Who says Lost was the only show with mysteries that needed to be answered this evening? Celebrity Apprentice fans (all 11 of us) were sitting on the edge of our seat waiting to see who would be crowned the newest Celebrity Apprentice. Would it be glam rocker Bret Michaels, or former 21 Jump Street queen Holly Robinson Peete? Well, we finally got our answer. My full recap will be up soon (UPDATE: Click over to read Dalton’s full Celebrity Apprentice finale recap now!), but if you’ve already watched the finale and want to sound off about the winner, read on after the jump for more. [SPOILER ALERT: Read on only if you've already watched Sunday's Celebrity Apprentice finale.]
An emergency appendectomy. A brain hemorrhage. And a warning stroke. None of them could stop Bret Michaels. And neither could Holly Robinson Peete. The Poison frontman was named the third Celebrity Apprentice after rocking his way through a Snapple challenge that involved creating a new flavor as well as an ad campaign to go with it. Of course, since Donald Trump’s decision was made live, there was zero chance that the Trumpster would cast himself in the role of villain by not picking the contestant who almost died a few weeks ago, but it was nice to see Bret actually earn the victory with a solid (if a bit scattered — he lost his script at one point) final showing — and with a useless Daryl Strawberry as a teammate, no less! My full recap will be up in a few hours, but let us know right now what you think. Are you happy Bret won? And did he actually earn it? (I say yes and yes!) Hit the message boards and let us know. And for more reality ramblings, follow me on Twitter @EWDaltonRoss.
Image credit: Al Goldstein/NBC
Congratulations, Bret!
Congrats to Bret and get well soon!
Go TEAM BRET
Congrats…
You deserved to win
Yu climbed mountains from the begining of the show to the finale
You got my vote because you ARE A WInner-Not because I felt sorry for you-
You are creative
You are warm
You can sell anything
Because of you I have tried and loved SNAPPLE for my very FIRST TIME..
Bless you-And Mr Trump…you choose the best to win….
How cool is it of SNAPPLE to match the winnings
How cool is it that BRET won
VERY COOL
Sympathy vote my butt! I have been hoping Brett would win since day one. I got tired of Holly won the most money. Did anyone forget she got the other teams money on an episode where there was no cap on the winning amount? Not that it matters, they won. Actually with snapple adding that 250K to both charities Holly may not be the winning Celebrity Apprentice, her amount beats Brets. So I am happy Bret won, and happy Holly actually was graceful at the end and she received money also! There was no loser here! Nice. Much better ending than last season!
BRETT MY WHOLE FAMILY IS HAPPY FOR YOU AND CONGRATS TO A WINNER!
My english sucked on this one. Sorry. And sorry for spelling BRET not BRETT wrong.
The better deserving player won. Happy for you Bret! Even before your illness I was voting for you to win! You are a great role model and I hope your new attitude stays intact and no more Rock of Love, please!!!!!!!
Yeah for Bret! If Trump had said Holly I was prepared to throw my shoe through the TV! My wife thanks you and so do I! For once the good guy wins!
The odds are one of these days you’re going to blow up your TV with your own shoe and no one will give a hoot.
The odds are one of these days you’re going to blow up your TV with your own shoe and no one will give a hoot.
How stupid is that comment Merlin?
yes, i too was going to be very mad if bret lost.
You said it all. Bret I didnt like you on Rock of Love. Please dont make another, but LOVED YOU on apprentice. You are awesome! God be with you.
yeah bret
This show makes you stupid.
I *REALLY* loved how they handled the finale. There really wasn’t anyway they couldn’t give it to Bret. I believe he earned it, but there’s little doubt that a lot of people will claim otherwise. But with Snapple stepping up to donate $250,000 to the loser’s charity (matching the $250,000 grand prize the winner gets for their charity) they made sure that BOTH charities came out winners, so that even if some do believe Bret won because of the “sympathy” vote, no one can complain that the HollyRod Foundation got shafted in the process. I think that was an absolute stroke of brilliance, actually!
