I’ve been working in reality television for 10 years, and I can tell you that Mr. Trump is exactly what we look for in our casting process. He’s uncomplicated and authentic: You can understand his entire personality from a 15-second sound bite. His brand is blunt self-promotion. His buildings are big and gold, shouting TRUMP in all caps. The Donald has absolute confidence even in his most wrongheaded opinions, and doubles down on every mistake, comfortable in the assurance that his wealth provides evidence for his intelligence. He doesn’t need to be good at his job — if he fails, he creates chaos, and chaos makes good TV.
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As a reality TV professional, I would be lucky to strike gold like Donald Trump once or twice in a career.
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In the various guilty-pleasure/train-wreck formats of reality TV, development execs look for larger-than-life personalities who speak their mind and don’t shy away from conflict. Self-awareness is a liability. They reveal their character through conflict, and the bigger the character, the deeper the conflict, the better the show.
Seth Grossman, “Donald Trump, Our Reality TV Candidate”, The New York Times (27 September 2015), SR4.