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marigold:
An interview with Annie:

For Annie Duke, ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Is Business, Not Personal

Melissa Rivers doesn’t like her. Nor does Khloe Kardashian. But Donald Trump likes Annie Duke - and that’s all that really matters on The Celebrity Apprentice. What’s the deal with Duke, a busy mother of four as well as the number one female poker player in the world with close to 4 million in tournament winnings? I caught up with Annie to talk about the show before the next round Sunday night on NBC at 8 pm.

In a high stakes poker tournament, words don’t usually make or break the game. Are you surprised by some of the exchanges in the boardroom?
I was definitely surprised by Joan Rivers. If you saw the boardroom last week, she just went off on me. I wouldn’t call someone an idiot, like she did. That’s a personal attack. And if that’s what she wants to do, I can’t stop her. I know my work will speak for itself. I feel it’s very much a business game. Not a personal game.

Do you think mixing it up with you was part of her strategy?
I do. Joan was trying to create drama and tension, which make for great television. Joan is really smart. Obviously. You have to be really smart in order to be successful in the entertainment industry for over 40 years. And for that, I completely admire her. On the other hand, in order for her to do well I think that she’s willing to do and say things that I won’t. After Joan attacked me in the boardroom, I mean really attacked me verbally, I went into episode three with a different plan.

What was that?
To be as quiet as I possibly can. At the poker table in order to win you have to be able to change gears. You can start out aggressive, and then when you change gears and quiet down, people still feel you’re playing aggressive because you’ve set a tone. In the first episode I was portrayed as the antagonist, and I really wasn’t. If you noticed, they never had any clips of me saying bad things about anybody else.

Do you feel that sometimes the players get into each other’s faces a little too much?
Definitely. Last season I was horrified by the way Omarosa behaved. She was trying to create controversy by attacking people personally. Watching her put a knot in my stomach. I went in with the goal of never doing that and hope I’ve succeeded. One thing about Joan is that she started making it personal with me from episode one. And that’s the only thing I find upsetting.

What are your feelings about Melissa?
I read some comments she had about me, and I’m not bothered by them. I definitely had a different approach to this game than most. Melissa did a remarkable job with the comic book and gave us a great slogan. I separate personal feelings from the “business” that is the game we’re playing. I would never allow somebody’s personal feelings to get in the way of the work. That’s what I think did Scott Hamilton in.

How so?
Scott didn’t listen to Tom Green’s ideas, which were good. Instead Scott’s personal feelings got in the way of accepting Tom’s good ideas. Scott’s really nice and with his group, and being the project manager, one would have to create some waves in order to gain control of them, and he couldn’t do that.

While we’re on the topic of “You’re Fired”, did you think Donald made the right decision in episode one when he fired Dice instead of Herschel?
Trump definitely made the right decision, and to tell you the truth, I think that was the decision Dice Clay wanted. I don’t think his goal was to win the game. I think his goal was to be in that room, make some noise and be “Dice Clay.” People are being much too harsh on him. I’ve read where he’s been called a “buffoon” or “being delusional” and I don’t think that’s true at all. He accomplished exactly the goal he set out to on the show. He did a brilliant job; he got the maximum amount of people talking about him for the minimum amount of time he was there. I have a very different view of him than most people. He made things compelling, not a lot of people are going to complain on television to Donald Trump that there are no bagels and coffee being served.

Being the number one poker player in the world, you assess people for a living. Going into the game, who did you think the main competition would be?
I thought Scott would do well. But it just goes to show that until you see someone play the game, you can’t assess them. By the time episode two is done, it was really obvious to me that on the boys’ team, I needed to worry about Herschel Walker and Jesse James. It was clear that as quiet as Jesse was, he was getting the job done. That look he created with the comic book character was amazing. If the task had been judged solely on look and feel, they would have won easily. I worried about Herschel because he runs a successful business and he obviously knows how, as seen in episode one, to raise money.

