In a revealing excerpt from the upcoming book “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass” by Ramin Setoodeh, it’s disclosed that Donald Trump had hoped to hand over the reins of “The Apprentice” to his daughter Ivanka Trump before he entered the political arena.
According to interviews with Trump family members, NBC executives, and former contestants and advisers on the show, Trump envisioned a succession plan where Ivanka would lead “The Apprentice” brand, with his sons Don Jr. and Eric serving as boardroom advisers. Trump believed that this family trio, who had made frequent appearances on the show, would be the ideal successors to carry the franchise forward.
However, NBC executives were hesitant about the idea, expressing concerns that it would give the show a too much of a family-oriented dynamic. Despite Trump’s insistence that Ivanka was the best person for the job, NBC ultimately decided to go in a different direction and brought in Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Trump as the host of “The New Celebrity Apprentice” in 2017.
Schwarzenegger’s tenure on the show was short-lived, with the series being canceled after just one season. Schwarzenegger cited the negative association with Trump’s presidency as a contributing factor to the show’s demise.
NBC had severed ties with Trump in 2015 following controversial remarks he made about Mexican immigrants during his presidential campaign launch. This, coupled with the Trump children’s involvement in their father’s political endeavors, further distanced them from the entertainment world.
