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While the first hour of the 3 hour long Celebrity Apprentice 2 finale featuring Gambling911.com friend Annie Duke started off slow, the concluding hour managed to beat CBS' 60 Minutes numbers and was closing in on ratings mainstay, Desperate Housewives.
Annie Duke, Joan Rivers, Donald Trump and company managed to reel in just shy of 11 million viewers that last hour. Desperate Housewives had just over 12 million viewers. 60 Minutes had 10 million.
Even more impressive: The Celebrity Apprentice 2 finale beat out ABC's Brothers & Sisters (8.8 million) and CBS' The Unit (9.7 million) in its final hour.
"We were pretty certain that last hour at least was a jackpot for the show based on Gambling911.com's enormous traffic," said Payton O'Brien of Gambling911.com.
Searches related to the Celebrity Apprentice 2 finale were massive from 9 pm EST straight through to around 1 am in the morning.
"This was a strong indicator as to just how big the audience ended up being."
The Apprentice franchise nearly found itself cancelled just a few years ago. Rivers and Duke's nasty on-air feud, which carried right into Sunday night's live boardroom, had pumped new life into the series.
The Celebrity Apprentice was renewed by NBC last week.
Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com
