Exclusive: Geraldo Rivera talks backstabbing, naked selfies, Joan Rivers on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

Geraldo Rivera has made himself a top contender of this season’s “Celebrity Apprentice” and will do just about everything to make sure his team – and he in particular – takes home the top prize, including shedding his clothes.

The 71-year-old journalist and TV personality recreated his infamous naked selfie on Monday night’s double episode for a fitness photo spread for Cosmopolitan magazine.

“Seventy is the new 50 – that was my angle,” Rivera told Fox News Latino’s Maria Molina about his team’s idea of “Love Your Selfie Naked.” “The men came up with that outrageous idea. The ladies took a more traditional approach to it. They lost, we won.”

The second challenge included selling wedding dresses, with both teams raising nearly $600,000 for charity. Rivera’s charity, LifeWorks, an organization that helps children and young adults with learning disabilities, received $300,000 from Monday night’s challenge.

Although it’s all for a great cause, “Celebrity Apprentice” is fueled by the contestant’s ruthless behavior to get to the top and never be fired by Donald Trump. It was something that Rivera learned early on.

“It’s so different than anything I’ve ever done,” he said, adding that Ian Ziering, Kevin Jonas and Lorenzo Lamas conspired to get him out, unsuccessfully. “It is backstabbing and double-dealing and devious behavior and conspiracies… It’s like bare-knuckle business.”

Rivera gave us a little sneak peak at next week’s episode which will feature the late Joan Rivers.

“I knew Joan very well – we were in the daytime talk show business together,” he said. “She was a real trooper. During the taping of the program, she was in perfect health – feisty as ever.”

He said his longtime friend was “jokes left and right” and “insulting you with a smile on her face.”

“To see her on tape now, to be alive again… this is her last original show,” Rivera said. “You will see her just as funny as you remember her.”

“Celebrity Apprentice” airs Monday nights on NBC.

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