Donald Trump made multiple lewd and sexist comments about female contestants during his time as the host of The Apprentice, a new investigation claims.
The Associated Press recently interviewed more than 20 former crew members, editors and contestants from the NBC reality show, all of whom described the 70-year-old businessman's behind-the-scenes behavior as inappropriate.
Eight crew members claimed that the future Republican presidential candidate made crass remarks about a camerawoman's backside and compared her beauty to that of his daughter Ivanka Trump.
Randal Pinkett, who won season 4 of The Apprentice in December 2005, told the AP that Trump talked about which female contestants he wanted to sleep with, despite marrying third wife Melania Trump earlier that year.
"He was like, 'Isn't she hot, check her out,' kind of gawking, something to the effect of 'I'd like to hit that,'" Pinkett recounted.
Season 10 contestant Gene Folkes claimed that the real estate mogul told female contestants to wear shorter dresses and to show more cleavage. Multiple crew members corroborated the allegation, saying that Trump asked contestant Poppy Carlig to twirl in front of him so he could check out her figure.
"We were in the boardroom one time, figuring out who to blame for the task, and he just stopped in the middle and pointed to someone and said, 'You'd f–k her, wouldn't you? I'd f–k her. C'mon, wouldn't you?" an unidentified crew member said. "Everyone [was] trying to make him stop talking, and the woman [was] shrinking in her seat."
Folkes also recalled that Trump "asked one of the women their breast size at one point, or said, 'Are those real or natural?'"
Former Apprentice producer Katherine Walker said that during her five seasons working on the show, Trump often speculated which female contestant would be "a tiger in bed."
"If there was a break in the conversation, he would then look at one of the female cast members, saying, 'You're looking kind of hot today. I love that dress on you,' then he would turn to one of the male cast members and say, 'Wouldn't you sleep with her?' and then everyone would laugh," a second anonymous crew member alleged. "There would be about 10 or 12 cameras rolling and getting that footage, which is why everybody was like, 'This guy just doesn't care.'"
Some cast and crew members the AP interviewed had nothing but nice words for the Apprentice host, saying they had positive, professional experiences.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks denied the allegations in a statement, saying, "These outlandish, unsubstantiated, and totally false claims fabricated by publicity hungry, opportunistic, disgruntled former employees, have no merit whatsoever. The Apprentice was one of the most successful prime-time television shows of all time and employed hundreds of people over many years, many of whom support Mr. Trump's candidacy."
