Taking the “reality” part of “reality television” to another level, producers on The Apprentice required the would-be moguls to undergo testing for sexually transmitted diseases. That’s according to Apprentice in Wonderland, the new book by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, who claims that it was executive producer Mark Burnett who mandated the testing, worried about his contestants’ off-camera activities. Burnett “wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be held legally liable for anything that was shared after the boardroom closed for the night,” extracts of the book published on Tuesday by Page Six read. At least one contestant, Bowie Hogg, told Setoodeh that he’d had a funnel inserted into his penis as part of the testing. “They turned it and scraped it and pulled it out,” he added. “And it was the most painful thing I’ve experienced in my whole life.” Hogg was eliminated on the fourth episode of the show’s first season.
