WWE Diva Maria Kanellis heads to The Celebrity Apprentice.
by Fred Topel
Mar 19, 2010

WWE Diva Maria Kanellis will be bringing her talents to The Celebrity Apprentice this season. She doesn’t need a job with Donald Trump but it’s for charity, not to mention the pride of beating all the other celebrities. Kanellis talked a little smack for us in an exclusive interview at NBC’s winter party for the Television Critics Association press tour.

Crave Online: How did you get involved with Celebrity Apprentice?
Maria Kanellis: It was funny because Donald Trump was working with World Wrestling Entertainment. He came to the show and he asked a bunch of people, “Who would I bring onto the show? Who would I bring onto Celebrity Apprentice?” They said me. I was a fan of the show and I love working for charity, so I said yes immediately and that’s how I got on.

Crave Online: Was this when they shaved his head?
Maria Kanellis: No, it was after that, when he came and bought Raw for one day.

Crave Online: Have you started shooting yet?
Maria Kanellis: We’ve already shot most of it. There’s only a little bit left to shoot.

Crave Online: How does wrestling prepare you for the boardroom?
Maria Kanellis: What’s amazing about it is there’s so many different women personalities all meshing together and in the locker room it’s the same thing. You have so many different types of personality in the same locker room. So for me, I use my experience with that as well as experiences from the past and just kind of went forward and fought. That’s all we do.

Crave Online: Do you mean the locker room we see on camera as part of your story, or the real locker room where you’re being yourselves?
Maria Kanellis: Both, definitely both because where you fight and where you play is all taken into consideration with Celebrity Apprentice as well. You have to learn how to relate to other women, to other personalities.

Crave Online: What’s your charity?
Maria Kanellis: Make a Wish Foundation.

Crave Online: What are some of the fun challenges?
Maria Kanellis: I can’t tell you about the challenges. That’s one thing I can’t tell you about but what I can tell you is this season was probably the funniest out of the three seasons. I mean, come on. Brett Michaels, Sharon Osborne, there were some very interesting personalities definitely.

Crave Online: Are there any challenges where you have a physical advantage for being athletic?
Maria Kanellis: Yes, it is a very intense show and you have to lift and move and you’ve got so much to do, it’s all under time constraints so you’re constantly doing something. So because of my physical background, it helped me so much.

Crave Online: Is it men versus women?
Maria Kanellis: Women versus men, that’s how it starts.

Crave Online: Do you ever use your tag team experience to learn how to pick a partner and team up for a little bit?
Maria Kanellis: No, just because this is a totally different thing. There, it might be just all based on physical. Here it’s based on what they know, what they’ve done in their past, what they’ve learned from the different charities that they’ve been with, where they’re at in their careers. So definitely completely different in that aspect.

Crave Online: What’s going on for you in the ring?
Maria Kanellis: Well, I just won Diva of the Year so just won that. That was an amazing, amazing thing for me. It was all voted on by our fans so the fan wanted me to be Diva of the Year. Now I am. Outside the ring though, I have an album coming out. It comes out in April. It’s April 13 and it’s called Seven Sins. I wrote it and produced it so I’m very, very busy.

Crave Online: Does WWE have a hand in music? Is it through them?
Maria Kanellis: They do not have their hands on my CD. Mine is completely independent and I did it that way because I wanted it to be very me. I didn’t want it to be somebody else. So maybe down the road, but right now I wanted to start it off this way independently.

Crave Online: How long have you been involved with music?
Maria Kanellis: I was in music and I used to sing in high school. Now finally I’m getting the opportunity to showcase it. It’s so much fun for me. It’s a great outlet for me.

Crave Online: You sing. Do you play any instruments?
Maria Kanellis: I play a little bit of the drums but it’s all my vocals.

Crave Online: How would you describe your sound?
Maria Kanellis: I would describe it as rock music, twisted lyrics and definitely sexual appeal.

Crave Online: Do you think you might get some tracks in Rock Band or Guitar Hero?
Maria Kanellis: I would love that because I love that game. I think it’s great for all the different people that are out there right now that were struggling before that now with Rock Band and with getting stuff on TV shows, it makes it a little better and easier to get the music out there.

Crave Online: When you release a single, do you think you can knock those Glee kids off the charts for a week or so?
Maria Kanellis: I hope so. I certainly hope so. I just want it to do well. If it does well, I’ll be happy.

Crave Online: As Diva of the Year, will we get to see a nice new glamour video from you?
Maria Kanellis: Well, not that but there will be videos along with my CD.

Crave Online: Do you have an active storyline in WWE right now?
Maria Kanellis: I do because I’m kind of the defender of real women right now. Me and Nikki James are both getting picked on for not being perfect in some of the other girls’ eyes. They call themselves flawless. Well, I’m proud to be flawed. I wear my heart on my sleeve and that’s okay by me. Other people might say that it’s a bad thing. They were picking on Nikki for her weight. How horrible is that? So me and Nikki are the defenders of the real women right now. We really are.

Crave Online: What’s in the works for Wrestlemania?
Maria Kanellis: Hopefully a title match. I really, really want to win women’s champion. But you know what? It’s been five years and if it takes another five, I’ll keep trying. I really will. I will keep trying until WWE says I can’t try no more.

Crave Online: How did they work out Celebrity Apprentice with the ring?
Maria Kanellis: I left for a little bit but I also had my heart broken so it kind of was a nice time for me to get out, definitely. Do something for charity. Make a Wish Foundation is incredible. I just met with another kid a couple days ago and it was nice because I gained so much strength from them. They are so powerful. They are such old souls and you just learn. You learn from them definitely.

Crave Online: Did you see the South Park on wrestling?
Maria Kanellis: Oh my gosh, I was in it. I was in it because I was tagging with Cena. It was when I was still blonde and it was Lita and Edge. So it was me and John Cena and Lita and Edge. It was crazy. The clip they used was me. It was me when I was still blonde. It was crazy.

Crave Online: Do you get a royalty from that?
Maria Kanellis: I don’t know. I should ask about that.

Crave Online: I bet Vince does.
Maria Kanellis: I’m sure he does.

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