Donald Trump will not give up his role as an executive producer of The Celebrity Apprentice, the reality TV show’s studio said on Thursday, confirming a continuing business entanglement of the president-elect but not its details.

Trump’s name will appear in the credits of the show, studio MGM told Variety magazine on Thursday, after the name of show creator Mark Burnett and before that of the program’s new host, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Trump hosted the show for more than a decade before his presidential campaign, during which NBC, the network that airs the show, broke ties with him over his claims that Mexican people are “bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists”.

A spokeswoman for MGM did not immediately reply to questions about the arrangement. The studio did not disclose to Variety any terms of the deal except that it would pay Trump’s fees, and that NBC would not. A spokesman for Trump’s transition team did not reply to a request for clarification.

During a string of meetings last month to interview potential cabinet members of the next White House, Trump met with Ari Emanuel, his agent while he was on The Apprentice and the brother of Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff for Barack Obama. Trump gave no details about that meeting, only telling reporters outside a New Jersey golf club that the meeting was “very good. Great guy. Great friend of mine.”

Burnett has denied that he supported Trump’s presidential campaign, and said in October that he and his wife “reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign”. The producer also denied that he suppressed leaked unaired footage or audio from Trump’s time on the show.

A former contestant, Summer Zervos, is one of several woman who has accused Trump of kissing and groping her. Trump bragged about being able to grab and kiss women without consent in leaked audio from a 2005 appearance on Access Hollywood, near the peak of his fame from The Apprentice.

The president-elect has refused to make a clean break from his sprawling and opaque business interests, instead exploring what legal loopholes could allow his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, to play roles of some kind in the government. He reportedly intends to keep a stake in his company, while formally handing control to his two adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr. He has so far declined to fully divest from the holdings, as the Office of Government Ethics has advised, and threatens to test the limits of US law on conflicts of interest.

During the presidential election, Trump’s campaign falsely said that handing control to his children would serve as a “blind trust”. Since beginning transition work with the Obama administration, Trump has met with Indian business partners, his Washington hotel has courted diplomats, and his potential interests in Taiwan and Argentina come under scrutiny.

Breaking with four decades of political tradition, Trump has also refused to release his tax returns, keeping secret the extent of his wealth or potential conflicts of interest in the US and abroad.