In the new season of The Apprentice, the two teams are divided into �street smart� versus �book smart.� What sort of books left an impression on you?
I really believe in intuition, so an old book I�ve read many times is called The Magic of Believing, by Claude Bristol. The Celestine Prophecy, which was all about one thing: If you�re nice to people and open-minded, they�ve got messages to share with you. I read a lot of Tony Robbins. And I read Trump: The Art of the Deal, way, way, way before I thought I�d ever meet Donald Trump. I read it back when I was selling T-shirts on Venice Beach.

How about as a kid?
It sounds like you might have enjoyed adventure books. Total adventure. The Lord of the Rings was a book that motivated me to seek out adventure. I read that avidly. And I read a lot of Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped and Treasure Island. I�ve always liked adventure.

Is that why you ended up joining the armed forces as a teenager?
Completely. Every warrior�by warrior, I mean people who go into the unit I was in�has read Devil�s Guard. And Dispatches, by Michael Herr. And The Wild Geese, about a bunch of mercenaries. I read a lot of war books. Especially Vietnam stories.

Was your own experience in the armed forces similar to what you read or different?
It�s always different. I was lucky enough to have a lot of action. I was in a great unit, an historically proud regiment. The parachute regiment is the same regiment from A Bridge Too Far�it�s all-volunteer Special Forces. Like the Rangers.

What about movies?
When I was young, one of my favorites was Enter the Dragon.

With Bruce Lee?
Were there any other cinema stars you idolized when you were young?
Well, a lot of them are still around today. I�m only in my early forties.

So we�re not talking Errol Flynn.
No, of course not! But everyone relates to movie stars. Certainly, for me, Russell Crowe is a great character. Mel Gibson. I�m from a Scottish family, so Braveheart is an important movie for me.

Has there been a time in your life when you�ve been interested in classical music or opera?
No.

How about visual artists? Painters, sculptors?
No, no.

Did you grow up watching a lot of TV?
Yeah, totally. Especially American TV. The great American export. I grew up in England, and there was nobody who didn�t watch Dallas and Mission: Impossible.

If you combine those two shows, that sounds like Survivor.
Yes! But I like different things, too, like Ally McBeal�because it wasn�t the same old, same old. And I honestly liked Melrose Place a lot. And Seinfeld. And I was a Friends fan. Obviously, Survivor had to fight Friends for seven seasons. Friends was tough. We�re having an easier time with Joey.

What sources did you draw on for Survivor?
Survivor is a play on two things: It�s Lord of the Flies and John Nash�s non-cooperative game theory.

Have you ever read any other psychology books?
Dale Carnegie, absolutely.

What was the first movie that got you excited about visual storytelling?
I�ve always liked epic movies, right from Ben-Hur. Anything on a great scale. Or Patton in 1970�if you look at my show The Contender, you�ll see things from Patton. And the clarion call every time General Patton showed up�there�s a clarion call in The Apprentice whenever Trump shows up. Other than that, I also liked The Thin Red Line. I�m very fortunate to be working right now with Hans Zimmer, who was the composer for The Thin Red Line and Gladiator.

What music are you listening to?
Lately, a lot of Coldplay. Norah Jones. I�ve got an 11-year-old kid, and he�s incessantly playing the Beatles. He says, �Dad, have you heard this? It�s really good!� I�m like, �Yeah, I grew up in England.�

Is there one influence that might surprise people?
I don�t know if you know Joseph Campbell, but he�s a huge influence. He said that most of the great stories aren�t new. They�re rehashings of ancient stories about heroes.

What did you take from that?
People want to see movies about heroes. Especially unwitting heroes. Luke Skywalker didn�t want to fly that spaceship. In Braveheart, do you think William Wallace would have gone to war if they hadn�t brutally killed his beautiful, loving wife? Gladiator�would he have gone to war if they hadn�t killed his family? They�re all unwitting heroes.