+What happened after the last boardroom
I know people are wondering how I could go from saying I respected Joan in the last boardroom to the private interview where I said she was not a nice person and she had made the fight personal for me. I am aware it seemed like a weird juxtaposition from the boardroom to the final private interview last episode but here is what happened in between. I tried to extend some sort of “good game” to Joan. Just tell her I respected her for getting to the final two. And the video below is what a got in return. I particularly love where she says “I won’t allow America to hear it.” Makes that last interview of mine make more sense, I think.
I join the countless others who will never watch the Apprentice or anything else Donald Trump or Joan Rivers have a hand in. Annie clearly worked harder and produced more than Joan. Even in the final event, it was her frieds from God’s Love Delivered and Melissa that actually came up with all the ideas. Joan was an embarrassement to herself and Donald Trump should not have rewarded such crass behavior. Interesting how she could intimate that being a “poker player” was so beneath her when her career was launched in smokey dives that she wouldn’t set foot in now.
Annie, you could stand a little more humility in that you used the work “I” a little too much and didn’t give your team any kudos. Having said that..the truth is you were brilliant and resourceful. Just as well you didn’t win, you aren’t an apprentice, but rather a professional.
I’m sorry to say it, but I’m glad you lost. Joan Rivers shouldn’t have said those things about you, but you should have understood your behavior during the whole season causing people to react negatively to you sooner or later.
Taking all the credit and constantly putting down your opponents behind their backs doesn’t endear you to even your friends and “allies”. You should learn a lesson to be more compassionate even if it’s “all’s fair in love and war”. When you learn to stop being a self-serving person and truly act charitable, perhaps you will understand this. It’s a little Zen-like, but it does require humility first and foremost.
Good luck to you, but stop acting like you deserved no blame whatsoever.
If you go to Entertainment Weekly’s webpage
http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/05/celebrity-appre.html you will see that the designer said that Joan WAS the reason he withdrew. He didn’t say if he apprised Donald prior to the board meeting (probably would still like to work in NY). No wonder she started screaming over Annie when she spoke. It will still hurt the designer though-he had no reason to walk out on your presentation. Wonder if he was told if he didn’t do both he should just walk out. I have alot of trouble believing any designer would subject himself to such bad publicity intentionally. I’m sure CA cares much more about their ratings than the designer does. If they didn’t air Joan’s mouthy comments, it was probably to protect the preordained decision.
Do yourself a big favor Annie-stay away from Donald’s lousy show. Trace looked like he wished he could be anywhere but there. Unless he gives your charity another half a mill and allows you to post the deal here, stay away from next years show. I won’t be watching but I’ll be on this website for an update. Sorry to see anyone treated to such a public flogging. Donald must be really hard up for cash to not call Joan out about her filty comments. When she started heading over to hug you I thought for a moment the old headcase was going to slap you.
Ms. Duke -
You are the winner. Joan Rivers is horrible. I am never watching the show again. Donald Trump made a huge mistake. You played a great game, which is what you do for a living. And as you said it was business. Only someone that had no chance of doing well against would have to lower themselves and make it personal. Glad you didn’t play her game. You were true to who you are. Don’t get sucked back in. Just stay away. You will be much better off.
Thanks for a great game.
Tamara
Hi Annie, Just a brief observation…..You have class and smarts, Joan and Melissa have neither but they have something you don’t……hatred and bitterness and a bit of a mental problem…I will no longer watch one episode of Apprentice, not watch or read an item about “The Donald” (ego plus) and never will I tune in to see Joanie (whom I never found the least bit funny from the beginning. I will, however, tune in to see you play poker.
I don’t know why I am still this upset. I would like to slap the crap out of Joan, with a follow up punch to trump.Such blatent dishonesty makes my skin crawl. Joan’s feelings of superiority remind me of Hitler’s “master race.” How could he let that crap go on. Jesus, Joan’s celebrities weren’t even real. How in the name of GOd could trump say she fulfilled this requirement? As soon as I heard the “new criteria” I knew what was coming. Made me sick. Annie, Joan is an elitist bitch. It was great seeing your brother
Howard, Phil Helmuth and Andy Bloch there! Fantastic support. I was only wishing that Barry
Greenstein would have gotten in there. He’s a terrific person and very generous. I will never watch this show again. And, I will never gamble in a trump casino again either.
