Comedian Joan Rivers was hired and poker champ Annie Duke was fired on the final faceoff of “Celebrity Apprentice.” Rivers beat out Duke on Sunday's finale by planning a better fundraising gala — and, maybe, by launching better zingers at her rival. Rivers won $250,000 for her chosen charity (God's Love We Deliver, which brings meals to the seriously ill who are homebound). She also won sweet revenge against her bitter adversary, with whom she swapped many less-than-charitable words as the season wore on. NBC's over-padded three-hour broadcast eventually led to Duke being summoned to the decisive boardroom session, aired live from Manhattan's Museum of Natural History. There, she heard the dreaded verdict from series host Donald Trump: “You're fired.” Rivers and Duke were the last of 16 celebrities who started the season vying for the title of Celebrity Apprentice. In its eighth season, “Celebrity Apprentice” has displayed remarkable stamina as a reality-show infomercial whose mission, in the form of a contest, is to plug brand names. Last week's challenge called for the celebrity contestants to come up with the winning jingle to promote a certain brand of tuna. Sunday's finale was built around a photography brand piggybacked onto product placement for a popular theater production. For the final task, dueling project managers Rivers and Duke were assigned to create a pre-theater party and silent auction, sponsored by Kodak, for patrons attending Cirque du Soleil's “Wintuk.”
