Instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former POTUS reveals in a new book that he actually hoped his daughter Ivanka would replace him on the long-running NBC series.
- April 4, 2024
AceShowbiz - Donald Trump already had someone in mind to be his successor when he left "The Apprentice" back in 2015. The former POTUS claimed that he actually hoped his daughter Ivanka Trump would replace him on the NBC series.
Making the revelation was author Ramin Setoodeh, who recalled Donald's years on TV in his new book "Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass", which excerpt was obtained by Variety. "I said, 'The best person to hire would be Ivanka Trump,' " Donald said.
The TV personality-turned-politician added, "I didn't press it. But I felt Ivanka would have been by far the best person you could hire."
Donald also wanted his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to join Ivanka to take over as boardroom advisers on the reality TV show. "It was going to be the three of us. There were talks for a little while about it," Eric shared in the book.
Despite Donald's desire to have his kids, who made regular appearances on the series, to lead the boardroom, the network apparently had a different vision. It allegedly "didn't like" the former president's suggestion because they didn't want the show to become "a family thing" for the Trumps.
"But I said, 'There's nobody you're going to hire that will come even close to Ivanka,' " Donald said. "They said, 'Huh…' And then they came back with Arnold Schwarzenegger." Arnie was eventually tapped as the host of "The New Celebrity Apprentice", which only ran for one season.
Donald didn't take long to slam the "Terminator" icon after the show was canceled. "Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show," Donald wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the time.
Arnold immediately clapped back, saying, "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," during an interview with Empire.
As for Donald's kids, they decided to follow their dad on the campaign trail. "I think it's pretty hard to say we're going to run with reality TV in a time when you're talking about ending nuclear proliferation around the world," Eric divulged. "I'm not sure the two could have worked in tandem."
