Two stars
By Paige Wiser, TV Critic
pwiser@suntimes.com
As Rod Blagojevich waits to find out if anyone will sell him down the river, his wife Patti was nearly swept away by a river in Costa Rica. She bravely took his place on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" so their family would have some income - and for a children's cancer charity.
On last night's premiere episode, Patti distinguished herself as one of the more sane contestants on the gross-out reality show. And no, there was no swearing. Not even as she chewed a tarantula. (It had a "musty, yeasty" flavor, she said.)
Patti did, however, pick up a few celebrity endorsements for her husband. Spencer Pratt, a fabricated villain for "The Hills," said that he would have voted for Rod for President. "I look at them as the Heidi and Spencer of politics," Spencer confided to the camera. Presumably, he meant it as a compliment.
Patti even got a few minutes to argue Rod's case in primetime. "He was always about doing the right thing for the people," she explained. "He was fighting the special interests." And the, um, trial? "They made a big hoopla out of something that wasn't even true," she said.
Decaying supermodel Janice Dickinson called her a "great woman."
Then "new Christian" Spencer invited Patti to sit with him and his wife Heidi for a prayer. Soon Patti's eyes filled with tears. It was unclear whether she was touched, or horrified by the company she was keeping.
By the end of the show, Illinois' former first lady was hanging upside down in the Trauma Tank, wearing goggles, as cockroaches danced in her hair.
In other "I'm a Celebrity" news:
*Chicago's comedy team Frangela - Frances Callier and Angela Shelton - saved the show with some lively commentary. They were also the first ones out of the Trauma Tank.
*Spencer/Heidi - Speidi - quit the show twice, only to return.
*Heidi Pratt's dry shampoo sparked a scuffle, with hubbie Spencer picking fights with a series of women.
*Stephen Baldwin, a veteran of "Fear Factor," "The Mole" and "The Apprentice," seemed right at home.
*"American Idol's" Sanjaya Malakar exhibited "mad jungle skills."
By reality standards, the first episode was a yawn. But it's early yet. Here's hoping that by the end of the first week, Lou Diamond Phillips or Torrie Wilson has some sort of breakdown. Or the dry shampoo runs out.
both heidi and spencer are big ass fakes they look so dumb they make christians look really really bad they need to drop the act and quit lieing n bullshiting
both heidi and spencer are big ass fakes they look so dumb they make christians look really bad they need to quit with the lieing and the bullshit
I'm not impressed. The network has this show scheduled for several nights over the next couple of weeks. What a waste of time. I quickly got tired of the cry baby, would-be villan and his wife and turned the show off. I won't be wasting any more time on this show.
The frustrating thing about last night's premiere was how much easier they were making it for these celebs then on the British version which has the kind of success and viewership that Idol or DWTS does here.When their celebs meet the jungle they sky dive and then paddle or swim to their camp, they have to do a challenge right off the bat to determine which team gets the better camp and a trial to earn their food for that day and it wasn't lying with their head near two cockroaches it was eating pig testicles and slugs etc., and put their heads in a bucket of maggots and pulling stars out with their teeth. Their celebs don't have time/energy to come up with misleading personas and pull the stuff spencer and hiedi were last night (by the way--where did spencer get a cell phone??)they're totally raw, that's what makes it interesting for viewers. They need to really step it up and take a note from their British counterpart or the show will fail.
SPENCER IS A WHINNY LITTLE JACKA__, I HOPE HIS FAN BASE GOES TO PIECES WHEN HE QUITS.
HE FEELS LIKE HE IS BETTER THAN ALL OF US.
I totally agree with Don about Heidi and Spencer. If I was one of the other men on the show, I would have given Spencer a reality check after the way he yelled at the women. I was expecting Lou Diamond or one of the others to put him in his place, but it never happened. Was it all staged? Probably, but the lack of intervention may have confirmed staging or have people just become so passive? The show is definitely poorly produced and directed. Focus was on two rich idiots instead of some other talents/characters like Baldwin, Lou or even Sanjaya! It boggles my mind what kind of poor quality shows make it to prime time. It is like politics, we have gotten used to politicians not care what we say or want that we aren't shocked but what is going on in D.C. The TV executives should take note that we are tired of this crap they throw our way.
I have never witnessed two more shallow, self-aggrandizing, completely valueless individuals than I did watching Spencer and Heidi. Neither of them could go one second without trying to steal the scene, or boast about their lavish lifestyle, or put down the other "celebrities". It was putrid. I sincerely hope that the reality television craze will end soon so that disgusting people like those two will no longer be famous. To all the television producers in the world, please know that it is not "Good Television" to watch a spoiled imbecile rant and rave and try to intimidate women. Spencer Prat (Or whoever the heck he is) is a digusting little boy whom I will no longer be watching. I long for the days when you actually had to be an entertainer to be on television...when it took a modicum of talent, rather than just the ability to have no shame at being a douche.
Bye Bye Spence and Heidi...save your money because your 15 minutes are about up.