Donald Trump thought he had the perfect candidate to take over for him on The Apprentice.
In Ramin Setoodeh's upcoming book Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass, the former president revealed he wanted his daughter Ivanka Trump to assume his role on the hit NBC show when he left to focus on his political career in 2015.
"NBC didn’t like it, because it became like a family thing," Trump told the author about wanting to hire his former political advisor for the job. "But I said, ‘There’s nobody you’re going to hire that will come even close to Ivanka.’ They said, ‘Huh…’ And then they came back with Arnold Schwarzenegger."
In 2017, the network launched the new version of the competition series entitled The New Celebrity Apprentice with the actor at the helm.However, the show crashed and burned after one season due to low ratings.
"It was going to be the three of us," Eric Trump told Setoodeh about what his father wanted, also referring to brother Donald Trump Jr. "There were talks for a little while about it."
The third oldest Trump offspring noted how everything ended up working out perfectly in the end, as they joined the patriarch on the campaign trail and later in the White House. "I think it’s pretty hard to say we’re going to run with reality TV in a time when you’re talking about ending nuclear proliferation around the world," Eric said. "I’m not sure the two could have worked in tandem."
As OK! previously reported, Ivanka has been enjoying her current chapter away from politics and the spotlight. "She is very happy, living her best life," an insider spilled about the businesswoman.
"She left politics totally in the rearview mirror and so this time around, even if her dad is the leading Republican candidate, she basically doesn't care," the source added. "She told him when he said he was going to run again that she didn't want to be involved."
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After spending years dedicated to her dad's political career, Ivanka has chosen herself and her happiness. "The first election, she wanted to support him. She wanted to be a good daughter. She served his administration for four years, but she had enough. She doesn't want to do it anymore," the insider added.
"She's never going to be in politics again," the source explained. "It's a hard position for her. She doesn't agree with everything [Donald Trump] says, but she doesn't want to publicly disagree with him, so she just wants to stay out of it at this stage."
Variety obtained the excerpts from the book.