Carolyn Kepcher, who helped Donald Trump fire corporate trainees on "The Apprentice" reality TV show, has a new job helping Microsoft find the best small-business idea in America.

Microsoft is launching the "Ultimate Challenge" contest. The winner will receive $100,000 in seed money, a storefront or office in Manhattan rent-free for a year, and of course Microsoft software to get their business running. Kepcher is one of three contest judges who will pick four finalists. The judges and the voting public will then choose the winner. "It takes a big idea to create a big business," Kepcher said. "And I’ve seen some big ideas before."

No doubt, given that Carolyn worked for Trump for over a decade and was his right-hand woman on "The Apprentice" until he fired her in August. "She became a prima donna," said one insider. "Being on ‘The Apprentice’ went to her head. She was no longer focused on business. She was giving speeches for $25,000 and doing endorsements."

So Trump fired Carolyn for shameless self-promotion? Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? Even so, Trump is cool. He’s like a modern American cowboy, riding choppers instead of horses and rustling money instead of cattle.

But I’ll miss Carolyn on "The Apprentice". She always had a knack for cutting through the typical corporate BS to focus on the critical issue of every problem. I’ve worked in corporate America, and Carolyn’s honesty and insight is hard to find in an environment dominated by pointy-haired bosses and corporate lemmings. Surely Carolyn will succeed at whatever she decides to do next.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Girls just wanna have fun! (ADULTS ONLY)

First Britney Spears dumps slacker husband Kevin Federline by text message. Next, rumors fly that Kevin is shopping around a 4-hour Britney sex tape from their honeymoon.

Then Kevin states publicly that they are getting divorced because Britney is bisexual and was pressuring him to bring other women into their bedroom. And that’s a bad thing because…? Help me out here, I’m a little blind to the downside.

Britney Spears continued her very public liberation from K-Fed by stepping out with celebrity socialite Paris Hilton, resulting in a number of wild paparrazi photos including upskirts of Britney’s private parts (both with and without panties) and this puzzling photo of Paris giving Britney a titty-twister.

Looks like Britney is making good on her bisexual desires. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, especially when she provides photographic evidence! Apparently Paris is the “top” in this relationship.

But Britney, you’re about to enter a nasty divorce contest against a man who has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Do you really think this is a good game plan? Party in private! Just my two cents…

Popularity: 76% [?]

E! Entertainment Television has ordered a third season of the reality series “The Girls Next Door,” which follows the lives of Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson at the Playboy Mansion, home of their boyfriend Hugh Hefner. The tagline of the show is, “You call it fantasy, they call it home.”

The third season is set for a 2007 spring premiere. The second season audience is up nearly 30% over the first season and attracting more than twice as many viewers as E!’s total-day average. To celebrate the launch of the second season, a nude pictorial of the threesome was published in the September 2006 issue of Playboy magazine. The front and back covers feature a simultaneous photograph of the nude trio from their front and back sides. Too bad Superman never used his powers for that trick.

I saw Hef with his three hotties on “Ellen” the other day while sitting in the dentist chair. My mind kept racing between thoughts of Hef (“Luckiest man alive”) and the threesome (“What are they thinking? That dude is ancient!”) and the dentist (“Why does he have to wear such stinky aftershave?”)

Popularity: 25% [?]

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have ended their yearlong public feud that nearly killed the reality show that made them famous. Hilton and Richie have agreed to film a fifth season of “The Simple Life” together that will air on E! next spring.

The 25-year-old celebrity princesses had a very public falling out that resulted in the co-stars filming their Simple Life parts separately. Rumor has it the feud started when Richie played Hilton’s infamous green-light sex tape at a party and mocked Paris’ oral skills.

However their reconciliation may have been more the case of two enemies joining forces against a greater enemy. For the fifth season, Simple Life producers planned to strand the two women on a deserted island with a bunch of survivalists. Given their disdain for the island idea, Hilton and Richie reportedly rekindled their friendship and joined forces against the producers. Instead, the pair will appear together onscreen as camp counselors, and the show will explore what led to their breakup and “maybe some of the misunderstandings and things that got in the way.”

I realize a country cannot choose its royalty, but are these two the best the U.S. has to offer?

.

.

Popularity: 6% [?]