Celebrity Apprentice Boardroom Intervention; Dennis Rodman Alcohol Meltdown

The Celebrity Apprentice aired on March 29th, 2009.  The Dennis Rodman meltdown was advertised numerous times this last week on NBC.  After watching the show, it really was a very sad Dennis Rodman meltdown.

The two teams had the duty of running five rooms each at Loews Regency Hotel in New York.  The women's team, Athena, picked Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins to be their project manager.  She was extremely organized, appointed every team member a task, and stayed on top of her game.  The men's team, KOTU, was an entirely different story.  They picked Dennis Rodman as their project manager.  You had to know from that moment on, this show was going to be entertaining, to say the least.

A member of the women's team, Annie Duke, nailed it on the head when she exclaimed that with Dennis being project manager, he has to interact with customers, which can only end in disaster.  But Clink Black said "I don't discount the power of Dennis"  At least Clint Black wanted to stand behind Dennis and show his support.

Dennis started strong, with lots of incomplete thoughts and dropping more "f-bombs" than you'd hear in a prison yard.  But somewhat stayed on task and had it together.  After a crash course training session from the hotel staff, the teams start working together to get the rooms ready for the guests to arrive.  Then Dennis started drinking, vodka cranberries, typically two at a time.   

Brian McKnight, Clink Black, and Dennis Rodman went to Carnegie Deli to get cookies.  A heated argument started between Rodman and McKnight over whether or not there should be a hot car in front of the hotel.  Rodman assumes everyone has a problem with him and he starts shutting down from the group. 

Dennis pulls it together for a bit longer and tries to solve all the problems he sees in his group.  Ironically they typically all have to do with alcohol.  He notices the women are giving out champagne and the men do not have any.  That gets fixed quickly, and while getting the champagne he might as well grab two more vodka cranberries.  Herschel Walker was very confused with the delivery of a bottle of wine to one of the hotel guests.   But again, Dennis saves the day by recognizing the correct bottle on the tray and presents it to the hotel guest. 

After coming in to check on the men's team, Donald Trump's daughter, said "I think Dennis was inebriated." and basically was having a hard time staying on task.  This task really couldn't end well.  Dennis left with hotel guests to have dinner and more drinks.  He came back only to throw a temper tantrum and stormed out on his team.

In the board room, after Dennis is asked if he thought they won, he said "No."  Jessie James gets the ball rolling by humbly stating "I think Dennis obviously has a drinking problem."  Everyone sadly is seen shaking their heads yes.  Clint Black states there was a point when "Dennis sank well below the Loew's standard".  Jessie admits he had a drinking problem and quit almost nine years ago. 

The board room intervention, was very sad.  Dennis even asks "Is this about Dennis Rodman or the damn game?"    Jessie James was a stand up guy during the whole board room duration.  He was not harsh, he was not condescending, he was honest and straight to the point.  It was what Dennis Rodman needed to be told, and hopefully what Dennis Rodman will take home from this experience.  They had to point out to him, the past is the past, what is he doing today. 

Inevitably, KOTU looses and Dennis Rodman is fired.  Hopefully, this experience will be a wake up call for Dennis Rodman and he will get the help he needs.  Dennis, in a last attempt effort to save face, says he can kick everyone's ass at anything.  Jessie James ends it by telling Dennis Rodman he should kick everyone's ass at being a good person. 

Dennis says he has no excuses for what happened.  He'll go home and heal from his wounds and overcome this, then says "Don't count Dennis out"   Hopefully he is talking about the alcohol problem and not just the game.  The end of the show, The Apprentice puts up an ad for AA.  The ad said "For problems with alcohol abuse contact Alcoholics Anonymous  http://www.aa.org"  Hopefully Dennis will learn from this and let that great guy everyone knows he can be out.