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Client 9’s political ambitions ended with a bang — and now CNN has also socked it to him.
The cable network axed Eliot Spitzer’s hopelessly low-rated talk show, “In the Arena,” yesterday, following months of steadily dwindling viewership.
“CNN did to him what he used to do to that hooker,” snickered a source who once worked on the show.
When Spitzer signed off last night, he said it was his swan song. He quoted former President Theodore Roosevelt, saying, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . who strives valiantly.”
CNN will keep the show on the air — with a rotating stable of hosts — until Aug. 8, when it will be replaced by its top-rated broadcast, “Anderson Cooper 360,” officials said.
Insiders told The Post CNN is dangling a mysterious “alternative role” to Spitzer, and he’s “considering the job.”
While “In the Arena” was officially canceled because of its ratings, a CNN staffer described Spitzer “as a pain in the ass, who couldn’t back up his ego with hard numbers.”
Since January, the show has been averaging 595,000 viewers a night. At times, his audience dipped to as low as 290,000, according to Nielsen.
“In the Arena” was crushed in the 8 p.m. time slot by Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” which regularly flirts with 3 million viewers.
Even long-struggling MSNBC has been doubling Spitzer’s audience with left-wing talk show host Lawrence O’Donnell’s “The Last Word.”
Spitzer insisted yesterday his TV program “provided diverse and valuable perspectives during the show’s tenure.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at CNN,” he said.
Spitzer’s show debuted last October as “Parker Spitzer,” featuring the former governor debating the day’s news with Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker.
Within weeks, it became clear that the pair had no chemistry.
As The Post’s Page Six first reported, Parker threatened to quit after fuming that her hooker-hiring co-host — who famously wore black socks during his trysts — tried to dominate the show, and Spitzer griped that Parker was holding him back.
In February, CNN fired Parker, renamed the show and Spitzer started flying solo.
The decision to scrap the show entirely was easy, an insider said.
“Spitzer’s performance didn’t improve after they ditched Kathleen Parker. It made it easier, because his numbers got worse,” the source said.
Spitzer was considered “too long-winded,” another source said.
In a weird coincidence, last night was also the television debut of the documentary film “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” on cable’s BIO channel.