Trump was pretty widely known well before "The Apprentice":
. . .
Carter, in modern times at least, seems to be cited the most as the 'unknown, out of nowhere' winner of a presidential election. He is a rather rare example of someone who was both unknown *and* not regarded as a serious contender to win a major party's nomination.
Regarding Carter, I heard a story that he appeared on the TV show To Tell the Truth circa 1974, and the panelists failed to identify him.
It was
What's My Line. Took them 4 minutes and they barely managed to peg him as a governor.
In contrast, Gerald Ford appeared as a "mystery guest" around 1970 and it took them under 2 minutes to narrow it down to a republican congressman. His certainly felt like a celebrity appearance