I’m really happy Bret won – and not just out of sympathy. Bret showed himself to be a true leader and good worker all throughout the season. He’d offer any suggestions or ideas he had, but, in general, he didn’t get all huffy if the idea wasn’t accepted – and when he did fight for an idea, it didn’t come across as him fighting for an idea because it was *his,* but rather because he honestly felt it was a better choice and he could back it up. He worked hard no matter who the Project Manager was. He accepted blame for his failures and shared praise when others deserved it. Even when things got chaotic, he’d figure out a way to solve the problem – just look at how he fixed the camera-dolly problem *and* the problem of the missing script. And at the end of the day, most everyone who worked with him was happy to have worked with him and pleased with the work he did.
Granted, Holly has many great qualities herself – she’s sharp, passionate, dedicated, and has excellent instincts for business, but I don’t see her as being that good of a *leader.* She tries to retain too much control and often seems unwilling to trust her teammates to do their jobs, she gets fixated on her own ideas and won’t listen to other suggestions and she seems a bit too willing to fault others for things that she could have avoided if she’d been more open to hearing what her team was saying.
Still, it was a very close competition between them, and I really love that both charities will benefit equally, while Bret gets the “title” of Celebrity Apprentice in recognition of the fight he put up to just make it out of the hospital – much less back to the show!
Well said!
I’ve got to agree with what you said about Snapple sponsoring Holly’s charity. Both Holly and Bret were damn good, and it really was a tie. Bret had the creative genius, and Holly had the business brilliance. I’d love the both of them on my board. That said, Snapple’s move has made me a Snapple fan for life.
Is anyone surprised that Bret won? NO! Just like Evan will win DWTS. The Idol winner, not so predictable, but I’m pulling for Crystal.
Thank you Mr Trump for choosing the right winner…
Yeah BRET
Yay, Brett! I wanted Holly to be eliminated after week one. I am SOOOO glad that she didn’t win. Brett deserved it…smart, creative, positive, hard worker.
Bret won on his own merit — his creativity is second to none. That being said, it was neck and neck so I was glad to see that both received an additional $250,000 from Snapple. They both came out as winners:).
Yes BRET deserved to win-
From the beginning when everyone thought he would be kicked off to the finale-He played hard, hes creative-He won his two tasks he was on and he was a great leader-There was no animosity when Bret was the leader
I agree Peter. He never threw anyone under the bus like the others did, even Holly. But then again Trump seems to egg this on.
He totally deserved it!!! he worked hard and was kind to everyone throughout the game!!!! Two faced back stabbing Holly got what she deserved!
Of course BRET is the WINNER
I think it was obvious Brett was going to win. The crowd was on his side, Donald was on his side. I think sympathy had a lot to do with it. That’s not to sat Brett was a bad player. Holly was just a better player. I think everyone knew who would win but I thought Holly deserved it more.
Holly may have been team leader more times, but she did not win all the tasks-Bret won all his-AND most of all on a successful team you need strong leadership that is not going to cause friction-That is all Holly did-Bret listened to his team-Holly wanted everything her way-It was her way or no way-SO Bret came on stronger each and every week-He made great stides and won on his merit- God Bless Bret and I will buy SNAPPLE because of him-No only will his brand be good for diebetics, but it can cut down on obesity which will deter diabetes…
Kyle you are wrong. Bret deserved the win on his merit alone. You are also wrong on Trump. Through the whole season it seemed like Trump was after Bret to get fired more than once. I don’t think he had much respect for Bret, at first. I don’t think he gave Bret the job out of sympathy, but because he was what Bret has done not only on the Apprentice but the hard work in getting back from where he was. Don’t knock hard work and creative.
being a mother of a diabetic i personally don’t care how he won- sympathy, empathy… doesn’t matter. as he stated on the show holly was pullin out the tears, sexy dress etc. the show definately gave me a differnt view of this rocker and i learned he was more than a pretty face. funny how i try to teach my kids not to judge a book by it’s cover yet i still do it. i know holly was passionate about her cause- as was bret. he was fighting for HIMSELF let alone his own child and most importantly MINE! thanks Bret
He earned it. It wasn’t a sympathy win. Holly did well as everyone had expected but Brett always came through even when you didn’t expect it. It just goes to show, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. He may be a rocker but he is also very smart! Go Brett, GREAT Job!!
