Adam Carolla on Celebrity Apprentice: "There Are Two Winners — The Show and the Popular Vote"

Adam Carolla said it plainly: "My feeling was it was more important to be funny for the people watching at home than it was to impress Donald Trump — b…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

On January 4, 2012, NBC held a press call for Celebrity Apprentice Season 12, premiering Sunday, February 12th at 9 p.m. on NBC. Four contestants joined the call: Adam Carolla, Lou Ferrigno, Penn Jillette, and Aubrey O'Day. Premier Guide Miami was among the outlets on the call.

My feeling was it was more important to be funny for the people watching at home than it was to impress Donald Trump — because there's more of them and they come to my shows.

Survival as strategy

Carolla's approach to the game was blunt: "You're not there to thrive. You're there not to be eliminated and not to have a stroke." On strategy: "I don't personally — other than don't get everyone to hate you the first week." He paused. "But you learn pretty quick that whatever you had planned at the beginning is probably only good for a couple of days and then it just becomes a kind of Chinese fire drill. If you're too rigid in your plan you're not going to be able to fully apply it to whatever it is you're doing. So for me, half a plan to start with — and that quickly went out the window."

Playing two games at once

Carolla was candid about which game he was actually playing in the boardroom: "There are two winners. There's the guy who wins the show and wins the most for his charity. And then there's the person who wins the popular vote — in terms of America. My feeling was it was more important to be funny for the people watching at home than it was to impress Donald Trump, because there's more of them and they come to my shows." Penn Jillette backed him up: "With Adam it was very, very clear which game he was playing — because he was winning it."

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What surprised him — Clay Aiken and Arsenio Hall

The contestant who caught Carolla off guard was Clay Aiken: "I knew Clay Aiken had the competitive spirit because he did another show that involved competition. But I didn't know the guy — other than his huge candy consumption — had a lot of just roll up his sleeves and get it done. You don't normally associate Clay Aiken with that kind of guy you'd want on your football team, but to me it was Clay Aiken." On Arsenio Hall, Carolla was more cryptic: "I was most intrigued to find out about Arsenio Hall's 3-1/2 personalities. I only knew the pussycat side of Arsenio Hall. I did not know the other 2-1/2 he had lurking deep in his psyche." He also found a kindred spirit in Paul Senior: "He and I seemed to spend the most time together because we both had the background in building and construction and the mechanical end of things. So we always ended up teaming up on that side of it."

On celebrities, hard work, and the American workforce

Carolla pushed back on the idea that celebrities are soft: "People think celebrities are soft because they live a lifestyle where they have a lot of leather and air-conditioning and luxury automobiles. Celebrities are some of the hardest working, driven, competitive human beings on the planet. And you have to be — because how the hell are you going to get to this place if you don't have that fire in your belly and that motivation?" On the broader American workforce, he was characteristically direct: "We're working in cycles and I think we're getting to the point where everyone's getting fat and everyone's getting lazy and everyone's getting allergic — or claims to be allergic — to something, and people can't walk from their front door to the car without a bottle of water in their hand because they have to hydrate every 3-1/2 steps. It'll come full circle and we'll get back to building bridges and skyscrapers soon." Celebrity Apprentice Season 12 premiered Sunday, February 12, 2012, on NBC.

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