Schwarzenegger, who replaced Trump as the host of "The Apprentice," premiered to terrible ratings on NBC.
Donald Trump is clearly not a fan of the man who took over “The Apprentice” now that he is taking over the White House. In a series of tweets Friday, Trump ripped Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, both for the show’s low ratings and for the fact that he supported his opponents.
“Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT,” Trump wrote. “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.”
Schwarzenegger responded shortly after, writing “There’s nothing more important than the people’s work, @realDonaldTrump … I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
The Apprentice, which debuted Jan. 2, pulled in 4.9 million viewers. That’s not quite as good as the previous season’s premiere, which was hosted by Trump, but not by much: the president-elect pulled 6.8 million viewers.
It’s rather strange for Trump to slam the show, considering he is listed in the credits as its executive producer. Some have suggested that perhaps it’s a marketing move by Trump to drum up ratings for the show. Or, he could just hold a deep grudge against someone who supported his opponent, even if he was victorious in the end.
“It could be that the tweets are a ploy to create drama and buzz around a show that apparently needs some,” wrote the Washington Post. “Reality TV thrives on conflict, and new host/Terminator/Mr. Universe vs. old host/executive producer/Mr. President-elect is a pretty compelling conflict.”
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