(CNN)  -- Comedian Joan Rivers and real estate mogul Donald Trump -- that's a twosome never known for mincing their words.



Joan Rivers appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night and explained her explosive confrontations.



Trump selected Rivers as this season's winner of "The Celebrity Apprentice," and they appeared on "Larry King Live" Monday night, full of their classic candor.



Among the topics covered: Rivers' long-running war of words with runner-up Annie Duke, her dust-up and make-up with Clint Black and the "reason" she is against same-sex marriage. And the Donald explains why Rivers had what it took to emerge the winner.



The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity:



Larry King: Donald, was it a tough decision?



Donald Trump: Well, it was. Joan fully understands it was a very, very tight race. And Annie [Duke] was terrific and Joan was terrific. In the end, I decided to go with Joan. She displayed tremendous courage. She really took a lot of abuse over the course of 14 weeks.



King: Joan, in last night's finale, you beat poker champion Annie Duke. You and Annie were still at each other up until the final moments. Let's take a look.



[King shows a video clip from "The Celebrity Apprentice"]



Annie Duke: I do not know a boardroom in this country where someone would be allowed to say that someone would spit on the ground and drown their mother in it, where someone would be allowed to call their friends Mafia, where someone would be allowed to say that someone is worse than Hitler. If that happened in a real office...



Joan Rivers: You're not worse than Hitler ...



Duke: ...in a real boardroom.



Rivers: Hitler never had PMS.



Duke: This is what I'm saying. If it happened in a real boardroom, she would have to be fired or that would be actionable.



Rivers: ... I have run a business for 20 years honorably. I have never fired anybody. I am the Number One jewelry business on television, with honor.



[End of video clip]



King: Oh, boy.



Rivers: Yes, oh boy.



Trump: And, Larry, that was the nice part.  Watch Larry King's interview with Rivers and Trump »



King: Joanny, where did you come up with that 'worse than Hitler' crack?



Rivers: Oh, I don't know. You know, you're always saying things. Hitler is the worst villain in the world. So when you really get furious at someone, you say, 'Oh, you're a female Hitler' or something, you know? It's just an expression. But I stand behind it.



King: What did she do to you?



Rivers: She was very duplicitous ... there was so much mud-slinging, which I'm not going to go into. I was told she said she wished I would die; she said I was a cancer.



King: What did you make of that squabble, Donald?



Trump: Well, I liked it very much. ... Especially this morning, when the ratings came in, because it was a ratings bonanza last night for NBC.



King: What does Joanny get now?



Trump: She got $250,000 plus she raised hundreds of thousands more during the course of the 14 weeks. But she gets $250,000. That goes to God's Love We Deliver, which is a great charity in New York.



King: What surprised you about this contest?



Trump: Well, I was just impressed with the intelligence, with the energy and verve that Joan had. I mean, Joan's energy was beyond everybody else's. And she wasn't necessarily the youngest person on the panel.



King: Joan, what surprised you about this experience?



Rivers: How it became so much more
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