The Celebrity Apprentice Season Premiere Recap – [Spoiler] Eliminated: Season 14 Episode 1

Tonight my favorite NBC show The Celebrity Apprentice returns with a whole new Sunday January 4, season 14 premiere episode called, “May the Gods of Good Pies Be With Us!.” On tonight’s show Season 14 opens with 16 celebrities enlisted to create and sell pies in a competition for charity. Ivanka Trump and Piers Morgan are the boardroom advisers.

For those of you who are new to the show, The Celebrity Apprentice is an American reality game show series. It is a spin-off of The Apprentice series, like which it is hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump. Also like its precursor, the show’s opening theme song is “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays. Unlike its precursor, however, Celebrity Apprentice consists of famous persons as the competing apprentices as opposed to unknowns. Some of the celebrities are relatively current while others tend to be those who have been out of the public eye for some time. All of them are competing to win money for a charitable organization of their choice. The celebrities come from a wide variety of different fields in the media: sitcoms, professional sports, music industry, reality television, radio, and other backgrounds.

On tonight’s show as per the NBC synopsis, “Donald Trump tasks sixteen new celebrities to create and sell pies in a fundraising competition for charity. While the men’s Project Manager focuses on fundraising and neglects the team’s pie-making needs, some of the women’s team complains about their Project Manager to Boardroom Advisor Piers Morgan. One team will win it all, and in the end, the first celebrity will hear Trump’s feared words: “You’re Fired!” Featuring special guest Buddy Valastro (“Cake Boss”). Boardroom Advisors: Ivanka Trump and Piers Morgan.”

The show airs tonight at 9PM and you do not want to miss all the drama, cat fights and bitching; you also do not want to miss seeing who is fired. So don’t forget to come back to this spot for our live recap of the Celebrity Apprentice Season 14 premiere. While you wait for our recap let us know how excited you are for this season of The Apprentice.

Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!

It’s time for #CelebApprentice. Trump greets us and says this season will be bigger and better than ever. On the men’s team is Geraldo Rivera, Johnny Damon, Ian Ziering, Kevin Jonas, Terrell Owens, Sig Hansen, Gilbert Gottfried and Lorenzo Lamas. On the women’s team it’s Vivica Fox, Shawn Johnson, Kate Gosselin, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Brandi Glanville, Jamie Andersen, Kenya Moore and Leeza Gibbons. Trump says they’ve raised $13 million for charity over 10 years.

He welcomes them all to Rockefeller Center and says it’s the home of NBC. Gilbert asks why they’re outside in the freezing cold. Trump says it’ll be men versus women and says they need to choose a team name and project manager. He says the first challenge is in the restaurant business. He says they’ll be creating and selling celebrity pies. He says the Cake Boss will pick the best pie which will add on a bonus. He says Ivanka and Piers Morgan will judge.

Gilbert asks again if they can go inside. Trump says they don’t want to be the first one fired and singles out Geraldo with this threat. The women head inside and Keshia suggest Trojan Horse but Brandi says condoms. One says Infinity. Brandi suggests Team Gold since they have two gold medalists. Kenya likes infinity. Brandi says she and Kenya have a negative history and hopes she can leave the Bravo drama behind. It’s down to Infinity and Gold and then it’s Infinity. Kenya says she creates catchphrases.

Over with the men, they talk about all the alpha females and wonder if they’re going to call it Team Hormone. Johnny says a new team is nothing for him. Geraldo suggests Vortex and Gilbert says Gilbert’s Warriors. Someone else says Velocity. Geraldo keeps pushing and Lorenzo says why don’t they just call it Geraldo. Ian says Geraldo is just used to getting his way. Kevin doesn’t like it and says it needs a more business name. They all finally cave and go with Vortex.

Next is project manager discussion. Keshia says she can do it and Vivica seconds her and she’s it for the ladies. She says her camp is Kamp Kizzy about girl’s empowerment. Shawn says she can handle all the social media for all of them and Brandi will help. Piers shows up (hate him!!) and he shakes hands. Vivica says she’s seen him on screen but says he left her star struck. Piers asks who’s PM and asks Keshia how she’s feeling. He tells her if she loses, she could be first out. He tells her to watch out for women stabbing her in the back and says to make sure responsibilities are clear.

