*A former executive producer on “The Apprentice” is not holding back on his feelings for the show’s former host, President-elect Donald Trump.
“Did we think this clown, this buffoon with the funny hair, would ever become a world leader?” Bill Pruitt asked in an email published by Vanity Fair on Wednesday. “Not once. Ever.”
Pruitt, who worked on the first two seasons of “The Apprentice,” said he regrets that the show may have painted a rosy perception of Trump that wasn’t real.
“‘The Apprentice’ was a scam put forth to the public in exchange for ratings,” he said. “We were ‘entertaining’ and the story about Donald Trump and his stature fell into some bizarre public record as ‘truth.’”
“We are masterful storytellers and we did our jobs well,” added Pruitt, who has spent more than a decade working in reality television. “What’s shocking to me is how quickly and decisively the world bought it.
“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 rating, starting putting music under soft news stories.”
Vanity Fair published a portion of Pruitt’s email after the executive producer declined to discuss his experiences with Trump, saying, “What we all thought or heard or saw behind the scenes is pointless. He got elected and what’s done is done.”
The outlet was put in touch with Pruitt after it published reactions to Trump’s election from reality-show producers earlier this month.
Pruitt has won four Emmys for his work in unscripted entertainment. In addition to the first two seasons of “The Apprentice,” he was the showrunner on hit adventure series “Deadliest Catch” and “Swamp People.” He was also supervising producer on “The Amazing Race” and recently oversaw many shows for Viceland, “The Watch” for National Geographic, “Monster Island” for Animal Planet and “The Wanted” for NBC News. He also co-created and exec produced Discovery’s “Weed Country,” which explores the standoff between marijuana growers and law enforcement in Northern California’s Emerald Triangle.
In addition to his four Emmys, Pruitt has been nominated by the PGA as nonfiction producer of the year three times.
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