Annie Duke: “I Was Not The One Who Was Wronged”

Many Celebrity Apprentice fans feel they were wronged - that Annie Duke was tough enough to have won the ultimate prize instead of red carpet veteran Joan Rivers. And Annie Duke has been hearing all about it.

“Everybody’s been so supportive of me after last Sunday. Mostly a lot of “we thought you should have won” which is so nice to hear,” she said to us at the Game Show Network Awards at the Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday - where she was a presenter. “I mean, obviously it was Trump’s decision. I don’t particularly have any argument with it, but there’s a lot of people who have been really supportive of me. It’s really nice to know that my efforts didn’t go to waste.”

But the gorgeous poker champion doesn’t feel bad for her loss - it’s the loss that her charity, Refugees International, experienced that gets her the most. “The thing I know, in the end, is that anybody who really feel that I should have won - there are a lot of people out there who do - just realize that I’m not the one who was wronged,” she said. “My charity didn’t get $250,000, which they would’ve gotten.”

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Luckily, she has a solution. “What I’m asking people to do is if you really feel I should have won, please go to refugeesinternational.org. Support the site, educate yourself about the issue and if you believe in that mission please donate to them. Because they’re the ones who should have won in the end!”

And although she famously (or infamously!) didn’t get along with mother/daughter duo Joan and Melissa Rivers (who was suspiciously absent from GSN’s red carpet, though she was scheduled as a guest), she says she’s made lifelong friends with the other contestants. “I’m in touch with Claudia, I’m in touch with Hershel [Walker]…I’m still in touch with Natalie [Gulbis]- in fact I was just talking to her yesterday!”

As viewers saw in the last few episodes, she bonded particularly with Brande - they’re now bffs and still going strong. “Brande Roderick and I have remained really good friends. She’s like friend for life. Also, Jesse James, we’re going to go get lunch with him next week. Most of the people on there were really great.”

The Game Show Awards airs June 6 on GSN.

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