Markson’s ‘brain snap’
HE washed cars, made fried chicken, organised a fashion show and was even photographed naked, all in the name of charity and television.
HE washed cars, made fried chicken, organised a fashion show and was even photographed naked, all in the name of charity and television.
But Max Markson only has one regret from his Celebrity Apprentice stint – his boardroom outburst calling model and fellow Jewish contestant Didier Cohen a “self-confessed cocaine addict”.
The celebrity agent confessed to The AJN that it wasn’t his finest moment.
“I think I had a brain snap on that occasion,” he said.
“We were in the boardroom for seven hours, and I thought going in there that we’d win. When we didn’t win, in the boardroom somebody had to be fired. I thought that it would be Didier or Jason [Coleman], because Jason was the team captain. Then all of a sudden I thought I could be getting fired here so I just … had a brain snap.
“I’ve apologised to Didier since then, and definitely it was the wrong thing for me to say.”
Markson said he and Cohen had actually worked well together.
“I thought that we got on all right,” he said. “The first challenge was the car-wash challenge, which we lost, but the following three we won, so we did well together,” he said.
“I’m proud of Didier. He’s a wonderful young man who came from the streets of Los Angeles as a street kid … he’s building a great career and he’s a wonderful ambassador and inspiration to other street kids.”
Controversy aside, Markson said he enjoyed appearing on the show.
“I had the best time. I just played around a lot, I was a bit like a cartoon character of myself,” he said.
He reflected on the challenges in the show with good humour.
“I’m vegetarian but I had to make Kentucky Fried Chicken, that was interesting to say the least,” he said.
“I’d never done a nude photograph either before, so that was also interesting.”
But he said he was proud to help those in need, one of his motivations for joining the cast in the first place.
“When I left the show we’d raised just on $350,000 [for charity], of which I’d brought in over $100,000, so that was a pretty good effort.”
And he said he learnt something along the way too.
“I’m very much a boss, and when you’re in a team situation sometimes you’ve got to shut up and listen,” he said.
“You’ve got two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you talk.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
Oy, it’s not kosher! Max Markson during the KFC challenge
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