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Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘Terminates’ Donald Trump After ‘Apprentice’ Ratings Jab

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:56 PST, Jan 9, 2017

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a towering figure in Hollywood who made a successful transition from a bodybuilding champion to an action hero. Of course, he later famously joined politics to become elected as the governor of California. Before moving permanently to the United States, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a regular participant in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, and he won the coveted title a phenomenal seven times.

Conan the Barbarian was Schwarzenegger’s first film in mainstream Hollywood cinema, while his role as a cyborg in James Cameron’s The Terminator was responsible for making him a household name. The Terminator’s success enabled Arnold Schwarzenegger to land successful roles in movies like Predator, Total Recall, Twins, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film career took a backseat in the period from 2003 to 2011 as the actor was busy involved in the world of politics, having been appointed the governor of California. Schwarzenegger returned to the big screen with the release of The Expendables 2 in 2012.

The True Lies actor has made a successful comeback to show business, and is set to appear in a string of upcoming films, including Triplets, The Legend of Conan, Why We’re Killing Gunther, and The Expendables 4.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fans are also excited because the former governor of California has replaced Donald Trump as the host of the 15th season of NBC’s The Celebrity Apprentice. According to Salon, NBC had severed its ties with Donald Trump, its former host, when he criticized Mexican immigrants in his election campaign.

In any case, Trump’s successful presidential campaign ensured that he was never going to reappear in the new season of the popular show. The president-elect initially conveyed his best wishes to Arnold Schwarzenegger for his new stint on the show that has been renamed The New Celebrity Apprentice. According to the Telegraph, Donald Trump congratulated the Terminator actor for being selected as the host while joking about the “equal time” rule with regard to television.

“Congrats to my friend @Schwarzenegger who is doing next season’s Celebrity Apprentice. He’ll be great & will raise lots of $ for charity. To all my fans, sorry I couldn’t do The Apprentice any longer – but equal time (presidential run) prohibits me from doing so. Love!”

Despite his initial support, Trump’s kind words quickly turned sour when he tweeted that the initial ratings from Schwarzenegger’s new version of The Apprentice did not compare to Trump’s own ratings. Referring to himself as a “ratings machine,” Trump invited his fans to compare Schwarzenegger’s initial ratings to Trump’s own ratings after 14 years as host of the show.

However, as the Huffington Post reported, the True Lies star was quick to reply, encouraging Trump to “work hard for all American people” and insinuating that Trump was “aggressive” when striving for positive ratings while host of The Apprentice.

After Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger might just be the right celebrity to reinvent the show, because the True Lies actor is not only a famous actor but also an astute businessperson who has demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills successfully. In 1968, Schwarzenegger teamed with Franco Columbu, his bodybuilding colleague, to create a bricklaying business that flourished in the early 1970s. The two business partners then used the profits to start a mail order business to sell gym and exercise equipment through catalogs. Later, the actor dabbled in the hospitality and restaurant industry.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly excited to be a part of the show, and he has already started relying on his popular movie punchlines and on-screen personas to create a dominating aura on the show. It was earlier rumored that Schwarzenegger would use his famous “I’ll be back” punchline from Terminator while appearing on the show.

The punchline became famous when Schwarzenegger uttered the line while playing the deadly and frightening cyborg in The Terminator. According to E!, the actor revealed that he never expected that particular line to become so popular.

“The funny thing is, you never know on your own what works. I remember when I said the line ‘I’ll be back’ in The Terminator, I had no idea that anyone would repeat that line or that it would be a great phrase.”

Despite the rumors, the premiere of Season 15 of The New Celebrity Apprentice revealed that Arnold Schwarzenegger would instead be using another celebrated phrase to eliminate contestants on the show, as he announces to each week’s eliminated contestant: “You are Terminated.”

[Featured Image by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]

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