Donald Trump 'Didn’t Decide Who Got Fired' on 'The Apprentice,' Says Clay Aiken (Video)

The singer and reality star -- a former "American Idol" runner-up -- told The News & Observer during a podcast interview last Friday that Trump didn't actually decide what contestants got fired from "The Apprentice."

"Trump didn't decide who got fired on 'Apprentice,'" Aiken said. "I mean, NBC made those decisions."

Aiken, who appeared on "The Apprentice" in 2012, said Trump read from a teleprompter whenever he spoke with contestants.

"There used to be a little thing right on his desk that looked like a phone — he pretended it was a phone — but it was actually a teleprompter where the producers were sending him notes," Aiken said. "He didn't know that people were getting in fights during the week while we were doing these tasks. The producers did. And they'd send him notes and he'd say, 'Oh you two didn't get along.'"

"It was very much, 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV,'" he added.

Aiken, who once ran for Congress in North Carolina as a Democrat, said viewers should be cautious before believing everything they see on television, adding that "Donald Trump isn't the businessman that people believe he is."

"I think to myself, the man as president definitely has a teleprompter sitting on his desk right now with people telling him, 'Well such and such is in the health care bill, don't say this...' I feel like half the time his teleprompter has broken down as president and he doesn't know what's going on," Aiken said.

Listen to the full Domecast podcast below.