Ali Abbasi’s stylish biopicThe Apprenticetells the story of US entrepreneur and president Donald Trump’s formative years, as he’s selected by a ruthless attorney named Roy Cohn as his new protégé.The Apprenticefeatures several recognizable facesas it navigates Trump’s turbulent life, offering an insight into his business that many audiences may not have seen before. The film’s title draws inspiration from Trump’s own reality business showThe Apprentice, which sawa group of contestants competes in a series of tailored challengesto win the top prize of promoting one of Trump’s properties for a year.
The Apprenticewas a cutthroat game of business and negotiations which helped Trump develop the passionate persona he’s known for today - and unsurprisingly, it also made him a huge amount of money.The tycoon was the star of the show for 14 seasons, before he was ultimately replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger for the final series. It was an extremely lucrative show that Trump was heavily involved with, allowing him to profit from both the program’s success and the success of those that he selected as his apprentice.
Donald Trump Claimed He Made Over $500 Million From The Apprentice
The Business Mogul Says He Earned Half A Billion Dollars
During his time onThe Apprentice, Donald Trump quietly became one of the richest men on American television. Speaking to Variety’s Ramin Setoodeh viaPeople Magazine, the businessman revealed that he made “over $500million” on the show, which would easily rank among the largest profits that any individual has made from a television series. Much of Trump’s earnings came as a result of his negotiations with the studio to earn more than he’d been initially offered -he was never afraid to ask for the salary that he considered fairrelative to the show’s success.
What Donald Trump Has Said About New Biopic Movie The Apprentice
The Apprentice features Sebastian Stan as former president Donald Trump in a biographical drama. Here’s what the real Trump has said in response.
$500 million is a huge amount of money to claim to have earned fromThe Apprentice; it would easily rank among the biggest commercial successes for a single show in television’s history. The reason thatThe Apprenticemade so much money, and why Donald Trump was given such a sizable cut, is that money simply ran in the project’s blood.There were always huge deals on the table, enormous budgets for commercial tasks, and huge enthusiasm from other businesses to be featured on the show.
Donald Trump Actually Made Roughly $214 Million From The Apprentice
In Reality, The Figure Was Significantly Smaller
However, despite Trump’s claims that he made $500 million fromThe Apprentice, Setoodeh has actually confirmed that the total sum was closer to $214 million. This number was revealed by the Federal Election Commission filings and accounts for Trump’s entire time on the show, which ran from 2004-2015. Despite the disparity between Trump’s figure and the FEC’s figure,this is still a huge amount of moneyfor one individual to earn over 14 seasons of a show.
Regardless of how much money Trump made on the show,The Apprenticehas become an enormous part of the politician’s legacy, cementing him as one of the most important figures in American business history.The series pushed him to a level of fame that he’d never had before:Trump became a loud voice on social media, which is where he gathered much of the support that’s helped his political career. Whatever the number,The Apprenticegave Trump much more than just money.
How Much Donald Trump Made Per Episode Of The Apprentice
The Figure Changed Drastically After The First Season
The amount of money that Trump earned per episode ofThe Apprenticeis just as staggering as the final figure, and it changed quite dramatically as the seasons progressed. At the show’s beginning, Trump was earning $25,000 for each episode of the show, but the entrepreneur wasn’t happy with this amount. Once the show was renewed for a second season,Trump took it into his own hands to negotiate a new salarywith the show’s producers - using the popular sitcomFriendsas his benchmark.
The producers allegedly called Trump to tell him “it’s over” as his needs were too high - but Trump claims they called him back the next day and were more accommodating of his request.
“They’re getting $1 million an episode each, That’s $6 million [..] and I have higher ratings than they do.” This was Trump’s initial pitch to the studio when discussing his salary, although their response wasn’t immediately cooperative. The producers allegedly called Trump to tell him “it’s over” as his needs were too high - but Trump claims they called him back the next day and were more accommodating of his request. These are the kind of cutthroat negotiation tactics thatSebastian Stan reflects in his cutthroat rolein the controversial biopicThe Apprentice.
The Apprentice
Cast
The Apprentice is a reality television series that tested the business savvy of a group of contestants as they attempted to complete tasks that showcased their skills. The show aired for 15 seasons, and starred former president Donald Trump as the host for the first 14. Arnold Schwarzenegger took over as host during The Apprentice season 15. Some of the seasons were called The Celebrity Apprentice, and featured famous stars as the contestants.
