Donald Trump once compared female Apprentice contestants to Playboy Playmates

Trump compared his female reality show contestants to Playboy bunnies.

(Image credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images)

published 15 April 2016

A former Apprentice contestant's recollections of Donald Trump are further evidence that the Republican presidential frontrunner's views on women leave something to be desired. Season 6 contestant Surya Yalamanchili penned a Politico column recounting a cringeworthy remark Trump made to Hugh Hefner during The Apprentice cast's visit to the Playboy mansion.

Yalamanchili recalls Trump saying to Hefner that he could hardly tell the difference between the Playmates — who were "scantily clad" and "sporting bunny ears and bowties" for a pool party — and "his" women business executives vying for a managerial job:

Toward the end of the evening, I found myself in a small circle, conversing with Trump, Hefner, and another contestant. With a wry smile, Trump looked at Hefner and said, "It's hard for me to tell which of these girls are yours, and which ones are mine." The women on my team were well-credentialed business executives, people Trump had supposedly hand-picked for their skills. In that moment, the only real difference to Trump between them and the scantily clad Playmates who were there for his entertainment was that some of the women were "his," and some weren't. [Politico]

Read the former contestant's full take on Trump — and how his campaign tactics are a lot like those he used to run his reality show — over at Politico.