Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Friday that he will ditch his gig as host of “The Celebrity Apprentice” and blamed the show’s dismal ratings on its former front man, Donald Trump.
Schwarzenegger, who took over for the President this past season, informed NBC that he will not continue in the lead role.
“I loved every second of working with NBC and (series creator) Mark Burnett,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “Everyone — from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department — was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage.”
That “baggage,” he emphasized in an interview with Empire magazine, is the show’s continued association with Trump, who retains an executive producer credit.
“Even if asked (to do it again) I would decline,” Schwarzenegger told the magazine. “With Trump being involved in the show, people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show. It’s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”
It’s not clear whether NBC would have continued with “The Celebrity Apprentice” anyway — with or without the former California governor. Ratings for the show, which completed its 15th season last month, have plunged — a fact that President Trump took delight in pointing out during a feisty feud with Schwarzenegger.
After the season premiere — two weeks before his inauguration — Trump tweeted: “Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for being a movie star …”
Later, at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump asked attendees to “pray for Arnold” because of the low ratings. Schwarzenegger fired back on social media, suggesting that the two men switch jobs, with the president returning to TV “because you’re such an expert in ratings” and Schwarzenegger taking over the White House so that “people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
Schwarzenegger was hired as the “CEO” of the reality franchise in September 2015, just a few months after NBC announced it was severing business ties with Trump in the wake of controversial comments he made about Mexican immigrants. Before the new season premiered, it was revealed that Trump still held an executive producer title — a fact that caused a minor uproar among critics.
In his magazine interview, Schwarzenegger said, “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.”
“The Apprentice” premiered in 2004 to 18.5 million viewers and was a major hit on NBC for years. But even under Trump, the ratings had been in steady decline. The final season with Trump drew an average of only 6.5 million. Schwarzenegger’s debut season drew an average audience of 4.9 million.
