The Apprentice on Larry King Live: A Recap

Former Apprentice contestants Kwame Jackson, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, Amy Henry, Nick Warnock, Heidi Bressler, and Troy McClain joined winner Bill Rancic, Donald Trump, and Larry King for a roundtable discussion on Larry King Live on April 21.

When Trump started out the final boardroom segment by criticizing Kwame, Bill thought Trump might actually hire Kwame, since Trump liked to throw the viewers off. He calls the finale the best night of his life. Bill decided to enter the contest because he wanted to “test the waters” and prove himself as an entrepreneur. He was self-employed, having recently sold his company, so he had the flexibility to enter.

King notes that the chairman of the board of Goldman Sachs commented that he couldn't believe someone left Goldman Sachs to enter a contest. Kwame says he knew exactly where he would be in his Wall Street career a year from now, so he took the opportunity. He is currently being booked for speaking engagements.

Amy was looking for an exciting adventure, and would pay to do it again. She considers it a 13-week MBA, due to the skills required.

Troy, for his part, was truly after the job. He hoped that getting the job would validate his lack of education. In addition, his wife put him up to it, in order to follow through on the promise he made in his high school yearbook. He hoped an organization like Trump’s would “straighten out my rough edges.”

Omarosa claims that since whatever doesn’t kill her makes her stronger, she’s like Hercules now. She wanted to build her business experience, and has no regrets at all even though she obviously didn’t enjoy being hated.

Larry comments that Regis Philbin had made mention that he knew the show was edited quite a bit. Omarosa says that she’s not allowed to comment about what doesn’t make the air (which is a new one for her, apparently), but she agrees that things are not always as they seem.

Bill comes in and says that Mark Burnett is a purist and doesn’t feed them lines. Omarosa says that she never said that, and Bill answers that it was implied. She goes on to say that Bill has a script to follow, which he vehemently denies. She then says that everyone had their own experience, and resents everyone else projecting their experience on her… which, of course, SHE was just doing seconds earlier!

Amazing. I honestly believe that this woman is too clueless to realize how ridiculous she sounds.

Back to the show, Larry moves on to Nick, who entered because he wanted to meet Donald Trump. He grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey, and Trump was a hero to him.

Finally, Heidi is in Vegas hosting the VH-1 Diva Awards with Omarosa and Amy. She hasn’t slept in a week, but isn’t complaining! She entered because she wanted the job, and wanted to meet The Donald. It just goes to show, she says, that she showed up at the tryouts in a skirt and flip-flops and beat out the suit-wearing hopefuls!

Going back to the fight between Omarosa and Bill earlier, Larry asks Kwame what he thinks. Kwame stays out of it, not to cop out but to stay away from the “catty battles” and avoid playing the “reindeer games.” Well, he gets points from me for using that phrase!

Troy speaks up, and backs Bill. He says he was “never… scripted, coached, or anything.” Reality TV catches the essence of your personality. They caught the essence of Troy, the essence of Bill, and the essence of Omarosa.

In my opinion, I personally have covered a lot of reality TV, and have spoken to a lot of reality TV contestants. I’ve learned two things in that time. First, it’s all about the editing. And secondly, no editing in the world can make you look like an @$$hole unless you acted like an @$$hole.

Back to the show, Omarosa points out that Bill said on Today that they selected what they presented. Bill agrees. Omarosa says that this proves her point that they put the story together the way they want. Amy argues that they don’t put words in the contestants’ mouths, and Omarosa replies, “when did I say that?” Um, when you told Bill that he was following a script. Sheesh.

After a break, they show clips of Omarosa arguing with Heidi in the boardroom and Trump dressing down Kwame in the finale for not firing Omarosa.

Larry asks if Kwame would have done it differently. Kwame says that he never got the memo that he was Mark Burnett and could remove people from the show. Nice one, Kwame. But he says it’s 20/20 hindsight, and he was just focusing on the task at the time.

Larry asks Omarosa if she was unfairly portrayed. She says that they didn’t show the fact that she was the only person to sell artwork during that challenge (yes, they did…), they didn’t show that she presented at the advertising campaign (yes, they did), that they didn’t show the full house at the Jessica Simpson concert (yes, they did, and you had nothing to do with selling tickets anyway), and that they didn’t show the “ton of money” they raised for Operation: Smile (say it with me: YES, THEY DID).

Bill replies that they can only edit what the contestants give them. And you cannot manufacture a fictional person, period. I knew I liked Bill.

Thank goodness, Larry finally moves away from Omarosa. He asks Heidi if the editing was fair to her. She says absolutely, that we saw the good AND bad sides of her. It wasn’t easy sharing her Mom’s cancer with America, but that’s what she signed up for, and it meant that we also saw the funny, feisty side of her and she’s glad.

Larry asks Nick about his “showmance” with Amy. Nick says they dated briefly after the show, but Amy lives in Austin and he lives in LA, and they’re in different stages of their lives. Amy echoes the “different stages of our lives” line, and adds that while they were on the show, they had the show in common. Afterward, well, they’re back to reality.