Here's what the Donald had to say.
Q: As a celebrity yourself, is there any celebrity reality show that you would participate on, like Dancing With the Stars?
A: Well a number of them have asked me, but I really don’t think - certainly, as long as I’m doing what I’m doing it wouldn’t be appropriate. And I don’t think I’d be inclined to do it.I mean, I - when I speak to [contestant Gene Simmons] and I speak to [contestant Marilu Henner] and others about, you know, they’re doing it - I don’t see myself wanting to do that but I’ve certainly been asked.
Q: And why don’t you see yourself [doing something like that?]
A: I don’t know. I just - I don’t know that - it takes a certain something to agree to do that. And it’s not easy, as Marilu was saying and Gene about how hard they had to work and everything else.And it’s not the work thing. I don’t know that I’d want to subject myself to what they get subjected to.
Q: Are there any celebrity feuds that started as a result of this show?
A: Unbelievable. They’re like - I mean, real - we obviously can’t talk about them, but there’s some unbelievable hatred among people on this show as the show goes along - beyond anything that I’ve seen, beyond anything in Apprentice 1 or 2 where there’s some unbelievable feuds also, as you remember…there are some feuds here that are not even describable. You wouldn’t believe it.
Q: Wow!...As far as dealing with the young business people who are hungry for success and want to work for you, and dealing with the celebrities who are already successful - was there a big difference?
A: Well I thought that it would be more difficult dealing with these celebrities and probably it was because, you know, you’re dealing with a certain level of sophistication that you didn’t have in the other kids, even though they were, you know, most all cases really smart or really well educated from the best colleges.But yeah, I would say dealing with the celebrities is more difficult.
Q: Why is that?
A: Well because they’ve developed, for the most part -- not all of them frankly -- but for the most part they have a level of confidence. I mean, you think dealing with Gene Simmons is easy? Trust me, it’s not. You’re dealing with a smart, cunning guy and I think that comes out.And we had some, you know, amazing times - both good and bad. Not Gene and I - I mean, all of us. it was a very interesting mix…
By the way, I might say that, you know, millions of dollars -- and I think maybe this is one of the other reasons -- I really believe that probably the - what I said was number one in terms of their brand and their own reputation. But millions of dollars by some of them was raised for their charities. And a lot of the celebrities -- and I know Gene and Marilu are two of them because they really felt strongly about their charity.
And I think that’s another reason why they were so competitive. But in a number of cases - individual cases, millions of dollars was raised for their individual charity…It’s a lot of money.
Q: And what would be the top three reasons to watch this season for fans who are like I don’t know if I want to watch [a celebrity season]?
A: Well I think the number one reason is it’s great and rather - not rather, it’s great and vicious television.Number two, you’re going to learn a lot educationally and that’s the reason I originally did The Apprentice because I was asked to do many reality shows for every network and I always turned them down.
And they wanted to follow me around with cameras and I always turned them down. I like this because of the education aspect.
And number three, you have celebrities that are great people and great characters. And, you know, Gene and Marilu, and others, they have their fans and I think those fans are going to really like watching them in action….So when it’s all said and done, a lot of knowledge is to be gained by watching and that’s ultimately why I did The Apprentice in the first place.
