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Penn Jillette fired from ‘Celebrity Apprentice’; still wins big for his charity

You know him as half the world famous magic duo of Penn & Teller and as a contestant on this season’s The Celebrity Apprentice, which airs Saturday nights on Global.

Penn Jillette was one of 18 business-savvy celebrity contestants who have been competing, not for a job with business tycoon Donald Trump, but for the greater goal of raising money and awareness for the charity of their choice.

The last person standing will be “hired” as the Celebrity Apprentice and have the honour of delivering a $250,000 bonus cheque to their designated charity.

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Well, Jillette didn’t make it. Instead he was on the receiving end of one of Trump’s infamous “you’re fired!” lines.

Jillette had been on a mission to raise money for Opportunity Village, a non-profit that serves more than 1,000 people with intellectual disabilities in the Las Vegas area. Penn & Teller is the longest-running headliner show in Las Vegas, where it plays nightly at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, which is owned by Caesar’s Palace.

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Despite being “fired,” Jillette’s real boss – Caesar’s Palace – decided to cut him a cheque for $250,000 for Opportunity Village. Jillette had already earned $40,000 for the charity by winning one of the tasks the contestants were required to do in an earlier episode of the show.

“I’m thrilled to pieces,” Jillette told Zap2it.com. “So we’ll have the live finale, but I will have already given the full prize plus more to my charity. And [Caesars] didn’t have to do a big TV show about it.”

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