The Apprentice Producer Talks about Fixing Trump's Image

 

By C. Stone | Stone News Network

In 2003, producers for the show arrived at Trump Tower in New York City. When they got there, they found musty carpet, chipped furniture, old decor, and less than 50 people working at his company head quarters.

From a New Your Times article, the producer - Bill Pruitt, explains:

“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,” said producer Jonathon Braun. “We weren’t making a documentary. Richard Attenborough was not narrating this. This was an entertainment prime​time network show.”

Bill Pruitt admits, Trump wouldn't be involved in the day to day operation and would not watch the contestants work. He continued:

“He would fire the absolute wrong person,” Braun said. “[He] had no idea what was going on, and he would just make something up. … He just had to choose a name. And maybe that was the only name he remembered of the people sitting around.”

In a confusing moment, Trump told contestants that he liked meatballs on pizza. So they began to create a meatball-themed pizza. Little did they know, he had secured a side deal to be a spokesperson for their new cheeseburger pizza in an upcoming commercial. They had to re-write the script to cover that up.

One final interesting point that Pruitt said was: 

 “Our job then was to reverse engineer the show and to make him not look like a complete moron,” the producer said.