LAST EDITED ON 06-12-04 AT 06:28 PM (EST)I watched yet another one of those lame countdowns today on the E! Channel about Hollywood secrets and one of the secrets on the list was about The Apprentice.
It went into brief detail to describe various secrets about the show. Most of these are probably common knowledge by now but I thought I'd pass them along anyways...
Omorosa was moved to different jobs three times during her stint at the White House during the Clinton administration before she was eventually removed.
Bill auditioned to be The Bachelor but was rejected and never heard from the company again.
The board room is not Trump's actual board room but a set especially made for the show which is located on the same floor as the penthouse where the contestants stay.
Confirmed that Bill's Chicago skyscraper project does indeed have no funding and is uncertain if it will even happen.
The Apprentice was originally offered to ABC but was rejected then sent to NBC who picked it up. (Ironic how after the success of The Apprentice, ABS now has Cuban's knock-off The Benefactor to try and copy the magic)
Once again, this is probably common knowledge and on a lazy Saturday afternoon I wanted to share the wisdom of the E! Channel.
Not only is most of it old news, but for those interested, we covered it in Reality TV World stories:>Omorosa was moved to different jobs three times during her stint
>at the White House during the Clinton administration before she
>was eventually removed.
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=2459
>
>Bill auditioned to be The Bachelor but was rejected and never
>heard from the company again.
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=2485
>The board room is not Trump's actual board room but a
>set especially made for the show which is located on
>the same floor as the penthouse where the contestants stay.
This was such a minor thing that I don't think we ever bothered to mention it in a story.
>Confirmed that Bill's Chicago skyscraper project
>does indeed have no funding and is uncertain if it
>will even happen.
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=2502
>The Apprentice was originally offered to ABC but was rejected then
>sent to NBC who picked it up. (Ironic how after
>the success of The Apprentice, ABS now has Cuban's knock-off
>The Benefactor to try and copy the magic)
I'm pretty sure we mentioned this someplace as well, but I can't find it right now. For the record, at varying times Mark Burnett has stated that both CBS and ABC passed on Apprentice, with Burnett giving ABC first crack at Apprentice due to some earlier talks that ABC had had with Trump over a possible Osbournes-like show. However, according to Burnett, the negotiations with ABC quickly ending after the network tried to force down Burnett's price. CBS' Less Moonves reportedly saying that ya, Burnett offered them Apprentice, but he already had a deal worked out at NBC at the time and was just going through the motions.
FYI, way back when, ABC also had not one, but THREE chances to land Survivor... woulda, coulda, shoulda...
-SB
LAST EDITED ON 07-08-04 AT 02:37 PM (EST)CBS' Les Moonves reportedly saying that ya, Burnett offered them Apprentice, but he already had a deal worked out at NBC at the time and was just going through the motions.
Donald Trump hates Les Moonves ever since Moonves dumped Trump's Miss USA pageant from its long-time home at CBS, and so I don't think Moonves would have seriously considered picking up The Apprentice. I imagine that neither Burnett nor Moonves ever seriously thought that CBS would want the show.
Since Miss USA is now on NBC, I'll bet that's where Trump really wanted The Apprentice to end up, even though ABC was offering a better deal ... and Trump got his wish.