Yeah, Annie should have won it hands down.
Even though she won 2 out of the 5, her overall performance was the best from everyone. I just can’t believe why Trump sided with Joans. Maybe cos of the charity Annie was playing for????
What a tragedy. You were the clear winner. Joan whom I have always love and respected broke my heart with the absolute filth that came out of her mouth. The fact is, she couldn’t beat you so she attacked. Her pity vote victory has turned me off apprentice for good. You are my hero and I just made a small gift to your charity.
Annie: I was sure you would win, and to me, you have. I think so much less of Joan Rivers and her spoiled brat daughter after watching the show (and I did like both beforehand). You held your head high and were a class act thorough-out. I am so disappointed that Joan won, but it seemed that Trump would pick her..no matter what transpired. Must be nice to change the rules along the way and add criteria that wasn’t there from the start.
I have been a fan of Celebrity Apprentice but won’t watch it in the future. Trump didn’t run an honorable game this time. He threw Klohe Kardashin out for having a DUI, not for her performance. In the real world, that would be an illegal firing. He failed to call Joan on her behavior with the designer, something he would have done with anyone else. The show has become too transparent, revealing that it is decided from the beginning. Where’s the challenge in that? Keep strong and I’ll be checking out the Refugees International site, in your honor.
I taped the final of the Apprentice and finally was able to watch it last night. What a joke of an ending. For Trump to look at you say “It’s not all about the money…?!!” are you kidding me, coming from him! How you didn’t laugh in his face is amazing. Joan was beyond rude, talked down to you and referenced the fact that she only deals with her ‘peers’, well hooray for the little people that don’t have to deal with that monster or clone daughter of hers. You handled yourself professionally through this whole ordeal and for Trump to fire you shows that his old friend was going to win all along. Come on, she walked off the show at one point, made horrible personal attacks at every turn, managed to alienate the design firm for the finale and brought in less than a third of the money that you raised. What a complete joke, I will not watch this show ever again and will be making a donation to your charity. You are a class act.
Joan Rivers is a crazy woman and a liar. Annie you should have won – you raised Half a million plus!!!! You did an incredible job and I’m sorry Joan felt compelled to lie and insult her way to the win.
Annie, you won Celebrity Apprentice. I respect Donald Trump but not this time. It’s obvious the winner was pre-determined. Joan and Melissa are raving maniacs. Their abusive remarks and behavior are evident of their bitterness in life. Your professionalism dealing with the various personalities is commendable.
You won. Hands down.
You weren’t perfect, but Joan was offensive and verbally ugly. The fix must have been in. (She already had an advantage by having her daughter on the show.)
While I do not normally watch regular network TV, I did watch last year’s Celebrity, which I thought was great, and this year’s show. This year was fabulous and I could hardly wait for the next episode. But I’m through. What was done to you in the final was ridiculous. How in the world could Trump reward Joan Rivers’ horrendous behavior by naming her the winner?!! I was already wondering how she even made it to the finals, and then to have her named the winner was unbelievable. She and her daughter absolutely made me nauseous throughout the entire series of shows AND brought in no money. For you, Annie, to have worked like you did and to have had your friends bring their big bucks to the table and then to be treated like you were is despicable. I will never look at Trump or the plastic Rivers bitches the same again (and hopefully never have to look at any of them again at all!).
Why I’m amazed by Donald Trump:
I have to say that at first I was disappointed with Trump’s decision of picking Joan over you, Annie. Very truly disappointed and confused.
