Donald Trump’s news-dominating faux presidential bid might be remembered as a farce, an embarrassment, or just a complete waste of time, but NBC, home of Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice, is rewarding him for the stunt.
The network is giving The Donald a big raise to host the next two years of Celebrity Apprentice, the New York Post reported. According to sources familiar with the contract, NBC will pay Trump and his co-producer Mark Burnett a whopping $160 million over two years. Trump and Burnett co-own the show, but Trump gets a large fee as its star.
Trump could personally pocket an estimated $65 million a year from that sum—a sizable bump from his former NBC salary. “They stepped up,” one source told the Post. “It was an increase over last season.”
This new deal will make Trump the highest-paid reality star, surpassing the Kardashians and the American Idol judges, says the Post. According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 List, Trump already receives $60 million annually from his entertainment gigs, while Simon Cowell was paid $45 million for appearing on Idol.
Advertisers are already jumping on the Celebrity Apprentice bandwagon for next season—a “slew” of deals have been signed with sponsors including Procter & Gamble and GM, according to the Post.
