Arnold quits ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ blames ratings woes on Trump
New York Post Page Six Bryan Hood and Yaron Steinbuch March 3, 2017
He won’t be back.
Arnold Schwarzenegger quit “The Celebrity Apprentice” on Friday — and took a shot at Donald Trump on the way out the door.
“I loved every second of working with NBC and [producer] Mark Burnett. Everyone — from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department — was straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
The “Terminator” star, 69, issued the statement after an interview with Empire magazine, in which he said the show suffered because of its association with Trump.
“I learned a lot, I had a great time, it was a really great opportunity,” Schwarzenegger said. “But under the circumstances I don’t want to do it again.”
Schwarzenegger blamed the show’s ratings struggles on the fact that the president’s name was still attached as executive producer.
“When people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people [started] boycotting it,” he told the magazine.
The actor has criticized the commander-in-chief’s executive order on refugees and immigration, saying it was poorly vetted and made the US “look stupid.”
Trump didn’t hold back in responding to the low ratings during an address at the National Prayer Breakfast, when he sarcastically asked the gathering to pray for Schwarzenegger.
“The ratings went right down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster,” Trump said at the time. “And I want to just pray for Arnold if we can, for those ratings.”
The president has said the show had been a “tremendous success” before he ran for president.
He said the show then hired a “big, big movie star” to replace him, adding, “We know how that turned out.”
The former California governor responded with a video posted on Twitter.
“Hey, Donald, I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV because you’re such an expert in ratings and I take over your job and people can finally sleep comfortably,” he said.
( I saw the entire series and he was horrible. Laughably bad. He had his idiot nephew as a helper in most of the tasks and they would talk to each other in German. His attitude toward women was also pretty funny. I mean it is the attitude of old white guys like me. You just never see it on TV anymore.
They need to get somebody more contemporary with half a brain. You know who would be perfect? Mark Cuban. Trump is the producer and he would never go for it. But maybe Mark Burnett can bypass him. It would give the series a lot of juice. Anyway that's my prediction.)
11 comments:
It is a show that Trump created with Burnett, so even if Arnold's theory was true it was doomed from the get (are you telling me boycotting people would watch it again if Trump was financially separated from it).
The truth is the show is old and Arnold was no Trump replacement.
The show past its expiration date anyway. Without Trump, it's lame. (It was lame with Trump.)
parade of B-list celebrities. eee gads. It's over. Let it die.
I don't know. I thought it can still be entertaining if you get the right mix of Celebrities. They only had a couple of recognizable names this season.
You could make a good show if you got some bigger names.
What was lame was the split between the men and the women in the contests. The women always lose. Every time. They need to split it Democrats vs Republicans. If they can find enough people who would admit to being Republicans.
How about this lineup.
Democrats.
Rosie O'Donnell. Katy Perry. Lena Dunham. Bill Maher. Spike Lee. Roger Moore. Patrick Stewart.
Republicans.
Scott Baio. James Woods. Candace Cameron Bure. Patrica Heaton. Kelsey Grammar. Jim Caviezel.
Gary Sinise.
Actually that is Michael Moore not Roger Moore.
Jim Caviezel is non-prog?
oooo. He's cute.
Brutally honesty here: Scott Baio is a B-list celeb. Those A-listers you listed would never agree to go on that lame ass show.
Trump is what made it, clearly.
Ahnold hasn't had it in decades.
He seems real pissed that he couldn't bang the help during the series.
Laila Ali is a good looking woman. Damn.
Schwarzenegger was the consummate social climber. I give him credit for having the courage to marry Maria Shriver and chance being cut up bad by her razor sharp jaws in the course of fulfilling his marital duties.
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