Who did you think would bring the competition on the ladies’ team?
Pretty quickly I had my eye on Brande and Joan. I felt they were going to do well. Joan, obviously because she’s Joan Rivers. And Brande because I thought, “What a good story she is.” Here’s this woman who is drop-dead gorgeous, and then you find out she’s super-smart, super-confident and a kick ass chick. It’s completely anachronistic. But that’s my opinion now that I know her. If I had judged her on first impression only, I would have thought, “Playboy bunny, model, whatever…” On Apprentice it’s important to figure out their strengths and weaknesses as you see them doing the task. That’s why it’s a huge disadvantage to be Project Manager in the early stages. You haven’t had time to figure out people’s strengths and weaknesses.

In your eyes, who isn’t bringing the competition?
After two weeks I’d have to say Dennis. I’m not saying he’s doing bad work or he’s a weak player; it’s more that he’s disrupting his team and not contributing a lot. But let me make it clear, that’s who Dennis Rodman is. I’m not slamming him, it’s just who he is. He’s a controversial guy, highly recognizable, and he’s very interesting to watch on TV.

Last week some of your team thought you were trying to take control, what really happened?
I was being realistic. Last week when I suggested to Khloe that we break up into groups, it was because nothing was getting done and I thought breaking us up would help move things faster. I wasn’t trying to take control, just win our task. I’m a focused person and that can lead to problems sometimes. That’s why I said in my private interview I wanted to be on the men’s team. I thought they had it all together. In the beginning I had a really hard time communicating with my team. In my job that I do every day, which is poker, everybody that I deal with is male. I think that men are very direct with each other and women go sideways at each other. I thought I would relate better to the men. But – that was before I saw them in action.

What did you think after you saw the men?
Train wreck. A complete train wreck. Watching the episode I was thinking, “Thank God I’m not on that team.”

How did you deal with the conflicting personalities on you team?
After the first task, I spoke to my boyfriend (actor and professional poker player; Joe Reitman) on the phone and he really calmed me down. I was saying to him, “Outside of Brande, all these women hate me and I don’t know how to talk to them. We don’t communicate right; I just don’t know what to do.”

What advice did he give?
He told me, “Look, you play games for a living. When you’re at a poker table and things aren’t going your way, you figure out a way to fix it.” That helped, along with him saying that he was going to get on a plane and come to New York. I was thinking “Well, if things keep going this way with me and my team, at least Ican go home at night and hug my boyfriend.”

With the way you rule the card table, I assume there was some preparation on your part before filming began.
When I found out I was going to be on, I got copies of every episode from last year. I’m a games player and when you present me with a game, I’m going to come up with a strategy to try and beat the game. I watched every episode, pausing and analyzing what had just happened. I also looked carefully at the errors people made while doing their tasks, the way they talked to Trump, and how they treated their Project Managers.

That’s incredibly detailed preparation.
It’s who I am. I remember making a mathematical analysis of how much money I felt was needed to be raised - based on how much money got raised the previous season - and then saying to Joe, “I’m nervous, do you think I’m going to do well on the show?” He said, “Are you kidding me? Do you really think the other people are doing anything at all like this?”

No wonder you’re the number one female poker player in the world. And while we’re on the subject, I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you which poker game you’d recommend for a beginner?
That would be Limit Hold ‘Em. Simply because you can’t lose your whole stack, it’s a great way to learn the flow of Hold ‘Em, which is the most popular game. The rules aren’t very complicated and it’s easy to learn and follow. Also, with Limit Hold ‘Em, the bets are less and for a small investment it’s the best game to learn from. And - it’s the game I started on.

Lastly, you make a lot of money gambling with cards, but what do you know about sports gambling? Like, which team does Annie Duke think will win the NBA finals this year?
Boston Celtics. Growing up in New Hampshire you become forever loyal to a team when Larry Bird is on it. I live in Los Angeles now and L.A. is a Laker town, for sure. But don’t forget that the Celtics kicked the Lakers ass last year!

