Last night, Donald Trump crowned Arsenio Hall as the winner of Celebrity Apprentice 2012. The Celebrity Apprentice finale pitted Arsenio versus American Idol runner-up, Clay Aiken. All totaled, some $2 million dollars were raised over all for a variety of charities. Arsenio was playing for the Magic Johnson Foundation, an emotional effort following the recent death of one of Hall′s relatives to AIDS.
Donald Trump picks Arsenio Hall over Clay Aiken in Celebrity Apprentice. Image Credit: Mr. Blue / Wenn.com.
Normally, I have been covering the series closely, especially with all of the drama that took place this season. But the last couple of weeks have been difficult due to other programs I follow, such as Mad Men, Sherlock on Masterpiece Mystery and last week′s Survivor finale. Add to that my frank disappointment in the final selection of Arsenio and Clay as the two finalists. I would have preferred seeing a finale between Aubrey O′Day and Lisa Lampanelli. Even Aubrey versus Clay would have been better!
So this season reminds me of the infamous ′fixed-season′ when Joan Rivers was awarded the title over poker star Annie Duke. In that one, Trump favored Rivers since she is tight with Trump′s sister, who works for the same charity which Rivers was playing for. I think The Donald likes to give worn-out has-beens a second shot at the spotlight. Arsenio did not impress me at all during the course of the this year′s season, which leads me to suspect that there is something else at work here.
The bottom line is that I did not watch the last two episodes of the Celebrity Apprentice finale. Donald Trump naming Arsenio Hall the winner of Celebrity Apprentice 2012 shows once again how subjective he is. A better match up would have been Clay Aiken versus Aubrey O′Day, or Aubrey versus Lisa Lampanelli. So another crummy season ends to a series which has jumped the shark long ago.
