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Reality-TV kingpin Mark Burnett and his associates say that they aren’t pressuring anyone over a series of damaging leaks about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s behavior on The Apprentice. But three show staffers tell The Daily Beast that’s just not so. According to these sources, Burnett’s office has been warning his staff and Apprentice alumni that if they leak Trump-related news or footage to the press, they are putting themselves in dire professional—and possibly legal—danger.
“They’re not dumb enough to put anything in email right now—people in [Burnett’s circle] are on lockdown over this stuff,” one former Apprentice employee said, who spoke of receiving a phone call in the past two weeks. “They didn’t directly ‘threaten’ [legal action]… but the message was clear: Don’t talk to the media, don’t leak to reporters.”
“They don’t know [for sure] that I did [talk to you], but they got in touch,” a second Apprentice staffer, who’d previously talked to The Daily Beast last month on the condition of anonymity because of the multimillion-dollar non-disclosure agreement that person had signed, said on Monday. “Now don’t call me ever again… Thank you.”
Burnett’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment on this story.