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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 4 February 2017
Trump can’t say ‘Hasta la vista’ to ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

DARLENE SUPERVILLE Trump’s latest dig at his fel-
Associated Press low Republican came as
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- the president made his first
dent Donald Trump can’t appearance at the Nation-
seem to bring himself to say al Prayer Breakfast, an un-
“Hasta la vista, baby” to usual forum for TV talk. But it
“Celebrity Apprentice.” just goes to show that when
Twice in the past month, it comes to the program
Trump, who once hosted Trump helped create, it al-
the NBC reality TV show, most seems as if he wishes
has taken pot shots at the he could say “I’ll be back”
current host, actor and for- instead.
mer California Gov. Arnold “When I ran for president,
Schwarzenegger, over a I had to leave the show,”
ratings nosedive. Trump told the more than

In this Nov. 12, 2016 file photo, Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen in Los Angeles.
Associated Press

2,000 people attending Schwarzenegger’s audi- cial stake in the shows and
the breakfast at a Wash- ence for his early January is listed as an executive
ington hotel. “They hired a debut as the show’s host producer.
big, big movie star, Arnold was a disappointing 5 mil- Trump has said it’s a cour-
Schwarzenegger, to take lion viewers, according tesy title for which he is
my place. And we know to the Nielsen company. doing no work. He has not
how that turned out. The Viewership dropped to 3.9 detailed how much money
ratings went right down the million viewers in the sec- he’s making from this sea-
tubes.” ond week. son.
“It’s been a total disaster, The season-to-date aver- Financial disclosures Trump
and Mark will never, ever age for the first month was filed during the campaign
bet against Trump again,” 4.7 million viewers, com- show his company, Trump
the president said, refer- pared to 7.6 million viewers Productions, earned about
ring to Mark Burnett, the for Trump’s final season in $5.9 million from “The Ap-
show’s producer who hired winter 2015. prentice” shows in 2015.
Schwarzenegger after NBC White House spokesman Daniel Ketchell, Schwar-
severed ties with Trump in Sean Spicer later explained zenegger’s representa-
August 2015 following his Trump’s “Apprentice” com- tive, said he learned about
comments about Mexican ments by saying he was Trump’s remark right after it
immigrants. just trying to have a “light- happened. Then he called
“I want to just pray for Ar- hearted moment” with Schwarzenegger. The ac-
nold if we can,” Trump said. Burnett, a personal friend tor watched a replay and
Schwarzenegger respond- of Trump’s and a longtime posted the video response
ed quickly in a brief video supporter of the breakfast. within a half hour, Ketchell
on his verified Twitter ac- Burnett introduced Trump said.
count, suggesting that he at the event. “It’s become an unfor-
and Trump switch jobs. The back-and-forth be- tunate part of my job,”
“You take over TV because tween Trump and Schwar- Ketchell said with a laugh,
you’re such an expert in zenegger had the feel of “to call Arnold at six in the
ratings,” the “Terminator” a WrestleMania “feud” morning to tell him what the
star says in the video, cap- meant to drive up audi- president has said about
tioned “The National Prayer ence interest — and rat- the ‘Apprentice’ ratings.”
Breakfast?” ‘’And I take ings. Trump, who helped Thursday wasn’t the first
over your job and then conceive and build the time Trump has criticized
people can finally sleep “Apprentice” franchise Schwarzenegger over the
comfortably again. Hmm?” with Burnett, retains a finan- ratings. Trump tweeted last
month that Schwarzeneg-
ger was “swamped” in his
“Celebrity Apprentice” de-
but “by comparison to the
ratings machine, DJT.”
Schwarzenegger respond-
ed then, too. He urged
Trump to work as hard for
the American people as he
did for his ratings.q