NBC’s Friends was one of the network’s biggest successes due to its tenure from 1994 to 2004. The primary cast of the show including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer became household names with the unprecedented phenomenon that it became.
As the show was ending in 2004, a new reality show debuted on the network which was The Apprentice, with Donald Trump as the host. When the show was in its second season, it was beating Friends in its ratings and viewership. The former US president saw this as a big win and made a rather baffling demand to NBC regarding his pay.
Donald Trump Demanded A Significant Raise After The Apprentice Beat Friends In Viewership
In 2004, Jennifer Aniston’s Friends was already on its way out with its final season on NBC. However, some re-reuns of past episodes were still going on. Donald Trump‘s The Apprentice started airing its first season at the time. As reported by Variety, viewership stats showed that while new episodes of Friends earned more viewers than The Apprentice, the reality show was able to beat the sitcom’s re-runs.
As the host of The Apprentice, he saw the latter information as a big win for the show. Based on this, the former President started making an outrageous demand to NBC that his salary for season 2 should match what each of the actors in Friends earned. Trump detailed his calculations about how much he should be paid in Ramin Setoodeh’s book Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass.
In the book, The Apprentice star stated that each of the primary cast of Friends earned $1 million per episode (amounting to $6 million for 6 people). Since the sitcom was fading out and his reality show had higher ratings, the host demanded NBC that he should be paid $6 million per episode for season 2. Trump said (via Vanity Fair),
Friends’ had six people. They’re getting $1 million an episode each. That’s $6 million. So if they’re getting $6 million, and I have higher ratings than they do — because this is the end of ‘Friends,’ and they were fading out — I said, ‘You should pay me $6 million an episode.’
Trump was reportedly paid $25,000 per episode (as stated by Variety) in the first season and understandably, his shocking demand was shot down by NBC’s head Jeff Zucker. The network head reportedly “went fu*king crazy and nuts” at what he was asking. Ultimately, Zucker and Trump agreed to a deal that the latter was happy with. The former president remained as the host of The Apprentice for the first 14 seasons.
Courtney Cox Celebrates The 20th Anniversary of The Series Finale of Friends
Courteney Cox played fan favorite Monica Geller in the beloved sitcom Friends. The final season/episode of the show aired in 2004 and the actress recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the show’s end. On Instagram, she penned a heartfelt note about the show and its longevity.
In her post, Cox wrote about being forever grateful for the continued love for the show. The actress also wonders how she and all her castmates were able to get past the tears as the show ended. The Scream star wrote,
It’s been 20 years since the series finale of Friends. I don’t know how we were able to act through all the tears. Forever grateful.
View this post on Instagram.
With the sudden tragic passing of Matthew Perry last year, the show has received more love and appreciation from newcomers and fans alike. The show is like an eternal gift that keeps on giving and continues to entertain audiences to this day.
Fans can watch all 10 seasons of Friends on Max.
NBC’s The Apprentice is available to stream on the NBC network.
