Avoiding Catfights 101: ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Women (Sort of ) Stick Together

Playing nice: Sharon Osbourne, Cyndi Lauper, Holly Robinson Peete, Maria Kanellis, Selita Ebanks, Carol Leifer and Summer Sanders hesitated to lay blame on each other on "The Celebrity Apprentice."

With movies like The Devil Wears Prada and 13 Going On 30 portraying the catty side of women’s magazines, we’re thankful that our own experiences working on mostly female staffs have been generally positive, filled with smart, strong women who encourage and support us (one of the many reasons why we give back through mentoring today). We were reminded of that camaraderie while watching the premiere of the latest season of The Celebrity Apprentice, when the women’s team, led by Grammy winner Cyndi Lauper, remained stubbornly unified for as long as possible, struggling to lay blame for losing the first challenge.

In the battle-of-the-sexes setup, Lauper and her teammates, including America’s Got Talent judge Sharon Osbourne, actress Holly Robinson Peete and Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders, failed to raise as much cash at their restaurant as rocker Bret Michaels’ crew, even though Donald Trump’s spy (and last season’s winner) Joan Rivers was more impressed by the food and service at the ladies’ diner. The loss notwithstanding, we loved Osbourne’s priceless comments, like calling Lauper “totally barking mad” and summing up the chaos inside the restaurant with the apt line, “It’s like the (bleep) Star Wars bar in here!”

Back in Trump’s dreaded boardroom, the women ultimately opted to throw comedian/actress/writer Carol Leifer, 53, under the bus for being what Osbourne called too “under the radar.” (The men, watching in a separate room, recognized Leifer’s intelligence and background as a TV producer as assets and grinned as her teammates proceeded to build a case against her.)

Leifer, an avid fan of the show, figured her stand-up background would serve her well “because you’re in crisis mode every second. You have to think on your feet and know how to react to any situation and you have to make it look like it’s not a crisis.” She found the long days and stressful experience “30 times harder” than she thought it would be, but she tells us she’s glad she participated even though she was fired first.

Leifer didn’t expect to like Trump, but found him “so smart and intuitive. He sees three moves ahead of everybody. He says it like it is, no nonsense. I like people like that, especially in show business.” Trump honored Leifer’s bold parting request and donated $10,000 to her chosen charity, the North Shore Animal League.

While Leifer admits, “It totally sucks being the first celebrity fired,” don’t feel too sorry for her. Fresh off writing comedy material for the Oscars and with a hilarious memoir, When You Lie About Your Age the Terrorists Win (Villard, 2010), in paperback, Leifer is a producer on CBS’ Rules of Engagement and just sold new sitcom pilots to the network and Showtime. As for the remaining ladies? We’re betting on the ruthless Osbourne to be the last woman standing.

Which woman do you think would make the best apprentice?

Photo credit: Ali Goldstein/NBC

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