Blago Would Eat Bugs For His Kids

Fallen governor heads to L.A. to find show spot

By Marco Stendardo
|  Thursday, Apr 23, 2009  |  Updated 11:57 AM CDT
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Blago Would Eat Bugs For His Kids

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"The judge did save me from eating bugs," Blagojevich told Meredith Viera Thursday on the "Today" show.

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Rod Blagojevich on The Today Show

On NBC's Today Show, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks about the accusations against him and a judges decision that bars him from being on a reality show.
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Rod Blagojevich would have been a natural on the NBC reality show, "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here."

Just ask the shamed former Illinois Governor who was barred by a federal judge from traveling to Costa Rica for the new show.

"The judge did save me from eating bugs," Blagojevich told Meredith Viera Thursday on the "Today" show as he argued why he would have made a great contestant. 

"The idea of being in a jungle, toughing it out and sort of creating a civil society with other people and seeing how you can govern that little society, is not that unlike what it was like when I was governor of the fifth largest state in America." 

Hmm. Did he just compare the good citizens of Illinois to animals in a jungle?

Now we've been left to witness Blagojevich's apparent withdrawal from TV cameras and media attention as he chases the reality show dream. Well, a man's gotta work.

"I'm not ruling out that there may be a possibility to play a role in some capacity on this program," he told "Today." 

"With little equity in either of his homes, no income and $2 million frozen by the feds in his campaign fund, the former governor needs the cash -- up to $123,000 -- that NBC (was) offering," Carol Marin wrote in the Sun-Times this week.

He told Viera that he has two daughters to provide for and that -- while he's fighting to prove his innocence relative to federal corruption charges -- he's optomistic about discussions he's planning to have with TV producers in Los Angeles.

"If that means going into the jungle and having to eat some bugs, it's just a testament to how much I love my kids," Blagojevich said. 

Posted Jul 13, 2009
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