Saturday, January 15, 2011

Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin to be on this season's “The Celebrity Apprentice”

From Hal Boedecker at The Orlando Sentinel. Here's Matlin's official Apprentice bio.

“The Celebrity Apprentice” certainly has rounded up an intriguing list of players this time. They include an Oscar winner (Marlee Matlin), a “Survivor” winner (Richard Hatch) and a top-selling Grammy winner (Dionne Warwick).

Can you imagine Richard Hatch taking Donald Trump’s advice?

The NBC show starts its new season at 9 p.m. Sunday, March 6, on WESH-Channel 2.

The other men taking part are Gary Busey, Jose Canseco, David Cassidy, Lil Jon, Meat Loaf, Mark McGrath and John Rich.

The other women contestants are Hope Dworaczyk, La Toya Jackson, Star Jones, NeNe Leakes, Lisa Rinna and Niki Taylor.

How will La Toya and The Donald get along? That’s another reason to give the show a look.

Last season, “The Celebrity Apprentice” raised $1.25 million for charity. In a release, Donald Trump promised this season will be “the most exciting yet.”

But TV stars always say that. For the record, the previous winners are Piers Morgan, who has a new show starting Monday on CNN; Joan Rivers, the subject of an acclaimed documentary; and Bret Michaels, who overcame health setbacks and won new fans by participating in the show.

So I guess a gig on “The Celebrity Apprentice” can offer a big boost.