Carlos Slim Helu might be the new richest man in the world, but he's still got a long way to go before he's the most famous. Donald Trump has been been the go-to name for wealth since he emerged on the business scene. Even when his real estate deals and Trump Corporation struggled, the name... more
Carlos Slim Helu might be the new richest man in the world, but he's still got a long way to go before he's the most famous. Donald Trump has been been the go-to name for wealth since he emerged on the business scene. Even when his real estate deals and Trump Corporation struggled, the name Trump still meant money, thanks largely to Trump's public presence giving seminars and writing best seller books on finance.
Calling his TV show The Celebrity Apprentice might be redundant. No one they can get to compete in Donald Trump's boardroom is as famous as Donald himself. However, instead of seeking a new employee for his company, as Trump did in the original Apprentice, he now lets celebrities compete, with the prize going to the charity of their choice. There are many reality shows that stage conflicts between famous egos, but only Trump's actually puts them to work.
The third season of Celebrity Apprentice features stars of all different sorts: rock stars like Bret Michaels, athletes like Darryl Strawberry and Bill Goldberg, even politicians like disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Really, who wouldn't want to see The Donald yell at Blago? That's classic television right there.
Trump has always been good for media copy himself. A few years ago, he masterfully used the media to feud with Rosie O'Donnell, then of The View. Calling her a slob sold headlines, and then people would read his defense of a Miss America winner's nude photo controversy, and his TV show which happened to be airing. In a conference call with journalists, Trump was still "on." He'd dish about the stars, the economy or his family. Considering how much an hour of Trump's time must be worth, this could be the most valuable interview in media history.
Q: With your business instincts, can you tell off the bat who is going to do well on the show and who isn't?
Donald Trump: Well, that's always to me the most interesting question because I like to think of myself as being okay with people but so often I'll say, "This one's going to be a star." Let's say Bret [Michaels]. "He's going to be a star, he's going to be great." Then he turns out to be a dud. I'm not saying that happened, and frankly it didn't happen, but you never really know. Oftentimes you'll see somebody and you'll say, "Oh, this person's going to do great." Especially with a celebrity because you've known these celebrities at least through reading about them for so many years. A lot of times you're really disappointed and a lot of times somebody that you don't think of so highly turns out to be a star. So it's very, very tough. You don't know what happens with pressure and the heat of battle. So I'll have a preconceived notion yes, always. A lot of time that turns out to be not necessarily correct.
Q: What do you think of a guy like Rod Blagojevich when he comes onto a reality show? Shouldn't he be focused on this case of selling the Illinois senate seat, whether he proves himself innocent or not?
DT: It took a lot of courage first of all, before we get to the show it took a lot of courage under the pressure that he's under for him to even do the show. I've known people over the years where they've had problems like he's got and they go into a corner and they shoot themselves, or they go into a corner and they just hide. Here's a guy doing a major, major television show for two hours prime time. I won't say how long he lasts or if he lasts but he did a very good job. The amazing thing is this is going on pretty much at the same time as his trial. It's a very interesting situation I'll tell you. So many of the questions, in all fairness to all of the other contestants who are in many ways some really bigger names, so many of the questions really revolve around the governor and what was he like and everything else. People are very interested and the fact that his trial is going to be going on almost at the same time is very interesting and very compelling to watch.
Q: Well, because some people think he shouldn't be on TV right now.
DT: Even the government, the government wasn't thrilled with that whole thing. He really displayed great courage in doing the show and as far as a player is concerned, highly competitive, worked very hard. You wouldn't know this guy was a governor or an ex-governor. He really worked very hard and I think he does a very good job.
Q: Did you get any joy having him in the board room and laying into him?
DT: Yeah, I think you deal with different people differently. I deal with Goldberg differently than I deal with the governor. Like Joan Rivers last time, I dealt with her much differently than some of the other contestants. Certainly if you look at Dennis Rodman and Joan, you deal with people differently and you have to be able to have that ability because frankly, you deal with some people in a certain fashion and you have to know how to deal and other people in a totally different fashion. I do deal with people differently.
Q: Do you ever feel bad about firing someone or is it just part of business?
