On Sunday on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice (which airs at 9:00pm ET), six-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman nearly quit the show after cussing out country music star Clint Black. On the scene when the chaos unfolded was poker pro Annie Duke, a contestant on the show. She sat down with Poker News Daily to discuss the rift.
PND: Talk about the Dennis Rodman Meltdown.
Duke: First of all, you can’t tell from the show how big of a guy he is. His hands are the size of my head. He’s very intimidating. He was sitting away from the group, which we felt was weird. He came over and started yelling at Clint. There was nothing that provoked it, so I thought it was a joke. At some point, however, I realized that it was real. I moved away from it and Dennis threw his mic on the floor and I thought he quit.
Next week, he definitely melts down again. The board room turns into an intervention. It really is everyone saying that they’re worried about Dennis. His behavior was erratic. When Dennis is sober, he is really quiet, gentle, and extremely shy.
Poker News Daily: Talk about the strategy of laying low over the past two weeks.
Duke: Whenever you’re doing these tasks, there are other things to do. For the last two weeks, they haven’t shown what the women have been doing on the side. There’s a way to law low so you can’t get fired. What I did last week during the wedding dress task was be in charge of marketing. Natalie Gulbis and I made these pamphlets, got them printed, and then gave them to girls to hand out. We went back to the wedding dress store and worked with the women there. Natalie and I did all of that, which put us in a position to say we shouldn’t get fired because we did a lot of work. Strategically, it’s a way to lay low.
This week, it was chaos right from the start. This wasn’t something I had expertise in. I don’t know how to mount huge a stage show. I didn’t feel like I should butt my head in. Joan Rivers was holding the brochure I wrote on stage. I was over in the corner doing research and they were all fighting. Natalie and I got all of the props for the sketches. We actually had a discussion as to why Tionne Watkins wasn’t singing. I pulled Claudia into a different room and said that there are a lot of skits and it feels like a high school talent show. It’s going to come off a little cheesy. Natalie also had a private conversation with her. The reason I took Claudia aside is because I didn’t want to cause any conflict. She looked at me, smiled, said thanks, and walked away.
PND: Talk about your chaotic dress rehearsal. Was it really that crazy?
Duke: It was a complete disaster. Melissa Rivers took it over and got it so we could put the show on. It was a miracle. I was nervous about the skit. As we got closer to the board room, I started thinking that it wasn’t good. When we came in and I saw how confident the boys were, I thought there was no way we had won.
PND: So your strategy of laying low paid off then?
Duke: I had figured out how not to cause any conflict and do a job that was impossible for me to be fired doing. I figured out how to keep my head down, but still be seen as a leader. If you do the marketing, it’s not the thing that gets you fired. If you do it well, you don’t get fired. You’re taking initiative by writing pamphlets and fliers. However, you’re not creating the stage show. I’ve taken that niche during the last three episodes.
PND: You have to step up and be Project Manager at some point, though, right?
Duke: You can’t win Celebrity Apprentice and not be Project Manager. By the time this episode rolled around, Trump stood up and paid notice to my presence, so I was okay taking this secondary leadership role. I stuck my neck out in episodes one and two. In episode three, I did really a good job marketing and raised more money than anyone else on my team. Now, we get into episode four and people aren’t as nasty to me because I’m figuring out this group.
I didn’t try to save the task this episode for two reasons. First, I knew that if we won, the teams would be reshuffled. I had found my niche and didn’t want to reshuffle. I looked at it as a freeroll. If we win, I have to risk the reshuffle. If we lose, the teams don’t get reshuffled. I’ve identified my place on the team and who our weak links are. To put it in poker terms, I didn’t want my table to break. I wanted to let the chips fall where they may. I didn’t want to stick my neck out for something I wasn’t too worried about. I saw our final product going south, so I told Claudia how to save the show in private, which you need to do to cover your ass. That was it.
PND: In the boardroom, show host Donald Trump seemed to turn to you for relevant advice on who to fire as well as other players’ capabilities. Was that how it was edited or how it actually happened?
Duke: We were sitting there and Trump kept going to me. I thought that was interesting. It was the moment I had realized I had done my job. I had gotten Trump to notice me despite the fact that I’m not famous.
