Amazon continues to bow to Trump, will now air old reality ‘The Apprentice’ episodes on Prime Video
Old episodes of The Apprentice, the reality TV show hosted by President Donald Trump, are now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video – the latest move for companies owned or operated by Jeff Bezos to cozy up to the president.
Beginning Monday, viewers will be able to watch season one of the reality competition series, which initially aired in 2004. The streaming platform plans to add seven seasons of The Apprentice by April 27. Each week, another season of the show will be made available.
The reality series boosted Trump’s public profile – and gave him a catchphrase of “You’re Fired!” – when it first aired in the early 2000s and became a career-defining part of Trump’s image before he became president in 2016.
“I look forward to watching this show myself—such great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us!” Trump said in a statement attached to the announcement.
It is the latest move for a company associated with Bezos to affiliate itself closer with the president.
Though Bezos and Trump did not get along during the president’s first term in office, the two became allies while Trump was in the throws of his third presidential campaign. Bezos directed the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post, to spike its endorsement of former vice president Kamala Harris during the presidential election. After Trump was elected, Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Amazon is also reportedly paying $40 million to license a documentary about Melania Trump.
Bezos was present at Trump’s inauguration with other tech CEOs such as Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Now, Prime Video users can stream the show that launched Trump’s famous catchphrase into the mainstream spotlight. Previously, the show was available to watch on Tubi.
The Apprentice ran for 15 seasons on NBC from 2004 until 2017. It featured 14 to 18 contestants who would spend the season showing off their business skills for the chance to win a one-year $250,000 starting contract with Trump’s businesses.
It was created and produced by British television producer Mark Burnett, a close ally of Trump’s who is currently serving as the United States’s special envoy for the United Kingdom.