DT: I always feel bad. No, not always. Not everybody do I like. Sometimes I don't like people and it doesn't bother me. The hard ones are when you really like somebody, really respect somebody and they make a mistake. Like as an example, Scott Hamilton. How can you not like Scott Hamilton from the last season? I had to let Scott go and I'm a great fan of Scott. He won Olympic gold medals, he's a great champion and everything else. He understood he made a mistake on the show and I really had no choice, and I felt very badly about that because I consider him to be just a great person and I still do, but I have to do what's right. There are many other examples. I fire people that win gold medals, great champions, everything else. It's not easy. People say oh, well it comes easy for me. It doesn't. It's never fun. It's a lot easier when I don't like somebody or when they're really, really bad. Then it becomes much easier.
Q: Do you have any regrets when you look at the old tapes of your show?
DT: Well, I've had a couple. I'll give you an example. I'll get in a lot of trouble when I say this but who cares? Trouble is my business. When I kept Melissa last season, it was between Melissa and this beautiful girl named Claudia Jordan. I kept Melissa. I said after I did that, "Oh, why did I do that?" Then it turned out Melissa was an unbelievable character later on in the show. It could have been either one of the two and I really questioned my decision for a while afterwards. I mean, I've questioned it a number of times but in the end it works out. It's sort of interesting, because then Melissa came up with that total fit where she went totally crazy and it was carried all over the world. I mean, that fit was one of the great classics. Claudia would have never had anything like that. She would have said thank you very much and left. Melissa went crazy and that fit, as you remember I'm sure, was one of the great things in television for that season. Had I gotten rid of her a few shows earlier, we wouldn't have seen that. So a lot of times I'll question but in the end it works out.
Q: How are your children doing in business since they've been on The Apprentice?
DT: Well, I'm getting a lot of credit on the children and Ivanka will be back and Don will be back. We're also having some other people joining us, Erin Burnett from CNBC and some others. We have some great people on the show but Ivanka, everybody's asking about Ivanka. So many people have said, "Will she be back? Will she be back?" And the answer is yes, she will back on the show. I do get a lot of credit. They're very good kids. They went to very good schools. They were great students at the best schools. I couldn't wait to get them on the show. Now when you get into 9 and 10, that's pretty amazing in your world of television. It's not my world, it's your world because I just entered it a few years ago. It's hard to believe. While it's not that many year, still you start hitting number nine and number 10 and that's a lot of success in that sense. People are all asking about Ivanka and she will be back on the show absolutely, and even playing a bigger role than she did.
Q: After all these seasons, how do you keep the "You're fired" catch phrase alive and fresh?
DT: Well, it turned out to be a good phrase. You know it was a fluke. I don't know if anyone knows the story but the first show, I was a little exasperated with one of the contestants and I used the line, "You're fired." When Mark Burnett and I agreed to do the show we didn't have that. We thought we'd say, "Get the hell out of here" or do something. It was sort of a fluke that it happened and it's hard to really even envision that but it was "You're fired." All of a sudden, America went crazy over the show. It happens to be a great catchword. As you know, TV Guide actually did a poll. After "Here's Johnny" and one other great, it was number three on the top 100 phrases of television history. So that was a pretty big honor. I didn't realize that but it's been an amazing thing and an amazing phrase. It just seems to work. For some reason, it was used on the first show and it startled people and it really caught on and it's just been an amazing thing to watch. It really has been quite good.
Q: NBC has been suffering as a business. As a businessman, what do you think NBC has to do to get back into the ratings game?
DT: Well, [NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman] Jeff Gaspin, I know him and as you know he's new to the role and I think he's going to do a spectacular job at NBC. I mean, they need more shows like The Apprentice. Not necessarily from a reality standpoint but they need shows that capture the imagination. Frankly, certain shows that are on should be changed because they get some pretty good reviews but they don't get people watching. Ultimately, the people watching is going to be very important. It's nice to get both. We've sort of had both. We've had the Emmy nominations. We've had a lot of good accolades and that's always nice but ultimately you have to have people watch. I think that NBC's going to really do well. I understand their current leadership, I know their leadership and I think they're winners. So I think they'll turn it around.
Q: How has your business survived with all the economic downturn we've experienced in the last few years?