Then I tried to figure out why he made that decision, aside from the setup theory. I don’t know much poker, but this is what I came up with:
Annie, this is your Four Aces hand: good track record, good leadership, best money raising, good gaming strategy overall. Lonely disadvantage card: your true duplicity, even if you’re perhaps not aware of it: you complained all the time about Joan outside, but so much less inside the boardroom. Donald confronted not once this aspect with you, Annie, and you wouldn’t or couldn’t do it. He really tried to pull out an honest answers from you here, and you didn’t offer it. Maybe you’re not confrontational, not directly, at least. But I could saw over and over again that Donald cared for this issue.
Joan’s full house: Joan didn’t raise as much money and I think she is too emotional and thus exaggerating at times with her statements. But her brutal honesty happened to cut more into you than into her. She also did pretty good overall and formally took ahead of you in the final task (3/2). That’s why I say she had a full house that beat your four aces in the end.
I think it was more of an equal situation and Donald leveled things in his way, having to pick a winner depending mainly on the final task. It’s like the strong buffalo scared away the smart and fast cheetah while both left with their own prays.
But it’s easy for me to comment. You were there in the arena fighting the fight and you were truly great. Thanks for the show and for the lessons to be learnt from it by all of us, including you.
Was I seeing and hearing the same show Trump was? Did he actually not pay attention to what Rivers was saying and doing? From day 1, Annie, you were the best player and the most fun to watch. You’re lucky you didn’t win, now you will only have to deal with those losers if you choose to. The Trump show has permanently lost at least one viewer,I can’t support that which I cannot respect. At best, he made a bad business decision, in my opinion, and I will never understand those that agreed with his choice. Game or not, rudeness and personal attacks are not good team tactics and expose the perpetrators as undesirable. Annie, you were great and made the show worth watching, so attractive, intelligent and powerful, wow.
Annie, you are so agressive and I think it’s finally caught up with you. You are a nasty woman and I’m sure your children will be embarassed to have you as their mother. Thankfully Donald Trump saw you for what you truly are, a manipulative, lying bitch.
I was glad to see you go!
Annie, I watched the last 2 episodes of Celebrity Apprentice and had to write you to let you know how absolutely vile and venomous Joan Rivers and her daughter were. Their insults were unwarranted and said much much more about them than about you.
As a business man, I would never hire anyone with such a malicious, childish, uncultured, vengeful, undignified, self-serving, and uncooperative and inexperienced person as found in Joan Rivers. I was embarrassed for her.
You, on the other hand, held your cool and was the epitome of a smart, team-player with great determination and equanimity. You also kicked butt in fund raising by an amazing amount, and you did this with a lackluster team (excluding Brande) of dubious talent and “star power” (comparatively). Your friend Brande also seemed to be a talented woman who could excel in business.
In addition, it was obvious that this was a setup and Donald Trump had made his decision episodes ago. His feigned ignorance about who caused the caterers to quit (he knew it was Joan Rivers) is proof enough that he was going to railroad the show for his long-time friend.
Thank you for your poise and restraint in the show. You deserved so much better and proved yourself the better (much better) and for sure, the “nicer” person.
Note: Other adjectives describing Joan Rivers and her daughter would be: beastly, bitter, catty, detrimental, envious, evil-minded, green, green-eyed, gross, ill-disposed, injurious, jealous, malevolent, mean, nasty, noxious, pernicious, petty, poisonous, rancorous, resentful, spiteful, vengeful, vicious, virulent, and wicked.
Annie you won. It became a pathetic joke and a popularity contest in the end. Combine that with the fact that people feel sorry for Joan for being 75 and mangled from plastic surgery and you had no chance…Joan won because people felt sorry for her and her daughter because they were utterly pathetic…….Congrats Annie,you won.Everybody with a brain knows this.
Trump is an idiot You are a class act.
You are a class act and should have won
Hello Annie! I watched every episode and my wife and I truly thought you should have one. My only complaint is that you didn’t credit your team members enough for the work that they did. You are extremely smart and I really like how you presented yourself. Joan has made a lot of money in Vegas with her stand up acts and for her to make fun at poker players was absurd. You are GREAT. You are a great fundraiser and you know how to lead a group. I really admired you and I think if others say different about you, they could be intimidated by you. I will give to your charity and I think you do have great friends that really stepped up for you when you needed them. Joan has been in the entertainment business for many years and could not raise money anything close to you…because people don’t like her and her bratty daughter. I thought that was hilarious how a woman as popular as Joan Rivers could not raise money anything close you….that tells you what people close to her think about her. The same goes for her “PRODUCER” daughter…GREAT JOB ANNIE….you were the WINNER in my book. Donald is just a coward…..
