Piers Morgan has alleged that his former Celebrity Apprentice co-star Omarosa Manigault Newman propositioned him for sex to put on a “showmance” for viewers.
The ex-Good Morning Britain broadcaster, 59, makes the claim in Variety editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh’s newly published book, Apprentice in Wonderland, which delves behind the scenes of Donald Trump’s long-running reality series.
Newman, 50, who gained notoriety during her appearance on the 2004 inaugural season of The Apprentice, later competed in the first season of its spin-off, Celebrity Apprentice, in 2008. She famously became embroiled in a personal feud with fellow contestant Morgan on the show.
In an excerpt from the book, published by Variety, Setoodah wrote that Morgan claimed Omarosa “wanted to sleep with him – to put on a ‘showmance’ for the viewers – and then continued to falsely claim he was gay after he shut down her advances.”
“She is one of the most appalling human beings I ever met in my entire life,” Morgan said. “She would literally do anything if she felt it would keep her on the show and get ratings.”
The Independent has contacted Newman’s representatives for comment.
The Apprentice, which premiered in 2004, saw a group of New York businesspeople competing for the chance to win a $250,000 one-year contract position promoting one of Trump’s properties.
The Celebrity Apprentice debuted four years later in 2008, welcoming a group of high-profile figures similarly competing for the chance to work as an apprentice under the billionaire. Their prize money, however, was donated to a charitable organization of their choice.
During her time on Celebrity Apprentice, Newman served as the project manager of the team that competed in a challenge to sell artwork against Morgan’s team.
She was eventually fired in episode 10, with Trump saying that her team suffered “the biggest slaughter in the history of The Apprentice.”
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Newman later became the director of the White House Office of Public Liaison for Trump in 2017. She was abruptly fired in December 2017 by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Newman due to “money and integrity issues,” as well as “inappropriate use of company vehicles.”
She had previously worked as a political aide for former President Bill Clinton.
Elsewhere in Setoodeh’s book, he wrote about how Trump insisted Joan Rivers voted for him in the 2016 election, despite the comedian having died two years earlier.
Discussing Rivers, who won the second season of Celebrity Apprentice in 2009, Trump said: “I thought she might have been a Republican. I know one thing: she voted for me, according to what she said.”
On Monday (June 17), the day before the book was published, Setoodeh tweeted a screenshot of The Trump Campaign’s response to the reporting in his book.
“President Trump was aware of who this individual was throughout the interview process, but this ‘writer’ is a nobody and insignificant so of course he never made an impression,” The Trump Campaign’s Communications Director, Steven Cheung, said in a statement.
“After recognizing the importance of The Apprentice and its significant cultural impact on a global scare, this ‘writer’ has now chosen to allow Trump Derangement Syndrome to rot his brain like so many other losers whose entire existence revolves around President Trump.”
Apprentice in Wonderland is out now.
