Bill Rancic Left the Spotlight in 2014 to Raise His Son with Wife Giuliana. Now He’s Ready for a Comeback (Exclusive)

After Bill and Giuliana Rancic’s reality series ended in 2014, the couple concentrated on various business ventures and raising their son.

The past two decades have been a wild ride for Bill Rancic, who rose to fame when he became the first winner of The Apprentice in 2004.

He later returned to reality TV with his E! series Giuliana & Bill, which followed him and his wife, Fashion Police host Giuliana Rancic, 49, as they navigated marriage, fertility struggles and Giuliana’s bout with breast cancer.

But in 2014, Rancic, 53, took a step back from the public eye to concentrate on their successful restaurant chain RPM, which has several locations across the country, and raising their son, Duke.

“My son’s now 11, so we kind of got him through those years and it’s time to get back working again in the TV world,” Rancic says about returning to the spotlight with his new podcast Dollar Bill With Bill Rancic, which launches on July 22.

The show focuses on learning and teaching listeners about financial literacy through interviews with celebrity guests like Howie Mandel and Dennis Quaid.

“It’s funny, I’ve always been into financial literacy and investing and just taking control of your financial future,” says Rancic, who says he was mostly self-taught when it came to learning about business and financial matters.

“So someone said you should do a podcast to educate people about the whole way to manage money and prepare your life for down the road, since they don’t teach you that in school,” he continues.

While he’s the face of the show, “I’m also going on a journey with the audience because by no means am I a financial planner or an investment broker,” he says. “So I’m getting great guests on. I’m hearing their financial stories, their secrets to success, but also we’re talking about failures because I think you can learn a lot by learning from other people’s mistakes.”

Rancic says making the show, which will also air in airports across the country on Reach TV, has been a blast.

“I think it’s a good use of time. You’re going to be able to spend time being entertained with us, and you’re going to walk away with some knowledge that you’ll be able to improve your life with.

A new show isn’t the only way Rancic has been shaking up his life lately.

“Giuliana and I just moved back to Chicago,” he says, noting that it feels like he’s “home” after spending years on the West Coast.

“I grew up here. I have three older sisters here. My mom’s here. Giuliana’s family lives in D.C. so we’re only an hour-and-a-half flight from here. They’ll be here next week. So, it’s a lot easier for us to be close to family.”

They’re even hosting Thanksgiving for everyone this fall. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that,” he says with a laugh.

He continues, “Also, Duke starts middle school in the fall. So we’d lived on the West coast and we wanted to come back here to have him start middle school and then high school. It’s just the Midwest — it’s different from California.”

As for his turn on The Apprentice 20 years ago, Rancic says he can’t believe two decades have since gone by. “It was life-changing,” he says of being on the show. “20 years went by in the blink of an eye.”

Dollar Bill with Bill Rancic is available on major platforms, including YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and iHeart Radio.