Trump dumps on Martha as 'Apprentice' feud escalates

A battle over the demise of Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice came to a head Tuesday as Donald Trump exchanged fire with the domestic doyenne.

Last fall saw two editions of The Apprentice: a fourth instalment featuring the bombastic real estate magnate and a spin-off featuring media mogul and lifestyle expert Stewart.

Though Trump's version has not been the same ratings powerhouse it was in its first edition in 2004, his last Apprentice fared better than Stewart's version, which was not renewed for a second season.

Trump previously blamed Stewart's show for his own version's decline in ratings.

In a recent interview with Newsweek, Stewart repeated an earlier suggestion that her show failed because the market was over-saturated, with two similar shows running at the same time.

"Having two Apprentices was as unfair to him as it was unfair to me," Stewart told Newsweek, adding that an earlier idea was that she would "fire" Trump in her first episode but that "Donald really wanted to stay on."

Trump blasted back in a harsh letter to Stewart published Tuesday, charging that she should take responsibility for her "failed show." He attacked her performance on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, that of her daughter and criticized her current daytime lifestyle show, Martha.

"Essentially, you made this firing up just as you made up your sell order of ImClone," Trump wrote, referring to Stewart's recent criminal case, in which she was convicted and served jail time for lying about a stock sale.

Stewart responded in a statement late Tuesday, calling Trump's letter "mean-spirited and reckless" and adding, "I almost can't believe my longtime friend Donald Trump wrote it."

Stewart said she was very proud of working with reality TV guru Mark Burnett for both her short-lived Apprentice as well as her live daily show, which won multiple nominations for April's Daytime Emmy Awards.

Trump fired the final volley Tuesday night during an appearance on the CNBC show The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, in which he repeatedly said he was upset Stewart was blaming him for her show's failure and defended his "mean-spirited" letter.

Burnett, who also appeared on Big Idea, acknowledged that many ideas were floated during planning for the two versions of The Apprentice last season but said, "Why would NBC ever [fire Trump]?"

A fifth season of The Apprentice with Trump is set to begin Monday.