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Celebrity Apprentice recap, when reality TV is heightened by real life

By April MacIntyre Apr 26, 2010, 4:25 GMT

03/03/2010 - Sharon Osbourne - © Solarpix / PR Photos

SPOILER ALERT:

Going into tonight's episode of "Celebrity Apprentice," all anyone who cares about the show or the affable Teflon contestant for the men, rocker Bret Michaels, is the real life drama Michaels is currently fighting in a hospital bed somewhere in LA.

It has been most recently reported that Michaels is still in critical condition with a brain hemorrhage, despite reports to the contrary that say he is smiling and feeling better.  The doctors are not sure where the bleeding is occuring inside his brain, and Michaels is certainly not out of the woods at this article's publishing.

Which makes tonight's episode all the more surreal and me anxious to watch, because Michaels has been one of the most forthright and earnest players in a cast replete with a few pit-vipers.

The 47-year-old front man for the band Poison also has a daughter that we have learned from past episodes that may also face medical issues inherited from her dad (juvenile Type 1 Diabetes), and watching Michaels process this information while keeping a chin up for the cameras making a living is tough.

Then, the "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant suffered an emergency appendectomy on April 12.

"Apprentice" boss Donald Trump, who was interviewed by Monsters and Critics along with Bret Michaels, released a statement saying he was "deeply saddened" by the turn of events.

"He's a great competitor and champion and I hope he will be fine," Trump's statement said.

Tonight the two teams are tasked with creating a workout class for 24 Hour Fitness. The classes were called Tenacious Buns & Guns and Rock Solid Celebrity Boot Camp.

The men's Rock Solid ream now contains the red-headed duo of Sharon Osbourne and Maria Kanellis. Sharon Osbourne was elected the project manager. Their first class had a great turnout.

Team Tenacity is still Holly Robinson Peete, Summer Sanders, Rock Solid's Curtis Stone and Cyndi Lauper. Tenacity's class only had a few participants. Their next class had a great attendance. The 24 Hour Fitness people seemed to really like the moves in the class.

Cyndi Lauper's mom makes a cameo too.

24 Hour Fitness awarded the $24,000 to Rock Solid. The winning team, however, was Tenacity raising over $200,000.

SPOILER: Nobody is fired tonight, which is just as well, considering everyone who cares about the show and likes Bret Michaels is thinking about his recovery and better news for the working class kid from Pittsburgh who caught a big break and became a star.

April MacIntyre is M&C's people and smallscreen editor. You can reach her via Twitter