Apprentice or Follower?

On the Celebrity Apprentice, Hope Dworaczyk [Playboy Playmate of the Year] had to defend herself against claims that she was a follower and a weak player. First, Hope referred to Nene Leakes's [Real Housewives of Atlanta] leadership as verbally and mentally abusive, which is ironic because Nene's is playing for Twisted Hearts, a charity that brings awareness to the plight of domestic violence against women of all races.

One example of the verbal abuse occurred at the beginning of the task in front of Donald Trump and Farouk Shami, the founder of Farouk Systems, maker of hair care products they had to promote in this week's episode. Nene attacked the manipulative strategy of Star Jones [lawyer, cohost of "The View"] and called Hope a puppet on a string under Star’s spell.

In the boardroom Hope said, "I don't think I've been a follower. I think I've done what I was told to and I'm led by the project manager." That sounds to me like she admitted to being a follower. She quietly stayed under the radar. While that is the stance I would generally take, it is not successful in reality television, especially in the world of Donald Trump.

A web column (www.realitytvworld.com) detailing the highlights of the episode took a different perspective, saying: "Hope also stuck up for herself and claimed she was simply allowing herself to be led by the project manager, but should not be considered a follower as a result."

Hope's arguments were not strong enough to contend against the tenacity of Nene and Star. As a result, she was the person fired this week.