July 12, 2017

Trump was a fraud on 'Apprentice,' too

Washington Post - Donald Trump’s starring role on the reality television show “The Apprentice” transformed the mogul’s image in the public eye, establishing him as a frank, tell-it-like-it-is businessman capable of making tough decisions.

Each episode’s most dramatic moment ended in the corporate boardroom, with Trump decisively eliminating a contestant by delivering his famous catchphrase, “You’re fired.”

According to one former competitor on the “Celebrity Apprentice,” Trump didn’t actually decide when to fire a contestant.

“He didn’t make those decisions, he didn’t fire those people,” said Clay Aiken, 38, who competed on the show in 2012 and was also a contestant on “American Idol.”

The show’s producers from NBC made those calls, giving Trump instructions through a teleprompter on his desk that looked like a phone, Aiken said in an interview on Domecast, a podcast from the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., his hometown.

It isn’t the first time the veracity of “The Apprentice” has been questioned. As The Post has reported, Trump frequently offered to give away thousands of his own dollars, often to console a fired or upset celebrity. The Post examined all of the “personal” gifts that Trump promised during 83 episodes and seven seasons, and could not confirm a single case in which Trump actually sent a gift out of his own pocket.

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