Patti Blagojevich Joins NBC's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Rod and Patti Blagojevich
Testing the very limits of the word "celebrity," NBC has cast Patti Blagojevich on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Patti Blagojevich, the wife of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, announced on the Today show Thursday that she will replace her husband, who had to drop out of the show after a federal judge barred him from participating because he would have to leave the country.
Patti Blagojevich said she wants her appearance on the show to correct her public reputation, which is based mostly on profanity-laced wiretaps of her suggesting that the Tribune Co. fire editors who didn't support her husband.
"I don't think those characterizations were fair at all," she said. "I think that people who know me know the truth behind those comments."
The Blagojevichs' publicist, Glenn Selig, joked in a statement that the former governor believes his wife might have it easier in the jungle. "He knows how hard it is to take care of the kids and to run a home," Selig said.
Rod Blagojevich will still participate in the show, making special appearances rather than competing in Costa Rica.
While some members of the cast — cough, Spencer and Heidi, cough — can hardly be considered celebrities, do you think a former Illinois first lady is an even further departure?