Trump and/or the editors were clearly biased towards Joan. I’ve lost respect for Trump and the show. I won’t watch next season. The comments from Joan were childish and immature. You impressively kept your poise. Congratulations. You are a winner. I have much respect for you and for poker players. And thanks for playing for a good cause.
Get over yourself. Stop trying to justify yourself. You are an egomaniacal squirrel-like woman who begins most of her sentences with “I.” Trying to do damage control for your behavior after the fact is as transparent as you are.
Annie – Joan proved that whe cannot be a professional, you out classed her in the boardroom, and in all cases when you were face to face. Donald tried to pull some of your comments made during task into the room. Good for you for not commenting. If there is anyone that should be embarased it is Melisa…, she would be nothing without her Mother…and now the world knows it. Too bad that Jesse could not have been your competition.
It was a disgusting finale. You won in all catagories, especially raising funds. Just because she called on her charity to decorate(after all it was to their benefit to help her for a possible win) does not make that better than your ability to hire someone to decorate. It was clear via the video that she had offended the decorator and they quit the project without notifiying you. Mr. Trump had to have known that as he watched the video with everyone else!
You have class, she has none. Pitting two vipers against you on the show was only to bring controversy ie more viewers to the show. I appreciate Joans age and stamina but that was not the task. Raising money for charity and acting in a professional way throughout goes hands down to you….. Yes, you do take charge and congratulate yourself but I think that is true in all business situations and the workers get some thanks but not the adulation given to the head honcho…so you did good and you were robbed!!!
Wow, that Joan works fast! She’s hired Sunday night, and Monday night she’s on QVC with her Boardroom Jewelry Collection!
Given the time it takes to design and manufacture a jewelry line, and the time it takes to clear copyright and trade mark issues, if any, that’s indeed a piece of impeccable timing!
It couldn’t be she started this jewelry project early in the season, could it? How could she know she’d stick around long enough to wear enough jewelry to turn into a collection? Silly me, I forgot to add clairevoyance to her list of talents.
Hmmmmm, The Donald couldn’t be the recipient of a piece of the jewelry action, could he?
Annie, Girl, you might be a formidable poker player, but you’re not involved in anything ongoing from which the Donald could profit. Bite my tongue – that had nothing to do with his decision!
Seriously, Annie, never heard of you before the show – you captured my attention and respect from the beginning and you retained it. I have a feeling no one expected you to do well – you sure showed ‘em!
Hopefully, you’ll snag your own show out of it – and it would be a hoot if it aired in the same time slot as one of The Donald’s projects!
Now that NBC has announced that Joan has a new NBC show just how fixed was the whole thing? Initially nobody could figure out what happened. Then two days later it became rather apparent. But that does bring up the question about how much if any was real?
Annie, I just finished watching the Celebrity Apprentice finale and am so disgusted with the show. You were the clear winner, you played with integrity and got the old double-standard of “driven men are aggressive and leaders, driven women are bitchy and confrontational” thrown at you. Of all people, Trump should have appreciated your business style work ethic. I am glad that you raised so much for your charity and am just sorry it came at the expense of you having to endure Joan & Melissa’s continuous venom. I only hope America sees them for what they truly are, ridiculous celebrity frauds. They are phony, you are the “real deal” ;o) Good luck to you, you are the winner in my book.
SUPPORT ANNIE:
“DID TRUMP MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION?”
VOTE: http://www.nbc.com/the-celebrity-apprentice/
FILE A COMPLAINT HERE:
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm
If you weren’t such a me, me, me, I, I, I person, you might have some redeeming value. According to you, you did everything, said everything, and everyone was to worship you. Get a life.
