Here's How Much Money 'The Apprentice' Really Paid Donald Trump

Reality TV fans heard the phrase "You're fired" a whole lot throughout the early 2000s, and many can still picture Donald Trump screaming it on the set of "The Apprentice." The show revolved around a group of contestants fighting for the prize of running one of Trump's companies for a year. However, "The Apprentice" also yielded Trump himself a whole lot of money, saving him from many of the realities of going bankrupt. The NBC show paid Trump an estimated $197 million throughout his time on the series, per The New York Times. However, the U.S. president also made more than $200 million from licensing deals that resulted from the popularity he gained from the show.

"The Apprentice" started airing in 2004 and ran for 14 seasons with Trump as its host. An instant success, the series had over 20 million viewers tuning in for its first season and quickly projected Donald Trump's image as a successful businessman and mentor to the masses. Trump walked away with $11.9 million from the inaugural season, and came back the next year with a plan to take 50% of the show's profits — a deal that earned him another $47.8 million in 2005 alone.

While Trump was making cash from his stints on the show, he also found ways to profit when he wasn't on set. According to The New York Times, Trump pocketed $230 million worth of licensing and endorsement deals as a result of being on the show. He helped sell products like Serta mattresses and Double Stuf Oreos, making $15 million from his licensing deal with the mattress company and $500,000 from the cookie brand. He also brought in another $850,000 from a partnership with laundry detergent brand All.

Some of the brands Trump worked with even showed up on "The Apprentice." For example, he pocketed $500,000 for promoting Domino's Pizza, and a 2005 episode of the show was dedicated to coming up with a new product for the same company. During a press release, Trump reflected, "While 'The Apprentice' candidates came up with some interesting new pizza ideas, the real winning idea is the pizza that Domino's is launching," per Domino's. "It takes my two favorite foods — pizza and cheeseburgers — and blends them together. I've tried this product and it's fabulous," he added.

But the deals didn't stop with food and household essentials: Trump-branded attire like neckties and shirts made him another $15 million. He also licensed his name to real estate developers, making $46 million from deals closed in countries like Azerbaijan, Mexico, Brazil, and Russia. With fixed upfront fees guaranteed on these foreign projects, Trump managed to profit even in cases where the projects were never completed.

Brand power is among the most reliable invisible assets, and the notoriety Trump gained from "The Apprentice" helped him land major speaking engagements and book deals. He partnered with Learning Annex, as well as co-authored the book "Think Big and Kick Ass: In Business and Life" with its founder, Bill Zanker. The New York Times reports Trump made $7.3 million from showing up on speaking platforms for the digital education company, and another $1.4 million in royalties off the book. The Times also mentioned that Trump received $8.8 million for publicly supporting ACN, a multilevel marketing company, both on and off "The Apprentice."

All these cash influxes came about after Trump made several drastic money moves throughout the '90s and early 2000s to recover from struggling business ventures and offset his tax burden. He followed that period of financial difficulties up by spending nearly two decades regularly raking in cash from his time on the series, a process that also helped prime him for his next major pursuit: Several researchers credit the public persona Trump built throughout his time on "The Apprentice" as having played a major role in his presidential election.