Trump's "Apprentice" Lives!
June 20, 2006 (E! Online) ...Trump tells Daily Variety that despite flagging ratings, the seventh go-round of his reality series has been greenlighted...
Donald Trump knows a thing or two about diversifying.
So, after shifting the sixth edition of The Apprentice from his home base in New York City to Los Angeles, the Donald is scouting locales for the next installment.
Trump tells Daily Variety that despite flagging ratings, the seventh go-round of his reality series has been greenlighted.
"NBC called me and said they are picking up number seven," Trump told the trade. "We may do it in Las Vegas or Miami. We'll make that decision in the next two months."
Hey, if Survivor and The Real World can trade real estate, certainly the Donald can. And what better way to jazz up the boardroom proceedings than to set them against a Sin City or South Beach backdrop?
NBC declined to comment on the report. Trump is currently in L.A. working on the sixth cycle of the show, which is slated to run next January.
The network's decision to move forward with production on a seventh season would be a vote of confidence for the franchise, considering the sharp ratings slide the once mighty show has suffered (losing about 5 million viewers over the past four cycles) and the fact that NBC hasn't aired the sixth season yet. The future of the show seemed to be tainted when its touted spinoff, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, didn't fly.
"It wasn't very good, and she wasn't very good," the 59-year-old mogul told Variety. "This is a very important franchise. [NBC] learned their lesson. They'll never use anyone but Trump."
Trump also claims the brand has been tainted by NBC airing multiple cycles during the TV season, which he says, "is too much to do and it's too much to watch."
"Just keep it special," Trump said.
If NBC follows through with the once-per-season broadcast, The Apprence 7 might not air until 2008.
In any case, the ever humble Trump is optimistic (surprise) about the show's future, noting that the fifth season's June 5 finale, in which Trump hired hunky Brit Sean Yazbeck, ranked number two in the weekly Nielsens.
Trump has plenty to keep him busy between Apprentice cycles, including the just announced real-estate reality series he's executive producing with producer R.J. Cutler (30 Days) and Hasbro that's based on the latter's classic board game Monopoly. That show will reportedly find wannabe developers fixing up dilapidated real estate and flipping them for a profit. Trump's not expected to appear on camera and details have yet to be ironed out, but he and producers are pitching it to various networks.
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