‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Plans Reboot With All-Political Cast, Says Insider
Celebrity Apprentice is reportedly planning a reboot for the ninth installment with an all-political cast, according to an insider. Radar Online reports that Celebrity Apprentice producers are looking for ways to “shake up” the long-running NBC reality TV series. After the last season ended with record low viewership, debuting Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new host, one insider says that the next Celebrity Apprentice may see the two top political parties go against each other, with a few “washed-up politicians” as contestants.
Seasons 1-7 of Celebrity Apprentice featured Donald Trump as host, before he was elected POTUS, with celebrities as contestants. The series was originally a spinoff of The Apprentice, also hosted by Donald Trump for seven seasons. The Apprentice aired on NBC in 2004 with a group of unknown business people who all vied for a one-year’s salary of $250,000 to run one of Donald Trump’s companies. Whereas, winners of Celebrity Apprentice actually donated the prize money to a charity of their choosing.
New Celebrity Apprentice Spot Intros Arnold Schwarzenegger https://t.co/WtJZe2K9wS
— Jen London (@JenFromWA) February 21, 2017
Both The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice had fairly high ratings, with the first season of The Apprentice having over 20 million viewers, and the first season of Celebrity Apprentice holding steady at over 10 million viewers. As audience members slowly declined following the first season of The Apprentice, a new version of the show was picked back up in 2008 as Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump still hosting. Season 7 of Celebrity Apprentice ended in February 2015, averaging just over 6 million viewers. Then, roughly four months later, Donald Trump announced his run for the presidency, as previously reported by the Washington Post.
Amid rumors that Donald Trump was fired as host of Celebrity Apprentice, NBC made an announcement, also in June, that Celebrity Apprentice would return in the future with a new host, according to CBS News. The Hollywood Reporter shared in December 2016 that Arnold Schwarzenegger was ultimately chosen as the new Celebrity Apprentice host, with newly-elected President Trump remaining as executive producer. What ensued was a bitter Twitter feud between Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Trump criticized Schwarzenegger as his Celebrity Apprentice replacement.
Is Trump to Blame for ‘The New Celebrity Apprentice’ Bust?https://t.co/luMDoIHpbM pic.twitter.com/zjgfwEwJgT
— Nicolas Babin (@Nicochan33) February 28, 2017
Politico reported last month that President Donald Trump continued to attack Celebrity Apprentice and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the ratings “went right down the tubes” for Season 15, which aired on NBC in January 2017, titled as The New Celebrity Apprentice. In fact, Zap2It also shared last month that the last season of Celebrity Apprentice ended with just over 3 million viewers — a record low for the show that Donald Trump had turned into a “long-running hit for NBC.”
“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 — and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted he’d never done a reality TV show before and “thought it would be interesting” to volunteer to host Celebrity Apprentice, but the Wrap reports that Schwarzenegger “almost certainly” won’t be back as host, adding “neither will the franchise.” But a new report on Radar Online has a different opinion on the fate of Celebrity Apprentice, saying that an insider seems to think that the next step for The New Celebrity Apprentice is to “make politicians reality TV stars.”
According to Thursday’s report, producers of Celebrity Apprentice have reportedly noticed that political shows are “getting huge ratings” and may bring back the next season of The New Celebrity Apprentice with an all-political cast, possibly featuring Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Chelsea Clinton, and Anthony Weiner, as well as some celebrities who endorsed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. The source also claims that producers might split the teams into Democrats versus Republicans.
The Inquisitr also recently shared the rumor that Caitlyn Jenner may take over as the new host of Celebrity Apprentice, since her own reality TV show, I Am Cait, was canceled. But loyal fans of Celebrity Apprentice say they always watched with Donald Trump as host, watched a few episodes with Arnold Schwarzenegger as host, but will never watch it with Bruce Jenner, aka Caitlyn Jenner, as host.
But would fans watch a new season of Celebrity Apprentice with an added political twist? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
[Featured Image by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images]