Keshia says they’re using social media to get people there. Piers says it won’t win the task and says it’s about money. He says to bring in high rollers to buy pies for high prices. Piers says PM on the first task is a huge risk. He tells her to remember the money and to delegate properly. The men talk about PM and They tell Geraldo he should do it first. Ian asks if Geraldo has the contacts to raise the money. They agree. Geraldo says his charity is Life’s Work which helps autistic and handicapped people. He’s very confident. Ivanka shows up and Sig says she’s a lot like her dad. Geraldo says he’s PM.

Ivanka says the men’s team seems to be pretty harmonious. Ivanka says he’s either optimistic or naïve and says she wonders how long it will continue. Geraldo talks up his team and Ian corrects his mispronunciation of his name. Ivanka says she loved him on 90210. She says she’s going to pummel him with questions about Dylan and Brenda. Geraldo asks Kevin to take on social media and he agrees. Geraldo asks all of them to use their contacts. Kevin says Geraldo is used to being the alpha male and isn’t sure how he’s going to deal with this.

The guys head to the pie place and they talk to the cooks. Geraldo wants to have another meeting while Kevin wants to head to the kitchen to bake. He asks if everyone has done their Facebook and Instagram. Kevin says social media is not a weakness for him. Geraldo says he’s going to make calls for money and Kevin says they need to get baking. Geraldo is going way too slow for him and he’s ready to interrupt but holds back. He thinks he’s wasting a bunch of time. The women talk flavor for their two pies – savory and sweet. They want to go for the best tasting pie bonus.

Jamie suggests pear and blueberry. Then they think about a taco pie. Keshia says they can use her enchilada recipe. Kate questions and says she likes the taco pie name. Brandi just wants to move on and get to work. She says Kate loves the sound of her own voice. Brandi speaks up and says it’s a time waster. They start baking. Kate says she and Jamie are baking even though Keshia hasn’t delegated. Kate says she cooks three meals a day for nine people and so baking a huge quantity of baked goods is no challenge for her.

The guys are working on signage and it looks like crap. Geraldo is making calls for money. Ian says Gilbert is looking for entertainment and he and Terrell are doing signage. The others are in the kitchen. Kevin is making icebox cake from his wife’s recipe. Lorenzo is making chicken pot pie for the savory. Lorenzo says he’s contributing in other ways since he can’t make a lot of money. Sig says he knows nothing about pies but will try his best. The oven is beeping and there’s smoke. Sig has to toss a bunch of crusts he burned. Lorenzo says they mismanaged the time. Kevin says they ruined 600 pies.

Jamie says she hasn’t made a ton of pies and says they aren’t using a recipe so it’s an issue. Kate says the flavor is good. Kate is spooning out filling and Kate says it smells great. They will top it with cheese before they toss it in. Kate says the pressure is on to make them taste great and be a huge quantity. The ladies are also working on checks that are being FedEx’d as well as to get people to come in. Leeza Gibbons is working the phones hard. Keshia calls a bunch of her contacts as well. She is working on getting big checks.

Gilbert tells Geraldo he was trying to get comics to stop by and he says he knows everyone is wondering if he’s going to screw up. Gilbert has a carnival guy that can stand outside and swallow fire to attract people. He also has a Howard Stern look a like. Geraldo groans. TO loves the guy and says he likes him best of all of them. Gilbert next goes to help with the pies. He starts filling them in. They are making pies that look like Geraldo’s mustache. He says this job is right up to his intellect. Kevin compliments his wife.

Brandi says she tweeted and wants everyone to use the same verbiage. Shawn says she’ll send them a pig stitch is for them all to copy. Jamie calls everyone over to help with the pies. She says they need to come help with the pies and let social media take a break. Brandi says the Jonas brothers have a ton of Twitter followers and they’re worried. They all pitch in for the baking. Keshia says it’s controlled chaos and they finally got them all done. Then they’re back to social media and they agree to interact with their followers. Kenya thinks the focus should be on big donors. She says Keshia isn’t working the money angle hard enough.

The guys finish up their pies and Kevin says Geraldo never came down to check on the pies at all. He says he’s kind of mismanaging. Geraldo says he doesn’t have anyone locked in yet and is feeling the pressure. He says he’s used to waking to a fight from being a war correspondent. Next morning, Keshia goes over the war plan with the women on the van ride over. She says they need to start cooking and work the social media to get money. Kenya wants to know why Keshia didn’t call Cosby (this taped before all the rape accusations).

