Did we think this clown, this buffoon with the funny hair, would ever become a world leader? Not
once, ever."
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/12/apprentice-producer-donald-trump-president?mbid=social_twitter
Earlier this month, VanityFair.com reached out to several reality-show producers to get their thoughts on one of the genre’s most grandstanding stars, Donald Trump, being elected president. After the piece was published, we were put in touch with Emmy-winning executive producer Bill Pruitt (The Amazing Race, Deadliest Catch), who worked on The Apprentice’s first two seasons. While Pruitt, who has worked in reality television for more than a decade, did not wish to speak about his own experience with Trump—“What we all thought or heard or saw behind the scenes is pointless,” Pruitt wrote, “He got elected and what’s done is done”—he did agree to let VF.com publish the remainder of his e-mail, which we have reprinted below.
There’s a larger issue at hand: non-fiction or “reality” television has obviously become a huge force in shaping the minds of the populace. The Apprentice contributed to that. People lapped up what the producers were putting out, and the danger became real as news directors, desperate to compete with ratings, started putting music under soft news stories. Facebook started pushing altogether fake news. Opinions on Twitter became truths over lies. People were prone to clickbait no matter how salacious or factually questionable it was, and the entire journalism world turned on its head.
(snip)
So it’s more than just about lewd, lascivious behavior, and narcissism on set. It’s about a complex global system that uses the media to construct its allies and to sway the populace to move like lemmings toward the ballot box. We are masterful storytellers and we did our job well. What’s shocking to me is how quickly and decisively the world bought it. Did we think this clown, this buffoon with the funny hair, would ever become a world leader? Not once. Ever. Would he and his bombastic nature dominate in prime-time TV? We hoped so. Now that the lines of fiction and reality have blurred to the horrifying extent that they have, those involved in the media must have their day of reckoning. People are buying our crap. Make it entertaining, yes. But make it real. Give them the truth or pay the consequences.
I hope you appreciate where I’m coming from. My “Tweet Throat” moment when I suggested to the news media that someone unlock the recorded behavior found on The Apprentice tapes helped summon a bevy of stories about “what really went on” behind the scenes of that series. That story’s been told. What hasn’t been told (as much) is how complicit the media and social-media outlets have been in getting us to where we are now.
(end snip)