Poker News Daily: Does being called a whore and a pit viper bother you?
Duke: I’ve watched all of these shows. I can see where people might develop a bad opinion of me. I understand that people think I called Brande Roderick an idiot, but I didn’t. If you believe that, then I look like an asshole. I understand that people think I’m too aggressive or too in your face. This is the first time I watched the show and asked myself how someone could possibly have had a bad opinion of me. It took 10 challenges for me to feel that way.
PND: Melissa Rivers went on a tirade of epic proportions at the end of the episode. Take us through it.
Duke: She felt like I was throwing her under the bus. However, she threw herself under the bus so beautifully that I didn’t have to say a word. If people are wondering why I had so much to do during the task, but wasn’t under attack in the boardroom, it was because Right Guard said they liked the concept, but not the photography and layout. Those were the only two things I didn’t do. Melissa was in charge of the photography, so it was either Melissa or Brande at fault.
I was clear with Brande that I had a lot of responsibilities. I made it clear to Jim Cramer that I didn’t ask for that much responsibility. Melissa’s main idea for the magazine was that we should profile David Lee’s first date. It’s for SI! No one wants to see that. She’s been deeply personal in the game and has been obnoxious to panel members in the boardroom. She’s jumped across the aisle and thrown her own team under the bus. Melissa was having this weird paranoid fantasy and kept trying to get rid of me. There was nothing I needed to do to push her over the edge. I’m not saying that if I had to, I wouldn’t have tried to set her up, but I didn’t. To win the game, you have to make sure that everyone else gets fired.
PND: Was the barrage of anti-Semitic comments from Joan Rivers troublesome?
Duke: There are things you can trivialize and things you can’t. We’re talking about the slaughter of millions of people based on their race and religion. We saw that happen in Rwanda and Kosovo too. This is a problem that everyone should be sensitive to and it’s still happening today. It shouldn’t be a Jewish thing or a Nazi thing; it should be a human thing. From the very beginning with the “Sophie’s Choice” comment to the Nazi comment at the end of the show, Joan has trivialized the events.
What did I do to deserve that kind of commentary besides not liking her daughter? Donald Trump is still trying to figure that out too. I have a very critical eye of myself. I have never lied and never made any personal attacks. I defended poker players last night. I didn’t lie to anyone. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t conspire. I didn’t bring it down to a personal level.
PND: In the boardroom, you said that Brande was your stronger competition. Is that really the case?
Duke: Both Rivers make the assumption that I’m trying to get rid of Melissa because she is the stronger competition. Let me explain it. We know our team is going to lose, which will leave us with a two people, so we are more likely to lose again. Brande was just Project Manager, so if I’m on a two-man team with Brande, I’ll be Project Manager. Who is more likely to get fired if you lose? The Project Manager! I don’t have a very strong case against Brande and I can’t use the money raising argument. I’m going to be Project Manager, which is bad for me, and Brande is much more likable than I am, which is also bad for me.
Let’s say that I’m on a two-man team with Melissa. She has lost as Project Manager and wants to win, so she will be Project Manager again. She’s weak at fundraising and she’s also less likable. I’d be heads-up against Melissa and she’d be drawing dead. By that time in the game with all of the personal attacks, I incorporated a life equity decision. When I walk away from the show, I need to have my soul intact. There was no question that Brande deserved to be there more. I didn’t want to reward Melissa’s crap.
PND: Talk about Joan Rivers rushing off the show. Do you think she will be back next week?
Duke: At the time, I didn’t think about whether she was coming back as opposed to her decision to leave in the first place. It feels like it’s a lose-lose. Let’s say that she threatens to quit, walks off, and never comes back. It’s bad for Joan because it shows her to be unprofessional and it’s bad for Melissa because she should be able to fight her own battles. Let’s say Joan walks off, but returns. Now, she looks like she was being a drama queen. We all know Trump’s mantra is that you don’t quit. Tionne Watkins got fired this season for volunteering to support her Project Manager in the boardroom.
PND: Amid the end of show tirade, Joan made the comment that Celebrity Apprentice wasn’t about charity, when in fact that was the main reason you signed up for it. She then insinuated that poker players were members of the mob and were beyond white trash. Were you proud of how you handled the situation?
Duke: I was proud of myself. All I did was defend poker players. They came out and helped raise money, asking nothing in return. Poker players believe in charity. Where were Joan’s friends? She was disparaging my friends and my community, but where was her community in all of it? She had raised somewhere between $25,000 and $40,000. Poker players came out and raised $200,000 for charity. I’m not sure that I was angry at anything she said before that moment. I signed up for the show, signed a release, and knew that I might have to defend myself against attacks like that. The community, however, doesn’t deserve scandalous attacks like the one Joan made.