Keshia says he’s not in the city and Kenya says he could send someone in his place. Keshia says she reached out to people that could deliver the quickest. Geraldo is back on the phone making calls. He’s looking for balloons and money. They have signs and leaflets and unroll a poster. Kevin says the photo is just mostly Geraldo’s face. Gilbert and the others work the streets handing out pamphlets. There’s a line and the celebs pose for photos with the fans that are waiting. Sig says Johnny could be serving saltwater and ladies would line up.

Gilbert says he missed his calling and should have worked in a pie factory. Kevin says he’s funny but isn’t sure how much money he’ll raise. Kevin says Geraldo is very submissive of Gilbert. He says he told Gilbert to supervise the balloons and he goes to do and turns it into a shtick. Kevin says he made it fun but didn’t like the way Geraldo treated him. Keshia tells the women to quit talking and make pies. Kenya says Keshia hasn’t giving her anything to do. Jamie says they girls are frustrated. Kenya says Keshia is micromanaging without consulting them and it’s 15 minutes before opening.

Kate thinks she’s all over the place and says a good delegator finds someone’s strength, assigns it and walks away but says Keshia wants her hand in every pie. Shawn thinks Keshia isn’t doing very well. It’s time to open and Keshia thanks all the ladies. She’s happy to see a line outside. The guys open as well. Gilbert is serving hot coffee to the people waiting. Geraldo opens the doors and there’s a huge crowd. He announces $10k from Bill O’Reilly. Then next is $20k. Sean Hannity brings in $10k. There’s a ton of young women there for Kevin. Sig is joking around chanting his name and asking silly.

Sig says it’s amazing how a couple of buttons on your phone could turn up that many girls. Geraldo tells them to quit schmoozing and take the money but the girls want to see Kevin. The women are selling pies and some are greeters, some are selling and some are taking cash. Vivica is taking money. Keshia then comes over and starts taking over the money. Keshia is happy with all the people giving $20-$150. Then some big checks start coming in for $5-$10k. Vivica is happy to see the money rolling in. Maria Menounos shows up to give a big check. Leeza is glad to see her.

Kate is chatting with customers and Brandi is annoyed she’s not hustling. Gilbert has Joe Piscopo and a turn of other people there. Gilbert jokes and says it’s not a charity – he’s actually working in a pie store. Kenya takes a pie in the face for charity and she puts it in Brandi’s who chases her down and returns the favor. They laugh and agree it was for charity. Kenya loved hitting her in the face. The Cake Boss, Buddy, shows up to taste the pies. He’s with the guys. He tries the savory pie and says it needs more salt. He tries the sweet and says the crust is overbaked.

Then he heads to the girls’ shop. He tastes the enchilada pie first and says it had too much flavor is the filling. He tries the pear blueberry pie and says they nailed it. He says it was a unique idea and they nailed it. Kate says she has a good sized check on the way and has fingers crossed is will make it there. They have to lock the doors at 2:30 and are making last minute calls in a panic. Jamie says she wishes she had more rich friends. Piers shows up and asks how the money is going. Piers asks if they remembered his advice that it’s all about the money.

He says the pie shop seems to be chaotic, there’s no one clearly in charge and seems to not have a lot of money coming in. Kenya and Shawn tell him that things haven’t been really clear and they keep getting switched around. Over with the guys, Sig landed a check for $5k from Hooters. Ian says it’s like working in the Peach Pit from 90210. Piers comes in to check them out next. A friend of Kevin’s shows up with $15k. Piers asks why Geraldo has so many photos of himself on the sign. He’s much more impressed with the men’s shop and says they are clearly raking money in.

Piers asks how the team is doing on money and he says only Lorenzo hasn’t brought in individual money. Kevin says Lorenzo worked so hard and he feels really bad for him. The ladies are getting in some more checks. Keshia is making a desperate last minute call – she has two big checks that may not make it. She’s also counting on the bonus. Kate is upset because her friend didn’t make it there so she also didn’t raise any individual money. Both teams head into the board room to face the music and Trump.

Trump greets them and asks Geraldo how he thinks he did. He says he did. Keshia says she thinks they worked well together and had a good turn out. She says she hopes they won but they did their best and have a good chance. Trump says it’s always hard to fire on the first night. He says it’s hard. He tells Geraldo he’ll never live it down if he has to fire him. He asks Keshia who the star of the team was and she says it was Leeza for fund raising and she says Jamie, Kate and Shawn did a job with the actual pie making and says it was a group effort.

