Schwarzenegger says Trump not really involved on “Celebrity Apprentice”
Arnold Schwarzenegger promises president-elect Donald Trump won’t be involved with “Celebrity Apprentice” despite his executive producer credit.
Schwarzenegger, who took over Trump’s previous role as host of the series for the new season, insisted that the president-elect’s title was solely to acknowledge his role in the show’s creation and success.
“I think it’s perfectly fine that he has executive producer credit because he created the show with Mark Burnett together, so why should his credit go?” Schwarzenegger said during an interview on the “Today” show.
“He made it very clear that he has no interest in being involved. It is now my show, I’m the host, I’m the new boss and I’m going to run this show.”
In the television industry, though, an executive producer credit does not necessarily correlate to any active degree of participation with or oversight of the series, as Daniel Holloway, Variety’s senior TV reporter, explained.
“Plenty of television shows -- probably most -- have executive producers attached who have little or nothing to do with the day-to-day production,” Holloway said. “The older a show gets, the more likely it is that the team of producers will include people involved in the early stages or development of a show but who have since moved on.”
“In the case of Trump, it remains unclear whether or how involved he is on the show.”
But during his interview, Schwarzenegger couldn’t help mentioning Trump’s involvement with the show as recently as when he was tapped to replace him -- at least for the sake of a punchline.
“He was part of the negotiations, so I get millions of dollars for hosting the show but NBC doesn’t have to pay for it,” Schwarzenegger quipped. “Trump makes Mexico pay for it! I mean, isn’t that great?”