DT: We've really done well. I was lucky that during these last few years, I haven't been crazy, maybe because of The Apprentice. It kept me busy enough that I didn't buy lots of real estate. We're in a very strong cash position and I'm now buying a lot of real estate. I just bought a tremendous project in Washington, in the Washington area on the Potomac River and it's phenomenal. 850 acres of land that I've been after for years and I got it. I've done numerous other things over the last year or so, but frankly I haven't been doing it as much. I don't know, maybe I can attribute that to The Apprentice. Maybe because I've been busy with [these] characters, [they] kept me out of trouble because I've been too busy to invest in lots of bad deals. Anything that bought two years ago or 2 1/2 years ago is in trouble today. So we've done really well, we're very, very strong. The company's the strongest it's ever been and we're on a big acquisition binge. I'll let you know if that works out because I'll talk to you in five years about it, right? Who knows but it seems to be the right time to buy.
Q: Was it just luck then that you were too distracted to get involved in bad deals?
DT: I don't know if it's luck or instinct or both, but there's always luck involved in things. Luck is involved in life. You're born a certain way. You're born in a certain location, you're born in a country. There's always luck. Some people disagree that there's no such thing as luck. Well, I'll take them on any time you want but certain things happened that were very positive for me over the last few years in terms of business and the business is the best it's ever been for me.
Q: How long do you see The Apprentice continuing to go for?
DT: A friend of mine, great friend of mine who's in the television business said, "You don't give up television. Television gives you up." Now you know what that means, right? It's a very interesting expression. So remember the expression, you don't give up television. Television gives you up, and they haven't given me up. At some point they probably will. By the way, I hosted Saturday Night Live so I have to tell this because I thought it was great and Lorne Michaels, I think is terrific. I said, "You know, Lorne. It won't always be like this. Some day, the ratings won't be good and NBC will call me and they'll say the show is cancelled." And he says, "No, Donald, you're wrong. They won't even bother to call you." I thought that was great. I sat there and said, "That's genius." I shouldn't be telling on Lorne but he did make that [statement]. It's a tough business. It's tough but it's very simple. In real estate, you have lots of different components. You have financial, you have location, you have lots of different components. In television it's very simple. If you get good ratings, they keep you going and if you don't, it's not a pretty picture. So it's very interesting. We're getting very good ratings and they like us and all of that but I thought the Lorne Michaels story, which I've never told before, I thought that was an interesting story.
The Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays at 9 on NBC.
Calling his TV show The Celebrity Apprentice might be redundant. No one they can get to compete in Donald Trump's boardroom is as famous as Donald himself. However, instead of seeking a new employee for his company, as Trump did in the original Apprentice, he now lets celebrities compete, with the prize going to the charity of their choice. There are many reality shows that stage conflicts between famous egos, but only Trump's actually puts them to work.
The third season of Celebrity Apprentice features stars of all different sorts: rock stars like Bret Michaels, athletes like Darryl Strawberry and Bill Goldberg, even politicians like disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Really, who wouldn't want to see The Donald yell at Blago? That's classic television right there.
Trump has always been good for media copy himself. A few years ago, he masterfully used the media to feud with Rosie O'Donnell, then of The View. Calling her a slob sold headlines, and then people would read his defense of a Miss America winner's nude photo controversy, and his TV show which happened to be airing. In a conference call with journalists, Trump was still "on." He'd dish about the stars, the economy or his family. Considering how much an hour of Trump's time must be worth, this could be the most valuable interview in media history.
Q: With your business instincts, can you tell off the bat who is going to do well on the show and who isn't?
Donald Trump: Well, that's always to me the most interesting question because I like to think of myself as being okay with people but so often I'll say, "This one's going to be a star." Let's say Bret [Michaels]. "He's going to be a star, he's going to be great." Then he turns out to be a dud. I'm not saying that happened, and frankly it didn't happen, but you never really know. Oftentimes you'll see somebody and you'll say, "Oh, this person's going to do great." Especially with a celebrity because you've known these celebrities at least through reading about them for so many years. A lot of times you're really disappointed and a lot of times somebody that you don't think of so highly turns out to be a star. So it's very, very tough. You don't know what happens with pressure and the heat of battle. So I'll have a preconceived notion yes, always. A lot of time that turns out to be not necessarily correct.
