The Apprentice, season 11

Candidates

The candidates were divided into two teams, males versus females. The women named their team A.S.A.P., an acronym for Artists, Singers, Authors, and Professionals for a Purpose. The men named their team Backbone.

Weekly results

The contestant on the losing team.

The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant was on the losing team and brought to the final boardroom.

The contestant was fired.

The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.

The contestant withdrew from the show.

The contestant did not participate in the task.

The contestant winner of the competition.

Episodes

Episode 1: Pepperoni Profit

Task 1

Air date: March 6, 2011

Task scope: To sell pizzas and earn as much money as possible.

Backbone project manager: Richard Hatch

A.S.A.P. project manager: Star Jones

Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Dramatic tension: On Backbone, Jose Canseco was put off by Richard Hatch's leadership, and when Richard felt that David Cassidy was being a distraction, he practically pushed him out of the way at one point. Richard eventually apologized for the incident, even though he touched David more than once. On A.S.A.P., Star Jones and Lisa Rinna did not get along, and Dionne Warwick was slow while she was manning the register. Lisa and Marlee Matlin struggled making all the deliveries that Star had made due to New York City traffic, and they were not able to make a $35,000 delivery that was personally arranged by Curtis Stone. In the boardroom, Star blamed Lisa for not making Stone's delivery, and called Lisa a "little girl". Also, Jose spoke out against Richard, calling him a liar and a bully, and claiming that Richard struck David.

Winning team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for win: Although they didn't make the $35,000 delivery from Curtis Stone, they earned $115,268 regardless, and had many celebrity donors.

Losing team: Backbone

Reasons for loss: Although they had received celebrity donors from Richard Hatch, Lil Jon, John Rich, Mark McGrath, and Meat Loaf, the men only earned $54,104 and lost by $61,164. Jose Canseco and Gary Busey failed to bring in any donations at all, while David Cassidy only brought in a single, small donation from his daughter Katie.

Sent to boardroom: Richard Hatch, David Cassidy, and Jose Canseco

Episode 2: Child's Play

Task 2

Airdate: March 13, 2011

Task scope: Create a children's book and perform it to a group consisting of four to five year olds. The story must also revolve around at least one team member. The teams will be judged based on three criteria: originality, age appropriateness, and creativity.

Backbone project manager: Meat Loaf

A.S.A.P. project manager: Lisa Rinna

Result: A.S.A.P came up with a story revolving around La Toya Jackson about a lion who couldn't roar. Backbone came up with a story based on Lil Jon about him becoming a superhero.

Judges: Donald Trump; Eric Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Dramatic tension: Lisa Rinna lost control of her team early on and struggled to maintain any sort of harmony, which eventually culminated in Star Jones openly ridiculing Lisa's leadership just before their performance. Dionne Warwick caused additional friction by behaving in a condescending manner toward Marlee Matlin throughout the task, and instead of speaking directly to Marlee insisted on talking to her through her assistant Jack Jason, which infuriated her. There was also a major argument over who would be credited as the author, with Lisa wanting it to be credited to "Team A.S.A.P." and Star and Dionne feeling that they were the only ones deserving of credit (despite the original concept for the book actually having come from Hope Dworaczyk). On Backbone, Jose Canseco argued with John Rich over the details of the team's book, and then got into an argument with Meat Loaf after Jose and Gary Busey got lost on their way to the venue (though Meat Loaf mistakenly sent them to the wrong address.)

Winning team: Backbone

Reasons for win: John Rich and Mark McGrath were able to effectively organize their book and performance, and despite criticism for Jose Canseco's wooden performance in the stage play and Meat Loaf's failure to actually show the book to the audience, guest judge Holly Robinson Peete thought their concept was very original, age appropriate and entertaining.

Episode 3: Unhappy Campers

Task 3

Airdate: March 20, 2011

Task scope: The celebrities must create an outdoor camping experience.

Task sponsor: Camping World

Backbone project manager: Gary Busey

A.S.A.P. project manager: Niki Taylor

Result: The men selected the two bigger tour buses, while the women picked two RVs that were more family oriented.

Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Dramatic tension: Both teams suffered from leadership troubles during the task. Niki Taylor proved indecisive and was hampered by her admitted lack of knowledge about RVs, resulting in Star Jones and La Toya Jackson taking over most of the creative decisions. On Backbone, Gary Busey did not even seem focused on the task at hand and spent most of the day playing baseball with Jose Canseco, resulting in the other men sharing out the workload among themselves.

