‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ finale: Geraldo Rivera, Kevin Jonas, Vivica A. Fox stars of this season

There was a temptation for us to label this article as “Celebrity Apprentice stars who should appear in an All-Stars season,” but we talked ourselves out of it. That distinction would cause us to have to favor some contestants over others, and in addition to that, NBC will probably never do another all-star season again. The ratings were not that great, and it feels like the appeal for most viewers is seeing a celebrity completely out of their element. On an All-Star season, you really know what you are getting already, and Donald Trump can better lay out his favorites in advance. We felt almost from the premiere that Trace Adkins had the last one in the bag.

So with that, think of this article as our own personal awards ceremony to who we felt were the real stars of the show (we’re picturing Donald  Trump asking us “who was the star?” in our head), at least when it comes to screen time and entertainment.

Geraldo Rivera – While we’re not sure we will ever be a fan of anything Geraldo does that is away from this show, he is all sorts of tremendous on it. From his speech on the boat to his selfies to his Mr. Peanut outfit for the Chock Full o’ Nuts commercial, this guy has brought it. This has been made even funnier by Trump’s irrational love for him at every turn.

Kevin Jonas – The Gene Simmons of this season. A great rival to Geraldo, a very effective guy, and gone far too soon. He just made one big mistake in letting his pride overtake what was in many ways an obvious move to bring back Lorenzo Lamas into the boardroom.

Ian Ziering – He started out relatively sane, but over time he became so intense that we could watch almost an entire two hours of his speeches and his attention to detail. Such a fun addition who brought so much more than we expected.

Vivica A. Fox – We figured that she would be good TV, but we had no idea that she was going to be anywhere near this incredible. A very welcome and pleasant surprise.

Kate Gosselin – While not everything Kate did was successful, we had a lot of fun watching her this season. She may still be the only person who really figured out properly how to use Geraldo for a given task.

Who were your stars of the season? Share below, and head over here to get some other “Celebrity Apprentice” coverage right away! Also, you can sign up right now if you’re interested in getting some further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)