Trump promised to donate his own money on ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ He didn’t.
By David A. Fahrenthold and Alice Crites
washingtonpost.com
The time had come to fire Khloé Kardashian. But first, Donald Trump had a question.
“What’s your charity?” Trump asked.
They were filming “The Celebrity Apprentice,” the reality-TV show where Trump schooled the faded and the semi-famous in the arts of advertising, salesmanship and workplace in-fighting. Most weeks, one winner got prize money for charity. One loser got fired.
Kardashian told Trump that she was playing for the Brent Shapiro Foundation, which helps teens stay away from alcohol and drugs.
Trump had a pleasant surprise. Although Kardashian could not win any more prize money, he would give her cause a special, personal donation. Not the show’s money. His own money.
“I’m going to give $20,000 to your charity,” Trump said, according to a transcript of that show.
He didn’t.
After the show aired in 2009, Kardashian’s charity did receive $20,000. But it wasn’t from Trump. Instead, the check came from a TV production company, the same one that paid out the show’s official prizes.
The same thing happened numerous times on “Celebrity Apprentice.” To console a fired or disappointed celebrity, Trump would promise a personal gift.
On-air, Trump seemed to be explicit that this wasn’t TV fakery: the money he was giving was his own. “Out of my wallet,” Trump said in one case. “Out of my own account,” he said in another.
But, when the cameras were off, the payments came from other people’s money.
In some cases, as with Kardashian, Trump’s “personal” promise was paid off by a production company. Other times, it was paid off by a nonprofit that Trump controls, whose coffers are largely filled with other donors’ money.
The Washington Post tracked all the “personal” gifts that Trump promised on the show — during 82 episodes and seven seasons — but could not confirm a single case in which Trump actually sent a gift from his own pocket.
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