Winning team: Backbone

Reasons for win: While their interiors paled in comparison to A.S.A.P.'s, they had dynamic exteriors along with team members such as John Rich (who sang a song) and Jose Canseco (who tossed around a baseball with onlookers) contributing to the presentation. Overall, they showcased the company's image and a more outdoor camping experience better than A.S.A.P. did.

Losing team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for loss: Despite terrific interiors for the campers, their exteriors were bland due to an absence of greenery and signage. Their tours were also badly organized and they did not properly explain the features of the campers.

Episode 4: Off the Hook

Task 4

Airdate: March 27, 2011

Task scope: To produce a commercial for ACN's new video phone, the IRIS 5000.

Task sponsor: ACN Inc.

Backbone project manager: Lil Jon

A.S.A.P. project manager: NeNe Leakes

Result: Backbone made a humorous commercial involving an older couple on Christmas talking to their son and his gay lover, while A.S.A.P. made a heartfelt video of a girl in Paris communicating with her father and deaf mother.

Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Dramatic tension: Dionne Warwick and Gary Busey continued to cause problems for their respective teams; Gary by lacking consistent focus and then inadvertently exposing himself during filming of Backbone's advert, and Dionne by repeatedly complaining about A.S.A.P.'s concept, then refusing to attend the team's editing session, claiming that she was too tired to do so.

Winning team: Backbone

Reasons for win: Although the men took a comedic approach to their video and ran with a more risque concept, they earned 53% of the vote of the ACN representatives.

Losing team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for loss: While the women had a more heartwarming commercial, they had earned only 47% of the vote of the ACN representatives, losing by a 6% deficit.

Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom – Dionne Warwick took offense to the criticisms that NeNe Leakes and Hope Dworaczyk made about her work ethic and essentially volunteered to be fired. After some further discussion, Dionne retracted her remarks, but Trump told her that it was too late to do so.

Episode 5: The Art of the Deal

Task 5

Airdate: April 3, 2011

Task scope: Celebrities must create their own work(s) of art and sell them for charity.

Backbone project manager: John Rich

A.S.A.P. project manager: Marlee Matlin

Judges: Donald Trump; George H. Ross; Donald Trump Jr.

Quit: Jose Canseco - Shortly after the task began, Jose was informed that the health of his father Jose Sr., who was battling cancer, had significantly deteriorated, and that he was on the verge of death. After briefly meeting with Trump in the boardroom to confirm his departure, Jose left the show. Given the reason to his quitting, Trump gave Jose $25,000 for his charity. This was an Apprentice first, as Trump usually despises "quitters."

Dramatic tension: Early in the day Meat Loaf exploded at Gary Busey, under the mistaken assumption that Gary had stolen his art supplies. John Rich eventually managed to defuse the situation and found the lost supplies, and Meat Loaf gave a heartfelt apology to Gary later on in the task.

Winning team: A.S.A.P

Reasons for win: Despite setting up the gallery 5 minutes prior to opening, the team raised a total of $986,000. Every member of the team brought in huge amounts of money, with Marlee Matlin, Star Jones and La Toya Jackson in particular doing well, and even their lowest contributor, NeNe Leakes bringing in over $40,000.

Losing team: Backbone

Reasons for loss: They raised over $626,000, but ended up losing by $360,000. Despite an overall strong effort, Backbone were simply outperformed massively by A.S.A.P., and in fact only even came as close to the women as they did because of a $470,000 donation from one of John Rich's contacts (their total without this donation would have been around $156,000). Richard Hatch and Gary Busey also brought in rather small amounts compared to the rest of the team.

Episode 6: Australian Gold

Task 6

Airdate: April 10, 2011

Task scope: The celebrities must promote a promotional display for the Australian Gold suntan lotion

Task sponsor: Australian Gold

Backbone project manager: Mark McGrath

A.S.A.P. project manager: La Toya Jackson

Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Winning team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for win: Even though the executives thought the team did not utilize their team as well as they could have (specifically not having Hope Dworaczyk as their model, which would better promote the product and draw a larger crowd), they liked the integration of different sports and seasonal themes, along with the company theme ("live the gold life") and their live mascot, Sydney the Koala.

Losing team: Backbone

Reasons for loss: Despite liking a song that the men created, and the draw of crowds to their booth, executives felt that the main theme and their brand of the company were not communicated well enough. The executives did not like their themes of pirate and treasure and also disliked the fact that Gary Busey offered to be a pitchman for the company when they visited the booth, which they felt was inappropriate.

Sent to boardroom: Mark McGrath & Gary Busey

Fired: Mark McGrath – for taking full responsibility for the pirate concept, which primarily caused the team to lose. Although the team unanimously felt that Gary should be fired, Mark could not defend himself enough to reverse his actions and save himself.

