Publishers Weekly
08/05/2024
This revealing inquiry from Setoodeh (Ladies Who Punch), coeditor-in-chief of Variety, scrutinizes Trump’s run as host of The Apprentice from 2004 through 2015. Setoodeh describes producer Mark Burnett’s conception of the show as “Survivor set against the backdrop of corporate America,” the ill-fated spin-off hosted by Martha Stewart, and the flagship program’s struggle to recapture its first season’s ratings success. However, the author’s detailed accounts of six interviews he conducted with the former president between 2021 and 2023 arguably make this most valuable as an examination of Trump’s post-presidency mindset. Trump offered to talk on the record with Setoodeh before the author had even reached out, indicating how eager Trump was to “relive his TV glory days.” Other details are more expected, such as Trump’s overinflation of The Apprentice’s viewership. Setoodeh’s evocative reporting presents the former president as the star of his own Sunset Boulevard, secluded and desperate to reclaim the spotlight (“There is something about the quiet inside Trump Tower that feels like a department store past its prime”). The author also snatches some newsworthy tidbits from Trump, most notably catching him admitting he lost the 2020 election before he immediately backtracked. While not as essential as Maggie Haberman’s Confidence Man, this earns its place in the ever-expanding pantheon of Trump reports. (June)
From the Publisher
[A] witty, dogged and often sobering analysis of the “Apprentice” franchise and Trump . . . . What’s fascinating here is how effectively Setoodeh demonstrates that Trump is still drunk on celebrity nostalgia . . . . In the end, Apprentice in Wonderland does the impossible: It makes me pity Donald Trump.” — Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“For his deeply reported and revealing look at the pivotal moment in the former President’s career, Setoodeh interviewed Trump six times between 2021 and 2023 and talked to a wide swathe of the industry professionals and celebrities all circling the show’s orbit.” — Rolling Stone
“The journalist who has interviewed Donald Trump more than any other since Trump left office isn’t Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, or that guy who’s dating Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s Ramin Setoodeh . . . . What Setoodeh instantly found most remarkable was how obsessive Trump himself was about the show and how eager he was to talk about it: Setoodeh would end up doing six interviews with Trump about The Apprentice, interviews that typically went for hours with Trump watching and narrating old clips deep into the night.” — Will Leitch, New York Magazine
“[Ramin Setoodeh’s] new book explores the twisted alliances, nutty gambles, and reality TV distortions that—for better or much, much worse—brought Donald Trump roaring back into the public eye.” — Vanity Fair
“A new book about The Apprentice reveals how the 45th president was shaped by tawdry reality-TV culture.” — McKay Coppins, The Atlantic
“Apprentice in Wonderland, examines the reality TV rise of the man who went on to be 45th president and the cultural impact of the show—with plenty of celebrity anecdotes along the way.” — New York Post
Kirkus Reviews
2024-07-17
The co-editor-in-chief ofVariety gets Donald Trump talking—a lot—about the reality TV show that led to his leap from New York media character to president of the United States.
Much of the credit for the remaking of Trump from tabloid clown into America’s most famous businessman and a viable presidential contender lies with Mark Burnett, a Brit who arrived in the U.S. in the 1980s with $600 in his pocket and rose to become king of reality television with his creation of the genre’s first megahit, CBS’Survivor. Burnett (who mostly eluded Setoodeh’s grasp for this book) conceived ofThe Apprentice as “Survivor in the City.” As the first season progressed, Trump got bitten by the ratings bug; a page fromVariety recording the show’s season 1 finale beating all comers for the night is proudly displayed on memento walls at both Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago. It’s an important document in Trump’s world, “something that seems to carry as much value to him as the U.S. Constitution, if not more,” Setoodeh suggests. Trump repeatedly boasts to Setoodeh thatThe Apprentice was more culturally significant than it actually was; in fact, it steadily declined in ratings, as most shows do from season to season. (The author fact-checks Trump’s exaggerations and flat-out falsehoods throughout.) In addition to Trump, Setoodeh interviewed former contenders, Trump organization staffers, and network execs to capture the show’s controversies and gossip-page scandals. Setoodeh is an amusing guide on this tour of Trump’s and the nation’s descent down the rabbit hole into a wonderland where politics and entertainment blend into each other and lies become truths, if you only believe.
A vivid portrait of Trump as self-made (and made-in-the-editing-room) alpha male, both two-dimensional and larger than life.
