Annie Duke totally deserved to win, but it was blatantly obvious from the outset that the prize would go to Joan Rivers, primarily because of her much higher profile in the eyes of the general public.
I'm still not willing to call myself an Annie fan, but she both played better and conducted herself so much better than Rivers that it wasn't even close.
She figured out in advance what it would take to win, and set about doing it. Every significant decision was made with an eye to advancing herself in the game. She dealt with setbacks and incredible amounts of undeserved personal attacks by not letting them get to her (at least not publicly) and staying fixated on the task at hand as well as the big goal of the quarter-mil for her charity. Everything else she shrugged off, or at least suppressed, lest it impede the path to the money. She not only completely trounced Rivers in fund-raising (by more than 3:1), but, as Donald Trump's son pointed out toward the end, she did it all in a completely focused, professional, all-business way.
The only way you can name Rivers the winner is by taking some sort of purely subjective, emotional, "I-like-her-better-anyway" approach, which seems to be what Trump did in the end.
I'm glad poker games and tournaments aren't decided that way.
"Celebrity Apprentice" is TOTALLY rigged.
Addendum
Can't sleep, so poking around the net looking for blog comments about the finale. Here's one that I think got the whole thing just about right: http://urbansemiotic.com/2009/05/11/annie-duke-wins-celebrity-apprentice/. Also, as usual, Shamus sees things the way they really are: http://hardboiledpoker.blogspot.com/2009/05/was-it-good-for-you-on-celebrity.html.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Celebrity Apprentice finale
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5 comments:
Why watch this garbage? While if your assessment is correct and Annie should have won, these types of shows are just juvenile and an insult to intelligent people.
Duke lost 3 of the 5 criteria.
That is why she lost.
I agree though, I think she should have won regardless.
This show is not a real competition. It's a drama cast with celebrities instead of actors. All of the business competitions and player eliminations were just the vehicle for developing characters and advancing storylines. Annie Duke might have been a surprise at first to the producers, but once she showed an ability to raise money and act like a ruthless businesswoman, her "character" jumped ahead of the other competitors in terms of dramatic quality. Annie Duke beat out Clint Black and the others for the final spot because she was a more compelling villain (ruthless, pushy, gambler) to cast against Joan River's heroine (older lady beloved by and well known to the public who can tear up at a moment's notice). Joan would have had to have fallen on her face (literally) to not be in the final; her story arc was sketched out early on by the producers.
Similarly, the Popular Country Singer and Bombshell Former Playboy Bunny characters were both kept around purely for ratings purposes and to serve as foils for other characters; they were never serious contenders for the final. The ritual killing (well, elimination) of the Heroine's Daughter was withheld until late in the show to provide motivation and empathy for Joan, and create tension and dislike for Annie. Heck, we even had Bumbling Henchmen (Tom Green and Dennis Rodman) for comic relief.
So, Annie Duke gets my applause for doing her best to portray herself and poker players in as favorable a light as possible (there are advantages to a show where characters write their own dialogue), and for being highly successful in raising money and awareness for her charity. Annie also deserves a lot of credit for earning the spot as the official Villain, which for purposes of this show is equivalent to being the "real" winner (i.e., best competitor). But never kid yourself--the public demands all dramas have a happy ending, and that means the Villain must lose.
I downloaded it overnight and watched it just now, honestly I don't understand how people can call Joan the "good guy" or Ivanka Trump can say Joan was a good role model. Are you serious? She constantly berated Annie, treated so many people with such a lack of human respect, including the designers which then sabotaged Annie's party. For all we know Annie would have won if Joan didn't mess that up.
Joan is a *great* judge of character. Lest we forget that Joan was earlier calling Clint Black a "snake" and "despicable" and now she loves him. Sounds like she makes snap emotional decisions. She mentioned she's never fired anyone... no, they were too annoyed by her and quit.
My favorite: Joan constantly called Annie "two-faced" like she would need two face lifts when she got older. In reality Joan was the one that shows one face to others, she cries all over her charity and makes such a joke and great thing, such a great party. None of those people enjoying themselves ever see the venom the women truly displays to everyone she works with. She disgusts me.
Oh and even with Joan getting the $250,000 Annie still made more for her charity on the final task. Booyakasha.
I cannot believe Trump selected Joan Rivers over Annie Duke!! Joan Rivers is just a loud, racists hypocrite. She’s argumentative and new listens to anyone’s ideas, etc. Way to go Trump!!
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