Bret definitely deserved to win. His flyer was much better, his commercial rocked, and he did the right thing with a diet Snapple. It was not a sympathy win.
I thought Brett’s commercial sucked and his win was given out of sympathy but I’m still glad he won.
wrong-Bret was the most creative and even SNAPPLE said he was a snapple man and nailed it.
creativity is subjective.
So is your comment….
No..it’s not a symphaty… Holly lose 2 times as PM..the reason why she can raised so much only because it’s fun raising task. If it’s the normal task she will not set a record… Bret is a very hard working player, honest and fun… I think he is the most deserved winner.
me too
I agree with your comment. Sympathy win!
I was so nervous for Brett. He was the underdog for most of the season and since his medical ordeals, I was hoping that if he did win that it wouldn’t be from sympathy. but he truly earned his win tonight and I couldn’t be happier for him. Way to go Brett!
Real reason why both received an additional $250,000—Holly truly deserved the win. Trump would have done a disservice to Holly if she was not rewarded something; she was solid from Day 1.
I understand that Brett is a fighter and all, but Holly was the real winner.
I agree! I think the objective was to raise the most money for their charity! Holly did that!!!! She was an amazing fundraiser! She deserved to win!!! I was saddened by Bret’s battle with health issues, but I am looking at who won the most for their charity, Holly did that!!!
I don’t remember Donald ever saying that the object was to raise the most money for charity. Each task was judged on its own merits.
The ultimate task is always to raise as much money as possible. Winning is just the path to that, and Holly won the most money.
Dally you are right. Teresa where did you get that the objective was to raise the most money for charity to win Celebrity Apprentice? It was the objective for why each celebrity was on there but no so much on the deciding factor on who would win at the end. If that was so I doubt Trump would give the winning PM the other teams winning money too. Would’t be fair.
joan won last year and didn’t raise as much as the evil duke. i admit, brett michaels seems skeezy with his vh1 show but i was impressed by him throughout…not only did he win his pm jobs but his pm’s delegated more tasks to him (creatively) than i’ve ever seen on the series. he did very well and was a hard working ox. holly, performed brilliantly and eas a really sharp task mistress, but rubbed many the wrong way…which is probably more accurate in a “real” business setting. i thought she’d win, frankly but am happy to see the bandana’d one prevail, he worked like mad and didn’t make anyone terribly upset…always was ready to take the fall and behaved like a gentleman….surprisingly to most of us who think…thought of him a philanderer. i wish both of their families good health.
I beg to differ on you saying she was solid from day one. She was the Project Manager 3 times. She only won once out of the three which evidentally shows she’s not much of a winner. I do however think both deserved the end cash and it’s great that both got money. Also, for Holly’s great cash victory when she did win, it was primarily based on her calling a bunch of friends demanding them to donate. I mean, if that’s what it takes, so be it. I just didn’t care for her too much. She struck me as a bit ignorant. Bret on the other hand was much more fun and he truly did go on a limb from day one. I’m very proud of Bret. Congratulations Bret!
I think they’re both winners as far as their charities go, but I think Brett’s attitude and management style were much more positive and uniting than Holly. I can’t imagine working with someone like Holly, who seemed to micromanage and not really allow her team to have input, and when she did, took credit, and she was ready to pull anyone under when she had to, except for her bff.
Brett won because he played hard, and played with dignity.
well said smile…i almost forgot about the summer love affair…
well said,Holly is true winner
If the objective was to raise the most money, why did Joan Rivers win last season?