The reason U.S. President Donald Trump is so heavily invested in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Celebrity Apprentice ratings? He's in love with him. Well, according to the Governator, anyway.
Speaking on SiriusXM's The Michael Smerconish Program Tuesday, Schwarzenegger was briefly drawn on his public skirmishes with Trump since Celebrity Apprentice relaunched in January.
Trump hosted the show for 14 seasons before being fired in 2015. He remained a producer on the Arnie-led 15th season.
"Why does he keep talking about you through his Twitter feed?" asked host Michael Smerconish.
The actor and former California governor responded: "I think he's in love with me."
"Is that what it is?" Smerconish said, to which Schwarzenegger added, "Yeah, I think so."
Last week, Schwarzenegger announced he would "decline" to return for another season "even if asked." He blamed the ratings decline on the show's associations with its divisive former host.
"With Trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste and don't want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show," the star said in a statement. "It's a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division."
But Trump bit back on Twitter, insinuating that the Terminator actor was actually pushed out:
Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Schwarzenegger responded:
You should think about hiring a new joke writer and a fact checker. https://t.co/SvAjuPdHfa
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) March 4, 2017
Trump has previously rounded on the low ratings for the latest season of Apprentice with the movie star at the helm.
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