Omarosa exits White House to return to reality-TV roots on 'Celebrity Big Brother'
What’s a combative ex-Donald Trump acolyte to do after she’s been shown the door of the White House? Return to reality TV, of course.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, 43, is going back to her roots, following her turbulent year in the White House as an assistant to President Trump with a stint on CBS’ first-ever Celebrity Big Brother.
CBS unveiled the cast of the reality show’s upcoming season on Sunday with an ad that aired during the Grammy Awards.
Omarosa went big for her Twitter announcement.
Besides Omarosa, as CBS billed her in its press release, the 10 other contestants in the house will include: former NBA star Metta World Peace; Real Housewife Brandi Glanville; UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell; TV personality Ross Matthews; singer/actor James Maslow; Sugar Ray rocker Mark McGrath; Broadway star Marissa Jaret Winokur; actresses Shannon Elizabeth of American Pie and Keshia Knight Pulliam of The Cosby Show (who has defended the accused comedian); and Ariadna Gutiérrez, the Columbian beauty queen who was mistakenly crowned Miss Universe in 2015.
Omarosa Manigault, as she was then known, came to public attention as an original cast member on NBC’s The Apprentice, where she was notorious as the resident villain who clashed with everyone else.
Although she was “fired” three times from the show by host Donald Trump over the years, the two regarded each other with mutual admiration and, even though she was once a Democrat, she joined his presidential campaign in 2016 as his liaison to African-American voters.
When Trump won, he took her to the White House. She was supposed to be a spokeswoman in the public liaison office but eventually clashed with other ranking White House officials, including Trump’s current chief of staff, John Kelly. Â
In December, she was terminated and escorted from the White House complex. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said then she resigned “to pursue other opportunities,” and that her departure was effective Jan. 20 — exactly one year into the Trump presidency.
Soon after, Manigault Newman (she married Florida pastor John Allen Newman at the Trump International Hotel in Washington in April), has been appearing on TV talk shows to deny she was fired or kicked off the premises, and to hint she had plenty of juicy material for a tell-all book.
“When I have my story to tell, as the only African-American woman in this White House, as a senior staff and assistant to the president, I have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that have affected my community and my people,†Manigault Newman told Good Morning America. “And when I can tell my story, it is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear.â€Â
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Omarosa Manigault Newman told Michael Strahan on ABC’s “Good Morning America” she resigned from her position in the White House despite multiple reports saying she was fired and kicked off the premises.
USA TODAY
So far, no book deal has been announced.
Instead, Omarosa will be living in a house outfitted with 94 HD cameras and 113 microphones recording all the residents 24 hours a day. Each week, one or more of the celeb “houseguests” is voted out of the house, with the last one remaining collecting the grand prize of $250,000.
This celebrity edition of the show launches with a three-night premiere event on Feb. 7 (8Â PM, ET/PT)Â and Feb. 8 (8Â PM, ET/PT), plus a two-hour live eviction show on Feb. 9 (8Â PM, ET/PT).Â
Julie Chen returns as the host. The regular edition of the show hits its 20th season this summer.Â
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The female contestants from NBC’s new reality show ‘The Apprentice,’ appear in this undated publicity photo. Jessie Conners, left, Katrina Campins, Eveka Vetrini, Omarosa Manigaul-Stallworth, Heidi Bressler, Kristi Frank, Amelia Henry, and Tammy Lee.Â
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