by David McAlpine

Last night on the Celebrity Apprentice, it was the end to what some would say is the craziest season yet. It's down to John Rich versus Marlee Matlin, the two strongest competitors this entire season. Who will do the best job on their 7-Up project and walk away with the title of the Celebrity Apprentice?

Last week, both teams were having meltdown after meltdown as they juggled several tasks. John was still trying to get Def Leppard to come to his event, while Marlee was unsuccessful in persuading Geoffrey Holder, the original 7-Up spokesperson. Problems!

Of course, when it all came down to it, Marlee pulled Holder into her commercial (which, to her credit, did tie it all together--but it was the only thing that tied it together), while John was able to wrangle Def Leppard. That wasn't so hard, was it?

While all this is going on, John is still pushing for fundraising, even though this isn't a fundraising task. John's goal: $1 million for St. Jude's Children's Hospital, which he does in the final hours of the task as he rakes in the additional $275,000 he needs.

At the launch events, it's all pressure and nerves as John and Marlee try to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

On Marlee's side, her team thinks her presentation is flawless, and does a great job of weaving American Sign Language into her presentation. Her commercial is a little cheap-looking and lacks some focus, but the Harlem Globetrotters game at the end was a nice touch. Marlee even threw herself onto the court for some one-on-one action with the athletes.

John's party was also super high energy until he decided to introduce Def Leppard at 6:40 when they were supposed to go on at 7. Cue an empty pause, and Trump starts getting impatient. But John didn't make it this far just to let a stupid mistake screw him over. So instead of waiting backstage, John gets out there and opens for Def Leppard--improvisation at its best.

In the boardroom, both teams thought they took the cake. Though John's packaging and commercial may have been more standout, Trump points out that his event was not as well run as Marlee, especially since John didn't greet him at the door and he had the concert mistake.

Then Trump reveals all the fundraising that John did for his charity, which leaves Marlee stunned and pissed. She's upset that John did something like that to gain an edge when it wasn't even part of the task, but Trump lets Marlee know that it won't factor into his decision.

Cut to the live boardroom, where it's a mini-reunion for almost all of the castoffs from this season. Though NeNe showed up, Dionne was gone, as was Jose and Richard Hatch, who is back in jail for tax evasion.

First-fired David Cassidy had nothing but bad things to say about Richard, saying justice had been served when referring to his jail sentence. But that stood short of NeNe's assertion that she stands by everything she said on the show, out of context or not. Star is still not happy with NeNe (nor is anyone else), but Trump doesn't let the arguing go on much longer.

The rest of the debate is flat at best, as both John and Marlee advocate for why they should win. There's no tearing at each others' throats, no pointing out of flaws, nothing like that, just good old-fashioned self campaigning. Sure, it's refreshing to see how closely matched these two are and how much they want it, but it would also be nice to see some action and some claws, you know?

In the end, Trump never explicitly says who won the final task, but instead says he's going to do something different. However, that something different turns out to be something incredibly small--instead of "hiring" someone, he declares John the "winner" of the show, not "firing" Marlee. Yes, it was close, but all that fanfare for that? I would have much rather him celebrated the fact that the show raised $3 million for charity, more than any other season.

(Photo courtesy of NBC)

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