Blagojevich heads for reality TV jungle

Rodney Blagojevich, the former Governor of Illinois who was removed from office in January after trying to extract payments from anyone who wanted to replace Barack Obama as senator, is taking the path travelled by Neil Hamilton and his wife - to a career in television light entertainment after political disgrace.

Blagojevich, who faces 30 years in jail if he is found guilty of racketeering, fraud and extortion, has been signed up by NBC to take part in the American version of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. The only catch is that federal judge James Zagel must agree to loosen his travel restrictions.

Along with nine other famous – or semi-famous - faces, he will travel to the Costa Rican jungle this June to see who can perform best in a series of repellent tasks. For his troubles, the network will pay the financially-strapped 52-year-old $80,000 to appear on the show.

Questions will, no doubt, be raised as to how Blagojevich's impeccable haircut will stand up to the uncomfortable living conditions. Famously, as governor, Blagojevich insisted that his aides carried his hairbrush with them wherever he went. He referred to the hairbrush as 'the football', a joking reference to the 'nuclear football' - containing missile launch codes - which the US President must keep at hand at all times.

The omens are not good: when the Serbian-American governor made a previous appearance on TV, as a guest on The Daily Show in 2006, Jon Stewart repeatedly pretended he couldn't pronounce Blagojevich's name, and settled for simply calling him Governor Smith. This prompted Blagojevich to ask: "Is he teasing me or is that legit?"

Two weeks after the show, he declared he was unaware that it was a comedy programme.