Michael Andretti ‘drafts’ Adam Carolla on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

Michael Andretti

It was week three on Celebrity Apprentice Sunday night, and former IndyCar racer and current team owner, Michael Andretti, is still on the show competing for his charity, Racing for Cancer. On Sunday's show, the racer from the famed Andretti family was said to be "drafting" a competitor, comedian Adam Carolla. Up until now, Mr. Andretti has managed to stay off the radar in terms of the show's editing of personality interactions on the show, but that started to change in week three. What happened?

The task for week three was to design two living window displays for Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and accessories for Lord & Taylor department store. The winning project manager would receive $20,000 for his or her charity. Michael Andretti remains part of the men's team, Unanimous. Because the task involved two different Lord & Taylor locations, the men's team split in two parts. Project manager this week was George Takei of Star Trek fame. At the other location, comedian Adam Carolla was in charge of building and constructing the displays. Mr. Andretti worked with Mr. Carolla.

At one point in the show Adam Carolla joked about Mr. Andretti, who had just given him a compliment about what a good job he was doing. Mr. Carolla said:

"Michael basically does what good racers do – which is he just tucks in behind you and drafts you, then at the end he’ll just slide out and take the checkered flag."

For drama on television, the show highlights disagreements and confrontations among team members, but so far Mr. Andretti has not been showcased as involved in any such incidents. He has also not had the opportunity as yet to work as project manager for a task, but that is true of many of the contestants, since the series has only just broadcast the third episode.

Michael Andretti's chosen charity, Racing for Cancer, continues the fight to increase awareness of cancer prevention and detection as well as working to help eradicate childhood cancer.

This week, the women's team won the competition, giving $20,000 to their project manager's chosen charity; Dayana Mendoza's choice is Latino Commission on AIDS.

Drafting a fellow competitor or not, Michael Andretti continues on Celebrity Apprentice which airs on NBC Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET. Next week, the task will involve promoting the launch of the new Buick Verano, a project that might suit Mr. Andretti's talents. Watch to see if he volunteers to be project manager or if he becomes otherwise more featured on the program. Examiner