‘Celebrity Apprentice 7’ Premiere: Who Was First to Hear, ‘You’re Fired’?

Spoiler Alert: Do not read on if you haven’t watched Sunday’s season premiere of “The Celebrity Apprentice” and don’t want to be spoiled.

Not making a phone call to a television dad and coming up short in a pie contest got “The Cosby Show” star Keshia Knight Pulliam fired on the Season 7 premiere of NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Business mogul Donald Trump split the 16 Hollywood stars into men (Team Vortex) and women (Team Infinity) for “May the Gods of Good Pies Be With Us!” Pulliam and award-winning journalist Geraldo Rivera were chosen as project managers.

The teams were tasked with creating two celebrity pies – one sweet, one savory – and they had to secure the most donations to be named winner of the season’s first challenge.

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And although the celebrities were behaved for the most part, new and old tensions surfaced on both teams. Singer Kevin Jonas took issue with Rivera’s dismissive treatment of comedian Gilbert Gottfried.  On the opposing team, “Real Housewives” stars Kenya Moore and Brandi Glanville used a “pie me”  contest  to let out their frustrations.

“I wish I had 10,000 pies to throw in her face,” Moore said laughing.

At competition’s end, “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro judged the quality of each team’s pies. The women learned Valastro chose their sweet pie, a blueberry pear mix, as the dish winner during the board room meeting. Despite what could have been a hopeful lead, money talks as Rivera’s team raised more than $280,000 during the challenge. Jonas seemed relieved Rivera gave props to Gottfried during the meeting. The comedian hired a fire eater and a Howard Stern look-a-like to attract throngs of customers.

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In the boardroom, “Celebrity” Season 1 winner Piers Morgan and Ivanka Trump signed on as advisers. Moore made note that Pulliam didn’t call comedian/actor Bill Cosby to send a donation — this season was filmed before Cosby became embroiled in an alleged sexual assualt scandal. Pulliam couldn’t hold back tears as she, “Kate Plus 8” star Kate Gosselin and snowboarder Jamie Anderson were up for elimination.

Trump was surprised a fierce competitor and Olympic winner like Anderson had trouble picking a teammate to send home. Gosselin wasted no time and deflected the team’s downfall to Pulliam.

Pleas and a good work ethic weren’t enough to save Pulliam who was fired quickly by Trump. Pulliam may not be around for the rest of the season, but she didn’t go home empty-handed. Trump awarded her charity Kamp Kizzy, which focuses on youth empowerment and self-esteem, $25,000.

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“To send me home for a fundraising task where the other two people raised zero dollars is kind of crazy to me,” Pulliam said as she left.

For more on Pulliam’s side of the story, fans can tune into NBC’s “Today” show Monday, Jan. 5 starting at 7 a.m.