--- description: Find out why The Apprentice has one of the most influential reality TV seasons of all time. title: The Apprentice: The 50 Most Influential Reality TV Seasons image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta27e6558e0d1c34f/698a33f547ca38e47f3b9d0b/the-apprentice-reality-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 04, 2022 # The Apprentice Season 1 (2004) by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  'The Apprentice' ran for 15 seasons 'The Apprentice' ran for 15 seasonsEverett Collection Once the embodiment of 1980s New York City excess, Donald Trump had become a relic, if not a bankruptcy-plagued punchline, by the time [_Survivor_ ](https://time.com/collection/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197745/survivor-season-1/ "undefined")mastermind Mark Burnett gave him a chance to rewrite that history. _The Apprentice_, launched at the peak of reality TV’s primetime reign, capitalized on the popularity of competition shows like [_American Idol_ ](https://time.com/collection/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197754/american-idol-season-1/ "undefined")and [_Big Brother_](https://time.com/collection/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197749/big-brother/ "undefined"). But the core of this business battle royale was the contestants’—and to a far greater extent, the star’s—construction of a personal mythology. In the series premiere, Trump described himself as “the largest real-estate developer in New York” and proudly enumerated his various holdings. Was it _The Apprentice_ that convinced almost 63 million Americans he was fit for the presidency? At the very least, it helped. The show’s first and, with more than 20 million weekly viewers, most-watched season played to the American public’s ugliest prejudices with battle-of-the-sexes framing and a Black, female villain in the mononymous form of Omarosa, who later had a guest arc in the White House. Most of all, it cast Trump as a boardroom demigod—a glamorous, impeccably dressed superboss with an infallible B.S. detector, whose eloquent takedowns always ended in the masterly deployment of his catchphrase: “You’re fired.” To this day, there’s no better example of reality TV’s power than Burnett’s reverent edit of a man ruled by his flaws. —_Judy Berman_ **Correction, August 10** The original version of this story stated that Trump won the plurality of the vote. He won the electoral vote, not the popular vote. The Apprentice: The 50 Most Influential Reality TV Seasons ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197770/the-apprentice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197770/the-apprentice/"},"headline":"The Apprentice","datePublished":"2022-08-04T12:38:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:05:39.025Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197770/the-apprentice/","keywords":["franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta27e6558e0d1c34f/698a33f547ca38e47f3b9d0b/the-apprentice-reality-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta27e6558e0d1c34f/698a33f547ca38e47f3b9d0b/the-apprentice-reality-tv.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6197770/the-apprentice/","name":"The Apprentice"}}]}] ```