Ex-Gov. Blagojevich fights back on new "Apprentice"

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rod Blagojevich has already lost one job. Now the disgraced former governor of Illinois is hoping to avoid the words "You're fired!" as he fights for his favorite charity, and his reputation, on the TV show "Celebrity Apprentice".

Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office, is awaiting trial later this year on charges of corruption and allegations that he tried to sell President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

But he says he decided to compete in NBC's TV show "Celebrity Apprentice", starting on Sunday, because he has been "maliciously wronged" and is publicly fighting back.

Billionaire property mogul and "Apprentice" host Donald Trump was impressed. "Governor. You have a hell of a lot of guts," Trump tells Blagojevich in Sunday's season premiere in a preview obtained by Reuters.

"It took a lot of courage, under the pressure that he is under, for him to even do the show," Trump told reporters later. "I've known people, where they have had problems like he has got, that go into a corner and shoot themselves, or just hide."

"He was highly competitive, he really worked very hard. He did a very good job," Trump added.

Blagojevich joins 13 other celebrities including singer Cyndi Lauper, British reality show judge Sharon Osbourne, Poison rock band singer Bret Michaels, former baseball player Darryl Strawberry and Victoria Secret's model Selita Banks who carry out business-oriented, women vs men and team tasks in New York.

Each celebrity is competing for a charity of his or her choice. Blagojevich is playing on behalf of the Children's Cancer Center of Tampa.

In the first episode, the former governor takes numerous opportunities to proclaim his innocence as the teams are challenged to run a New York diner for a day.

"It is just another form of public service," Blagojevich says of his assignment as a waiter for the diner challenge. "I didn't do those things, by the way," he tells one customer while delivering his food.

Michaels described the former governor as "fantastic".

"I found him extremely nice. I thought he was down to earth. Every time we had to do anything together he was focused, and he is great at delegating. I think he embraced stuff and he was not scared to get his hands dirty," the Poison front-man told reporters.

Trump said Blagojevich's time gets "pretty wild" but declined to say how long he lasts on the show, which ends each week with one contestant being told the now famous words "You're fired!".

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)