Q: What do you think of a guy like Rod Blagojevich when he comes onto a reality show? Shouldn't he be focused on this case of selling the Illinois senate seat, whether he proves himself innocent or not?
DT: It took a lot of courage first of all, before we get to the show it took a lot of courage under the pressure that he's under for him to even do the show. I've known people over the years where they've had problems like he's got and they go into a corner and they shoot themselves, or they go into a corner and they just hide. Here's a guy doing a major, major television show for two hours prime time. I won't say how long he lasts or if he lasts but he did a very good job. The amazing thing is this is going on pretty much at the same time as his trial. It's a very interesting situation I'll tell you. So many of the questions, in all fairness to all of the other contestants who are in many ways some really bigger names, so many of the questions really revolve around the governor and what was he like and everything else. People are very interested and the fact that his trial is going to be going on almost at the same time is very interesting and very compelling to watch.
Q: Well, because some people think he shouldn't be on TV right now.
DT: Even the government, the government wasn't thrilled with that whole thing. He really displayed great courage in doing the show and as far as a player is concerned, highly competitive, worked very hard. You wouldn't know this guy was a governor or an ex-governor. He really worked very hard and I think he does a very good job.
Q: Did you get any joy having him in the board room and laying into him?
DT: Yeah, I think you deal with different people differently. I deal with Goldberg differently than I deal with the governor. Like Joan Rivers last time, I dealt with her much differently than some of the other contestants. Certainly if you look at Dennis Rodman and Joan, you deal with people differently and you have to be able to have that ability because frankly, you deal with some people in a certain fashion and you have to know how to deal and other people in a totally different fashion. I do deal with people differently.
Q: Do you ever feel bad about firing someone or is it just part of business?
DT: I always feel bad. No, not always. Not everybody do I like. Sometimes I don't like people and it doesn't bother me. The hard ones are when you really like somebody, really respect somebody and they make a mistake. Like as an example, Scott Hamilton. How can you not like Scott Hamilton from the last season? I had to let Scott go and I'm a great fan of Scott. He won Olympic gold medals, he's a great champion and everything else. He understood he made a mistake on the show and I really had no choice, and I felt very badly about that because I consider him to be just a great person and I still do, but I have to do what's right. There are many other examples. I fire people that win gold medals, great champions, everything else. It's not easy. People say oh, well it comes easy for me. It doesn't. It's never fun. It's a lot easier when I don't like somebody or when they're really, really bad. Then it becomes much easier.
Q: Do you have any regrets when you look at the old tapes of your show?
DT: Well, I've had a couple. I'll give you an example. I'll get in a lot of trouble when I say this but who cares? Trouble is my business. When I kept Melissa last season, it was between Melissa and this beautiful girl named Claudia Jordan. I kept Melissa. I said after I did that, "Oh, why did I do that?" Then it turned out Melissa was an unbelievable character later on in the show. It could have been either one of the two and I really questioned my decision for a while afterwards. I mean, I've questioned it a number of times but in the end it works out. It's sort of interesting, because then Melissa came up with that total fit where she went totally crazy and it was carried all over the world. I mean, that fit was one of the great classics. Claudia would have never had anything like that. She would have said thank you very much and left. Melissa went crazy and that fit, as you remember I'm sure, was one of the great things in television for that season. Had I gotten rid of her a few shows earlier, we wouldn't have seen that. So a lot of times I'll question but in the end it works out.
Q: How are your children doing in business since they've been on The Apprentice?
DT: Well, I'm getting a lot of credit on the children and Ivanka will be back and Don will be back. We're also having some other people joining us, Erin Burnett from CNBC and some others. We have some great people on the show but Ivanka, everybody's asking about Ivanka. So many people have said, "Will she be back? Will she be back?" And the answer is yes, she will back on the show. I do get a lot of credit. They're very good kids. They went to very good schools. They were great students at the best schools. I couldn't wait to get them on the show. Now when you get into 9 and 10, that's pretty amazing in your world of television. It's not my world, it's your world because I just entered it a few years ago. It's hard to believe. While it's not that many year, still you start hitting number nine and number 10 and that's a lot of success in that sense. People are all asking about Ivanka and she will be back on the show absolutely, and even playing a bigger role than she did.
