‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ spotlight: Meet Carson Kressley a.k.a. your entertainment gold
We should go ahead and get it out of the way: We’re probably biased when it comes to Carson Kressley on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” He’s fantastic, funny, super-charismatic, and was probably one of the most entertaining contestants in the history of “Dancing with the Stars” — even if he wasn’t a particularly great dancer and wasn’t on the show all that long.
As for whether or not we think he’s going to do well in the boardroom of the NBC show, it’s hard to have any idea. He’s got a lot of tools that should in theory serve him well, but we’re going to have to wait until this airs to find out for sure.
Claim to Fame – He was originally known for being a part of the iconic “Queen Eye for the Straight Guy,” but he’s also a stylistic, host, and most recently a judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” We’ve already mentioned “Dancing with the Stars,” and one of our first exposures of him was in watching the Hilary Duff – Heather Locklear movie “The Perfect Man” while working as a film critic. (He was the best part of the movie.)
Charity – True Colors Fund. This is a wonderful charity designed to help end homelessness among LGBTQ youth. There’s also a connection here to another season of this show, as Cyndi Lauper is one of our favorite past contestants of all time (her performance during the Wizarding World of Harry Potter sketch is the stuff of legend).
Strengths – Creativity. This is a guy who’s made a living off of being savvy, stylistic, and having fun catch-phrases that get people’s attention in the blink of an eye. The NBC video below highlights a little bit of that further. He’s also the sort of person who can liven up any room and offer up a little bit of entertainment or a positive attitude to people when they’re down; you want someone who can be a part of a team, and we get a sense that Carson’s a great morale-booster.
Weaknesses – With that being said, Carson identifies himself as an “idea guy,” which to us more or less means that he is someone who is probably going to leave himself very vulnerable at times to having ideas not work out. You almost have to be political at times when it comes to this show in figuring out ways to get other people fired even when you are the creative force behind a task that doesn’t work out. Carson’s such an individual and someone who has no problem taking ownership of things, but there could be times on this show where that works against him.
As far as being easily recognized on the street (which has been important in some tasks in the past), we’d say he falls within the middle of the pack. We have to think that he’s got some valuable friends he can call for fundraising, so we’re not as worried about that. (Call RuPaul! He’s gotta have some money.)
Prediction – Carson’s a threat who can win, but it’s hard to feel that sure about him given that we’re not sure how much he will play the game strategically. If nothing else, it’s hard to think he will be the first one fired and it’d be a travesty to this entire reinvention of the show if he is.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPJTam2RK_Q