John Rich Talks Marlee Matlin, Lil Jon, and Celebrity Apprentice

John Rich said it plainly: "I would consider Marlee like a superhero. She needs an M on her chest. She's overcome a huge challenge and has gone on t…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

Country music singer-songwriter John Rich made it to the final two on Celebrity Apprentice Season 11. In a recent interview he talked about his capable opponent and self-described superhero Marlee Matlin, his newly formed cowboys-and-rappers relationship with Lil Jon, and the chaos of managing Gary Busey. The Celebrity Apprentice finale aired Sunday, May 22 at 9 PM on NBC.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: This season's Celebrity Apprentice was like Survivor — how did you manage to make it through all the hostility on set?

JOHN RICH: It was like mental Survivor. If you crack, you're going to get beat over the head with it for the rest of your life. If you make a wrong move, forget it. They do put you in a pressure cooker — they never let you breathe. The producers and directors of the show keep you exhausted and they keep you at that level of fatigue on purpose. I didn't like it, but I understood it. And I just accepted it at some point and said, "You know what, you're going to be tired. If you want to try to win this thing, you've got to power through it." I think the exhaustion factor alone separated a lot of contestants. For me, being a road musician — I've been on the road for almost 20 years, and it's not uncommon for me to be in 200 to 250 cities in a year — I've learned how to power through exhaustion and deal with it. And obviously it wasn't a problem for Marlee either. Being tired doesn't really have a place when there's a quarter-million dollars for your charity on the line.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: You are up against Marlee for the finals. Do you find her to be a stiff competitor?

JOHN RICH: Let's start with how smart Marlee is — because she is wickedly smart. And she's also very funny; she has a great sense of humor and is very charming. So she's able to really get a lot done. But I think there are other elements to Marlee that make her a very powerful person. One is she's a mom — a great mom with several kids. And to me, I have all the respect in the world for moms. It's the hardest job there is. She's a dynamic personality, and of course she's overcome her deafness — overcome a huge challenge and gone on to accomplish great, great things without letting that slow her down at all. I would consider her like a superhero. She needs an M on her chest. She's just a great person. And from the very beginning of Celebrity Apprentice, there was definitely a mutual respect between the two of us — just an unspoken thing. We would give each other a look every now and then that was just an understanding of, "We're both here for our charities. We're serious about this." You could feel it in the air.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Can you talk about your current relationship with Lil Jon?

JOHN RICH: Lil Jon and I had met each other at an award show — I think it was around 2005 or 2006. I like his music, I like his production, and some of the crazy songs he's done. In country music I'm part of a duo called Big & Rich, and we're known for being probably the most crazy, aggressive country music out there — we're a party band. And Lil Jon liked the Big & Rich stuff, we liked Lil Jon. When I decided I was going to go on Celebrity Apprentice, I actually called Lil Jon — because he's one of the big stars I'm friends with — to tell him I was going to be on a TV show and that I might need him to help me out with a task. And he started laughing and said, "Too late, because I'm on the same show." We just laughed our heads off when we realized that. And it was at that point I said, "Oh, this is going to be fun — because I don't know how I'll do on the show, but I know I'll have a friend in there and somebody that I think a lot of."

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Will you be collaborating with Lil Jon in the future?

JOHN RICH: It did feel like a very important relationship — not only because Lil Jon and I are really great friends, but as an example to our two audiences that cowboys and rappers basically can get along and work hard for charities and break down some of those stereotypes. Lil Jon and I actually did record something together. There's a record coming out right now called Rich Rocks, and Lil Jon appears on it as a guest artist. I've had a huge response from country fans who are really liking Lil Jon too. And from his side, he tells me a lot of his fans are starting to look at my music. It's just a great relationship all the way around.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Gary Busey was a huge problem for you guys to manage — how was that experience?

JOHN RICH: "Managing Gary Busey" is probably the right way to say it, because it is a management situation with Gary. He has these moments of complete clarity and genius thought — and then the rest of the time he's kind of like a tornado that tears up a lot. So it's really all about giving Gary a job that you knew he could do well at and excel with. It was a constant challenge to your focus, because Gary's really loud and going in all directions at the same time. You can't let that throw you off your game. Gary is a good person. I like Gary Busey. I got nothing against him at all — matter of fact, I hope to spend time with him in the future. He's hilarious and he's intense, and I'm glad that I know him.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Was it difficult for you to maintain your composure on the show?

JOHN RICH: The Gary Busey/Meatloaf meltdown — that was the toughest thing I dealt with, because I was Project Manager. I watched these two guys — I'm fans of both of them, I love Gary's movies and I love Meatloaf's music — and they're both quite a bit older than me, up around my dad's age. I'm 37, looking at these guys going, "What can I say to make this stop?" Because Meatloaf was not playing around. And Gary, I don't think was in touch enough with the situation to understand that Meatloaf wasn't playing around. It was about one second away from something really irreversible happening. So I took a breath, everything went in slow motion for a minute, and the light bulb went off: "Remind these guys that we are here for charity, and our charities are going to be watching this episode." As soon as I said that, it extinguished everything. Meatloaf just relaxed and went, "Oh my god, what have I just done?" Gary stepped back and went, "Wow, we got to stop this." I think I handled it the right way. As for Piers Morgan — I'm wearing a cowboy hat in New York City. You think I don't hear "Yee Haw" every time I walk around the corner? I grew up in Amarillo, Texas. They put a cowboy hat on my head when I was three years old to keep the sun out of my face. A British guy picking on my cowboy hat is not going to set me off. When he started picking on my creative writing, I thought, "Okay, he's digging deeper." But I just wasn't going to take that bait. It was pretty transparent what he was trying to do.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What was the biggest surprise for you on Celebrity Apprentice?

JOHN RICH: The biggest surprise was how tired you get doing this show. Fans of Celebrity Apprentice — I'm a fan myself — watching the show you think, "Oh, they're doing one task a week, no big deal." But the reality is you're there for 40-something days total, averaging 17, 18, 19 hours a day sometimes. That was the thing that really hit me.

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