This past Saturday, GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, hosted NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”. “Saturday Night Live”, a live sketched comedy show, has been making millions laugh with their often controversial sketches of current events, many of which are politically related.

Trump was announced as the host of the show earlier this fall, but, NBC cut ties with him in June following Trump’s notorious comments about Mexican immigrants. Trump’s “The Apprentice” and Miss Universe pageant were dropped by the network as a result. When NBC announced that Trump would serve as the host for the November 7^th show, it caused outrage from many activist groups, mainly the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. Activists sent petitions to try to remove Trump from the show with over half a million signatures, but NBC kept with its plan. One group even went so far as to offer $5,000 to anyone in the studio audience that yelled “Trump’s a racist” during the live taping of the show. Activists felt betrayed that NBC would forsake values they thought NBC stood for in exchange for high ratings.

It is no secret that Trump brings ratings, and he did deliver last weekend. The show was the most watched primetime event that weekend and delivered “SNL” with its’ most views since January of 2012. With the media following his every move (and comment), it was no secret that NBC quickly welcomed Trump back into their studio with open arms. Compared to past seasons, “SNL” is in a bit of a rating slump. With the election season upon us, “SNL” is in its’ prime time of year. They are not short of material (or people) to poke fun at, or in this case, with. Who better to bring “Saturday Night Live” out of the dark than the most outspoken and popular candidate, Donald Trump? Trump is undoubtedly getting the most publicity of any presidential candidate and Saturday’s ratings reflected that. His “SNL” appearance just added fuel to his fire.

Trump, however, is no stranger to the “SNL” stage. His last appearance as host on the show was back in 2004, and he was clearly ready to get back into the limelight. He danced to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and even made fun of himself a bit, showing he could take a joke. Viewers watched a night full of political satire with a politician himself leading it all. While ratings soared for NBC and viewers were provided with a great show, the real winner of the night was Donald Trump as he walks away with more popularity than ever.