Cyndi Lauper was eccentric, nutty and fun on The Celebrity Apprentice. She never claimed to be otherwise, and she never apologizes for her demeanour. But it seems that many of her teammates on Tenacity had a problem with her capricious mentality. And much like a high school locker room session, the girls snickered and giggled about Lauper behind her back. The pressure eventually got to Lauper who had had enough. The iconic pop star just wanted to have fun, after all.

ON HOW SHE GOT INVOLVED WITH THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE:

I signed a contract with Mark Burnett Productions to do my own reality show, and they said, 'Hey, we have this show, the Celebrity Apprentice,'  and because I never have time to watch TV, I had never
watched [The Celebrity Apprentice]. I found it an interesting gig. I liked the fact that Donald was there with his kids. I thought that was really sweet. And I got to reconnect with Sharon [Osbourne] again who was
awesome. It was an interesting group of people.

ON BRET MICHAELS:

Nobody has spoken with Bret. I was very concerned. The guy is fighting for diabetes, and what happened to him happens to people with diabetes. He really lucked out. It could have been a million times worse. Everything happens for a reason, but he lucked out.

ON WHAT THE SHOW HAS TAUGHT HER:

I learned a lot. I learned that I still would keep my demeanor of being very straightforward. That show got a little two-sided and backstabby. The sniping behind my back, after a while, really got to me. It really did. I could feel it.  [Holly] is dedicated to her cause, but the things that she says about other people and their causes are not true.  But she'd say anything, I think. [I don't know] if she has anything against my cause. That kind of angered me [that it was brought up in the board room], but I thought that was really directed to me to anger me. I think that very conservative people who think very linear get freaked out by people who don't think that way. I think I see things in a big picture.

That was hard for me to deal with people constantly talking behind my back like that, and not talking to me. That was an interesting experience, but I think that it was a good experience. It's hard work, but I learned a lot just watching everybody. I had fun.

ON WHY SHE WAS FIRED:

Because I didn't want to participate in that kind of thing anymore with Holly. It was too much. There's a lot of backstabbing, but I like to be straight ahead and I couldn't do it anymore. I worked very hard and I think that there were some people that were very stubborn, very small-minded and that was how they operate. And I didn't want to go there. I always gave 150 per cent. And I didn't see Holly lift a damn thing.

ON HAVING FUN DURING THE SHOW:

Well I think that there's joyful moments in everything we do. And that's really important -- that you remember your joy. Sometimes people forget, and it's easy to forget when you get busy.

ON HOW SHE FEELS ABOUT HOLLY & IF SHE HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF WINNING:

I think she's a hard worker. [But] she wouldn't think twice about throwing anybody under the bus. I was looking for [Holly] at the Bed, Bath and Beyond. She disappeared. But in her mind, I disappeared. She still laughed once in a while. She's capable of having a good time. She is a different kind of person, that's all, than I am.

But I think Bret is a very good contender to win. Because of Bret Michaels' illness and the fact that he's recuperated and he's coming back -- that kind of determination is pretty great. Bret Michaels has a pretty good shot of winning. Even when he wasn't there, he really came back and tried worked hard.

ON HER EXPECTATIONS HEADING INTO THE GAME:

I thought it was going to be like nine to five, but it's not. You go into hair and makeup at 4:00 am, and you come back out at eleven, twelve o'clock at night. And then you get up again and do it again. And it goes on for six days a week.  It was a little bit of a shocker.

ON MEETING PRESIDENT OBAMA:

That was awesome.  We live in America, and just the fact that we have President Obama makes me hopeful for the future. Because  we did create a change. People want a change. That was one of the highlights of my life; to go to the White House. And he knew me. That's the other thing. He knew me. I think he's got a great sense of humor, but he's also a very bright man.

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The Celebrity Apprentice airs on Global TV Sundays at 9.00 et/pt