The season finale of Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s new “Celebrity Apprentice” aired Monday night on NBC, pitting “American Ninja Warrior” host Matt Iseman against music legend Boy George. Fourteen prior celebs were terminated by Schwarzenegger throughout the season, leaving only these two remaining at the start of the final episode. Interestingly enough, every prior season finale that was hosted by now-President Donald Trump always aired live on NBC, but this time the last episode was pre-taped. So, who came away with winning nearly $1 million in prize money and the title of “Celebrity Apprentice”?
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The finale began with Matt’s team of Carnie Wilson, Kyle Richards and Carrie Keagan as they were tasked with producing an ad campaign and putting on a 15-minute variety show to promote Carnival cruises. Matt decided his ad slogan would be “One destination that takes you everywhere,” and then he had fun making light of Schwarzenegger’s accent while on stage. He also made sure to emphasize to the audience why he decided on the Arthritis Foundation as his charity.
George’s team was made up of Laila Ali, Porsha Williams and Carson Kressley. After firing his keyboard player for being too difficult to work with, things got back on track for George. He earned big checks from celebs like Caitlyn Jenner, and then sang an original song during his performance. The Carnival judges were happy that George remained on task and focused most of his presentation on promoting the cruise brand. George’s charity was Safe Kids Worldwide.
At the end of the presentations, Schwarzenegger brought Team Matt and Team George into the boardroom and congratulated them on working really hard for their charities. Matt seemed to be at a fundraising disadvantage as he was the least known of all of this season’s celebrities, but he ended up earning a total of $573,329, while George raised $445,925.
“I have a really difficult decision to make,” Schwarzenegger noted before naming his first-ever “Celebrity Apprentice” winner. And with that, he chose Matt Iseman as his champ. “You kicked some serious butt,” he said to Matt, who smiled ear to ear.
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Congratulations to our reader Andy Macca McGaw for earning a perfect 100% score predicting the finishing order of the Final 4, including that Matt would win, George would place second, Brooke would place third and Laila would place fourth. Andy was one of six readers to earn 100%, but he broke the tie with his high 3,700 point score thanks to locking in the best odds. See where YOU place on our “Celebrity Apprentice” leaderboard.
Get a closer look at the Season 8 contestants by clicking through our cast photo gallery. Are you happy with the winner of Schwarzenegger’s “Celebrity Apprentice”? Be sure to vote below in our poll asking who you think you SHOULD have won.
