President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Mark Burnett, who produced Trump’s reality show The Apprentice, as special envoy to the United Kingdom.
“It is my great honor to appoint Mark Burnett as the Special Envoy to the United Kingdom,” Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social. “With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role.”
Burnett said in a statement, “I am truly honored to serve The United States of America and President Trump as his Special Envoy to the United Kingdom.”
In his announcement, Trump credited Burnett with “creating and producing some of the biggest shows in television history, citing Survivor, Shark Tank, The Voice and The Apprentice. Trump also cited Burnett’s role as the former chairman of MGM and as the winner of 13 Emmys.
Burnett’s role is different from that of ambassador and does not have to go through a Senate confirmation proceeding. Trump already nominated Warren Stephens, a top donor and billionaire investment banker, to the ambassador post earlier this month.
Trump said that Burnett “will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges.”
Burnett left MGM as chairman of its worldwide television group in 2022 in the wake of Amazon’s acquisition of the studio. He continued to oversee his reality series.
Burnett had a prime role in elevating Trump as a primetime fixture as the star of The Apprentice, as the real estate developer was presented to the public as a wildly successful entrepreneur with astute instincts for spotting talent. Trump already had been a celebrity by the time the show debuted, but The Apprentice, which debuted in 2004 and ran through 2017, cast him in a new light. Still, in an essay in Slate earlier this year, one of the show’s earlier producers, Bill Pruitt, came forward to claim that the image presented of Trump was a “myth we created.”
As Trump became a polarizing figure in American politics, Burnett has remained loyal, albeit he has kept his connections relatively low key compared to others who have been in The Apprentice host’s orbit. Burnett was involved in the planning of Trump’s first inauguration. During Trump’s first campaign, as rumors swirled about the existence of potentially embarrassing outtakes from The Apprentice, MGM released a statement saying that he did not have the right to release the footage — nor did the production company. Trump also was an executive producer on the show.
