I Just Heard A Radio Talk Show Host Say Trump Was Successful At The Reality Show....

[global1]

But really how much of the success of The Apprentice was due to Trump? In my estimation - Trump was just an actor on the show and the real success behind the show was Mark Burnett that pulled Trumps strings and basically staged the show.

Isn't the real successful person Mark Burnett? He told Trump what to do. Trump just played a role in the show and though he was billed as the star of the show - Burnett really made the show a success.

Any thoughts?

[Lithos]

1. Yes

My understanding is there was a *LOT* of material dropped on the cutting room floor because Donny was such a disaster on set.

Mark Burnett is first and foremost a Brand maker and a producer and he's good at it. He specializes in selling fake, heavily scripted programs - which have zero basis in "reality" (despite the claims of being reality TV) - to very specific market targets.

[Angry Dragon]

2. When you are a real life bully and con man it is not hard to play a bully and con man

[loyalsister]

3. It's an unfortunate reflection of US culture

Reality TV and cable news are cut from the same poisonous cloth. He succeeded in facilitating the demise of informative news an stoking a public appetite for watching conflict driven media that also serves to ridicule people.

[msongs]

4. because it was fake, not real. trump is only good at fake, not real nt

[Midnight Writer]

5. Yes, he was successful at the reality show, and he was successful as a Presidential candidate.

Pretending he is not winning will not make him lose.

[Atman]

8. HE was not successful at either.

Mark Burnett was successful at the reality show. Vladimir Putin was successful at winning the election. Trump is just an actor.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Never watched it, never cared, never wanted to...

[Atman]

7. On the Netflix show, Burnett said they thought Trump was a joke

In case you haven’t seen it, there is very good 6-part documentary series on Netflix called Dirty Money. Part 6 is about Trump. In it, Mark Burnett tells how they thought it was almost satire — a down-on-his-luck loser Trump, relegated to doing Pizza Hut commercials, presented as this genius businessman. Trump didn’t even have a decent office at the time; the entire elevator/lobby/boardroom in the show had to be built for the show as a set. Burnett and the other producer made all the decisions as to who got promoted and who got fired. Trump’s only role was to sit at the table and follow the script. The show could have been just as successful with a talking monkey as the host.

[NCTraveler]

9. And Steve Benen is why Maddow is successful. nt.

[yallerdawg]

10. The notion that a "successful" TV show...

has any relation to being qualified to be in the White House is absurd and preposterous.

As we have found out in real life.

[Javaman]

11. the shows success and failure all depends on if you have a good editor...

those "reality" shows depend heavily on reactions.

if you played out the actual raw footage, it would be pretty damn dull, however, if you have a fairly decent editor, they can create controversy were once there was none.

I have a buddy that works as an editor on a few reality shows.

most if not all of those shows are scripted, there in no "reality" in any of them.

and regarding the orange assholes success on the apprentice; it wasn't because he was a good actor, it was because he read lines that were fed to him and the editor made him look reasonably presentable.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Couldn't We Say That About Most Movies?

And yet, the stars of the movies make the most money. Not sure this is an apt comparison.