HOLLYWOOD — Mark Burnett is a hugely successful television producer and arguably the best in the "reality" business. His shows — including "Survivor," "Eco-Challenge" and "The Apprentice" — are perhaps the best-cast, best-produced and best-edited in the genre.

Now, if only he could learn that it's not necessary to be a liar.

You might have thought he would have learned that lesson three years ago when he got caught in a needless lie.

In a session during the Television Critics Association press tour in January 2001, Burnett was asked if the cast knew who won the second edition of "Survivor," which was in the middle of its run.

His reply: "Yes, they know who won."

Which was a total lie. As we learned three months later — and has since become standard practice for the show — the results of the voting were kept under lock and key and not revealed until the live broadcast that May.

And it was a totally stupid lie. If Burnett didn't want to answer the question at the time, all he had to say was, "I don't want to answer that question." It would have been mildly annoying, but you can respect someone who tells you that. You can't respect a liar.

CBS apologized, sort of, for the lie. (Network executives knew it was untrue when Burnett said it but didn't correct it until three months later.) Burnett never did apologize.

And, apparently, he never learned that it's not nice to tell lies, because he just did it again.

In the middle of a recent interview session in which he and Donald Trump took questions about "The Apprentice," Burnett was asked if he offered the show to CBS — his partner on "Survivor" — before NBC bought it. His response was far less than believable.

"I can't remember. I can't remember the occurrence of events," Burnett said.

Which was met with incredulity by critics, who asked the question again. He really doesn't remember?

"No," Burnett said. "What, am I on trial? No, I don't remember."

Which even Trump wasn't buying.

"He probably does remember," the mogul said.

Oh, of course he does. And it's certainly understandable that he wouldn't want to answer the question and offend a network he's in business with.

All he had to say was, "I'm not going to answer that question." It's pretty easy to say, actually.

Maybe Burnett could try practicing that before his next media interviews.

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E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com