Producers of The Apprentice were shocked by the rundown, shabby state of Donald Trump’s business headquarters when they visited the would-be set on their NBC reality series, according to a new book.
Bill Pruitt and Alan Blum told The New York Times investigative reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig that the Trump Tower space had a musty carpet stench that “followed them like an invisible cloud.”
The insights into the former president’s early 2000s television stint, detailed in Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, describe the Trump Organization’s office as a time capsule from when he opened the Midtown Manhattan building in 1984, riddled with chipped furniture and dated decor.
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Mark Burnett (above right), The Apprentice’s creator, originally considered Richard Branson and Warren Buffett for the show’s lead before Donald Trump.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic via Getty ImagesAs for Trump’s personal workspace, the producers said it was devoid of any evidence of work. In the place of computer monitors and paperwork, the desk was covered in news articles about Trump.
“When you go into the office and you’re hearing ‘billionaire,’ even ‘recovering billionaire,’ you don’t expect to see chipped furniture, you don’t expect to smell carpet that needs to be refreshed in the worst, worst way,” Pruitt told The New York Times.
Trump’s image also desperately needed a makeover. His ventures into casinos, an airline shuttle and a hotel had pushed him into dire financial straits and facing bankruptcy. And, according to the most recent Gallup survey before The Apprentice premiered, 98 percent of those polled knew Trump’s name, but 58 percent viewed him unfavorably.
Mark Burnett, The Apprentice’s creator and the biggest name in reality television at the time, had first spoken with famous executives who did not need reputational revamps, but ultimately decided that those men lacked the time or the charisma needed to be the lead. Trump largely became the show’s main character out of luck due to his long history with New York City tabloids, and his love of the camera.
But for the show to work, Trump would have to reshape his on-screen image into someone thoughtful, infinitely wealthy, and composed. Producers aired a “Meet the Billionaire” segment before that week’s episode to support the facade.
To tackle the Trump Organization’s drab office, Burnett rented vacant space on the fourth floor of Trump Tower, for which he paid the former president about $440,000 a year, and hired a set designer to create a suitable boardroom and apartments for the contestants.
“Our job was to make him look legitimate, to make him look like there was something behind it, even though we pretty much all knew that there wasn’t—but that was our job,” Jonathon Braun, a producer who had worked on Survivor said.
