Filed under: Professional Profiles, News
From TheGrio.com:
If you tuned into NBC's Celebrity Apprentice last night to catch some of the much-hyped tension between Star Jones and NeNe Leakes you were likely disappointed. Last night's premiere was very mild. Star Jones took charge as the project manager of the ladies' team and succeeded. Although she and Lisa Rinna clashed a bit, Jones and Leakes appeared to be cool. That, as several articles have promised, won't last for long.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Jones called Leakes "ghetto trash," a description that would get many black women's blood boiling. Leakes has labeled the attorney, who gained national celebrity as a co-host on The View, a "horrible bitch and a terrible snob." In addition, Leakes reportedly found Jones's behavior curious since "she's descended from slaves just like me and just like every other black person in America."
Jones has come out and expressed disdain for Leakes's comments, telling People magazine, "I did Celebrity Apprentice to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association, which has been instrumental in my life, not to see it reduced to a cliché where black women attack one another for publicity's sake."
Reportedly Trump loves the tension because that means a ratings bonanza. In 2009, ratings slipped by 21 percent after the season premiere, but rebounded greatly in 2010 due to rocker Bret Michaels's surprising life-threatening condition during the show's airing. As the season goes on, ratings shouldn't be a problem, as many will tune in to catch Leakes and Jones fight tooth and nail. While Trump only sees it as a benefit for him, the real question is -- will it be good news for black women?
Now it must be noted that Celebrity Apprentice is unusually diverse for a network television show. In addition to Leakes and Jones, LaToya Jackson and Dionne Warwick are also contestants. While Jackson doesn't come across as the brightest crayon in the box, there is something warm about her. She certainly seemed harmless enough and incapable of any conniving board room behavior on the season premiere but time will tell.
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Reality Bites
Reality Bites
The reality TV show phenomenon is showing no signs of slowing down -- as long as viewers keep watching the shows. BlackVoices.com takes a quick look at some of the most notable personalities within the reality series realm. Join us.
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The Record
BlackVoices.com
Reality Bites
Reality Bites
The reality TV show phenomenon is showing no signs of slowing down -- as long as viewers keep watching the shows. BlackVoices.com takes a quick look at some of the most notable personalities within the reality series realm. Join us.
Reality Bites
Russell Simmons
Affiliation: 'Running Russell Simmons' on Oxygen
Side Note: Before the Def Jam co-founder got his own reality show, he appeared sporadically on his business partner and ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons' hit E! show 'Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.'
Reality Bites
Melanie Brown
Affiliation: 'Mel B: It's a Scary World' on The Style Network
Side Note: Mel B is affectionately known as Scary Spice from the British pop group the Spice Girls, but she made a career comeback on the competition series 'Dancing With the Stars.'
Reality Bites
Kandi Burruss
Affiliation: 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta'
Side Note: Though she was in her own platinum-selling girl group, Xscape, this Atlanta native won her only Grammy Award for penning 'No Scrubs' for fellow ATL girl group TLC.
Reality Bites
Fantasia Barrino
Affiliation: 'Fantasia For Real' on VH1
Side note: The 'American Idol' champion (2005) is a best-selling author ('Life is Not a Fairytale') and garnered critical acclaim as Miss Celie in the Broadway musical 'The Color Purple.'
Reality Bites
Holly Robinson Peete
Affiliation: 'The Celebrity Apprentice 3' on NBC
Side Note: The 'Hanging with Mr. Cooper' actress and her husband/former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete created the HollyRod Foundation in 1997 to honor her late father Matt Robinson who died of Parkinson's Disease and also to raise money for families who are affected by autism.
Reality Bites
Al B. Sure
Affiliation: 'Donald J. Trump Presents: The Ultimate Merger'
Side note: While vying for Omarosa's love during the show's first season, the former 'Apprentice' star described the R&B crooner as; "the ultimate romantic and perfect gentleman. He sets the tone for all of the bachelors on how to properly court a woman."
Reality Bites
Trey Songz
Affiliation: 'Trey Songz: My Moment' on BET
Side Note: Born Tremaine Aldon Neverson, this Virginia native, originally put out diss mixtapes aimed at R. Kelly, but quashed his beef with the legendary Chicago crooner when he enlisted Kels help to produce 'Grub On' off his 2007 album 'Trey Day.'
Reality Bites
Dwight Eubanks
Affiliation: 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta'
Side Note: Although he remains a flamboyant bi-sexual, Eubanks, who owns his own Atlanta hair salon owner, told Essence magazine in 2009 that he was engaged to be married to an Atlanta woman.
Reality Bites
Brandi Simpkins
Affiliation: 'House of Glam' on Oxygen
Side Note: The Howard University graduate's The B. Lynn Group quickly became the go-to image agency after stylist Crystal Streets nailed Jay-Z as her third client - helping him craft his style persona.
Reality Bites
Warwick is another surprise. Considering that we haven't really seen her that much since her stint on the Psychic Friends Network in the 1990s, any appearance from her just seems odd. Let's just say she showed her age and her status with her inability to nail the finer points of operating a credit card machine smoothly. Like Jackson, she didn't appear capable of any backstabbing but it's only the first episode.
Read page 2 on 'The Apprentice': TheGrio.com
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