NBC.com

PIERS MORGAN

Editor/"America's Got Talent" Judge

Interview

Let's put the million-dollar question out there first. You've achieved fame and success in your life. Why put yourself through the often-brutal Apprentice process?

As a judge on America's Got Talent, I often get contestants asking me what I have ever done with my life that qualifies me to judge them. The Apprentice is a show that gives me the perfect chance to show how smart I really am... or not as the case may be!

As a daily newspaper editor in England for ten years, I worked very long, stressful hours on very tight deadlines, running a staff of 400 people and a business making $100 million a year, in one of the most brutal industries in the world. So I should be in a better position to complete these business challenges than most of the other contestants, some of whom I suspect haven't done a proper day's work in their lives...

What do you admire most about Donald Trump? Do you see a correlation between him and you in the sense that you are both famous AND business people?

I see a lot of similarities between me and Mr. Trump. We're both smart, funny, handsome, hard-working winners who can be tough and ruthless when we have to be in business, but kind and charming in our personal lives. We also share a hatred of mediocrity, and of quitters, schmoozers and losers.

"Success" can mean different things to different people; what does it mean to you?

Success means winning. Period.

Why should you be Donald Trump's celebrity Apprentice?

Because I will be the smartest contestant in the competition, and the one with the power to raise the most money for charity because I have the best contacts in the worlds of business, showbusiness, politics and royalty.

Since you are in the public spotlight, people already know a great deal about you. What's one thing that the public may not know?

I was a good friend of Princess Diana.

If you could be the star of any movie ever made, which star and which movie would it be and why?

Marlon Brando in The Godfather - I'm absolutely fine to do business with, unless you forget to give me respect. Then I'll kill you.

What are your three favorite albums of all time?

"Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles

"Songs in the key of Life" by Stevie Wonder

"40 Licks" by The Rolling Stones

What are your three favorite books of all time?

"Long Walk To Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

"Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert

"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald