Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

At the dawn of reality television, producer Mark Burnett bought the US rights to a Swedish reality show called Expedition Robinson as the inspiration for his first reality show, Survivor. The show catapulted Burnett to a period of fame; his next big idea, “Survivor in the City” (176), became The Apprentice.

Burnett already knew he wanted his next show to star real estate developer Donald Trump, whose ice rink had hosted a previous Survivor finale. Barnett recognized immediately that Trump needed to feel celebrated and important—reasons Keefe cites to explain Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign. Though Trump’s xenophobic comments eventually got The Apprentice cancelled, Burnett remained a loyal ally. Keefe notes caustically, despite Burnett’s roster of successful reality shows, including The Voice, “his chief legacy is to have cast a serially bankrupt carnival barker in the role of a man who might plausibly become the leader of the free world” (177).

Keefe gives the reader an overview of Burnett’s biography: his working-class background in London, years in the army as a Special Forces paratrooper in the British Army, and sudden decision to leave for Los Angeles rather than work in Central America as a “weapons and tactics adviser” (178). Burnett worked as a nanny as a new arrival to the US, and later became obsessed with outdoor endurance races, including the possibility that the contests could be filmed for television. His second wife describes to Keefe Burnett’s relentless drive for financial success.

To describe Burnett’s storytelling instincts, Keefe turns to his strategies when working on Survivor. As a younger man, Burnett would imagine a plane he was on crashing, and how he and others would build a new society. He encouraged Survivor casting choices that would build conflict and narrative tension, and aggressively used the show to market products.

In 2016, Burnett was well known, and married to “Touched by an Angel” actress Roma Downey. Jimmy Kimmel publicly lambasted him at the Emmys that year, blaming him for a possible Trump presidency. Burnett declined an interview with Keefe, as he often does when the subject touches on Trump. Burnett frequently repeats, however, that he read The Art of the Deal as a bankrupt new arrival in the US, a story he told Trump. His first wife has no recollection of him ever reading the book.

Burnett’s television work relies on his skill at crafting narratives. On The Apprentice, Burnett used editing techniques to make coherent stories out of Trump’s often random choice of whom to fire. People Keefe interviews who worked on the show emphasize that Trump at the time was a well-known “fake” (184)—his multiple bankruptcies made it hard for anyone to take him seriously as a business genius. However, while many former show staff members insist the show was meant to be social commentary mocking Trump, there is little in the show to suggest the viewer was discouraged from seeing Trump as anything other than a role model for success. Trump acquired new public stature, even support and popularity, as a result of the show. Burnett, solicitous of Trump’s ego and pride, let him take credit for the entire concept in public. Show staffers admit that while Trump’s speech was rarely polished, he did provide the verve and drama the genre needed.

By 2018, Burnett had become a devout Christian. However, one of Burnett’s former wives tells Keefe that this may have been a calculated move, not a true conversion. He spoke at a White House event on religious issues in 2018, but only in anodyne terms about the power of faith and entertainment. This was in keeping with his relative silence about Trump’s campaign and presidency. Burnett did, however, help with staging and planning for the 2017 inauguration, though he now denies his role, possibly because most celebrities he sought for performances declined to participate.

Keefe then turns to one of the Trump presidency scandals touching on Burnett: Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s claim that unused footage from the Apprentice would reveal Trump’s use of racial slurs. Burnett had previously spoken against Trump’s use of sexist and misogynistic language in leaked tapes from Access Hollywood that appeared in October of 2016. Former Apprentice contestants and staff noted that the staging of Trump’s presidential announcement borrowed from the show as proof of Burnett’s complicity and responsibility. Black contestants point to the Trump organization tokenizing them.

Burnett has faced few social or career consequences for his relative silence, perhaps because he took on an executive role at MGM in 2015. Keefe attributes the high number of anonymous sources in the piece to Burnett’s new prominence. In 2017, actor Tom Arnold, who was obsessed with the possibility of Apprentice footage that would compromise Trump, had a physical altercation with Burnett, which Keefe calls “cosmic poetry” (198), since only the world of reality TV Burnett created could make news out of either the tapes or such an incident.

Turning to the controversy over alleged tapes, Keefe points out that MGM would be sued and Burnett’s career irreparably ruined if he were to violate the legal agreements around keeping the footage confidential. Multiple staffers suggest that if such damning footage existed, it would already be public, while others point out that even Trump would likely be circumspect while cameras were present. Keefe, by way of conclusion, cites data that few Republican voters consider racism a disqualifying feature in a president.

While Burnett has long been fascinated by politicians as reality TV subjects, he seems genuinely unconcerned with the real-world consequences of his products. He has previously stated he would love to make a reality show about Russian president Vladimir Putin, and he was apparently entirely unaware of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, until a coworker suggested a pro-gun project might need to be delayed. Some suggest Burnett cannot afford to ignore the profit share Republican voters represent, while others point out that since he is British, he may not be invested in the challenge to American norms that so dismays others. Keefe decides, ultimately, that Burnett views politics as another zero-sum game that he and Trump have won.