Dee Snider on Celebrity Apprentice Season 12: Carrying Lou Ferrigno, the John Rich Model, and Why Being a Gentleman Cost Him the Game

Dee Snider said it plainly: "I'm going to live or die by my own abilities and merits. I'm not going to do it by tearing others down. I thought John R…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

On April 3, 2012, NBC held a press conference call for Celebrity Apprentice Season 12 following the firing of Dee Snider and Debbie Gibson. Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNaughton was on the call. This piece focuses on Snider — his account of carrying Lou Ferrigno through the season, the John Rich model he tried to follow, and the extraordinary amount of work he was releasing simultaneously.

I'm going to live or die by my own abilities and merits. I'm not going to do it by tearing others down. I thought John Rich was a gentleman. I tried to be the same way.

Carrying Lou Ferrigno — and why it cost him

Snider was direct about Lou Ferrigno's limitations on the team: "The team was carrying Lou since Task 1. If you watch the episodes, you can see Lou is a one-note horn. He's an actor, and that's all he ever wanted to do was either be the Hulk, pick something up, flex his muscles or be in front of the camera. But beyond that, he could do nothing to help the team." The problem, Snider explained, was that the team's loyalty to Lou worked against him: "Everybody on the team supported Lou, and that was to my detriment because in the end, by taking on all the jobs that Lou couldn't do, I wound up being fired." He was blunt about what needed to happen: "They've got to stop feeling bad for him and get rid of him. He's poison."

The John Rich model — and the cost of being a gentleman

Snider described the approach he had committed to before the season started: "I'm very good friends with John Rich, and I really was impressed the way he handled himself last season. And I really modeled myself after John and the fact that I'm going to live or die by my own abilities and merits. I'm not going to do it by tearing others down. I thought John was a gentleman. I tried to be the same way." The outcome was different: "Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me like it worked out for John, but I feel good about the way I did it." Trump's assessment: "Being a gentleman sometimes isn't always a good thing." Snider: "No. It means I'm sitting home watching the show."

What he learned — and the discovery about teamwork

Asked what surprised him about himself during the show, Snider's answer was candid: "I learned that I've never worked on a team. Yes I've been in a band, but as a songwriter, the video writer, I write movies myself, I write my book myself, I do everything by myself. It was really difficult for me, even though I think I did it effectively, it was still a stretch for me to work and consider everybody's opinion and try to be a team player. It was tough." He also noted the irony of the men's team's cohesion: "Being unanimous was so efficient that Mr. Trump would call us boring from time to time because it's not good for TV. But I would say in the business world we'd be the first ones you'd want to hire if you got the job done."

On Penn Jillette — and Clay Aiken

Asked which contestant he learned the most from, Snider chose Penn Jillette: "While being the most likeable know-it-all in the world, he's very bright and he's very focused." He also had a pointed word for Clay Aiken, who had made an issue of Snider's script reading during the medieval challenge: "Clay tends to be a little bit of a chatterbox critic." On Aubrey O'Day, Snider was succinct: "Do you hear the things she says about people? She's horrible. She's evil." His proposed remedy: "I would just throw holy water on her."

What's next — five projects at once

Snider was releasing an extraordinary amount of work simultaneously. His new album, Dee Does Broadway — duets with Patti LuPone, Bebe Neuwirth, Clay Aiken, and Cyndi Lauper — was due May 8. His memoir, Shut Up and Give Me the Mic , was also out May 8 from Gallery Books. He was starring in a new sitcom called Holliston premiering the next night on FEARnet, and voicing a character in a new Disney XD animated series called Motor City with Mark Hamill and Jim Breuer, premiering April 30. He was also headlining JAM for Autism on April 19, with Debbie Gibson joining him. Trump's reaction: "Do I get a piece of this, folks? Do I get like a small piece? That's pretty impressive." Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on NBC.

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