Clint Black Ends "Apprentice" Run

Clint Black on the Orange Carpet at the 43rd Annual ACM Awards, Sunday, May 18, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV. Photo by David Vespie.

May 11, 2009 — Clint Black got one good swipe in during the season finale of "The Celebrity Apprentice" Sunday night: Asked by Donald Trump who he would fire, Clint quipped, "Your editor."

Clint was fired a week ago in the Donald’s infamous boardroom after a run in which he was presented as a talented but self-involved singer who communicated poorly and was not open to his teammates’ suggestions.

The editor, however, didn’t stick it to Clint alone. In the final installment, Joan Rivers — who had once said she would ignore Clint if she encountered him on a red carpet — picked him to work with her team but was less than enthusiastic about his performance. She called him "dead weight" in the midst of the run-up to a New York party that would call attention to Kodak and raise money for charity through a silent auction.

"Clint has an amazing ego," she said later. "If he went to a bar, he’d pick up himself."

Ultimately, he declined to influence Trump’s decision about who should win, though Trace Adkins, last year’s runner-up, cast his lot with Joan in a guest appearance.

"I’ve watched this [competition] this year, and nobody got out of this thing unscathed," Trace said. "Everybody had some bad moments — it’s just to what degree. [Annie Duke is a] smart lady who played the game great, but I don’t know, Joan just has that charitable thing that puts that frog in your throat."

By winning in three of the five criteria that Trump established for the final task, Joan came away the victor. And Clint gets to refocus on music.