Trump's Initial Salary Demands For The Apprentice Were Beyond Outrageous

Before Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, he was the host of NBC's wildly popular series, "The Apprentice." The show debuted on January 8, 2004, and was an instant hit, attracting 18 million viewers on its first episode and an impressive 28 million during the inaugural season's final episode. With so much success and welcoming a host of celebrities, such as Trump's former friend Arnold Schwarzenegger and Piers Morgan, to compete for a job with him, the mogul approached the second season with an outrageous salary demand.

The forthcoming book, "Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass," penned by Vanity Fair's editor-in-chief, Ramin Setoodeh, detailed his requests. The real estate entrepreneur explained to the author that he asked the network for $6 million per episode. This was an astronomical boost from the $25,000 that Trump received per episode for the first season. However, the businessman believed he deserved it, even using the sitcom "Friends" and its pending finale to try and make his argument.

At the time that "The Apprentice" was introduced to the world, "Friends" was coming to an end. The show ran for ten seasons and was one of the network's biggest shows. Donald Trump seemingly saw an opportunity to receive the $1 million per episode that NBC would no longer have to pay the "Friends" cast, which consisted of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer.

"Friends had six people," Trump explained to "Apprentice in Wonderland" writer Ramin Setoodeh. "They're getting $1 million an episode each. That's $6 million. So if they're getting $6 million, and I have higher ratings than they do — because this is the end of Friends, and they were fading out — I said, 'You should pay me $6 million an episode.'" Trump argued that "The Apprentice" was bringing in more ratings than "Friends," which officially ended on May 6, 2004. However, that may be due to the final season having only 17 episodes, while previous seasons had between 20 and 24. Additionally, NBC was airing reruns ahead of the last episode, which could have also contributed to "The Apprentice" surpassing the show's viewership as it neared its conclusion. NBC immediately shot down Trump's request, nearly severing their relationship.

After NBC refused to give Donald Trump $6 million per episode, he claims the company told him they were no longer working with him. With such a large empire that spans real estate and media, it would seem Trump is used to negotiating, which he attempted to do. In "Apprentice in Wonderland," Trump shared that he was open to a lower rate, though it appears former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker would not budge initially.

"I thought the deal was dead. I thought I just killed myself. They walked out — they were so angry. I said, 'That's all right! Get somebody else,'" he said. Thankfully for Trump, Zucker reconsidered and decided on a deal, though it's unclear which number they settled on. Eventually, Trump's contract with NBC would go sour in 2015 after he made offensive comments towards Mexican immigrants, suggesting they were criminals. This also coincided with his leap into politics and presidential bid. While the Trump family may not be worth as much as people think, the former POTUS still managed to rake in $427 million over 14 seasons of "The Apprentice," making it one of his most lucrative deals to date.