MIPCOM to Spotlight Reality TV’s Role in Donald Trump’s Political Career

MIPCOM CANNES has added to its lineup the special spotlight session Apprentice in Wonderland, led by Ramin Setoodeh, co-editor in chief of Variety and author of Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, to explore the role of The Apprentice in launching the political career of Donald Trump.

During the session, Setoodeh will offer a look at the rise of Trump from reality TV to U.S. president through his six on-the-record sit-down interviews with the former president—more than any other journalist or author since Trump left office—as well as his conversations with over 50 players involved in The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice series, including network executives Jeff Zucker and Mark Burnett, Trump family members, crew members, advisors and contestants.

Setoodeh will explore how popular culture, the cult of celebrity and the rise of the reality genre in the early 2000s came together to see The Apprentice become one of the most traveled formats and catapult Trump to the White House.

The Apprentice in Wonderland session will take place in the morning on Wednesday, October 23, in the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals.

“This is the most telling example of politics meeting entertainment of our times,” said Lucy Smith, director of MIPCOM CANNES and MIP LONDON. “To learn of the circumstances, conversations and, often, the conflicts that cemented a global persona, became a catalyst for one successful U.S. presidential run and potentially a second, while in so doing creating one of the world’s most popular and enduring formats is both fascinating and timely.”