Bret Michaels is Season 9 Celebrity Apprentice Winner
Holly Robinson-Peete awarded $250K for Holly-Rod Foundation
The final episode on Season 9 of the NBC hit reality show Celebrity Apprentice aired Sunday night. Vying for the title and $250,000 for their charity were Holly Robinson Peete and Bret Michaels.
Until yesterday, it wasn’t clear if the rocker would be able to appear on the two-hour finale because he had a health setback late last week that landed him in the hospital for the third time in 6 weeks. This time he suffered a warning stroke and found out he has a hole in his heart that will need to be surgically repaired.
Against the advice of his personal physician in Phoenix, Bret boarded a plane and traveled to New York on Sunday in order to sit beside Holly Robinson Peete in Donald Trump’s Boardroom one last time. He appeared on stage walking slowly, his legs stiff as a result of the brain bleed that nearly took his life several weeks ago. He is undergoing twice a day rehab sessions to regain mobility in his lower limbs.
It became clear during part two of the final task that the Snapple executives were impressed with Bret and Holly’s new beverages, their commercials, and their product and charity branding integration. In fact, both products are now available for sale on store shelves.
The love fest displayed toward the two final competitors by their former celebrity teammates was heartfelt, with the except of Sharon Osbourne, who was a no-show. There was no mention of why she was MIA, which leads one to suspect that she couldn’t forgive Trump for firing her.
Cyndi Lauper entertained the crowd with her new single “I’m Just Your Fool”. She even strutted her stuff on the top of Trump’s Boardroom table, a fact that seemed to amuse the usually dour faced executive.
Trump, Don Jr., Ivanka, Bill Ransic and Joan Rivers were hesitant to decide between Bret and Holly. The group consensus was that Holly showed a fearless determination and strength throughout, while Bret was the underdog who showed amazing creativity and energy every step of the way.
Michaels’ courage in the face of major medical issues was discussed at length, and in the end even Holly could see the handwriting on the wall. Trump was able to get Snapple to come up with another $250K, and was therefore able to give the American Diabetes Association and the HollyRod Foundation a check for a quarter of a million dollars each.
Then Trump did what America knew he would do…he told Bret Michaels that he was HIRED.
Michaels is the frontman for Poison. He lives in Scottsdale with his long time girlfriend Kristi Lynn Gibson and their two daughters Raine and Jorga. The musician was diagnosed with diabetes at age six. His oldest daughter was recently found to be a borderline diabetic.
Holly is married to former NFL QB Rodney Peete. They have four children. One of them was diagnosed with autism at age 3, prompting the couple to set up a foundation to raise money to help under-served families to pay for treatment.
See more photos, Bret Michaels return, the winner being announced, and Bret’s Snapple commercial below:
Photos: WENN, PicApp