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The Celebrity Apprentice 2

Joan Rivers, Celebrity Apprentice winner, has died

Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. (Photo by Sam Aronov / Shutterstock)

by Andy Dehnart 4 Sep. 2014 | 3:29 pm

Celebrity Apprentice winner and Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? star Joan Rivers has died at age 81. Her daughter and fellow Apprentice reality star Melissa Rivers announced her death today, saying that “She passed peacefully at 1:17pm surrounded by family and close friends.”

Her death comes one week after Joan stopped breathing and suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest during throat surgery; the clinic is now under investigation. After being brought out of a medically induced coma earlier this week, Melissa said Joan was “moved out of intensive care and into a private room where she is being kept comfortable.”

The groundbreaking, often acerbic, unapologetically offensive comedian easily won the second season of Celebrity Apprentice, which broke the fourth wall when Melissa was fired because of their reaction:

Joan later appeared on the show multiple times, in addition to reality appearances such as on the UK’s Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack, where she took over the house for a day.

Four years ago, a fantastic documentary titled Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work revealed more of Joan than her reality show appearances ever did. (Watch it.) This clip is the film’s opening sequence, showing Joan putting on her makeup and highlighting her vast career:

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about Andy Dehnart

Andy Dehnart’s writing and criticism about television, culture, and media has appeared on NPR and in Vulture, Pacific Standard, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He has covered reality television for more than 18 years, and created reality blurred in 2000.

A member of the Television Critics Association who serves on its board of directors, Andy, 41, also directs the journalism program at Stetson University in Florida, where he teaches creative nonfiction and journalism. He has an M.F.A. in nonfiction writing and literature from Bennington College. Learn more about reality blurred and Andy.

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reality blurred is your guide to the world of reality TV and unscripted entertainment, with reality show reviews, news, and analysis. It was created in 2000 by Andy Dehnart. He's still writing and publishing it today.

reality blurred is regularly updated with highlights from the world of reality TV: news and analysis; behind-the-scenes reports; interviews with reality TV show cast members and producers; and recaps and reviews of these reality TV shows, including Survivor, Big Brother, The Great British Baking Show, Shark Tank, The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Project Runway, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, and many more.

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