| The Celebrity Apprentice | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Created by | Mark Burnett |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | |
| Opening theme | "For the Love of Money" Performed byThe O'Jays |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 90 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Production locations | New York City, New York (2008–16) Los Angeles, California (2017) |
| Running time | 60 minutes (season 1) 120 minutes (seasons 2–15) |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | January 3, 2008 (2008-01-03) – February 13, 2017 (2017-02-13) |
| Related | |
| The Apprentice: Martha Stewart The Apprentice | |
The Celebrity Apprentice is an American televisionreality competition series. It is a variation ofThe Apprentice series hosted by real estate developerDonald Trump from 2008 to 2015, and actor and former California GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger from January to August 2017, when it was canceled.[1][2]
Like its precursor, the show's opening theme song is "For the Love of Money" byThe O'Jays. Unlike its precursor,Celebrity Apprentice consists of celebrities as competing apprentices rather than unknowns. Some of the celebrities featured are contemporary while others have been out of the public eye for some time. They compete to win money for acharitable organization of their choice, and come from various mass media fields, including radio and television and professional sport.
The Celebrity Apprentice is linked in seasons to its precursor TV show,The Apprentice, which consists of seasons 1–6 andseason 10.The Celebrity Apprentice consists of seasons 7–9 and 11–15.
The format ofThe Celebrity Apprentice follows that of the originalThe Apprentice, outside of housing arrangements; there is no communal living space, and celebrities are not required to live in the city during filming, allowing them to maintain their own appearance schedule, which may cause them to miss out on tasks at times. The two teams are given separate suites near the boardroom which they can use for planning and other activities related to the tasks.
Additionally, the celebrities as contestants are not vying for a job, but instead each selects a charity for which they are playing. The winner of each season gets a large donation made to that charity by the host, but in addition, winning project managers may also receive additional charity money by winning a task, either as a fixed amount set by the host and/or a participating business, or by the total charitable take they make on the task. The host also has discretion to provide charity funds to eliminated celebrities as a consolation prize.
On July 6, 2007, it was announced thatThe Apprentice had been renewed for a seventh season, with a possibility of an eighth.[3] In an effort to revitalize interest in the series, season seven[4] featured celebrities playing the game to raise money for charities, going under the nameThe Celebrity Apprentice as opposed to continuing underThe Apprentice format. British tabloid editorPiers Morgan was declared the winner of that season. On January 28, 2008, NBC confirmed that season eight would feature celebrities playing the game to raise money for charity. That season premiered in March 2009, and resulted in a win for comedianJoan Rivers.[5]
Season 3 ofThe Celebrity Apprentice aired in the spring of 2010, and was won by musicianBret Michaels.
On March 17, 2010,NBC officially stated that a new season of the originalApprentice would be brought back, with the explanation that regular working people would again attract audiences in light of the damaged U.S. economy. That season premiered September 16, 2010.[6] This time the ratings were low, and both Trump and ProducerMark Burnett returned to the 'Celebrity' format, which sawJohn Rich win in season 4. In season 5, late night hostArsenio Hall won. In season 6, the first all-star season took place, bringing back 14 of the most memorable celebrities to compete for the first title of the All-Star Celebrity Apprentice, which country singerTrace Adkins won. In season 7, Donald Trump returned the show to the regularCelebrity Apprentice format; TV anchor and talk show hostLeeza Gibbons won the season.
After Trump announced his intentions to run forPresident of the United States in the2016 election in 2015, NBC began to re-evaluate their business relationship with Trump and whether he could still be host ofThe Apprentice series.[7] NBC stated that they opted to sever their business ties with Trump following "derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants" in June 2015, and began seeking a new host for the show.[8] However, Trump stated that it was his decision to end the relationship with NBC "out of respect", even though he had been approached by Burnett and NBC to host two more seasons of the show just prior to his presidential bid.[9] In an April 2016 interview, Trump revealed he earned about $213 million from the show over its 14 seasons.[10]
In September 2015, NBC announced that actor and politicianArnold Schwarzenegger would become the new host ofThe Celebrity Apprentice to premiere during the 2016–17 television season.[11] The rebooted series,The New Celebrity Apprentice first broadcast on January 2, 2017.[12] Trump remained credited as an Executive Producer to the show, including what was estimated as a five-figure per-show fee as well as ongoing profits from the franchise through MGM, the production entity for the show.[13]
On March 3, 2017, NBC announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger had stepped down as host ofThe Celebrity Apprentice. Schwarzenegger cited poor ratings as well as his feud with President Trump as factors in his decision.[14]
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) ofThe Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.Note: Given that the show was asequel television series, the below "statistics by season" chart is a continuation from its precursor's(The Apprentice) "statistics by season" chart. Note as well thatseason 10 is omitted from the chart below as the show reverted toThe Apprentice for that season.
| Season | Host | Winner | Winner's charity | Time slot | Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) | Finale viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Donald Trump | Piers Morgan | Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund | Thursday 9:00 pm | January 3, 2008 | March 27, 2008 | 2007–08 | 48 | 11.0[15] | 12.1[16] |
| 8 | Joan Rivers | God's Love We Deliver | Sunday 9:00 pm | March 1, 2009 | May 10, 2009 | 2008–09 | 52 | 9.0[17] | 8.7[18] | |
| 9 | Bret Michaels | American Diabetes Association | March 14, 2010 | May 23, 2010 | 2009–10 | 59 | 7.4[19] | 9.3[20] | ||
| 11 | John Rich | St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | March 6, 2011 | May 22, 2011 | 2010–11 | 46 | 8.8[21] | 8.3[22] | ||
| 12 | Arsenio Hall | Magic Johnson Foundation | February 19, 2012 | May 20, 2012 | 2011–12 | 73[23] | 7.1[23] | 6.9[24] | ||
| 13 | Trace Adkins | American Red Cross | March 3, 2013 | May 19, 2013 | 2012–13 | 84[25] | 5.6[25] | 5.3 | ||
| 14 | Leeza Gibbons | Leeza's Care Connection | Monday 8:00 pm | January 4, 2015 | February 16, 2015 | 2014–15 | 67[26] | 7.6[26] | 6.1 | |
| 15 | Arnold Schwarzenegger | Matt Iseman | Arthritis Foundation | January 2, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | 2016–17 | 90[27] | 4.8[27] | 3.5[28] |
Note: Winners are indicated inBold; second-place finishers are indicated inItalics.