Annie, you get the Kudos in my book. I had always liked Joan Rivers but, she and Melisa made FOOLS out of themselves. You may not have been perfect, on the show, but at least you conducted yourself as an adult. You did not slander anyone as other’s did. Especially Joan Rivers acting like a child not getting her way. She made a fool of her self. I strongly believe Donald picked her so he would not have to listen to all the B.S. and crying Joan she would do. Trump could not get control of her. Annie thanks for being the mature one, in my eyes you’re the winner by far.
I will not watch the show again.
Annie, we were horrified as it unfolded that Joan was going to win and her behaviour not only condoned but encouraged. Well done on you. You’re the TV viewer’s winner. And what a wonderful charity to have raised a winning amout for!
What made this season’s show for personal for me was the fact that Trump choose Joan over Brandy and Jessee. Of all the contestants why would he choose the one that behaved like a child?
Annie as they say in Poker, Joan was carrying an extra Ace in her sleeve, and that Ace was TRUMP!
If I ever meet you in person It would be a pleasure to shake your hand
Being a retired educator, I want to thank you for being an example to our youth on the correct manner to handle yourself in trying situations. You strived to make the best of every situation. Your opponent (I will not mention her name) was a prime example of exactly the type of behavior that we do not repeated. The only thing worst than her behavior was Trump’s decision. You should have certainly been the choice but maybe Trump does not want someone honorable. Look who he hired last year. Again, that was the wrong choice. When dishonest and bad behavior is rewared like it has been the last two years, what examples are we setting for the young? I too am a “poker player” and am so proud of the way you supported your collegues. You conducted yourself with courage and grace. Thank you for your example.
What is so difficult for people to understand? NBC wanted Joan’s new show to have the subtitle “Apprentice Winner”. Everyone knows she shouldn’t have been in the final, but it was good for ratings. Add to that her new NBC show. All kind of makes sense now.
Was that supposed to be a “fair” game. What a farce! And talk about white trash. Ha! Joan & Mellissa Rivers showed thru their behavior just exactly what to look for. In fact, you could look up “white trash” in the dictionary & there would be their pictures. How dare they say the things they did!! And all the time, Annie, there you were being the perfect lady. I was so impressed with that just as impressed as with your brilliant game-playing strategy the whole game through! You know you won. And so do all of the intelligent people who watched this farce . It was handled so badly by Trump, especially where you were concerned, that my husband, our families & many of our friends have decided not to waste our time on any of Trump’s little projects anymore. There’s probably a good poker game on somewhere.
Between firing that poor fullfilling her obligations for her 1st (!!) DUI while letting Dennis Rodman run wild drunk, attacking ppl & lying and letting the Rivers women get away with acting like the cheap, spoiled “nouvea riche” they are and giving Joan Rivers your win, I was through with Trump.
But he wasn’t through with with me – or the rest of the world & lets the lying Miss California keep her crown, once again teaching our kids some “great” life lessons !
Congratulations on your WIN, Annie!! Because you Did win – you know it – we all know it!
You know I really hated the way Joan acted here but I did not catch that before where she said I will not allow America to hear it. What a wack job she is! I agree Annie, you are above her!
After watching the Apprentice, I still have no idea who you are, but you seem to have quite the high opinion of yourself and really think you’re the shit. Get some class and get back out of the public eye.
number 2 on the show, but number 1 in looks.Rivers seems crazy too.
Anyone who agrees Annie Duke deserved to win, check this group out. I spent about an hour outlining every reason why Annie won, why Joan was out of line, and even why Trump and Mark Burnett acted corruptly. I think it’s a great read, and a group with a great goal. Check it out!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=80015373955
You are an irritating woman and I cheered like mad when you lost. It was priceless–the look on your face when you were fired! Kudos to Trump on a fine slowroll!
