The Celebrity Apprentice: Burger Heaven

Fourteen celebrities, seven men and seven women, are ready to take on challenges and face the Donald in the Boardroom to see who will be crowned this season's Celebrity Apprentice.

The Celebrity Apprentice: Meet the Celebrity Women and Their Charities

Carol Leifer (comedian, author); Charity - North Shore Animal League America.

Cyndi Lauper (singer, actress); Charity - The True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation.

Holly Robinson Peete (actress, author); Charity - The HollyRod Foundation.

Maria Kanellis (actress, singer, WWE diva, TV hostess); Charity - The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Selita Ebanks (model); Charity - Shine on Sierra Leone.

Sharon Osbourne (Ozzy's career manager and entrepreneur); Charity - Cedars-Sinai in support of the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program.

Summer Sanders (decorated Olympic swimmer, TV host); Charity - Right to Play.

The Celebrity Apprentice: Meet the Celebrity Men and Their Charities

Bill Goldberg (pro football & wrestling, host of Bullrun); Charity - Specchio Family Foundation/Sons of the Fallen.

Bret Michaels (singer, songwriter, Rock of Love TV series); Charity - American Diabetes Association (Camps for Kids with Diabetes).

Curtis Stone (master chef, author, host of The Biggest Loser); Charity - Feeding America.

Darryl Strawberry (baseball legend, author); Charity - The Darryl Strawberry Foundation.

Michael Johnson (decorated Olympic sprinter, keynote speaker); Charity - The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Rod Blagojevich (former governor of Illinois, former Assistant State's Attorney, radio host, author); Charity - The Children's Cancer Center.

Sinbad (actor, comedian); Charity - The Omega Boys Club/Street Soldiers.

Celebrity Apprentice: Celebrities Meet the Donald

The celebrities meet Donald Trump at Grand Central Station in New York where he tells them to go pick a name for their team. And to please pick one that makes sense and is easy to pronounce. In a Celebrity Apprentice twist, Donald tell each team they get to pick who the project manager will be for the opposing team for their first task. Donald tells the teams their job is to give back to the community as he has done.

Celebrity Apprentice: Choosing the Team Name and the Project Manager

The teams disperse to their respective war rooms to pick a project manager for the opposition. The men decide on Cyndi Lauper feeling that she will be a formidable player and they would like to get rid of the strongest players first. Next on their agenda is a team name. Bret Michaels is all over this suggesting the name Rock Solid. The men feel it is a strong name and go with it. It looks like the men are off to a strong start.

In the women's war room, the celebrities choose Bret Michaels to be the project manager for the men. Bret was tardy to the party this morning and admitted to getting only about an hours' rest the night before as he was returning from a concert therefore the women feel his attention and energy will be low to focus on the task at hand. Cyndi is surfing the Internet looking for a good historical female name like is on the side of ships. The celebrity women notice that Cyndi can get sidetracked easily. In the end, the women settle on Tenacity as their team name.

Celebrity Apprentice: Meeting with the Donald

The celebrity teams are summoned to the Boardroom. There they are introduced to Ivanka and Don Jr. who will be Donald's eyes and ears in the field while the teams are performing their given tasks. The celebrity contestants are given their first task: Run a diner in New York. The team who brings in the most money, including tips, will be declared the winner. The sum total both teams earn will be given to the charity the winning project manager has chosen to represent. Cyndi gets to choose between the Burger Heaven diners on 62nd and Lexington or the one on 53rd and Madison. She chooses 62nd and Lexington leaving the latter for the men. The celebrity men definitely feel they have the advantage for this task as they have celebrity chef Curtis Stone on their team.

Celebrity Apprentice: Who Do You Know in New York?

Back in their respective war rooms, Bret immediately tells his team to call everyone they know in New York to come to their diner tomorrow. Darryl, having played on a couple of New York teams reassures the team that he will get people to the diner.

Holly is on the phone for the celebrity women calling all her New York contacts to visit Burger Heaven and make a donation for charity. Cyndi, even though she is from New York, claims she only has one rich contact - Rosie O'Donnell. With the history that Rosie has with Donald it's no surprise when she refuses to help out her friend Cyndi.

Celebrity Apprentice: Menu Strategies

Curtis takes a tour of the kitchen to see what sort of groceries are available and begins to come up with a menu using those ingredients. Curtis also suggests that they have a high-priced menu with $100 truffle burgers. Even though Bret is the project manager, Curtis is feeling the heat knowing their success lies firmly on his shoulders.

Next door in the women's war room different ideas are being thrown about. Cyndi doesn't believe they should have an over-priced menu or fancy food. Sharon agrees stating it is not about the food, it's about meeting celebrities and giving money to charity. Selita volunteers to be the cook even though she is aware of Curtis' reputation on the men's team. But having grown up with 7 brothers, she thinks she can handle the task. Sharon says she will contact radio stations to promote themselves. Carol and Summer team up to create fliers to hand out while Holly and Selita begin jotting down notes for a menu. Sharon grabs a paparazzi photographer lurking outside and enlists him to take some photos of the women celebrities for their fliers. Meanwhile, project manager Cyndi has yet to assign a task to anyone on her team.

