Rigged? Annie Duke Loses to Joan Rivers on “Celebrity Apprentice”

Going into the final episode of NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” this past Sunday, any objective observer had to have figured that, barring an absolutely embarrassing train wreck of a loss in the final task, Annie Duke had the title of the second Celebrity Apprentice locked up.  But in a bizarre turn of events, Donald Trump “hired” Rivers as the Celebrity Apprentice, giving her $250,000 to contribute to her charity, God’s Love We Deliver. 

I am not going to give a play-by-play of the three-hour episode in this article.  For an excellent recap, check out what our friends at PokerNewsDaily.com wrote.  What I am going to do is discuss why the final episode smelled fishy. 

The Final Task 

First, let’s discuss Joan’s victory in the task.  The two teams were judged on five criteria: money raised, Kodak product integration, charity integration, celebrity attendance, and guest experience. Annie Duke won the money portion easily, raising three times as much money as Rivers did.  She also won the charity integration portion, cleverly using the Kodak digital frames to display videos for her charity, Refugees International. 

The problem with the judging is with the criteria that Rivers won.  Supposedly, she did better in the celebrity appearance category.  But did she?  Her celebrities were not what you would call “A” list: comedia Kathy Griffin, “Desperate Housewives” actor Kyle MacLachlan, the cast of the Broadway show Chicago, and sixth-place 2005 “American Idol” contestant Constantine Maroulis.  Duke was able to bring in middleweight boxing champion Bernard Hopkins, former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, 1994 figure skating gold medalist Oksana Baiul, and poker players Phil Hellmuth, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, and Perry Friedman.  One could easily argue that while Rivers’ celebs may have been more recognizable by the general public, Duke’s were much higher profile in their respective fields.  It was unclear during the show, but Rivers may have gotten celebrity credit for the celebrity impersonators that were there, too. 

Rivers win in the overall experience criteria was debatable as well.  At the outset of the task, the charity event was supposed to be a “VIP” experience for the guests in attendance, many of whom were going to be average, everyday citizens, not celebrities.  Duke gave her party an “elite” atmosphere, with champagne and hors d’oeuvres served by wait staff.  Rivers’ party looked a like a grade school’s spring carnival.  Kids even attended.  While it seemed like a fun party, it appeared to be far from “VIP.”   

Rivers did legitimately win the branding aspect of the task.  Duke did a good job, but Rivers plastered the Kodak name all of the place.  So, while Joan won 3-to-2, if the judging was more critical, that score could have been reversed or even have been 4-to-1 in Duke’s favor. 

Then, of course, there was the incident where the event planner quit because of how he was treated by Joan Rivers.  Because of what Joan Rivers did, Annie Duke was harmed.  On top of that, one of Rivers’ notable strengths is her ability to throw large events like this one, so she had a tremendous advantage of Duke once the event planner was out of the picture.  Rivers then proceeded to lie about causing the problem when Duke brought it up in the boardroom.  Rivers should have been fired for this incident alone.  Instead, Donald Trump allowed her to yell at Duke, calling her a liar in front of everybody, when he knew that Rivers had created the mess.

Favoritism 

It was quite obvious as the season progressed that, even though the producers had to show Joan Rivers for her crazy self, she was given as many advantages as possible to help her win.   

• Trump and Rivers are apparently friends (based on some comments in various boardrooms), so it is not all that surprising that he let her scream over Duke, even in the final, live boardroom.  Trump also never defended Duke at all, even when Rivers was insulting her friends and poker community.  Of course, he found time to scold Duke for her comment about wanting Rivers to die, while never admonishing Rivers for all the venom that spewed from her own mouth.
• Melissa Rivers was included in the show, which gave Joan a partner in crime.
• Melissa Rivers was included in the final task, which eliminated one possible teammate for Duke and gave Joan a teammate who would without a doubt work hard for her.
• Trump found a non-task related reason to fire Natalie Gulbis after the jewelry project, even though Joan Rivers screwed up every aspect of the task and embarrassed the Trump family.  Any other player would have been fired at that point.
• Trump welcomed Rivers back after she had quit when her daughter was fired, even though he has said on many occasions that he hates quitters.
• Rivers received advice from Ivanka Trump during the final task.
• The final task was to put on a party, something that is right in Rivers’ wheelhouse (although to be fair, most “Apprentice” final tasks involved throwing some sort of event).
• Fundraising was the overwhelming criteria to determine who won last season’s final task.  This season, with Annie Duke a shoo-in to win the fundraising, Trump added four other criteria, which helped Rivers win the last project.