It was obvious that you deserved to win the finale and that Joan Rivers had no business even being there. We had pvr’d the show and were very thankful that we did because by the end we found ourselves fast forwarding over Joan’s screeching. Joan’s behaviour was dispicable and Melissa definately proved that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Annie you should be proud of your performance and your behaviour on the show – you never lost sight of what the show was about – raising money for charity. As a long time fan of The Apprentice I can honestly say that I will NEVER watch another Apprentice. I have lost all respect for Mr. Trump as it was apparent from the beginning that he felt that Joan River’s was THE celebrity – I just can’t figure out why. Congratulations on a game well played!
Michaelmas, Probably you are Joan Rivers yourself. chill out! I lost all the respect for Rivers and Trump after watching apprentice. i am never watching the show again. Annie YOu Rocked,girl!!!
Joan Rivers is the worst game player ever. She reminds me of every person that I ever played Monopoly with in my life. (There are many!) She storms around like a child.. an old one, crapping in her diapers whining about losing.
She sucks.
She and her asshole daughter should never have been on the show as a two-some.. why would Donald Trump set her and the show up like this?
He ruined his own show.
Joan is a very nasty mean spirited old bitch.
I hope she stays out of Canada. (She sells her junk jewelry here on a home shopping network.)
Annie, I’ll be straight up honest. Please read the whole comment. For a lot of the show, I did not like you. At all. I thought you were a two-faced snake to be perfectly honest. And even though I was rooting for Joan to win, and was happy to hear she won, I will say that Joan took the feud too far. Regardless of whether or not you were doing it straight from the heart, or trying to just lessen the feud, I very much respected how you tried to reach a respectful compromise between individuals. And in that respect, I lost a lot of respect for Joan in that manner. I do still adore Joan Rivers, but I really felt the way she treated you was unfair and childish.
That said though, you played one hell of a game, so congratulations to that. And although I held a lot of disrespect for how you played for the first half or so of the show, I really feel that you did grow as business player as well as a human being towards the end and I did gain a lot of respect for you. I even got to the point where I accepted both outcomes. I felt bad when Trump (unintentionally) tricked you with the final words, but all the same, you should be very proud of yourself for the work you’ve done for your charity. Good luck with everything you do.
p.s. I know I’m not the only one who noticed that final hug.
Annie..I have not been able to get this out of mine mind …I hate it when people get taken advantage of….
A point made by some about the charity choice not being in the US may have some little thing to do with it, but again ..I feel it was fixed…
I did like it on your bi- some of the other charities you support…like make a wish! that’s a great one…I had a son with cancer Thank YOU! Also the person who mentioned, have a show the same time as The Apprentice next Year is really a good ideas…Maybe poker…I don’t know much about it…but I will tell you I would love to watch you play…& I bet many other feel the same way…see what you could do….May it could be for charities …that people suggest …..They could be part of the end show…. it good have 1-800 # like american idol.I want to help you in any way..I can…I do have good ideas and need a job…your assistant….I am 60 female does that matter…LOL…Just kidding …GO GIRL!
I’ve never been a fan of joan rivers, and didn’t know who annie duke was until the apprentice show. However, watching the whole series i can’t help but notice for having teachers as parents, what little manners and morals they neglected to teach you. Such as respect your elders, whatever you do, do with honor and integrity, and most of all there is no I in team. These are all things you obviously did not acknowledge or practice.
I do recognize that joan made rude comments also, but she no matter her feelings, played as part of a team and didn’t take individual credit for every step she took. YOur final comments concerning her at the finale only showed your immaturity, ignorance and once again save and showoff annie sparing no cost. I can’t believe some of these comments supporting your actions on the show. Did these people even watch the entire series? Or are they mostly your poker player groupies?
Personally I didn’t care if Joan won, as long as a ruthless,unclassy, rude poker playing snit like you didnt!!!
Annie Duke shouldn’t have given Joan control of the conversation right off the bat. Joan doesn’t deserve it.
She should have waited for Joan to speak, and then said “I don’t want to hear it Joan. Let’s just be professionals and lets not kid ourselves here. There is no me and you. You’ve said terrible things you should be ashamed about. And if you don’t feel ashamed about it great.”
I know this won’t stay on your site very long because you get rid of negative comments. So all I’ll say is Ha Ha you lost–well deserved.