Episode 7: Raising the Steaks

Task 7

Airdate: April 17, 2011

Task scope: The celebrities must create a 20-minute live cooking demonstration for Omaha Steaks at The Institute of Culinary Education. They were additionally tasked with creating and naming an original Omaha Steaks variety pack.

Task sponsor: Omaha Steaks

Backbone project manager: Gary Busey

A.S.A.P. project manager: Hope Dworaczyk

Judges: Donald Trump; Ivanka Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Winning team: A.S.A.P

Reasons for win: The executives felt the women's presentation was much more cohesive and that their "Poker Night" variety pack was well done.

Losing Team: Backbone

Reason for loss: The executives much preferred the women's presentation, even though the men had a solid theme for the cooking demonstration and had actually cooked their meals live on stage (unlike the women.) The executives also felt that Gary's story regarding a family on Father's Day had been rambling and incomprehensible. They also felt that their "Variety Pack" lacked focus, and they didn't like having the audience members come up to actually eat the meals.

Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom – while Gary Busey had argued with the other men (particularly John Rich) several times during the task, he said that none of them deserved to come back to the boardroom and took full responsibility for the loss.

Fired: Gary Busey – for his very poor performance as a project manager and for his inability to function well with his teammates.

Episode 8: Bitter Suites

Task 8

Airdate: April 24, 2011

Task scope: The teams must create a four-page pictorial and an advertising campaign for the Trump Hotel Collection.

Task sponsor: Trump Hotel

Backbone project manager: John Rich

A.S.A.P. project manager: Star Jones

Judges: Donald Trump; Eric Trump; Donald Trump Jr.

Dramatic tension: The executives from the Trump Hotel Collection disliked both pictorials and their ad campaigns. They felt both teams did a mediocre job and didn't think there was a winner amongst both teams. It was up to Trump's decision as to which team had "lost", and who had a better presentation and sales pitch.

Winning team: Backbone

Reasons for win: Despite the fact that they had a lousy ad with various typos and did not even include contact information or a phone number for Trump Hotel, the men's team had a better sales pitch and a smaller list of errors.

Losing team: A.S.A.P.

Reason for loss: The executives felt that their presentation was too rehearsed. In addition, the women had an information folder that had multiple flaws with their graphics.

Sent to boardroom: Star Jones, La Toya Jackson, and NeNe Leakes

Fired: La Toya Jackson – though Trump did not feel she performed significantly better or worse on the task than the other team members, he took into account that the sense among the women was that La Toya was their overall weakest link and felt firing her would give A.S.A.P. a more fair chance to compete against Backbone.

Episode 9: Shear Madness

Task 9

Airdate: May 1, 2011

Task scope: The teams must each produce a hair show promoting hair styling products produced by Farouk Systems, including CHI hair straighteners and BioSilk hair products, emphasizing the safety of the products and the fact that they are made in America.

Task sponsor: Farouk Systems

Backbone project manager: Lil Jon

A.S.A.P. project manager: NeNe Leakes

Judges: Donald Trump; Eric Trump; Ivanka Trump

Dramatic tension: Prior to the task, NeNe Leakes had a massive argument with Star Jones in front of Trump and Farouk, because NeNe felt Star had pushed her into becoming the Project Manager. Star attempted to explain that she did this because NeNe was the only remaining contestant who had not won any money for their charity, but NeNe felt Star was trying to set her up for failure, claiming Star picks the project manager every single week. This continued into the boardroom, where NeNe repeatedly and viciously attacked Star's reputation and personality. NeNe also repeatedly insulted Hope Dworaczyk during her initial outburst, accusing her of contributing nothing to the team and being Star's "puppet."

Winning team: Backbone

Reasons for win: Farouk loved the men's focus on the brand and their cosmopolitan theme. Although he felt that they didn't address the safety of the products well enough, Farouk enjoyed having Lil Jon as the MC.

Losing team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for loss: While the women did focus on the safety of the products and Farouk loved the representation of the products and having Marlee Matlin as their model, he felt that the women's team did not have much of a theme. Farouk also felt that NeNe was a weak emcee who did not address the brand well and he was not impressed with Hope Dworaczyk's modeling. Despite praise for their stylists, Farouk also believed that they were the ones running the show, and not the women of A.S.A.P.

Episode 10: Laugh On

Airdate: May 8, 2011

Task 10

Task scope: Produce and sell tickets to a Live Comedy Event.

