Before Donald Trump became president, he was well-known for hosting The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice. While Trump often reminisces about his reality TV days fondly, the show has faced its share of criticism. Recently, Rachel Uchitel, who gained media attention due to her involvement in the Tiger Woods scandal, opened up about rejecting an offer from Trump to appear on The Celebrity Apprentice over a decade ago.
In an interview, Uchitel recalled receiving a surprising early morning call from Trump while she was in Las Vegas. “Donald Trump called my phone at, like, 7…one morning. I was in Las Vegas. I’ll never forget. I woke up and it was Donald Trump on the other end of the line asking me to do Apprentice,” she told Page Six. Initially, she was inclined to accept. “We talked about it and I basically said yes because why wouldn’t I?” However, Uchitel ultimately decided to turn down the opportunity.
When asked why she changed her mind, Uchitel explained, “I didn’t actually say no, I said yes at first, and then I chose at the last minute to do Celebrity Rehab because I didn’t trust [Trump] would represent me the way I wanted to be represented.” She expressed concerns about how she might be portrayed on The Celebrity Apprentice.
“I wanted to make sure he would make me look exactly how I portrayed myself, and I was very nervous because of the click-bait kind of stuff. [I thought] I would be fired immediately just because he thought that that would make headlines — people didn’t like me at the time obviously.” At the time, Uchitel was still dealing with the fallout from the Tiger Woods affair scandal in 2009, which significantly damaged her public image.
“That’s why I chose to do Celebrity Rehab because I had three weeks of being on the show, they weren’t going to edit me in a certain way. They could have, but it ended up being the right choice.” Uchitel also noted that Trump was unhappy with her decision. “Donald Trump was sort of pissed I chose to do the other show, and I believe something came out on TMZ later where he was like ‘I don’t know that woman,’ which I thought was crazy, but very Donald Trump.”
As reported by People Magazine, Uchitel also touched on the upcoming film The Apprentice, which will explore Trump’s early career in New York’s real estate world. “It seems like nothing can hurt his campaign. I think people will definitely watch it. You may not like him as a human, you may not want him as your president, but I think people will watch,” she said. The film, announced in 2018, will feature actors portraying key figures from Trump’s inner circle during the ’70s and ’80s.