It's obvious the two teams are working two different strategies. Rock Solid is working on a high-priced menu designed to bring in less people that can afford to shell out some extra cash, while Tenacity wants to keep the cost low to bring in more people. Rock Solid has the $100 truffle burger versus Tenacity's Tenacious burger for $25. Of course customers will be encouraged to leave a big tip for charity in addition to paying for what they ordered off the menu.

The teams learn that the burgers are so fresh from Burger Heaven that they have to grind the meat themselves and it needs to be done tonight. The men have Bill and Rod helping Curtis prep the kitchen while Selita and Maria are doing it all for the women.

Celebrity Apprentice: Open for Business

On the day of the big event, Sharon and Cyndi are on the radio first thing in the morning trying to entice customers to come to their Burger Heaven. Rock Solid relies on large posters hung in the windows for their promotion. Both teams have barkers with fliers out on the street directing potential customers to their diner.

At Tenacity's diner the team has assigned tasks to themselves: Carol is working the crowd on the sidewalk; Holly will take money; Summer and Selita are cooking in the kitchen; and Cyndi, Maria and Sharon are servers. Tenacity soon has a line forming around the block. This worries Holly, thinking the big donors may be stuck outside waiting in line instead of inside making a big donation.

At Rock Solid's Burger Heaven Bret has assigned tasks to each of the celebrity men. He is the project manager and bus boy; Rod is serving; Darryl is hosting; Michael is the clerk; Curtis and Bill are in the kitchen; and Sinbad is barking in the street. Customers are walking into the diner and walking right back out saying they didn't realize the pricing would be so high, especially for a burger.

Don Jr. stops by to visit Tenacity but Cyndi doesn't feel like she has time to chat with him. Nevertheless, Don is impressed with all the Wall Street guys he recognizes in the diner. Feeling like they are being overwhelmed, Holly asks Carol to come inside to help at the bar.

Don wanders over to see how Rock Solid is faring and decides that they are more organized than Tenacity. Of course there are fewer customers over here making them look more organized. It's not nearly as crowded as Tenacity's Burger Heaven but Curtis' friend Al Roker has dropped by for a bite to eat.

Celebrity Apprentice: A "Surprise" Visitor

Right off the bat, Donald calls in the big guns to go spy for him. Last season's Celebrity Apprentice winner Joan Rivers is asked to go visit each diner and report back to Donald which one she believes to be better. The one Joan chooses will receive an extra $10,000 added to their total monetary income. Joan visits Rock Solid's diner first. She is outraged at the prices and the service is slow. Her burger is cold by the time it reaches her because Rod is stopping to chat with everyone in the diner proclaiming his innocence to all who will listen. At Tenacity's diner, Joan pushes her way inside through the big crowd waiting outside. She agrees with the menu pricing and receives a hot burger for lunch.

Celebrity Apprentice: The Boardroom

With the task completed the two teams meet back in the Boardroom with Donald to see how they did. Cyndi refuses to name a weak link on her team while Bret takes the heat for his team saying if he has to name someone then it would be himself. Donald reveals that Joan liked Tenacity's diner better and they are awarded the $10,000 bonus. He also reveals that Joan blamed the poor service and cold burger on Rod, stating that he liked to talk to customers a little too much. For once, Rod is speechless and has no comeback for that accusation.

The total money brought in is announced. Tenacity's total, with the bonus included, is $39,559. Rock Solid's total is $57,905. Donald rounds up to give $100,000 to Bret's charity, the American Diabetes Association. The men are excused from the Boardroom while the Donald gets ready to fire someone from the women's team.

Celebrity Apprentice: You're Fired

When Donald asks Cyndi, and then all the women down the line the all important question, "Who would you fire?" not one will give him a straight answer. This results in some cursing from Donald who just wants an answer as to who they think is the weak link on their team. Finally Holly speaks up stating that Carol was the one delegated to bring in the big spenders from the sidewalk. Holly is still worried that they left some big donations standing outside in line. But remember, it was Holly who asked Carol to come inside because they were being overwhelmed. Now that a name has been put on the table, everyone is quick to agree with the choice. When pressured to choose two people to come back into the Boardroom, Cyndi still refuses to put two celebrities up for elimination. She doesn't even volunteer herself like most project managers will. So with no decision being made, Donald decides they will all stay. With most of the team having brought up Carol's name, the decision has been made. Carol is fired. But before leaving she asks one favor from Donald that he grants - a $10,000 donation from him to her charity, the North Shore Animal League.

The Celebrity Apprentice aired Sunday, March 14 on NBC.

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