(NBC/Twitter)
So, who got eliminated on the very first episode of Celebrity Apprentice 2015? Keshia Knight Pulliam.
As usual, the Celebrity Apprentice started off my separating the men and women into two teams. The men were Team Vortex and the women were Team Infinity. Geraldo Rivera was the project manager for his team, while Keshia Knight Pulliam was the project manager for hers. The advisers for this episode were Apprentice alum Piers Morgan and Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. In addition, Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss was a judge. Each team had to create one savory pie and one sweet pie for the brand Pie Face and sell the pies and two of it’s Manhattan locations. Geraldo Rivera rubbed a few of the guys the wrong way, mainly Kevin Jonas, Ian Ziering, and Gilbert Gottfried, though Gottfried was a very good sport about it. On the womens’ team, Kenya Moore and Brandi Glanville got into a playful pie fight for charity, but the real issues were that Brandi felt Kate Gosselin just likes to hear herself talk, while Shawn Johnson thought Pulliam’s project managing skills needed work. The mens’ team’s strengths were Kevin Jonas’ Twitter followers, Geraldo’s wealthy connections, and Gilbert Gottfried’s humor. Lorenzo Lamas had difficulties bringing in money and Kevin Jonas felt bad for him. On the women’s team, their strengths were that their sweet blueberry and pear pies were delicious and they brought in some big contributors. However, it looked like the men were bringing in a lot more big checks. Another person who struggled with bringing in money, however, was Kate Gosselin.
Prior to finding out which team failed, Keshia said that Leeza did the best in the financial department and that all the others excelled in making the product. Keshia’s team said she did a great job, but Shawn Johnson said she didn’t think they won. Trump then asked Kenya Moore who was the weakest player on the team and she named Keshia as the weakest. On the men’s team, Geraldo changed his tune about Gilbert Gottfried and boasted about how wonderful he was. Geraldo Rivera raised the most money on the team, while it was recorded that Lorenzo Lamas only raised about $100. Poor Lamas was zeroed in on, but then Geraldo was called out for not knowing how much money each person on his team raised.
The team who won bonus money for taste was the women’s team and the bonus money was $25,000. The women raised over $93,000, while the men raised over $185,000. And so, the women’s team lost.
“It’s very hard for me to fire the first night.” — @realDonaldTrump #CelebApprentice http://t.co/C65IaX4qkq
In the boardroom, Brandi Glanville said Kate Gosselin was lazy and everyone disagreed with Glanville, though they felt Gosselin’s not raising any money was unacceptable. Vivica Fox defended Pulliam and got very emotional as Pulliam was attacked for not contacting Bill Cosby, a man she hasn’t talked to in 5 years, for money. When it came down to narrowing it down to three people up to be fired, Pulliam decided to bring with her the two people who raised the least amount of money – Kate Gosselin and Jamie Anderson. Trump said he was surprised that Anderson was brought in the boardroom since it was her recipe idea that won the women $25,000 from the Cake Boss. In the end, it was Pulliam who was fired and, because he respects her, Trump gave Pulliam extra money for her own personal charity.
Stay tuned for another Celebrity Apprentice episode on Monday, January 5, 2015 at 8:00 p.m., which will be the show’s actual time slot.