Q: After all these seasons, how do you keep the "You're fired" catch phrase alive and fresh?
DT: Well, it turned out to be a good phrase. You know it was a fluke. I don't know if anyone knows the story but the first show, I was a little exasperated with one of the contestants and I used the line, "You're fired." When Mark Burnett and I agreed to do the show we didn't have that. We thought we'd say, "Get the hell out of here" or do something. It was sort of a fluke that it happened and it's hard to really even envision that but it was "You're fired." All of a sudden, America went crazy over the show. It happens to be a great catchword. As you know, TV Guide actually did a poll. After "Here's Johnny" and one other great, it was number three on the top 100 phrases of television history. So that was a pretty big honor. I didn't realize that but it's been an amazing thing and an amazing phrase. It just seems to work. For some reason, it was used on the first show and it startled people and it really caught on and it's just been an amazing thing to watch. It really has been quite good.
Q: NBC has been suffering as a business. As a businessman, what do you think NBC has to do to get back into the ratings game?
DT: Well, [NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman] Jeff Gaspin, I know him and as you know he's new to the role and I think he's going to do a spectacular job at NBC. I mean, they need more shows like The Apprentice. Not necessarily from a reality standpoint but they need shows that capture the imagination. Frankly, certain shows that are on should be changed because they get some pretty good reviews but they don't get people watching. Ultimately, the people watching is going to be very important. It's nice to get both. We've sort of had both. We've had the Emmy nominations. We've had a lot of good accolades and that's always nice but ultimately you have to have people watch. I think that NBC's going to really do well. I understand their current leadership, I know their leadership and I think they're winners. So I think they'll turn it around.
Q: How has your business survived with all the economic downturn we've experienced in the last few years?
DT: We've really done well. I was lucky that during these last few years, I haven't been crazy, maybe because of The Apprentice. It kept me busy enough that I didn't buy lots of real estate. We're in a very strong cash position and I'm now buying a lot of real estate. I just bought a tremendous project in Washington, in the Washington area on the Potomac River and it's phenomenal. 850 acres of land that I've been after for years and I got it. I've done numerous other things over the last year or so, but frankly I haven't been doing it as much. I don't know, maybe I can attribute that to The Apprentice. Maybe because I've been busy with [these] characters, [they] kept me out of trouble because I've been too busy to invest in lots of bad deals. Anything that bought two years ago or 2 1/2 years ago is in trouble today. So we've done really well, we're very, very strong. The company's the strongest it's ever been and we're on a big acquisition binge. I'll let you know if that works out because I'll talk to you in five years about it, right? Who knows but it seems to be the right time to buy.
Q: Was it just luck then that you were too distracted to get involved in bad deals?
DT: I don't know if it's luck or instinct or both, but there's always luck involved in things. Luck is involved in life. You're born a certain way. You're born in a certain location, you're born in a country. There's always luck. Some people disagree that there's no such thing as luck. Well, I'll take them on any time you want but certain things happened that were very positive for me over the last few years in terms of business and the business is the best it's ever been for me.
Q: How long do you see The Apprentice continuing to go for?
DT: A friend of mine, great friend of mine who's in the television business said, "You don't give up television. Television gives you up." Now you know what that means, right? It's a very interesting expression. So remember the expression, you don't give up television. Television gives you up, and they haven't given me up. At some point they probably will. By the way, I hosted Saturday Night Live so I have to tell this because I thought it was great and Lorne Michaels, I think is terrific. I said, "You know, Lorne. It won't always be like this. Some day, the ratings won't be good and NBC will call me and they'll say the show is cancelled." And he says, "No, Donald, you're wrong. They won't even bother to call you." I thought that was great. I sat there and said, "That's genius." I shouldn't be telling on Lorne but he did make that [statement]. It's a tough business. It's tough but it's very simple. In real estate, you have lots of different components. You have financial, you have location, you have lots of different components. In television it's very simple. If you get good ratings, they keep you going and if you don't, it's not a pretty picture. So it's very interesting. We're getting very good ratings and they like us and all of that but I thought the Lorne Michaels story, which I've never told before, I thought that was an interesting story.
The Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays at 9 on NBC.
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