Burnett was born in London, England, on July 17, 1960, the only child of parents who were both Ford Motors factory workers. At one point during his childhood, he moved to Dagenham, Essex, and at seventeen, he enrolled in the British Army. He fought in Northern Ireland and Falkland Islands as a section commander of the Parachute Regiment. In 1982, Burnett conceived a plan to work in Central America as a military advisor to the British Special Air Service. He told his mother, however, that he was actually headed to Los Angeles, so as not have her worry. Once Burnett made that stopover in Los Angeles, he decided not to continue on, and found work as a nanny, despite not having any experience, because the family he worked for thought he could double as a nanny and bodyguard. He later sold t-shirts and used the profits to begin a credit card marketing business.
In 1991, Burnett read a newspaper article about the Raid Gauloises, a French adventure competition. He formed a team, calling it the American Pride, and entered the competition. While competing, his entrepreneurial side took over, and Burnett wondered if the same type of competition could be brought to America. He purchased the rights to Raid Gauloises, and had the first Eco-Challenge in 1995.
One year later, Burnett conceived the extremely successful reality television show, Survivor. Set in a remote area, the show stranded its contestants and forced them to survive on their own, while voting out one of their own each week, until the last survivor is left after thirty-nine days of survival. With host Jeff Probst, the first season of the series was won by Richard Hatch, and also made household names of Susan Hawk, Rudy Boesch, and Colleen Haskell. The show has continued twice a year since then, and has traveled to areas such as Africa, Australia, Thailand, Panama, and Guatemala.
Taking his ideas for reality television into the boardroom, Burnett next created The Apprentice. Set around real estate magnate, Donald Trump, the purpose is to find him a worthy apprentice. The same reality television principle is utilized, as apprentices are voted out weekly, but not by the other apprentices. Instead, that decision lies solely in the hands, literally, of Trump, as he points at them, and uses the catchphrase, "You‘re fired." For one season, the show expanded to have homemaking expert Martha Stewart, fresh out of prison, looking for an apprentice of her own with her own show.
Along with other successful reality television shows, such as The Contender, The Restaurant, and The Casino, Burnett also launched Rock Star, a vehicle to find a lead singer for different rock groups. Once again using that same formula of voting out a contestant each week, although with this one being decided by both the voting audience and the band, Rock Star’s first season searched for a singer to front INXS, without a lead singer since the death of Michael Hutchence. They found their replacement with J D Fortune. The following year a band was created specifically for the show. Winner Lukas Rossi joined the band Supernova, which included Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted, and Gilby Clarke. After being sued by a previous band that shared the same name, the band became officially known as Rockstar: Supernova. The show is hosted by Brooke Burke and Dave Navarro.
Burnett has two children from his first marriage, James and Cameron. Late in 2006, he became engaged to longtime girlfriend, actress and producer Roma Downey. With his entrepreneurial spirit and her creative side, only time will tell what the two could create together.
YUDDY
