, she hesitated and pressured Tito Ortiz into being project manager, which he agreed to do so, after being near forced by Omarosa.
**Omarosa wanted the pictures of Trace Adkins and the two models with their shirts off. However, Stephen Baldwin thought it was too risky for Redbook and convinced Tito Ortiz to go a little bit conservative.
**With this win, Carol Alt ties Stephen Baldwin as being 2-0 as a project manager.
**With seven candidates remaining, Carol Alt and Omarosa were the only two women. This is the fewest number of women in the final seven in a single season.
**Even though Trump never gave Tito Ortiz the opportunity to do so, Trump asked him if one person had to be to saved, who would it be. Tito said that he would have sent Omarosa back to the suite.
**Even though he was fired, Tito Ortiz went away with an additional $50,000 for his charity from Trump, along with the money he received being project manager in episode three. For his charity, Tito raised $70,000.
**Carol Alt received another $20,000 for being project manager. So far she received a total of $40,000 for her charity.

Episode 10 - Painting By Numbers

*Airdate: March 6, 2008
*Task sponsor: Artaissance [ [http://www.artmystyle.com/(S(br3snq45lgx5lp55sdesxf45))/art/the_apprentice.aspx Art My Style - The Apprentice ] ]
*Task scope: Choose an artist, set up an exhibit, sell their works of art, and earn the most profit.
*Hydra project manager: Piers Morgan"'
*Empresario project manager: Omarosa"'
*Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump, Jr."'
*Winning team: Hydra"'
**Reasons for win: Hydra picked an artist that had a much bigger inventory with a higher price point. Piers Morgan was able to have a lot of contacts come to support him. In addition, Carol Alt hijacked one of Stephen Baldwin's contacts.
*Losing team: Empresario"'
**Reasons for loss: Empresario had less volume and sold fewer paintings than Hydra.
**Sent to boardroom: Omarosa, Trace Adkins, and Stephen Baldwin remained in the room.
**Fired: Omarosa, for her losing record as a project manager and also for being the project manager for the worst defeat in the history of the show.
*Notes:
**Omarosa said in the beginning of the task that she was fired for a similar task in season 1 and stepped up to be the project manager.
**For the announcement of the task, Trump invited the remaining candidates to go to Trump Tower to meet his wife Melania and son Barron.
**Hydra raised $164,000 while Empresario raised $7,000. According to Trump, this is the biggest beating in the history of the show.
**Omarosa is the first person in the history of the show to have three losses and no victory as project manager.
**Piers Morgan asked Trump to fire two members (Omarosa and Stephen Baldwin) from Empresario because of their loss.
**Piers Morgan stated that this task is not "just business," but "personal" with Omarosa. When called a closeted homosexual by Omarosa, Piers was invited back into the boardroom by Trump to defend himself; he proceeded back to the boardroom and gave Trace Adkins a sarcastic kiss on the cheek.
**Carol Alt hijacked one of Stephen Baldwin's contact and almost stole one of Omarosa's contact. Omarosa quickly saw this and took him away from Carol.
**Piers Morgan won $51,300 in this task. So far, he raised $116,300 for his charity.

Episode 11 - Bread and Badda-Bing

*Airdate: March 13, 2008
*Task sponsor: Quiznos Sub
*Task scope: Each team is to create a new sandwich for Quiznos and sell it over a two-hour period - without the benefit of their Rolodexes.
*Hydra project manager: Lennox Lewis
*Empresario project manager: Trace Adkins
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Daryl Roth
*Winning team: Hydra
**Reasons for win: While their sandwich appeared less out of the box and innovative, the fact that they used Lennox Lewis as a marketing tool helped sell their sandwich.
*Losing team: Empresario"'
**Reasons for loss: Empresario had less volume and sold less even though Stephen Baldwin speaks to the camera they have sold out. Their marketing tool to sell Trace Adkins didn't work as well as he is not as well known in New York than in other places in the south.
**Sent to boardroom: Trace Adkins and Stephen Baldwin remained in the room.
**Fired: Stephen Baldwin. While both members did equally well, it was discussed by Ivanka and Donald that Stephen's contribution over the last few tasks had not produced much for charity. For the next task Ivanka felt that Trace Adkins would do better for charity.
*Notes:
**At the end of the episode Trump stated that by the end of the night two more celebrities would be fired, leaving only two of the final four (Trace Adkins, Carol Alt, Lennox Lewis, and Piers Morgan).
**After 11 episodes, Empresario only won two tasks, which gives this corporation the weakest corporate record among all seasons. Likewise, Hydra only lost two tasks, which gives this corporation the strongest corporate record among all seasons.
**Trump stated during the boardroom meeting with Empresario that he never really liked the team name at all.
**This is the first time that two people in a final four were raised from somewhere other than the United States. Both Lennox Lewis and Piers Morgan live in the United Kingdom.
**Lennox Lewis won another $20,000 for his charity, coming to a grand total of $40,000 for charity for his two project manager wins.

