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New Celebs for Trump's 'Apprentice' Are Kind of Famous

By FRAZIER MOORE

posted: 176 DAYS AGO

comments: 12

filed under: TV News

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NEW YORK (Jan. 8) - Early last October, NBC unveiled the 16-member cast of "Celebrity Apprentice" to reporters. Everyone on hand at the locked-down news conference swore to keep the participants' identities a secret until NBC said "go."

With NBC now issuing its cue Thursday to go public, the major media can take pride at having kept the lid on names like country music's Clint Black, TV personality Khloe Kardashian and former "Baywatch" babe Brande Roderick.

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Those don't-I-know-him-or-her-from-somewhere? stars will be competing for the title of Celebrity Apprentice when the reality series returns for its eighth season March 1.

Others risking the wrath of Donald Trump in the boardroom will include Olympic figure skating gold medalist Scott Hamilton, singer Brian McKnight, comedian Tom Green and former football great Herschel Walker. Also poker champ Annie Duke, pro golfer Natalie Gulbis, "Deal or No Deal" model Claudia Jordan, singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and former "Monster Garage" host Jesse James, a custom bike and car builder.

Oddly, the only notable leaks from an otherwise unified media front occurred on late-night TV, within days of the top-secret briefing.

"Joan and Melissa Rivers! Dennis Rodman! Andrew Dice Clay!" cackled David Letterman of CBS' "Late Show," outing four of the contestants in his monologue before he mused, "And the celebrities are ...?"

Even NBC's own Conan O'Brien spilled a few beans during a "Late Night" monologue. After blurting out a couple of the show's semiboldface players, he cracked, "Apparently the new season of the show is called 'Celebrity Apprentice: 1988.'"

Presiding over the news conference last fall, Trump insisted the cast was bigger, better, hotter than ever.

"There are some major superstars in this group," he declared, without getting specific.

The 16 celebrities will not be vying for a job with Trump, as in past civilian "Apprentice" seasons, but instead will compete in business-oriented tasks around Manhattan to raise money for their favorite charities. (McKnight's chosen charity is Youthville USA, while Watkins will be playing for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia, and Kardashian has chosen the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Awareness.)

Seated at Trump's elbow, the celebs were happy to anticipate the challenges awaiting them as soon as the next day, when they would start taping.

Hamilton acknowledged having watched the prior season and wondering "if I had the skill set to pull it off, because it was pretty confrontational last year. I'm a pretty easygoing, nice person."

Clay, a one-time scandalous standup comic, said he was doing the show because of his two teenage sons.

As he explained, "When they watched the show, they'd go, 'Dad, you would do great on the show,' and I'd look at them, like: 'Really?'"

"I have a competitive nature," said Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior at the University of Georgia, "but this (show) is really different, where some people are conniving and cheating. I say, I'm gonna stay true to my morals."

Then he grinned disarmingly and drawled, "I tell 'em, I'm just a little country boy from Georgia."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2009-01-08 13:24:32

Dan Steinberg, AP

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BigAliB

09:30 AMMar 27 2009

Klhoe needs to wash her greasy hair. Then maybe she wouldn't have to scratch her head repeatedly. Talk about gross!!

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Hazeleyes19111

01:34 PMJan 11 2009

Talk about D List Celebs.......No make that Z List. For The Donalds connections this was the best they could do? SNORE

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WoolerMom

01:11 PMJan 11 2009

This show & Trump are a joke, but at least the money will be going to charity. Maybe someone can tell me why any of the Kardashian's are considered celebrities?

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DHendr3229

12:18 PMJan 11 2009

Herschel already has a job working for Trump. He is the director of security for the Trump properties. This goes back to his USFL personal services contract for playing football.

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VlgPpl

11:14 AMJan 11 2009

If Clint Black and Joan Rivers are NOT in the top 4 I would think Trump needs some guidance.

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HowNJoy2G4E

10:05 AMJan 11 2009

Hey wait a minute. Some f them already have jobs. Joan has a face job....Brande has a boob job and Scott will give a........Nevermind

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lvmaoguaishui

08:37 AMJan 09 2009

well. I don't know!!! It has been confirmed that interracial marriage makes clever children,now, more and more single people are searching for interracial love....Black man for white lady and white man for chocolate girl ..there is a big storm of"sign up" on the famous interracial dating site****mixed loving . c o m*****recently.

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zjm007

03:03 AMJan 09 2009

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zjm007

03:02 AMJan 09 2009

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lolalove23

09:36 PMJan 09 2009

She is really hot,i know we men have lots of standards to pick up a woman,but we all find the right girl in our demands on a tall dating club:___Tallmingle.c O m__ my bros told me this; it worked for them, it worked for me; and i'm sure it's gonna work for u, buddy!!

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