The Apprentice was supposed to be a reality show competition based on business smarts,
but an underbelly of disturbing factors have been at work as contestants vied for a job
within Donald Trump's supposed empire.
Let's uncover the things everyone ignored about The Apprentice.
All those dramatic arguments in the show's infamous boardroom climaxes were basically
for nothing, at least according to Clay Aiken, a former contestant on The Apprentice.
"Trump didn't decide who got fired on The Apprentice.
NBC made those decisions,"
Wait, what?
Is he suggesting that Donald Trump's iconic "You're fired!" catchphrase was all a farce?
"David I'm gonna ask you to take the down elevator.
You're fired."
According to Aiken,
"There used to be a little thing right on [Trump's] desk that looked like a phone and
he pretended it was a phone, but it was actually a teleprompter where the producers were sending
him notes."
Aiken claims NBC determined which contestants were generating the lowest ratings and told
Trump who to fire, going on to say,
"Donald Trump isn't the businessman that people believe he is, because we saw him on TV playing
The Apprentice and he did look like he was leading.
But on The Apprentice, he doesn't lead."
Although it may come as a shock to no one, Donald Trump was focused on squeezing as much
as he could financially from the show.
According to The New Yorker,
"When producers were searching for office space in which to stage the show, he vetoed
every suggestion, then mentioned that he had an empty floor available in Trump Tower, which
he could lease at a reasonable price…When the production staff tried to furnish the
space, they found that local venders, stiffed by Trump in the past, refused to do business
with them."
Former producer Bill Pruitt and editor Jonathon Braun came clean in "The Confidence Man,"
a Trump-focused episode of the Netflix docuseries Dirty Money.
"We'd sit back and go 'This is ridiculous.'
But we thought it was funny.
Just didn't know how many people would actually look at that and go 'That's real, this guy's
amazing.'"
"That's cool, that's wild."
Pruitt describes Trump's office in the famed Trump Tower as dated and smelly.
"If you were to walk around Donald Trump's actual office in Trump tower, you'd see, like,
'Ah, the woods kinda chipped.'
You know?"
"It's a mess."
Another secret aside from having to give the office a makeover that fit the vibe they were
going for: There was no penthouse for winners like the show implied.
Different sets existed all on one floor in Trump Tower, a move that likely made filming
more convenient but was yet another fake representation of reality.
The title sequence played a part in that as well, as images of Trump's private jet, hotels,
and host of products put his apparent success and wealth front and center.
Braun told the New Yorker,
"He had just gone through I don't know how many bankruptcies.
But we made him out to be the most important person in the world...It was like making the
court jester the king."
In the end, The Apprentice helped Trump become relevant again and laid the groundwork for
his presidential run.
What do you look for in a good employee?
Well, if you're Donald Trump, the priority is nice skin, apparently.
Trump regularly commented on contestants' appearances, although those comments didn't
always make the air.
HuffPost got its hands on a transcript from a Season 9 episode titled "Beauty and Brains"
that included some, um, interesting commentary.
In the episode, the teams prepare country music hopefuls Emily West and Luke Bryan for
meetings with music industry insiders.
The contestants were supposed to work on interviewing skills and create promotional packets, but
in the boardroom, Trump uncomfortably turned the conversation to Emily's physical appearance,
reportedly ranting,
"I assume you're gonna leave this off, don't put this s--- on the show, you know.
But her skin, her skin sucks, okay?...I mean her skin, she needs some serious f---in' dermatology."
According to the transcript, Trump noted that Bryan was more attractive and asked country
music star and guest judge Trace Adkins for his opinion.
When Adkins tried to switch the topic by talking about Emily's brochure, Trump reportedly replied:
"You're obviously not a skin man."
After The Huffington Post released the transcript of the aforementioned episode, producer Bill
Pruitt suggested on Twitter that there is footage that never made the air that showed
more of Trump uncensored.
However, some of it has leaked out over time, and even some of the stuff that made it to
air is cringeworthy.
