Producers and industry insiders who worked with Donald Trump during his reality TV heyday say his billionaire tycoon persona was carefully selected for The Apprentice.
This is according to an explosive report from The New York Timeswho spoke to several producers who admitted that Trump was nothing like the successful, down-to-earth businessman seen on screen.
Trump was chosen by the show’s creator, Mark Burnett, at the age of 57 to star in The Apprentice in 2003, largely because he was a household name thanks to his role as a tabloid star during the 1990s.
But sources close to the show said the smokescreen surrounding Trump’s empire was evident from the start, when producers visited Trump Tower to assess it as a filming location and were less than impressed.
When the production team visited Trump Tower in the summer of 2003, the report claims they were met with a “stench” filling the upper levels of the Manhattan skyscraper where Trump worked.
Although he played a successful billionaire tycoon on The Apprentice, the show’s producers claimed he was nothing like the character he promoted.
Behind the scenes, insiders claimed Trump played almost no role in The Apprentice and only derailed it with his antics.
Producers reportedly found wooden desks covered in shavings, musty-smelling carpets and fewer than 50 people working at the Trump Organization headquarters.
“When you go into the office and you hear ‘billionaire,’ even ‘recovering billionaire,’ you don’t expect to see chipped furniture, you don’t expect to smell carpet that needs to be redone in the worst, worst way,” recalled one of the show’s producers, Bill Pruitt.
Though he claimed to be New York City’s most successful real estate developer, Trump was emerging from a turbulent decade that had seen him declare bankruptcy on several businesses stemming from his empire.
He faced financial collapse after his Atlantic City casinos struggled, along with stalled plans to open more golf courses and skyscrapers across the United States that were losing money.
But despite this lack of progress – which would reverse in the following years as Trump’s personal brand soared – the businessman would quickly land on American screens as a high-flying billionaire.
Trump was hand-picked to host The Apprentice by showrunner Mark Burnett (pictured together), largely because he was a household name thanks to his role as a tabloid star during the 1990s.
When a crew of producers visited Trump Tower in the summer of 2003, they were reportedly met with a “stench” that filled the Manhattan skyscraper and left them unimpressed.
For Burnett, who reportedly reached out to other tycoons such as Warren Buffett and Richard Branson before settling on Trump as his star, this transformation was carried out almost entirely without Trump’s involvement, according to confidential sources.
Network executives took over day-to-day management of The Apprentice and rented space in Trump Tower to create a fake boardroom where Trump would coin his famous catchphrase: “You’re fired!”
With his high name recognition and nickname plastered on buildings across America, all that was left was to rebrand Trump as a comeback king who had already moved past his slump, producers say.
“Our job was to make it look legitimate, to make it look like there was something behind it, even though we all pretty much knew there wasn’t, but that was our job,” producer Jonathan Braun told the New York Times.
“We weren’t making a documentary, Richard Attenborough wasn’t narrating it. It was a prime-time entertainment programme.”
Trump seen during the season finale of The Celebrity Apprentice in 2010
Bill Pruitt, producer of The Apprentice, said that when he first entered Trump Tower in 2003, it was filled with “chipped furniture” and “carpets that need to be redone in the worst, worst way.”
To reintroduce Trump to America, The Apprentice filmed an opening segment titled “Meet the Billionaire.”
The promo featured the New York City skyline as Trump recounted how he overcame his overwhelming debt to become who he claimed to be.
“Manhattan is a tough place,” Trump began his introduction. “This island is a real jungle, if you’re not careful it can swallow you up and spit you out.”
“But if you work hard, you can really achieve great things.”
Showing the apparent transformation of his success, the camera then panned over Trump’s failing Atlantic City casinos as they lit up the night sky.
The photo then showed an image of Trump Ice, a bottled water company that went bankrupt, and Trump Place, an apartment building that bore only its name but was not managed by the Trump Organization.
He continued his story: ‘But it wasn’t always that easy.
‘About 13 years ago, I was in deep trouble. I was billions of dollars in debt. But I fought back and won, big time. I used my brain, I used my negotiating skills and I worked it all out. Now my company is bigger than ever.
“It’s stronger than ever and I’m having more fun than ever. I’ve mastered the art of business and turned the Trump name into a brand of the highest quality.”
Early in his career, Trump (pictured in 1981) was saddled with debt, but boasted in his reintroduction on The Apprentice that he had “mastered the art of business” to rebuild his fortune.
Trump is pictured with contestant David Gould, whom he abruptly fired in the first season in a decision that surprised producers.
It’s no secret that Trump left The Apprentice to rebuild his image as a billionaire celebrity before his presidential ambitions gained traction.
And while his business instincts may have puzzled some insiders, Trump’s bombastic style is said to have finally found its footing when he hosted a reality show.
Editors said he played almost no role in the development of the show, but appeared when needed to add drama and attract attention.
“We made him look like royalty at almost every opportunity,” Pruitt said. “Our mission was to make sure that everyone who saw us understood that working for him was going to be a very big deal.”
This was evident at the beginning of the first season, when contestant David Gould (the producer’s favorite as a CEO and venture capitalist) was abruptly fired by Trump in the first episode.
It’s no secret that Trump left The Apprentice to rebuild his image as a billionaire celebrity, which later became the basis of his presidential ambitions.
Although one of Gould’s other contestants was thought likely to be “fired” after he failed a lemonade selling challenge by unsuccessfully trying to sell a glass for $1,000, Trump decided to fire Gould instead, apparently on a whim.
While showrunners were stunned, producer Katherine Walker admitted: “At that moment we knew we had a show, because this was not what we expected.”
While recklessness and unpredictability aren’t typically considered good qualities in business, they were perfect for grabbing headlines and viewers for The Apprentice.
One producer said that because Trump was not involved in the contestants’ efforts, he would constantly “fire the absolutely wrong person” as he “had no idea what was going on and would just make something up.”
If the person he chose to fire could have made Trump look like a bad decision-maker, editors would step in to help improve his image, they said.
“Our job then was to reverse engineer the show so he wouldn’t look like a complete jerk,” Braun said, adding that they would re-edit the losing contestant “to make the person he fired look not as good.”