One of the foundational premises of the new dating series “Donald J. Trump Presents the Ultimate Merger” (TV One, 9 p.m. Thursdays) is that the 12 bachelors who gather in Las Vegas to compete on the show for the hand of one woman don’t know who that woman is. That happens on other dating shows, of course, but in this case there’s an additional reason for the silence: The prize is Omarosa.

Perhaps it would have been tough to find a dozen men willing to vie for her affections, but probably not: In addition to being striking, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is the original reality show villain, a figure of such lasting cultural influence that even now, six years after she was fired halfway through the inaugural season of “The Apprentice,” she remains an object of curiosity and fascination.

Or as Michael, the suitor with the loosest lips, puts it during his first meeting with her: “I’ll be honest with you — you’re way more pleasant than I expected you to be.”

In fairness, the veil of secrecy likely wasn’t total. Omarosa has history with two of the men on the show: Charles, a foreign currency trader with a wardrobe full of spectacular shirts, and the R&B singer Al B. Sure!, who, Omarosa notes, “didn’t seal the deal” the first time around.

Many of the rest of the men appear both star struck and a little cowed, though not so much that it disrupts their essential slickness. It’s a varied bunch: a former NFL linebacker, a lawyer, an aspiring self-help author, a Christian rapper, a pair of R&B singers and a fashion designer (the lone white contestant). All told, “The Ultimate Merger” is perhaps the first dating show centered on the black professional class.

Which makes its race-related gaffes all the more troubling. Near the beginning of the premiere, the director of hotel operations at the Trump International (where the men are staying), who is white, informs them of their responsibilities to their new home: “Ultimately, you need to understand how beautiful this place is. We are not going to allow anybody to ruin that.” He then introduces the security chief: “He’s going to ensure personally that all of you act like gentlemen.”

Given that all of the men are handsome, poised, immaculately dressed and charming — certainly more so than the hotel employees — this feels ludicrous, with a subtle undertone of racism. Even on the various VH1 life-makeover competitions, filled with far more obviously troubled contestants than these, there’s never been a lecture about responsible house-caretaking. From a white employee representing Donald Trump, hotelier and this show’s executive producer, aimed at an overwhelmingly black cast, on an African American-targeted network, it grates.

Perhaps the tone comes from the top. In the show’s introductory conversation between Trump and Omarosa, he asks her, “Is there anybody that can tame you?” as if she were a wild animal in need of a trainer.

Needless to say, racial politics also play a role in the courting. Sterling, the white fashion designer, is asked if he’d consider a certain kind of plastic surgery: “Would you grow for O?” Darrell, a nebbish movie producer, admits to the group, “Most of my friends, they call me ‘Blizzard’” — that would be for his penchant for dating white women. “Why do you think sisters don’t pursue you?” Omarosa asks dismissively, and hilariously.

Turns out it’s easy to root for Omarosa: She’s genuinely engaging, villainous only in her directness. She has a finely honed understanding of how to play to the cameras, giving good body angle and good quote in equal measure.

Omarosa isn’t the only “Apprentice” Season 1 alum who’s extending their reality-TV shelf-life by emphasizing their personal side. Katrina Campins, who appears on the premiere episode of “The Ultimate Merger,” went from “The Apprentice” to the short-lived Bravo series “Miami Social,” and that season’s “Apprentice” winner, Bill Rancic, stars in the underappreciated docu-series “Giuliana & Bill,” on the Style Network.

Dating shows can be flimsy, but Omarosa brooks no ambiguity, in herself or others, and the conversations on the premiere episode are refreshingly frank. She chides one bachelor for having a 1-year-old child, which to her means a mother still in the picture. She calls Charles “a player with a passport,” and appears genuinely moved to see Al B. Sure!

And she may have met her match in Michael, a nasal-voiced man-child event planner who tries to bond with Omarosa by talking about his blog. Omarosa, a born self-marketer, bristles at the intrusion onto her turf. “He was promoting him as a brand as opposed to taking the opportunity to get to know me,” she gripes. Michael retreats, removing himself from the date. If not quite enthralled, he’s at least intrigued: “Some of my best relationships in life, ever, started off with drama.”

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