What an episode. Possibly the best viewing experience of my life. Big recap coming in a few days. For now, here’s my chat with Big Vinnie…

TU: Hey Vincent, how ya feeling today?

VP: I’m feeling fine. Did some interviews on the phone, did the Today Show. I got a lot of great response from the episode last night. You ask, “How ya feeling today,” but that didn’t happen last night.

TU: I know, I know. I was on the show mys–

VP: It’s called television, we taped it a couple a months ago.

TU: I know. Um, did you enjoy the experience?

VP: Yeah, it was good stuff. Very, uh, Soprano-ish.

TU: Yeah, they had a lot of fun with that comparison.

VP: The ending, right? The song, the blackout, the TV– I didn’t know they were gonna do that. I was just laughing in my chair, I almost fell out of my seat.

TU: Did you feel that they gave you a fair edit?

VP: There was some stuff they cut out that could have made the storyline a lot clearer, but ya know, they didn’t do a bad job. There was a lot stuff they left out, like when I find out from Lennox that they set me up, they didn’t show that. When I was in the warehouse and I was getting information from the guys to give to Marilu– they didn’t show that. There was a lot of stuff that they cut out. But as a whole, I was very happy with NBC.

TU: Did you know the episode was gonna be two hours?

VP: You know who told me, Stephen Baldwin told me. Stephen called me up, he said, “Vinnie, they’re making your episode”– that’s what he was calling it– “they’re making your episode a two hour special.”

TU: That might have been the best Apprentice episode I’ve ever seen.

VP: Ya know, Mark Burnett said the same thing– he said it was the best reality show episode he’s ever produced.

TU: It was interesting– you could have been off the hook when you went back to the guys’ team because none of them knew that you had actually decided to betray them. But you seemed to feel too guilty to go back with the guys in good heart.

VP: I did, I had to kind of tell Piers cause I’m a big mouth. Especially when I said, “I helped us,” and he said, “You couldn’t create anything! Blah blah blah blah blah blah,” and then the girls win. Ohhhhhh boyyyy, I don’t know if you saw the smile on my face. Like he says, “The girls blah blah blah if you helped them, they’ll never win!” Okay, okay, okay. And how great was the moment when Carol Alt said that she had money for her brother’s charity? That was beautiful.

TU: It was– and I thought your donation a week earlier was very touching as well.

VP: Well, thank you. That’s something a little recent in my life, and Nancy just starting this foundation, and I came on board, and I think with all of the recognition from The Apprentice, that her foundation is probably gonna get a good launch now. So God Bless ‘em.

TU: $50,000 isn’t bad either.

VP: $50,000 is nice. It’s a good way to start out a foundation. So maybe, uh, despite all the bad stuff I did in my life, maybe God will open up the gates of heaven for me now.

TU: Yeah, it’s uh, it’s a good, uh, thing…uh, so how are you feeling about the other candidates? Are you in touch with any of them now?

VP: Oh yeah, ya know, I have a show, The Wiseguy Show on Sirius, and I’m doing a thing, every week I talk to one of the people from The Apprentice. I just had Gene Simmons on this week, Jennie Finch on last week, and the week before I had Baldwin on. I’m in touch with Trace on a personal level now, and I’m in touch with Stephen and Marilu on a personal level now. So we’ve become friends.

TU: Do think you’d ever have Piers on your show?

VP: Piers emailed me, he’s in London. He’s just in the time difference– I think it’d be great if he’d come on my show. Yeah, it’s all over, I got nothing against that guy. I could care less.

TU: Yeah, I actually got the impression that you guys actually liked each other before it all got ugly at the end.

VP: Yeah, at the end, we gave each other a hug, it was like, “Who’s gonna knock who out of the ballpark?” and that’s what it’s all about. But he knew the game a little better than me, and he knew that if he can get me all riled up, and if he can get me going back and forth with the guys and the girls, and not focus on the project itself, that I would probably be the weakest candidate to get fired if they lost, and that’s what he was aiming for. And I was aiming for the same thing wit’ him. I didn’t want to see Baldwin, or Trace, or Lennox go off the show, I wanted to see him go off the show. And I wanted to see the girls win, and they won. And who ended up losing?…I guess it’s me because I packed it in, but, ya know, it ain’t the end of the world.

TU: Who are you rooting for now?

VP: Who am I rooting for to become The Apprentice? Either Marilu Henner, Stephen Baldwin, or Trace Adkins.

TU: Why is that?

VP: Cause I love ‘em, they’re all good people. It’s all about charity, ya know, it’s not about, ya become The Apprentice and you make a million dollars, it’s all about charity. And they’re all good people, and I’d like to see one of those people become The Apprentice and make some money for their charity, because it’s a lot of money, it’s $250,000.

TU: What were your thoughts watching Gene Simmons get fired?

VP: Ya know, talking to Gene on my radio show this weekend, I kind of felt that he wanted off the show, and he admitted it to me on the radio– he just didn’t want nothin’ to do with it no more. And ya know, the truth of the matter is, that you go on this show for charity, and it becomes a cutthroat game. And it’s tough to do that when you’re saying, “Hey I’m doing this for charity, I’m not doing this to buy a new house or something,” ya know? It gets kind of rough, ya know, so I think Gene put himself in a position where it was time for him to just say goodbye.

TU: If you could do it again, would you still resign, or try to get Piers fired and stay on?

VP: I would have stayed on if I had felt the guys wanted me, but as soon as Lennox was talking negatively about me being a quitter and everything, I said to myself, “That’s it, it’s time to move on.” I trusted Lennox, I thought he was my friend, and he’s going on the Brit’s side. That’s why I said, I felt it was cutthroat, ya know, and I said, “I don’t need this.” But we’ll see what happens– what goes around comes around. Anyway, I had a lot of fun, I was able to raise a lot of money for my charity, and I really enjoyed it. We have some parties coming up, and a big finale that we still have to shoot yet in March with Donald, and who knows? Maybe he’ll give me a condo as a present. Or maybe he’ll let me date his daughter.

TU: [laughs] And what’s next? What’s happening with you now?

VP: I have my radio show, and I have some Broadway plays that I’m thinkin’ about, and I’m also doing a new reality show called Food Fellas, and I start working on that in April.

TU: Okay, good talking to you, Vinnie.

Check out Tim’s website, at www.timurban.com, where you can listen to samples of his new album, Turning Home, see pictures, and contact Tim. You can find Tim’s blog at www.timurban.blogspot.com.