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/tv-news/for-annie-duke-celebrity-apprentice-is-business-not-personal/

TexasLady:
What an episode last night!!! I was shocked...

marigold:

THE 13 REMAINING CONTESTANTS ON NBC'S "THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE" ARE TASKED WITH CREATING A LIVE EVENT IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 22 (9-11 P.M. ET)

NBC Press Release

After the men's team lost for the third week in a row which resulted in the firing of comedian Tom Green, the pressure builds and the celebrities are losing their cool on "The Celebrity Apprentice." In the upcoming episode airing Sunday, March 22 (9-11 p.m. ET) the remaining 13 contestants prepare for their next challenge -- to create a live event in less than 24 hours -- launching a new video-phone to sales representatives.

The teams are charged with launching ACN's new video-phone to hundreds of sales representatives. Before the task even begins, a heated exchange on the men's team almost comes to blows, ending with one celebrity ripping their microphone off and walking away from the team. On the women's side, a previous engagement sends a vital celebrity out of town and their delayed return puts their team in jeopardy. Both project managers are accused of misusing their team members' talents. An exciting live event ends with one team on top, and in the board room Donald Trump sends another celebrity packing.

Clint Black, Annie Duke, Natalie Gulbis, Jesse James, Claudia Jordan, Khloe Kardashian, Brian McKnight, Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Brande Roderick, Dennis Rodman, Herschel Walker and Tionne Watkins are the remaining celebrities still vying to be The Celebrity Apprentice.

marigold:
Annie Duke's Blog:

Episode 3 of Celebrity Apprentice: Changing Gears

I am at San Jose playing the Bay 101 WPT Shooting Stars event.  I finished the WSOP Academy this weekend and then got a plane with Andy Bloch, John Juanda, The Bingers, Mike Matusow and Chad Brown.  I rushed to my hotel after we landed, met Joe at my hotel (he met me here from LA yay!) and then we ran out to dinner since we were both super hungry.  The service was so slow that it took us forever to get our food so I actually missed the first 20 minutes of Apprentice tonight…grrrrrrrrrrrrr.  But I blog on anyway like the tropper I am, lol.

So, I want to talk about the boys’ team first because they were much, much more interesting this week than the girls.

Holy crap!  There…that is my whole blog about the men’s team on this challenge.  Seriously. Holy crap!

Okay…so obviously we don’t get to see what is happening over on the KOTU side during the actual taping of the show so imagine our surprise when we got in the boardroom and found out Rodman hadn’t even shown up for the day of the selling and that Tom Green, as project manager, had gone out drinking the night before with Rodman and was late to his own challenge.  Watching it on TV I felt really bad for Herschel having to wander from bar to bar with Rodman when Herschel doesn’t even drink.  That look nightmarish and I think there is going to more footage of that in the 2 hour version on Saturday.  I am definitely going to watch that longer episode with rapt interest.

So, Rodman doesn’t even show up the day of, claiming a dog allergy or a cat allergy or something (he kept changing the story) but I am pretty sure it was just a hangover or an allergy to vodka cranberry lol.  I am not even sure if Rodman raised any dough for the men.  It seemed like a logical firing to me (obviously since I bet Brande) but I was wrong because I didn’t know till right at the end that Tom had not even raised any money as PM.  I think it was a big mistake to to be PM on a money raising challenge and not raise money yourself.  From last season I had seen that was an almost sure way to get fired.  I was so surprised Tom raised no money because he had raised a ton of money on the first challenge.  But he may have blown all his resources right away.  Tom said, as a defense in the boardroom, that he was taking a non-traditional approach to being project manager.  I guess by non-traditional he meant letting Rodman wander around the NYC bar scene, then joining him late into the night the day of your challenge and not raising any money on a money raising challenge.  Yes, non-traditional, but not the perfect recipe for sticking aorund in the game.

I think Trump had a tough choice between Rodman and Tom.  Do you fire the guy who doesn’t even show up?  Who should have been put in a wedding dress to promote the event and bring in business since that is what he is already famous for?  The guy who refuses to answer the door when his PM is trying to get him up in the morning?  Or do you fire the project manager who defends that guy?  Who enables the behavior by going out and drinking late into the night?  Who shows up late himself, hungover?  And who raises no money?  I think that whichever way Trump had gone on this one he would not have been wrong.  I mean who else on the men’s team would you fire?  Clint who brought in $35K? Herschel who not only raised a ton of money but was forced into the baby sitting role for Rodman?  Brian and Jesse who did nothing wrong and worked hard the whole challenge?  I mean, just the fact that they showed up should save them from being fired.  So Tom or Dennis.  Flip a coin.  Trump chose Tom.  Right choice.  But I would say the same thing about Rodman too.

