What was Donald Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice about? Details of the politician's stint on TV, explored 

Donald Trump was in The Apprentice (Image Source: NBC)
Donald Trump was in The Apprentice (Image Source: NBC)

Donald Trump made a historic comeback in the 2024 US elections following a fierce battle against Democratic party candidate Kamala Harris. Trump will be sworn into office on January 20, 2025. Before he takes over once again as the President of the United States, this article takes a look at Donald Trump's TV series The Apprentice.

American reality television program The Apprentice came out on NBC in 2004 and ran for 15 successful seasons. Created by Mark Burnett and co-produced by Donald Trump, the show focused on the contestants' business skills and became popular among viewers for its competitive format.

The Apprentice offered a one-year $250,000 starting contract to the winning contestants in one of Trump's properties. The contestants were mostly unrecognized but talented individuals who had impressive knowledge about business.

In the early seasons, the contestants were divided into two teams as corporations, and given different tasks to evaluate their skills. Each team had to choose a project manager who took control of the challenge.

The tasks given to the corporations in Donald Trump's The Apprentice include sales, raising money for charity, advertising campaigns, and more. These challenges helped evaluate the competitors and analyze their strengths.


What happened in Donald Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice?

As mentioned above, The Apprentice welcomed limited contestants to prove their business excellence, and how they can be a perfect fit for a position in one of Donald Trump's properties as he was considered one of the renowned real estate developers. For the early seasons, corporations (teams) stood against each other by carrying out various tasks.

After completing the challenges, advisors and the show's host announced the winning corporation based on subjective feedback and outcomes. As for the losing team or corporation, it participated in a dramatic boardroom meeting with Trump and his advisors.

In this meeting, the contents and Trump discussed the drawbacks that led to their defeat. The members also evaluated the contributions made during the tasks. This resulted in the elimination of one team member in each episode with Trump iconically saying "You're fired!".

Trump's involvement in the show made it impressively popular, especially due to his declaration and engaging tasks in every episode.


Why Donald Trump was fired by NBC during another show The Celebrity Apprentice

Following the popularity of The Apprentice, NBC launched its spin-off series, The Celebrity Apprentice, where only celebrities were allowed to participate to raise money for charity. Trump hosted the show from 2008 to 2015.

The role was then given to actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for some time until it was canceled in 2017. The reason behind Trump's cancelation was due to his derogatory remarks on Mexican immigrants which gathered immense attention. Per CBS News, NBC's entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said in 2015 that:

"Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump. At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values."

Not only this, but Greenblatt also mentioned that many came forward to express their opinion to replace Trump for the reality show. Trump also decided to run for the presidential elections at that time and even talked about his time on The Apprentice and how his involvement boosted the show's ratings.


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Edited by Apoorva Jujjavarapu