CAROLYN KEPCHER, Donald Trump’s co-star on “The Apprentice,” has heard him say “You’re fired!” for the last time – because this time he said it to her, sources told The Post.
The icy, 36-year-old blonde – who was running the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff in Westchester and helping supervise the Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. – was let go earlier this week.
“She became a prima donna,” said one insider. “Being on ‘The Apprentice’ went to her head. She was no longer focused on business. She was giving speeches for $25,000 and doing endorsements.”
Kepcher – who is married and has a son, Connor, 6, and a daughter Cassidy, 4 – had agents at ICM handling book and TV offers, and Westport Entertainment weighing speaking engagements and endorsements. She came out two years ago with a book, “Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from ‘The Apprentice’s’ Straight Shooter.”
Insiders say that when Trump tried to reach her recently, she was off on a trip to make a speech. Another time, while giving a tour of the pro shop at the Briarcliff club, she didn’t seem to know the prices on any of the merchandise.
Trump has been in Los Angeles for five weeks filming the next season of “The Apprentice.” His daughter, Ivanka, has replaced Carolyn as one of Trump’s two on-air sidekicks, while son Don Jr. is the successor to gruff real-estate lawyer George Ross, 78.
“George has been around a long time. He’s seen everything. He didn’t get excited even when women on the street started screaming when they saw him on his way to work,” said one source. “But Carolyn took it very seriously. She thought she was a freaking movie star.”
It’s quite a turnabout from when “The Apprentice” launched in January 2004, and Trump said Kepcher was “very firm, very tough, very smart, very shrewd and has good judgment.”
Trump had no comment, and Kepcher, who had worked for him for 10 years, couldn’t be reached. Messages were left at her office and with her agents.
Kepcher was replaced at Briarcliff by Dan Scavino, her No. 2 at the course, which boasts a 102-foot-tall waterfall at the par-3 13th hole.
“Trump told her what she had to do was take some time off and spend it with her family, and then get another job,” said an insider. “They have a great relationship.”
In Kepcher’s effort to become a superstar, she seems to have failed to practice what she preaches in her own book.
“Carolyn 101” claims to teach readers how to “spot and seize potential business opportunities, be a team leader and deal with a difficult boss,” among other lessons. Her Web site states that Trump considers her a “killer” businesswoman, “best exemplified by his promoting her to the top ranks of the Trump Organization almost immediately.”