Shawn says it was a great experience and says she did her jobs and duties but overall there was some chaos. Trump asks if she thinks the won. Shawn says she doesn’t think the won. She says they did well as a team working but says there are a lot of guys in the men’s team that brought in more money. She says they probably had better access to fund raising. Vivica says Shawn is entitled to her opinion and says the ladies worked very hard. Piers says he knows the tasks are very grueling and says team work is fine but you have to be cunning, ruthless and focus on money.

He says that’s how you win against a guy like Geraldo. Trump asks Kenya who was the weakest player and she says Keshia. She says it’s about fund raising and says there were not clear directives on the time lines and says they have to have the most money raised. Shawn says they fell into a strategy where they were more focused on taste than fund raising. Trump goes to Geraldo and he says he thinks he won because they are Team Vortex which is a powerful name for a powerful team. Gilbert says he thinks he did a great job unless Trump says he didn’t.

Gilbert says he’s not sure about Geraldo’s Puerto Rican side but loves his Jewish side 100%. Geraldo says he loves Gilbert and says he got celebrities there with checks and says it’s easy to underestimate him. Ivanka asks Geraldo how he felt about taking on the first PM role. He says after they took on the name he wanted, it was easy. Geraldo says he’s a confident person by nature. He says they can check person by person and Ivanka tells him – come on. He says he doesn’t know how Ian and Lorenzo raised. Ian says he brought in $7-$9k. Lorenzo says he brought in less than what Ian raised.

Ivanka says the number she has is $100. He says he had people that came in to see him that also donated. Trump says he doesn’t consider $100 raising money. Piers asks Geraldo if that makes him think they’re holding back for their own task. Geraldo says he doesn’t think Lorenzo has access to a large amount of money. Trump says he’s known a lot of women and Lorenzo says they’ve taken all his money. TO says he raised about $900. Geraldo says the first person fired should be the one who raised the least, not the PM. He says just in terms of math it goes Lorenzo then Ian.

Trump asks if he raised more or less than Terrell. Ian says he raised more than TO. Kevin says it’s interesting that Geraldo didn’t come to the treasurer to know how much money was raised. Geraldo says he knows about how much. Ivanka speaks up and says it was Lorenzo and TO that were lowest. Ivanka says no one knows how much the taste bonus was. Toshiba is offering a $25k bonus. Ivanka says the Cake Boss liked the lo-cal pie of the men’s. He says the sweet pie crust was burnt. Trump takes him to task on that.

Piers says the Cake Boss said they missed the mark with the savory pie but nailed the sweet pie. Trump says Buddy Valasto chose the women’s team so they get the $25k taste bonus. Piers asks about who made the sweet pie recipe. They say it was Jamie. Piers says they need to take that into account if they lose. Trump asks Shawn if she thinks that $25k will make the difference. She says she was watching social media and thought the guys could have $100k right off the bat that they couldn’t match. Piers asks Keshia and her social media strategy. He says the total of them all together is 2.2 million followers while Kevin has double that alone.

Keshia says they didn’t solely rely on social media. She says she expected everyone to reach out to their people. He asks Keshia if she asked each one how much they could bring in before they hit the pie shop. She says she took a more grass roots approach. Piers interrupts and says when he hears “grass roots” rather than “big trees” that’s a problem. Piers says the women raised $68k plus the $25k for a total of $93,862. Trump tells them good job.

Ivanka says the men $185,322. That means the women lost it and together that gives Geraldo $283k for his charity. He says his charity is Life’s Work that gives people with developmental issues that would otherwise be on the street or in institutions a place to live. Trump tells the men to go upstairs and watch and says it won’t be pretty. He tells Keshia and the girls to stay put and says someone will be fired. The guys are upstairs toasting their success. They turn the TV on to watch the women in the board room. Keshia says she knew Geraldo could pull in a lot of money.

Ivanka asks who didn’t step up to the plate economically. Keshia says it was a fund raise and several that didn’t get their checks there. She says Jamie, Kate and Shawn didn’t have substantial checks. Kate says she didn’t raise anything but says she shouldn’t be fired. She says she knew it was a money raising challenge. She says she reached out to everyone she knew but her big check got snowed out. Piers tells her she better throw someone under the bus to save her butt. She says hard work is the other part of it and says it wasn’t any easy task but says Keshia had good intentions.

