Rod Blagojevich To Make A Guest Appearance On Celebrity Apprentice

The ninth season of Celebrity Apprentice is scheduled to be aired next spring. It has been leaked to the press that the former Illinois governor will be making a guest appearance on the spring show, though the level of his participation on the show has not been disclosed.

Blago, as Rod Blagojevich is frequently referred to, was the first Democrat elected to be governor of Illinois since 1972. He was arrested on December 9, 2008, by the FBI on corruption charges of "staggering" breadth. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had been investigating Blagojevich for 3 years prior to the arrest for alleged hiring fraud. After the November presidential election, secret taps were placed on Blagojevich's home and campaign office phones. It was information received from these phone taps that led to the arrest. He was impeached by the Illinois Congress on January 29, 2009 and was later indicted on charges of federal corruption on April 1, 2009. He is still awaiting trial on those charges.

Blagojevich has been unemployed since his impeachment and has been doing odd jobs to earn money since then.

Earlier this year, Blagojevich was denied an appearance on the show “I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of here,” because it was being filmed in Costa Rica and the judge did not agree to loosen his travel restriction. His wife Patti competed on the show in his place. Blagojevich’s appearance on Celebrity Apprentice should not be affected by travel restrictions since it is filmed in the United States.

Members of Blagojevich's team have confirmed, subject to anonymity, because the show has not yet made an official announcement, that Blago will be paid for his appearance. Yet, isn’t it ironic that unemployed Blagojevich will be applying to work with one of the world’s toughest employers, Donald Trump?

Apprentice hopeful Setanta is fired

Bill Cullen's latest challenge on 'The Apprentice' proved too much for team leader Setanta Landers.

Cullen divided the team into two groups, Cú Chulainn and Platinum, and set the candidates the challenge of preparing a marketing campaign for accounting software company The Big Red Book.

While Cú Chulainn's mistake of misspelling the client's name attracted unwanted attention, Platinum's failure was mainly due to their piece of cake campaign and Landers' indecision.

Landers brought Geraldine O'Callaghan and Ruth O'Dowd into the board room with him, much to advisor Jackie Lavin's surprise: "Boys sticking together. I didn't see that one coming."

However Cullen laid his cards on the table: "Setanta, you were in charge if the project, you were all over the place, you abused people, you didn't get it right.
"Having said that, Ruth, you're the girl with the experience, you'd want to start commanding a situation if that's what needs to be done.

"Geraldine, you've got moxy [guts]... but you're not pushing yourself enough. You have to make sure that you get your views across strongly."

Cullen concluded: "I have to say sitting here right now it's quite simple I don't think you have the people skills to lead any team so Setanta, you are fired."