"Excuse me, you dropped to your knees?"
"Yes."
"I begged to do this, and I said…"
"Must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees."
"...Dennis thought I should be, Omarosa said me, other people said you and…"
Season 5 contestant Summer Zervos claimed Trump sexually harassed her, others alleged
he used sexist language towards women and on top of all that...
"Reality show insiders tell the Associated Press that Trump rated female contestants
and talked about which ones he'd like to sleep with."
Former producer Katherine Walker told the AP that Trump even speculated about how certain
female contestants would perform in bed, and The Apprentice winner Randal Pinkett told
the AP that he also witnessed Trump talking about wanting to sleep with competitors, as
well as describing Trump's work culture.
"I got the job done, but I learned the culture of the trump organization.
That culture was not one that reflected my values."
"What a group of killers!"
And that's just the dirt that's been dug up and published.
HuffPost reported that folks who worked on the show are likely remaining tight-lipped
for legal reasons.
"Well, you signed a non-disclosure agreement the day you were hired."
Despite a successful Season 1, ratings for The Apprentice began to drop as time marched
on, and that allegedly didn't sit well with Donald Trump.
After a drop in Season 5, former NBC Public Relations Director Jim Dowd claimed Trump
asked him to call the ten major executives who cover television ratings and tell them
The Apprentice was the Number 1 show in its time slot, even though it was actually ranked
Number 72.
"So you want me to lie?"
In 2007, executives rebooted the series with The Celebrity Apprentice spin-off featuring
famous names such as KISS rocker Gene Simmons, pop star Cyndi Lauper, and former baseball
pro Darryl Strawberry.
The show also shook up the format by having the contestants raise money for charities,
which often meant asking famous friends for money, anything for ratings gold.
Ad Age reported that The Apprentice was among the top ten shows in product placement on
network prime time television.
To give you an idea: the publication reported a brand popped up in the show 127 times in
March 2011 alone.
You may have missed this war on your dollars while watching the show because the advertising
wasn't always obvious.
"Why don't you let me fix you some of this new mococoa drink?
All natural cocoa beans from the upper slopes of mount Nicaragua, no artificial sweeteners!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Donald Trump would often introduce featured brands by referring to his "friends" at said
enterprises, but what you were actually experiencing was arguably a giant commercial in disguise.
Season 1, for example, was all about Trump and his brand.
The contestants stayed at Trump Tower, drank Trump-branded water, attended events at Trump's
golf club, and were sent to Atlantic City to draw attention to his casino before it
went bankrupt.
By Season 2, other companies were opening their checkbooks to be featured on the show.
According to Ad Age, brands paid anywhere from $5 million to $9 million to appear in
the series.
Broadcaster Piers Morgan competed against returning Apprentice reality star Omaros Newman
in the debut season of The Celebrity Apprentice, and he claimed she was a dirty dealer through
and through.
In a 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, he alleges that Newman propositioned him to have
a romance on the show that they could use for financial gain.
"I said, 'What's a showmance?'
She went, 'You know, on the Apprentice everyone has sex together so you and I can do that,
then we can sell it and make loads of money.'"
Morgan says he turned her down and then she allegedly began singing a different tune and
began insulting him with gay smears.
Despite that behavior, Newman was later employed as one of Trump's top White House aides, much
to Morgan's dismay.
Eventually she switched gears and slammed the administration instead.
She even wrote a book titled Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the White House.
Donald Trump Jr. allegedly cheated on his wife, Vanessa, with Danity Kane singer and
Apprentice contestant Aubrey O'Day.
The alleged affair reportedly went on around the time that Vanessa was pregnant with her
and Don Jr.'s third child.
The Trumps stayed together and had two more kids prior to Vanessa filing for divorce in
March 2018.
Though O'Day has kept quiet about the romantic rumblings, she did post a cryptic tweet the
night Donald Trump was elected president in 2016:
"My story I didn't tell is worth millions now."
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