So, Team Athena.

Okay.  So I am hardly in this show…yay!  After the last two shows I was really happy to be in the background.  That was actually part of my strategy.  I wanted to come out early and get noticed by Trump which I felt was very important since I am definitely one of the least well-known people on the show.  Because of that I wanted to make a little noise, backed up with hard work and fundraising of course, right away.  But I also planned ahead of time to change gears after accomplishing that goal and lay back for a while.  I mean work hard, raise money, but put my head down.  In poker changing gears is a very important concept.  If you establish a loose, crazy image you can leverage that to your advantage by changing gears for a bit and playing tighter. Or vice-versa.  Players at the table will still give you credit for being wild and will misplay you because of it since it takes them a while to see the gear change.  In most games changing gears is a very important strategic play and this was my first chance to execute that. I was planning to do that on the Zappos challenge but the chaos in the room really forced me to make the choice between risking losing the task or sticking my nexk out to get Khloe to step up and divide up the room.  I chose the latter, pissed people off in the process (particular Joan) but Athene won the challenge so I feel like I made the right choice there.  But now I had a chance to do what I meant to do in task 2 and lay back.

First, I was really happy Brande was project manager on this one because she and I had really bonded by this point and were good friends.  I might have even nudged her a little in the direction of PM (wink wink) but in doing so I promsied her a would raise a ton of money for her.  Having Brande as PM was really going to help with with my no conflict strategy for the episode.  Plus, I just really wanted Brande to get the W because I was very much rooting for her by that point.

Natalie Gulbis (another player I was totally rooting for) and I spent most of this challenge together.  I had lunch with Natalie this weekend and she told me that Brande had asked her to go off with me to do the task of geting the flyers designed, printed up and handed out around NYC because, as Brande put it, Natalie was the only one who didn’t hate me!  Ha ha!  Very smart move, Brande, because that was true at that point.  I think Natalie and Brande WERE the only ones who thought I had some redeeming qualities! That I was just too direct and too tough and too head strong for my own good but that I also worked hard and really cared about keeping my team out of the boardroom and had no ill intentions or mean spiritedness to what I was doing.  I love those chicks and I love that Brande saw what was happening and sent me off with someone who I had a good relationship with.

Natalie and I went off as a team and took care of the flyers and the printing and what not (of course fundraising all the while by making phone calls).  When we first went off to go to the printer Natalie and I had a great chat where I was talking about how most of my team hated me.  I said at the time that my main goal right then was to figure out how to not piss everyone off (particularly because I actually liked the people on my team at that point in the game).  I wanted to be a TEAM.  It was hard (even if it was part of my strategy) to feel such animosity and I really worked this whole episode on just trying to repair relationships.  It was a good lesson for me to learn how to soften up my communication and learn to come at people a little more sideways rather than right directly in their faces and I think I really grew a lot in that way. Changing gears really worked out well for me here. Not only was it personally important to me but also strategically key.

Natalie and I also had some amazing personal conversations about being women sports figures.  I mean, obviously, she plays an actual sport and I play a “sport” but we have a lot in common in that way in terms of that and it was really nice to talk with someone who lived a similar life.  Natalie is a really sweet girl but she is also really together on her career and how she manages that and her business life.  She is so sharp about that.  Impressive, really. I also got to learn about how she started playing golf. Her family didn’t have money and her dad used to work nights.  He was an avid golfer so the only way that Natalie really got to spend quality time with him was to go out and play golf with him whenever she could.  It became clear pretty early that she was super talented and her family started focusing on nurturing her golf.  She played her first pro event as a teenager!  So crazy.

Anyway.