Episode 12 - Going Once, Twice, You're Fired

*Airdate: March 20, 2008
*Prologue: Trump told the four candidates that two of them will be fired after first interviewing with Jim Cramer and Erin Burnett.
*Fired first: Lennox Lewis, for his way-too-laid back demeanor and lack of focus during his interviews and for admitting that he really needed Piers Morgan throughout the job process.
*Fired second: Carol Alt. She did nothing wrong that would get her fired, and actually she was impressive in the interviews through her professionalism. However, Trump saw a feud brewing between Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan and, finding it an interesting situation of "good vs. evil," decided to see the men slug it out in the final task, so Carol was fired.
**Although Trace and Carol were heavily favored by Jim Cramer and Erin Burnett, Trump defied the interviewers' recommendation as described by the reason above (the interviewers didn't like Piers at all).
*Task sponsor: Backstreet Boys, Auction Society
*Task scope: Organize a charity auction and concert featuring the Backstreet Boys. The two competitors would need to work together on the task; one would be responsible for decorations and handling the band, the other would be responsible for the appetizers and the charity auction event. Both competitors would vie for a list of items to be donated for the auction, but they would be able to add any other items they could to the auction. The winner would be judged on three aspects: how well they handled their task, how much money their items raised at the auction, and how effectively they handled their teams. Trace selected the decoration and handling of the band task, while Piers took over the food and auction events.
*Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr.
*Notes:
**As opposed to Seasons 4-6 in the "civilian edition", interviews were conducted before the final task, and like Seasons 1 and 2 of the civilian edition, there were four people conducting the interviews.
**Trump brought back four fired celebrity candidates, and let the final candidates Piers Morgan and Trace Adkins choose them as teammates. A coin flip was used to decide who goes first. Trace Adkins went first and chose Marilu Henner and Lennox Lewis to be on his team. Piers Morgan chose Stephen Baldwin and Carol Alt for his team.

Episode 13 - Season Finale: Under the Hammer

*Airdate: March 27, 2008
*Task Sponsor: None
*Task Scope: The task scope, introduced during the previous episode, was to organize a charity auction and concert featuring the Backstreet Boys.
*Judges: Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump
*Winner: Piers Morgan
*Fired: Trace Adkins
*"'Notes:
**This episode featured two first-time occurrences for "The Apprentice": a live satellite feed from overseas (Tokyo, Japan) for Gene Simmons' appearance and the first live musical performance with Trace Adkins singing.
**The episode aired live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center, the same studio that served as the home for "The Apprentice" Season 1 finale. The studio is also home to "Saturday Night Live".
**Piers earned $250,000 as the winner, totaling in excess of roughly $400,000 for his charity during the series' run.
**As part of his strategy in the finale, Piers gave 20 tickets, of his allotted 50, to the injured soldiers he invited to the charity event, sacrificing a loss on ticket sales to Trace, and not providing food during the auction to allow celebrities to get "drunk".
**In an unaired scene available on the web, Trump gave Marilu Henner's charity a $20,000 donation because he felt she deserved to win money for her charity. [http://video.aol.com/partner/hulu/celebrity-apprentice-week-thirteen-unexpected-donation/F8AoyaKJ_ngH3HNKPiW1NxVKSCo_q7NU Celebrity Apprentice: Week Thirteen - Unexpected Donation - AOL Video] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nbc.com/The_Celebrity_Apprentice/ Official website]

Candidate websites

* [http://www.traceadkins.com/ Trace Adkins]
* [http://www.carolalt.com/ Carol Alt]
* [http://www.stephenbaldwin.com/ Stephen Baldwin]
* [http://www.bartandnadia.com/ Nadia Comaneci]
* [http://www.tiffanyfallon.net/ Tiffany Fallon]
* [http://www.jenniefinch27.com/ Jennie Finch]
* [http://www.nelygalan.com/ Nely Galán]
* [http://www.marilu.com/ Marilu Henner]
* [http://www.lennoxlewis.com/ Lennox Lewis]
* [http://www.omarosa.com/ Omarosa]
* [http://www.titoortiz.com/ Tito Ortiz]
* [http://www.vincentpastore.net/ Vincent Pastore]
* [http://www.genesimmons.com/ Gene Simmons]