As is becoming patently clear with each passing day, Donald Trump is unfit to lead the United States - much less star in a reality TV show.

And while some Americans have conflated with being seen as a titan of industry (he wasn't) and being suited for real-world leadership (he isn't), the sheer scale of Trump's incompetence and lack of negotiating prowess has been lain bare in a new article by Politico.

The key takeaway from the article comes from an interview with Jeff Zucker, the former head of NBC where 'The Apprentice' was shown, conducted last year. In the first season of the show, Trump earned a total of $50,000 an episode and for the second season, he demanded $1 million an episode.

NBC's counter-offer? $60,000, which he ended up taking.

"We ended up paying him what we wanted to pay him," explained Zucker with a certain level of mirthlessness. It's kind of crazy to think that anyone could believe him to be any kind of negotiator, certainly not the best in the world as the lackeys surrounding him make him out to be, but here we are.

The series, which ran for ten seasons, steadily declined in ratings, beginning with its finale episode of the first season reaching 20.8 million viewers whilst the last season had just 4.5 million viewers.