Rod Blagojevich Celebrity Apprentice

By: Mary Smith
01/12/2010 07:56 AM ET

The former Illinois governor somehow made it on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice hosted by Donald Trump. The new season begins March 14. This show will be extremely weird to watch Blagojevich.

In October, prosecutors in his criminal corruption case complained that the air dates would overlap with the beginning of jury screening for Blagojevich’s trial. They did not go so far as to ask U.S. District Judge James Zagel to bar Blagojevich from going on the show, but one prosecutor said the defendant making “statements about evidence would be inappropriate, certainly during this timeframe.” Moreover, prosecutors might use any statements from the show during his upcoming trial.

Rod Blagojevich Celebrity Apprentice

Rod Blagojevich is officially on the Celebrity Apprentice roster. He will compete against fourteen other people during the reality show. The cast includes Australian TV chef Curtis Stone, Carol Leifer, Poison vocalist Bret Michaels, Pro wrestler and actor Goldberg, Baseball great Darryl Strawberry, Rock star wife and reality TV star Sharon Osbourne, Olympic gold medal sprinter Michael Johnson, Cyndi Lauper, Holly Robinson Peete, Victoria’s Secret Model Selita Ebanks, WWE wrestler-model Maria Kanellis, and Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders.

Last year, Blagojevich was offered a spot, on “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me out of Here!” but U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel ruled that he could not travel to Costa Rica for the taping of the program. Blagojevich was ordered to surrender his passport when he was hit with federal corruption charges, so he had to ask Zagel for permission to leave the country. Zagel deemed Blagojevich a flight risk and said no. The former governor’s wife, Patti Blagojevich, went instead.