Rod Blagojevich Lovable Train Wreck on Celebrity Apprentice

Last night on Celebrity Apprentice, Michael Johnson tanked as PM, women were divided on Cyndi Lauper, Darryl Strawberry fired himself, and train wreck Rod Blagojevich was strangely endearing.

To be sure, Rod Blagojevich may be a smarmy long-winded Chicago-machine political hack who tanked as governor. He may be appallingly defiant in his unwillingness to take responsibility for trying to sell Obama's senate seat.

Yet put a disgraced figure like Rod Blagojevich on television in a non-political setting and he suddenly becomes likable. We saw that happen last season with Tom DeLay on Dancing With the Stars.

As EW's Dalton Ross puts it, " Ignorance must truly be bliss because this guy seemingly has no skills whatsoever and is caught up in a huge political scandal, yet walks around like he just ate up a huge bowl of sunshine."

In the context of Celebrity Apprentice, one can't help but admire Rod Blagojevich's unabashedly positive attitude. In spite of being universally reviled, he walks around the streets of Manhattan looking to greet people with a smile and to shake hands. Many in his situation would be too ashamed to even step out in public, but this guy just keeps doing his thing.

A politician to the core, Blago cannot give a straight answer to any question. Donald Trump began the show by asking the governor if he thought the right person was fired last week. After a minute of long-winded double-talk, he finally responded "regrettably," before Trump cut him off.

And seeing Rod Blagojevich unable to operate a computer made for great television. Seeing him struggle for 30 minutes just to type one paragraph was strangely endearing, almost like the Little Engine That Could. Of course, it's a sad commentary on how much taxpayers of Illinois were forking over in order to pay for the governor's staffers to perform such menial labor.

Yet to disagree with PM Michael Johnson, Rod Blagojevich was NOT the weakest link this week. He may be useless, long-winded, and unable to operate a computer, but it was not his idea to make the ad so wordy or to appoint Curtis as the spokesman for their ad campaign. In fact, Blago had objected to the idea (making references to "premature ejaculation" and needing more foreplay.

Fortunately for Michael Johnson and Rod Blagojevich, these two lucky losers dodged another bullet this week on Celebrity Apprentice when Darryl Strawberry volunteered to be fired. It was just as well because Strawberry was equally useless but nowhere near as entertaining.

Darryl feigned "taking one for the team," but The Donald saw through it and realized that Strawberry wanted to leave because he was tired. Johnson was saddened by Strawberry's decision because he had wanted to remain on the show on his merit instead of luck. However, Trump Jr. pointed out that an Olympic gold is no less worthy just because another competitor trips before the finish line.

The women were angered that Strawberry had fired himself because he had been competing to raise money for autism. More tensions arose on the women's side as Cyndi Lauper called Summer Sanders out for throwing her under the bus. However, two-faced Summer who had complained to Trump about her was huggy-buggy to her face.

Let's hope Darryl Strawberry donates some of his own money to autism research, as his charity deserves it. Meanwhile, Rod Blagojevich lives to fight another week on Celebrity Apprentice.

Sources:

'Celebrity Apprentice' recap: Rod Blagojevich is Elected Reality TV Superstar!, Entertainment Weekly