Donald Trump‘s tentacles are long. He’s tried every industry, it seems, moving from real estate to vodka, TV to airlines, beauty pageants to apparel. And so the six degrees of separation that apply to most don’t apply to Trump. Take the newest iteration of Dancing With the Stars — season 22 of the popular ABC series. It features 12 contestants — and four of them are connected to Trump in some way, including marriage. In the case of Marla Maples and Doug Flutie, each has signed on the dotted line to receive millions from Trump. The other affiliations are looser, but the UFC and Geraldo have both benefited from a Trump relationship.
Here are the Trump-touched DWTS contestants:
- Former actress/model Marla Maples — Donald Trump’s second wife, mother of his daughter Tiffany (collected millions of Trump bucks)
- Former NFL star Doug Flutie — played for Trump-owned New Jersey Generals in the USFL in the 1980s (collected millions of Trump bucks)
- Media persona Geraldo Rivera — finished second to Leeza Gibbons on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice show 2015 (almost collected Trump bucks — for charity)
- UFC fighter Paige VanZant — UFC owner Dana White says Donald Trump gave the UFC its first major venue (in Atlantic City), backing the fledgling business. White says Trump was crucial in its success and has pledged support for Trump. (No Trump, maybe no UFC.)