Phew! Because this week was just about fundraising, I knew I could lay back more this episode because I had no opinion about how to sell wedding dresses and I knew this episode was just about making phone calls to raise money.  That I knew I could do…quietly and with my head down.  So I immediately called my friend, Perry Friedman.  He is in a really serious relationship with his girlfriend, Robyn, and I thought now there is a guy who needs a wedding dress!  Perry lives on the west coast so I called him and he booked the red eye to get there in time to by a $10K dress for Robyn (who looked beautiful!).  Perry also tried a dress on because he was acting as proxy for my friends Rafe Furst and his fiance Laura (who just got married in March.  Congratulations!) so he needed to buy them a dress too.  Rafe was traveling around Europe but he agreed to buy a $5K wedding dress and Perry was nice enough to front him the dough (they are good friends).  Perry looked ravishing, by the way. I brought in another $20K on top of that for a total of $35K…Mission accomplished!  No arguments.  Raised lots of money.  Done.

Brande Raised a ton of money herself and did a great job as project manager.  Unlike the chaos of the beginning of the previous Zappos task, Brande assigned jobs right away (I was her secretary to start!) and that made the task so calm.  Joan missed the first day but she and Melissa got Preston Bailey to come and fix up our space to great effect.  The space was really pretty (particularly compared to the boys’ space which looked like a warehouse).  Everything was just super calm leading up to the actual sales day.

On the sales day, Melissa and Tionne were total superstars, working with all the girls who came in to try on the dresses.  they were in the dressing rooms, kneeling on the floor, as these brides to be tried on like 10 or 20 dresses each.  They were both exhausted from doing that all day and they were both superstars with that. Natalie got Judith Ripka (the jewelry company) to come donate a jewelry display so the brides could try on jewelry with their dresses.  She also got them to make a pretty nice donation as well.  Khloe brought in really good money, too, by getting her sister Kourtney to come down with a donation.  She obviously was also really good at wrangling the people to come in our store.

Joan and Melissa brought in a $25K check from QVC but I always had a bone of contention with that check.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, totally awesome that Athena got that huge donation.  Amazing for Brande’s charity and I am very grateful to QVC for the check. It was incredibly generous. My problem was that both Joan and Melissa took credit for it.  So Joan said she raised $25K AND Melissa said the same thing.  But that adds up to $50K.  They can’t both take credit for the whole thing, right?  Either Joan raised $25K or Melissa raised $25K or they both raised $12.5K a piece.  I never did figure out which it was because both kept taking credit for it.

One thing that was really interesting for me was to see how much the girls on my team loved this challenge.  I was actually kind of bored to tell you the truth.  Bored because I didn’t see this task as intellectually challenging at all.  I mean it really didn’t matter if we were selling wedding dresses or engine blocks or cupcakes or unicycles.  It was not about promoting the product.  It was about fundraising.  Calling people and getting them to come and donate to charity (which, luckily, my friends are all very eager to do because they are so committed to giving).  But it was irrelevent what the rest of the task was or what specifically we were selling.  That was just window dressing. Or wedding dressing I guess.  So when I was asked about whether or not I liked this challenge in my private interview I said no.  That I had not found it intellectually stimulating at all and was a bit bored (except for the great time I had Natalie).

Now…when we got in the boardroom Trump asked the women what they thought of the challenge and they all declared it was their very favorite one. I thought, “**** I am in trouble.  I am so weird.” I mean I realized right then and there that I am not your normal kind of chick…but it takes a pretty weird lady to play poker for a living so no surprises there anyway.  I just thought it was so funny that I had spent my whole interview complaining about the challenge and it turned out everyone on my team loved loved loved it (I liked the Zappos challenge much better despite the chaos because it was so intellectually satisfying).

Anyway…made it through another week and repaired some relationships in the process!  I am looking forward to watching the longer version of this episode on Saturday to see more of the Rodman/Greene show.  I’ll be back Sunday to give my two cents on the longer version.

As a closing note…yay Perry, Robyn, Rafe and Laura.  I love you guys! xoxo

http://www.annieduke.com/2009/03/episode-3-of-celebrity-apprentice-changing-gears/

marigold:
Video:

Brande Roderick Fox Sports Interview


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awyt5NKpLNw

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