She says she was never given a task and says Keshia wanted everything to go well. She says you should find people’s strengths and delegate then walk away. She says people felt that work was being undone and then there was a 10 minute lecture before they opened about a cracked pie. Keshia says it was one remark not a 10 minute lecture. Keshia says she was clear with everyone. Leeza says she ate the pie. Brandi says Kate was lazy and stood around talking while the rest of them worked. She says she asked her to go outside and bring people in. Brandi says she went out and dragged people in.

Piers says he didn’t see Kate being lazy. Piers tells Keshia that it was chaotic and the team didn’t seem clear on what they should be doing. Geraldo watches and says this is intense – he says he doesn’t think he has the body armor for this. Ivanka asks Vivica if they could have won. Vivica says that’s hard and says she was proud of Keshia and says she put her best foot forward. Kate says she agrees. Vivica says they all worked hard. Kenya says she thinks Keshia held back because she didn’t call Cosby for a contribution. She says she specifically asked her why she didn’t call her.

Trump says he knows some people don’t have access to a bunch of rich people. Kenya says they’re on the fun hustling money and she was trying to catch a while and doesn’t get it. Trump asks if she called Bill. She says she hasn’t talked to him on the phone in years. She says it’s not her place to do since she only sees him at Cosby events. Geraldo says if you were married to Kenya you’d have to sleep with one eye open. Trump says calling him could win the task. Leeza defends Keshia and says she was calling resources. Piers says she was elected to be PM and yet raised a very small amount.

Vivica defends the whole team and Piers asks if the energy was directed in the right way – he thinks it was not and should have been specifically on fund raising and clearly told them that. Keshia says they worked as a team to make sure everything came out. Ivanka asks how much she raised and she says at least $7k. Ivanka asks her if it was naïve to go into a fund raising task with only that small amount in the well. Keshia says she had other checks that didn’t make it.

Keshia says she thought she could have raised about $30k and says she has tenacity and work ethic. Trump says she has nothing to be ashamed of. He tells her to pick two people to come back into the board room with her. She says Jamie and Kate. Trump tells Geraldo to turn off the TV. Trump tells them all there are no losers there and says they did a good job. He then asks why she brought Jamie in when she essentially won them $25k. Keshia says because she brought in very little during the fund raising. She admits she did a great job with the pies.

She says the $25k was from a group effort. She says she was taste testing and helping. Piers asks how much could be attributed to Jamie and she says $5k. Trump says that’s surprising. Trump asks Jamie what she thinks and she says she took initiative and worked hard on the pie. Trump asks if he should fire Kate or Keshia. She says to flip a coin and says she’s too nice and doesn’t want anyone to go. Piers says she has to crush competitors in the Olympics and Jamie says her competitors inspire her. Keshia says it’s not her intent to throw Jamie under the bus.

Trump tells Keshia there are other people she could have brought back. Kate says she wouldn’t have brought in Jamie and says Keshia should be fired for mismanaging. She says Keshia wasn’t assigning roles even when they ask for guidance. Ivanka says that sounds like you have to be told what to do. Kate says there are strong personalities and they all stepped up. Kate says if she comes up with a plan and if it doesn’t succeed, it’s on her. Keshia says she worked hard and it’s go big or go home. Piers says she didn’t go big. Piers asks if she accepts responsibility and says checks that don’t show up don’t count.

Piers tells Keshia she failed in fund raising. Keshia brings up that Kate’s $10k check didn’t arrive and Kate says that’s why she didn’t mention it. Ivanka tells Keshia that by her bringing these women in, she made it all about money but she herself failed money wise. Keshia brings up her charity and Trump says she’s a great woman and has had a great showing. He asks about her charity then says he’s giving her $25k for her charity out of his own wallet. He says she should have called Cosby and says he would have helped. He says she has to take responsibility and says she’s fired.

Piers says it was the right decision and says it was suicide for her to bring in just $8k. Ivanka agrees and says Keshia will do great things but not here. Keshia goes down the elevator and gets in the car. Keshia says she can’t believe she was sent home when the others raised nothing. She says to tune into the Today Show to hear more about her side of the story and Kamp Kizzy.

THE END!