‘Apprentice’ avoids Trump’s ire

Brande Roderick, tonight's slinky celebrity "host" at Tao nightclub inside The Venetian, has filmed most of this season's "The Celebrity Apprentice." But Playboy's 2001 Playmate of the Year can't tell me whether she will be one of two finalists The Donald chooses from in a live May finale.

On Sunday's "Apprentice," the first booted contestant was comic Andrew "Dice" Clay. The contestants were not surprised because Clay kept cast and crew waiting for a gofer to fetch "his special coffee," Roderick says.

"We'd always be waiting on him, and he's a guy," the former "Baywatch" lifeguard says. "You'd think you'd be waiting on one of the girls. He was definitely a prima donna. He does rub people the wrong way."

I have no idea whether Roderick is a finalist, but she did say The Donald "never yelled at me" so that could be a good sign for her.

Roderick grew up in California and lives in San Diego, so she's a Vegas regular. She was here a few weeks ago to compete in a TV poker tournament headed by "The Simpsons" co-developer Sam Simon, actress Jennifer Tilly, comic actor Norm Macdonald and "Howard Stern" comic (and best-selling author) Artie Lange.

Lange said on Stern's Sirius radio show that he lost a lot of money but bedded a porn star for free. Roderick didn't know about the porn star.

"Oh my gosh, he got it for free?" she says when I tell her. "That's amazing."

Roderick won money in the TV poker tourney but then lost it all in a gambling bender at the Palms, while hanging with Simon and the Stern show's Ralph Cirella.

"When the show wrapped," she says, "we all went out to play pai gow and blackjack, and then I ended up staying up till 8 in the morning, losing all the money I won playing poker" in the TV tournament. Part of the problem, she says, "we started drinking."

Roderick got on "Apprentice" not just because she's appeared nude in Playboy, not just because she throws Super Bowl parties at the Playboy mansion and not just because she's done some soft-focus naked films, but because she started FinanciallyHung.com, which she calls a "VIP MySpace."

Tonight, she's bringing girlfriends from Los Angeles and New York. She boasts, "They're all hot." She walks the red carpet at 10 p.m. Cover is $20 at the club.

WEEKEND GIGS

Check out today's Neon section for this week's shows by George Lopez, Les Claypool, Kevin James and Ray Romano, The Pretenders, Collin Raye and Tyler Perry's "The Marriage Counselor."

Over at McMullan's pub in Green Valley Ranch, hotel execs and regular people will be shaving their heads to show support for childhood cancer. That's from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Go bald and get a free gift bag of spa products, a $1 beer IOU, a T-shirt and coupons. I've seen better gift bags, but you know, it's a charity thing.

Who's your daddy? Tell me at delfman@reviewjournal. com, or post a comment at reviewjournal.com/elfman. My column runs Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.