Corporate shuffle: Prior to the task announcement, Star Jones told Trump that she was no longer willing to work with NeNe Leakes due to the massive arguments they had in the two previous tasks. Trump therefore moved NeNe over to Backbone, and sent Meat Loaf to fill her place on A.S.A.P.

Backbone project manager: La Toya Jackson

A.S.A.P. project manager: Meat Loaf

Judges: Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jim Cramer

Quit: NeNe Leakes - She failed to show up to Backbone's initial team meeting, and refused to answer repeated calls from Lil Jon. When Trump eventually got in contact with NeNe, she angrily accused him of bias toward Star Jones, and that he had "accommodated" Star by moving NeNe onto Backbone. Despite Trump trying to persuade her to stay, she contacted Backbone separately and confirmed that she would not return to the show.

Winning team: A.S.A.P.

Reasons for win: Star Jones was able to secure a video cameo by Tracy Morgan, and all the team members were able to bring in large donations. A.S.A.P. raised $102,080.

Losing team: Backbone

Reasons for loss: While Backbone were able to secure the services of Jimmy Fallon, and actually had him host the show rather than just making a cameo, only John Rich and Lil Jon brought in any donors. NeNe Leakes quit the show at the start of the task, and while La Toya Jackson organized their comedy event well, she wasn't able to secure any donations. Backbone raised $82,500

Sent to the boardroom: No final boardroom; La Toya Jackson half-heartedly tried to persuade Trump not to fire anyone due to NeNe Leakes having quit the team at the start of the episode, but Trump refused the suggestion, pointing out that Backbone still had as many members as A.S.A.P. did after she quit. La Toya then took full responsibility for the loss, leading to Trump firing her.

Episode 11: Retro Rumble

Task 12

Airdate: May 15, 2011

Task scope: Individual interviews with the past winners of The Celebrity Apprentice, who will later advise Donald Trump on who should advance to the final two.

Interviewers: Piers Morgan, Joan Rivers, Bret Michaels

Fired:

Lil Jon - for demonstrating a lack of self-belief by admitting that he did not think he would make it to this final stage at the start of the process.

Meat Loaf – for his overly emotional nature & being unable to control his emotions which Trump and the interviewers did not see as being appropriate for the business world.

Finalists: Marlee Matlin & John Rich

Task 13

Task scope: The final two, with teams of three previously fired candidates to help, each finalist must produce a launch campaign for 7UP Retro, design a new can, produce a 30-second commercial, create an editorial, and present the entire campaign at a gala.

John's Team: Lil Jon, Star Jones, Mark McGrath

Marlee's Team: Meat Loaf, La Toya Jackson, Richard Hatch

Notes:

This is a two-part episode. The first part are the interviews, where the final four celebrities will be whittled down to just two finalists. The second part will be aired live where the winner will be chosen on live television by Donald Trump.

7UP thought that both contestants were considered winners so before the task started, 7UP gave both Marlee Matlin and John Rich $50,000 for each of their charities.

Episode 12: Sweet Victory (Season Finale)

Airdate: May 22, 2011

Prologue: This is a continuation of the previous episode, Retro Rumble, which is interspersed with commentary by Trump from the telecast of the live finale. The Celebrity Apprentice will be crowned live at the end of the episode. Also Don Jr. made the comment to John Rich about the Stetson hat that John gave to Trump.

Tension: Marlee's team is frustrated because in addition to her lack of leadership, their celebrity Geoffrey Holder may not appear to film the commercial due to contractual issues. On the other hand, John Rich may have sabotaged himself because he announces the beginning of the Def Leppard concert before they are ready to appear.

The Celebrity Apprentice: John Rich – For his very strong track record throughout the season, his quick thinking in salvaging the concert after the Def Leppard mishap, and for having made up what looked like an insurmountable gap to Marlee Matlin's total at the start of the task.

Runner Up: Marlee Matlin – While Trump said that she would have easily won any previous season of the show, he deemed her to simply not have done as strong of a job as John Rich on this task. Marlee also didn't help her cause by failing to carry out any fundraising on the task, with Trump strongly implying that had she raised any appreciable amount of funds, she would have won.

Notes:

John Rich decided to carry out additional fundraising at his event, and earned approximately $300,000 more for his charity, bringing his total before being awarded the final prize to $1,036,908, which put him just $13,092 behind Marlee Matlin. In contrast, Marlee focused solely on running her event and didn't raise any additional money. In the live finale Marlee attempted to argue that the extra money raised by John should be disallowed, since the two finalists were never told to raise money, but John countered by pointing out that fundraising had been a part of all three prior Celebrity Apprentice finales, and Trump added that he never told either of them not to raise funds.