Tart-tongued comedian Joan Rivers was crowned Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” winner Sunday night, edging out poker-playing diva Annie Duke.
In the season finale of the hit NBC reality show, the 75-year-old Brooklyn-born Rivers showed heart, tears and “disgust” for Duke.
“You are a two-faced person,” Rivers told Duke, 43, in a live face-to-face smackdown in Trump’s boardroom, which was transported to the American Museum of Natural History on the upper West Side to cap the show’s eighth season.
Duke fired back that Rivers would be fired from most Fortune 500 companies. She was especially miffed that the funny lady called her “worse than Hitler” and suggested her friends were in the mafia.
“She’s an amazing lady, but she’s not a nice lady,” Duke said of Rivers.
In the end, it was up to The Donald to issue the final pink slip.
“Annie,” he said to Duke, “you’re fired.”
The winner was named as the 14 fired apprentice wannabes, including Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, showed up to witness the TV mega-event.
The showdown came after Rivers and Duke were asked to organize dueling celebrity-studded auctions for their favorite charity.
Rivers teamed with her daughter, retired football star Herschel Walker and country singer Clint Black to raise $150,830 for God’s Love We Deliver, a group that provides meals for the seriously ill. Duke’s crew, which included troubled hoops star Dennis Rodman, comedian Tom Green and Playboy playmate Brande Roderick, raised $465,725 for Refugees International.
Trump said the competition was not just about who could raise the most money.
The king of the comb-over praised Rivers, saying her strength and energy were “amazing.”
You’re hired! Joan Rivers wins Donald Trump’s ‘Celebrity Apprentice’