Adding It Up 

In an article I wrote before the finale, I analyzed the “Celebrity Apprentice” resumes of the two finalists and determined who should win.  Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I (along with most of America) determined that it should be Annie Duke.  I won’t repeat all of what I wrote before, but you can find it here if you would like to give it a look. 

Let’s briefly look at the show as a whole, including and list out why Annie Duke should have won: 

• Raised hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Joan Rivers.
• Won more tasks as project manager (before the final episode).
• Won more tasks overall.
• Did not blatantly lie in the boardroom.
• Did not act unprofessionally.
• “Played the game” the best.
• Contributed more to tasks overall, win or lose.
• She did not quit, unlike her opponent. 

As for Joan Rivers, the only positive thing anyone on the show, even Donald Trump, even really said about her was that she had so much energy for someone her age.  In fact, Trump’s summary of her qualifications just before “hiring” her was, “Joan, your level of strength, your level of energy, the energy, has just been amazing.  You really are a role model for so many people.” 

Really?  And she won?  Annie Duke dominated the show from start to finish and Joan Rivers, who was basically congratulated for not breaking her hip, won?  It just doesn’t make sense to any reasonable human being.

Why Did Joan Rivers Win? 

There are several reasons why Trump may have picked Joan Rivers over Annie Duke: 

• Rivers is a legendary entertainer and would be a more appealing winner than a poker player that the general public does not know. 
• Rivers age may make her a better story.
• Duke had already raised a ton of money for her charity, so Trump wanted to “even things out” by giving Rivers’ charity an extra quarter million.
• As stated earlier, Trump is friends with Rivers.
• Rivers’ charity helps Americans, while Duke’s helps people in other countries. 

All of these are terrible reasons to chose a winner if you want to hold on to the integrity of the game.  It is almost reminiscent of the film “Quiz Show,” which was based on real events, in which the results of a television game show are rigged so that the producers and advertisers get to have the champions that they want.  But even though the end result of “Celebrity Apprentice” looked extraordinarily odd, it couldn’t have been anything more than Trump simply wanting Joan Rivers to win, could it?

Why Did Joan Rivers REALLY Win? 

Before I continue, I want to point out that I am not saying that it is 100% fact that the show was rigged.  That would be irresponsible of me without undeniable proof.  But there are several things beyond what we viewers saw that do make the selection of Joan Rivers look even more illegitimate.  

Exhibit A 

One of the two Vice Chairs of Rivers’ charity, God’s Love We Deliver, Blaine Trump.  Yes, Trump.  She is married to Donald’s brother, Robert, although she and her husband are in the midst of a nasty divorce (he cheated on her). 

Exhibit B 

One of the Co-Chairs of God’s Love We Deliver is Michael Sennott, who was once a director at McCann-Erickson, a renowned advertising agency.  One of the firm’s clients is Kodak, the sponsor of the final task, and whose executive decided that Rivers won that task. 

Exhibit C 

This one is fun.  TV Land announced Monday, the day after Rivers was named the Celebrity Apprentice, that she will be hosting a new show on the network.  The show, named “How’d You Get So Rich?” will debut August 12 and will feature Rivers meeting millionaires and finding out how they got to where they are today.  She show will be produced by Mark Burnett Productions and Zoo Productions, Inc. and will be executive produced by Mark Burnett, Barry Poznick and John Stevens.  Mark Burnett Productions also produces “The Celebrity Apprentice” and Mark Burnett is not only an executive producer, but also the show’s creator.  It does not take a wild imagination to hypothesize how this may fit into Trump’s final decision. 

All in all, there were just way too may things working in Annie Duke’s favor to make her defeat on Sunday seem kosher.  I sincerely hope that Donald Trump simply made a bad decision, no matter how non-sensical it was.  If it was rigged from the beginning, the integrity of the show is gone and many hours will have been wasted by millions of people watching a contest where the performance of the competitors meant nothing.