by Todd Betzold

 

A task about cars on this week's The Celebrity Apprentice...perfect opportunity for Michael Andretti to step-up as project manager, right? Wrong...it was Adam Carolla who stepped up and the Buick executives and all the Trumps couldn't look past that throughout the whole boardroom and never even seemed to focus on the job that Adam did do. The men's team lost and Adam took full responsibility and said no one should be brought back to the boardroom. This led to Trump firing two people: Adam and Michael. Today, we got an exclusive interview with Adam as he talked about the task and what really happened that never appeared on-air.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What made you want to do Celebrity Apprentice?
A. Adam: Nothing...they called me. There's this weird thing we have in show business where everyone says what made you decide to write a book. It's like, well somebody called me and asked if I wanted to write a book. I'm glad I wrote the book, but I never decided to do Dancing With The Stars...I never decided to do Celebrity Apprentice. They just call you...you wanna do it? Yeah or no. It just sounded like a challenge really...interesting. It sounded a little scary and that's why I did it.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: For this last task, the Buick executives seemed to enjoy your presentation and you seemed pretty confident you were going to win, but then the women won. How did that make you feel?
A. Adam: I was sure we won because it was half presentation and half Q&A and they didn't show any of the Q&A or the part where I said fart. They didn't show me answering all the questions. They just cooked it really...we won. If you went back and looked at it, you'd see we probably won the thing. I think they were mad because Michael Andretti didn't take the challenge and so Buick wasn't happy about it. It was kind of pre-determined in it's own way, but for me, I just wanted to do the best job I could do and I just let the chips fall where they may. I wasn't playing with a ton of strategy involved, as you can probably tell.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: I did notice that with the Q&A and they only showed one or two of your questions, so I was assuming you did great and were going to win.
A. Adam: We did do great and we did kick ass in the Q&A, but if they did show us kicking ass in the Q&A it wouldn't fit with the story narrative they were building, so it got kinda cooked. Yeah, why didn't they show any of my Q&A? You didn't show me answer any questions and I made a fart joke. They were coming up with this whole storyline where Buick thought my potty-humor wasn't working with their brand. Their people gave me erroneous information...their people said to do a Steven Jobs-esque presentation. I said Steven Jobs? They said yeah, a Steven Jobs presentation. When I went up on stage alone, they said Buick wanted to know why you didn't bring more people onstage. I said, and they cut it out...Trump asked me who I think they should fire and I said fire the guy that told me to do a Steven Jobs presentation. Buick was like why didn't you use more of your teammates and I was like why did you tell me to do a Steven Jobs presentation? But maybe they did fire that guy...I don't know.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: That is crazy they edit it the way they want to see it. Do you think that's fair?
A. Adam: It's not fair to make me look like an egomaniac and go, I'm going to do this myself. I wasn't going to do it myself...their people told me to do a Steven Jobs presentation and that's what they got...it is what it is. It's a reality show and that's how it goes. You shouldn't tell someone to do something one way and then edit around it so it looks like he decided he was going to go solo and that's what it looked like.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: I agree. You were saying because you did the presentation, it was mainly on your shoulders, you should be fired. Do you think if you may have brought Lou and Michael back things would have been different?
A. Adam: Yeah, I could have gotten Michael fired and/or Lou (laughs), but I was pissed off. I got erroneous information...I got steered the wrong way. We won this thing...I already knew they were going to cut around all the Q&A and that stuff, so I just said I'm tired...I'm leaving. As soon as they told me that Buick was pissed off because we didn't bring enough people onstage, I realized right then they were going to cut around the whole Steven Jobs thing that was said off-camera, so I said screw it...I'm getting out of here. I was mad because I knew we did a good job and they cut it exactly how I knew they would cut it.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Speaking of Lou, every week the men have said that he is the weakest member of the team, yet he is still there. Why is Trump not firing him?
A. Adam: He's not really doing anything to get fired or to get praised. He's kinda just hanging in. I probably could've got him fired...I could've said Lou's the weakest player on the team...I'm the leader, but I did a good job, so everyone agrees Lou should go...probably could of got Lou fired the last half. I was the leader and we lost...that was the deal. I was ready to go because I was pissed at them and Buick anyway for giving me erroneous information. And I didn't feel like we were being judged on regular criteria...we were being judged because Michael Andretti didn't take the challenge...that's not supposed to be the way you judge the guy that took the challenge. The whole thing was about why he didn't take the challenge. It's like, why are we being so heavily penalized for that. They need to judge it on some merit.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Yeah, I didn't get that at all. I guess I get it's his name being there, but base it on the challenge that was at hand.
A. Adam: Yeah, I mean I get bringing it up once or twice, but making the entire procedure about the guy three days ago didn't take the challenge (laughs). It's not what the challenge is about. The challenge was did you launch the car better than the other team. The answer is yes, but not according to the criteria they never told us about...that was the problem, so I was just pissed off. I was like, I'm outta here.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Who this season shocked you the most? They surprised you with their behavior, either good or bad.
A. Adam: I was surprised by Clay Aiken. I thought he was a really strong player and how good he was. I knew the guy was a good singer and a good competitor, but I was really surprised at how good of an overall competitor he was.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Now that you have been fired and you are off the show, who do you think will win? Is there a favorite left in the group?
A. Adam: I always, from day one for me, thought it was Penn Jillette and Clay Aiken were the two guys who I thought would always be the strongest. I didn't know everyone from the ladies, but I knew Penn was very smart and a good businessman and obviously Aiken, who came in second on the biggest show ever. I thought Penn Jillette was my odds-on guy...Penn and Clay.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Is there anything you would like to add?
A. Adam: You can go to www.adamcarolla.com and listen to my podcast everyday.


Pictured: Adam Carolla -- (Photo by: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC)

 

The Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays at 9/8c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

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