Schwarzenegger Settles In New ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Role But Is Donald Trump Out For Good?

Now that Donald Trump has found a new job after being fired from NBC in June of 2015 (for controversial remarks he said about immigrants), The New Celebrity Apprentice can begin with new “boss,” Arnold Schwarzenegger. But apparently, the focus isn’t off Donald Trump just yet and fans are wondering how different the new show will be.

“We can’t always know how everything is going to unfold and this is what it is,” Schwarzenegger told People magazine after a press conference for the new show last Friday. “The bottom line is that Trump did a great job for 14 seasons and I had big shoes to fill in this 15th season. I love the show and I’d always wanted to do something like this. I’m so grateful he ran for office so I had the opportunity.”

But though Donald Trump won’t be starring in the show anymore, he won’t actually be gone for good. Since 2004 when the first season of The Apprentice began, Trump has served as an executive producer of the show along with Mark Burnett, the show’s creator.

“I knew that from the beginning that he’s an executive producer on the show,” Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters at the press conference. “It’s no different than when I was running for governor and I became governor. My credit starring in Terminator still said ‘Schwarzenegger’ and everything stayed the same and I continued getting the royalties and all that stuff. So, I think that this is a contract that he had. I think that it was great that he was part of it.”

So, will Time’s “Person of the Year” ever appear on the show again? NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt says “no,” but on Friday, Arnold said, “I don’t think that he’s going to be co-hosting with me [but] maybe we can have him as one of the guest advisors or something like that if he has time.”

The New Celebrity Apprentice has already had Warren Buffett, Steve Ballmer, Tyra Banks, Jessica Alba and Patrick Knapp Schwarzenegger lined up to serve as boardroom advisors and during the press junket, it was announced that they would be joined by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, Extra co-host Tracey Edmonds, digital influencer Justine Ezarik, TV talk show host and previous Celebrity Apprentice winner Leeza Gibbons, the founder of the online personal finance firm Moola Gemma Godrey and celebrity fitness trainer, Bob Harper. They will be overseeing all that the 16 chosen celebrities do while on the show and will report back to Mr. Schwarzenegger during the boardroom sequence of the show.

Competing in the eighth season of the celebrity version of the show are Laila Ali, Brooke Burke-Charvet, Eric Dickerson, Boy George, Matt Iseman, Carrie Keagan, Carson Kressley, Lisa Leslie, Jon Lovitz, Vince Neil, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Kyle Richards, Chael Sonnen, Porsha Williams, Ricky Williams and Carnie Wilson.

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During The New Celebrity Apprentice’s premier episode on January 2, 2017 on NBC, the two teams will be tasked with creating a 10-minute TYRA Beauty experience using signature TYRA Beauty products. The women’s team should have an edge on this project since they are actually users of the products. The second task is a little more even, creating a “Cherish Your Teeth” campaign for Trident gum. However in a press release for the show, NBC says that “a misstep on one team costs precious time, disagreements on the other team flair up, creating drama on both sides as the celebrity contestants race against time to try and win their tack and avoid getting eliminated in the boardroom.”

Of course, the real question everyone wants to know is what catchphrase will Arnold Schwarzenegger use on the show. “Your fired” belongs to Donald Trump, but for the one season that Martha Stewart led the show, her phrase, “You just don’t fit in” didn’t seem powerful enough. Perhaps Arnold will create something of his own like, “You won’t be back.” We’ll just have to see on January 2.

[Featured Image by NBC]