Blagojevich Fired By Donald Trump
Hamstrung by his inability to text, email or even work a computer, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich led his RockSolid team to a loss Sunday night on "Celebrity Apprentice" and was fired by Donald Trump.
To his credit, Trump tried to keep the clueless governor, an entertaining game player, on the show for a few more episodes but Blagojevich refused to cooperate.
Blagojevich had ceded most of the project manager responsibilities to rocker Bret Michaels and Trump practically begged him to take Michaels into the boardroom, but the governor refused.
Photos: "Celebrity Apprentice"
Photos: Donald Trump
Photos: Rod Blagojevich
Timeline: The Case Against Rod Blagojevich
Instead, he targeted Olympian Michael Johnson and chef Curtis Stone, who committed no real gaffes though they surely did little to help the team's chances. Both emphasized Blagojevich's failure to master communications technology and Trump had no choice but to fire him.
As in past weeks, Trump defended the ousted governor's choices, pointing out that Blagojevich had to be careful about how he appeared on TV, lest he bias the jury pool against him.
Blagojevich faces a federal indictment alleging political corruption in office. He spent a good part of his time on "Celebrity Apprentice, denying any wrongdoing in the case involving the filling of President Obama's Senate seat.
The task this week involved creating a 3-D promotional experience for Universal Studio's new "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." Team leaders - Blagojevich and Victoria's Secret model Selita Ebanks - were flown to Orlando to meet with theme park executives, while their teams back in New York began work on the project.
During the flight home aboard a private jet, Ebanks emailed sketches and suggestions to her team. Unable to text or email his team or do research on the computer, Blagojevich slept.
His only attempts to communicate with his team was done via telephone and in each case, he warned the others he could not speak freely because Ebanks was there and could listen in.
The men's team lost the challenge, primarily because of faulty research. Their details were not authentically "Harry Potter, something which theme park execs took pride in. Blagojevich, who mispronounced some of terms, was blamed for not assigning someone to do the research.
The women's team - Tenacity - didn't have someone specifically tasked with research either, but it appeared they didn't have to. "I lo-o-o-ve Harry Potter," singer Cyndi Lauper exclaimed when she heard the about the task.
Lauper continues to be a divisive member of the women's team and, should they ever lose a challenge (it was the men's team's third straight loss), she could be in jeopardy.