It's official: Lou Diamond Phillips has been named King of the Jungle. On the finale of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Lou earned more votes than both John Salley and Torrie Wilson. His favorite charity -- the Art Has Heart Foundation, which awards scholarships to lower income high school students -- will receive the biggest share of the prize money.
Lou is still best known for his role as Ritchie Valens in 1987's "La Bamba," although he's gone on to act in "Courage Under Fire" and "24," and was nominated for a Tony for Broadway's "The King and I." During filming of "I'm a Celebrity," Stephen Baldwin sincerely thanked him for giving the world "Young Guns" and "Young Guns II."
Patti Blagojevich, who made it to the final five, was back for the reunion in a blue sundress and knee-high boots. When host Damien Fahey asked her what the "real world" was like, she said with a big smile, "It's more wonderful than you could ever imagine."
Viewers who stuck it out to the end also learned that:
Patti Blagojevich was finally voted off "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" after more than three weeks of campaigning for sympathy in the Costa Rican jungle. Judging by the reaction of her campmates, it worked. They praised her with language usually reserved for a beauty pageant's Miss Congeniality award. Not one of them used the words "corruption," "racketeering" or "extortion."
"You've really won over the heart of America," said host Damien Fahey.
Patti had enough votes to make it to the final five, but was ultimately ousted along with "American Idol's" Sanjaya Malakar.
The AP reports that Stephen has released a statement saying that he has left the Costa Rican jungle, outlasting his brother, Daniel, and professional villains Heidi and Spencer Pratt. He left "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" over the weekend because of some nasty insect bites. He was bitten 125 times in an 8-day time period, which caused an extreme allergic reaction. He hasn't been able to sleep, and has lost 22 pounds.
"I'm a Celebrity" ends on Wednesday.
I was really enjoying Stevie B, too. With Janice Dickinson gone, too, there's a much soberer group left. You're not going to see Lou Diamond Phillips baptizing anyone in the river.
Patti Blagojevich earned another week in the jungle on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here." Even though there were just eight campers left - and John Salley and Lou Diamond Phillips had immunity - Patti got the votes she needed to stay in the game.
That means that she is more popular than fresh-faced Holly Montag of "The Hills" and withered party girl Janice Dickinson, who were both ousted. In particular, Dickinson's exit was a surprise; she was first-runner-up of the U.K.'s "I'm a Celebrity" in 2007.
Holly had some parting words for Patti, who will go from Costa Rica back to political purgatory. "Patti is the sweetest lady," Holly gushed. "I'm so fortunate that I got to see the real, true side of her that most people don't know about."
Stephen Baldwin, for one, is feeling threatened. "I think that Patti Blagojevich is somebody right now that's really right appealing to the everyday mom out there," he theorized. "She could be a bit of a dark horse in this process."
The longer Patti is on the show, the more she gets paid. It hasn't been confirmed how much money is involved, but there have been reports that husband Rod had been offered $80,000 a week to $120,000 an episode.
Any prize money the King or Queen of the Jungle win will go to charity. Patti is playing for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
In other news:
*Patti won the right to eat pizza by scrounging in a mud pool with colorful balls and alligators. Her "wrestling costume" was hot pink Spandex, but she wore a modest black swimsuit under it. "My children will be so embarrassed," she said.
*The celebrities received letters from home. Rod wrote to Patti not to worry: "We're fine." The postscript was about her daughter: "Annie keeps saying, 'I should have been the one to eat the tarantula.'"
THE LETTER
Here's the text of the whole letter to Patti:
Dear Patti,
It's been a long two weeks and we miss you. Please don't worry. We're all fine. The highlight of our day is when we get to watch you on TV at night. Just look after yourself and your new friends in the jungle. We're fine. Amy, Annie and I are so proud of you and love you so much.
Love, Rod
P.S. Annie keeps saying, "I should have been the one to eat the tarantula."
PATTI'S INSPIRATION
"It really lights a fire under me to make my daughters to be proud of me and to act in a way that they can be proud of and hold their heads up high."
At last, there's been an epiphany on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Is it possible that Patti Blagojevich, the dutiful and sympathetic politician's wife, could be more calculating than she'd like viewers to think? Stephen Baldwin, for one, suspects that she has an agenda.
"The perfect little gleaming little shimmer on perfect Peppermint Patti?" he confided to the camera. "Starting to dull a little."
Stephen went so far as to suggest she's not "authentic," saying, "She's got a plan, she's plotting, she's doing what she thinks she needs to do for herself that's in her best interest."
Patti Blagojevich made her slasher film debut last night, getting slaughtered by a masked killer in a Lou Diamond Phillips-directed, Stephen Baldwin-produced indie. It was a camcorder project meant to help fill another episode of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!"
Patti's biggest line was in the opening scene, and it got a big laugh in the Costa Rican jungle. "I'm not a celebrity, what am I doing here?" she asked.
In week three of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!," Patti Blagojevich continued to present her case to America. Her defense? She seems to be saying that she and the former governor are being framed, and furthermore they should not go to jail because they are parents. Which would be excellent news for currently incarcerated criminals who have procreated.
"In politics you develop enemies, and they're out to hurt you and hurt your reputation," she explained.
For the first time on the show, it was mentioned that Rod Blagojevich could be getting 20 years in prison, and Patti herself could still end up serving 7-10 years. She said it was difficult deciding whether going to Costa Rica would provoke Patrick Fitzgerald.
"Are you aggravating the U.S. attorney, and then they indict me too?" Patti lamented. "You know it's coming in about a year... 'We're going to indict your wife unless you come plead guilty.' It's like, yeah, well go ahead and do it then. You gonna make our kids orphans?"
There is no justice, she said. "They squeeze people to say things that aren't true," said Patti. "It's a terrible thing. They get people that have done things wrong and they tell them, 'Would you be comfortable saying this?'"
Her phone call back home reminded Patti of reality. "We gotta get past the trial," Patti told her jungle BFF, John Salley.
Rod Blagojevich finally managed to get air time on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Wife Patti had a chance to talk with her family on last night's episode via Skype video call.
"We miss you and we're proud of you," said Rod.
"Did you like the tarantula?" asked 5-year-old Anne.
On last night's "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!," Patti Blagojevich got more camera time to testify about the tragedy that has befallen her. Among her revelations:
Patti Blagojevich opened up on the two-hour episode of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here," making the former governor out to be a political prisoner or folk hero, as opposed to the more widely held view of him: as a delusional slime with indiscreet phone habits who tried to sell the President's Senate seat.
"My husband is a great man," she explained.
"We lost everything, we're trying to keep our house and trying to keep our kids in the school back there," she said. But she's found the jungle welcoming. "This is a piece of cake compared to the nightmare I've been living through the last six months," she said. "You just do what you can do. That's all."
Patti detailed the indignities of her life: having their security pulled by the lieutenant governor "three minutes" after the impeachment vote, and driving around in a 21-year-old car. One more indignity awaited her on the show - she had to down leafcutter ants as part of a challenge, but wisely dropped out before the bull testicles were served.
Illinois' former first lady remained first in the hearts of her fellow "celebrities." "I love you Patti, I really cannot wait to go to Chicago and help you out," offered (threatened?) Spencer Pratt.
"I vote for Patti to win the whole thing," gushed Lou Diamond Phillips.
It would be wrong to suggest that this all might be an attempt to drum up more publicity for tonight's two-hour "I'm a Celebrity" episode, but there have been reports that Heidi Pratt was hospitalized after spending some time in the creepy-crawly "Lost Chamber," in an effort to earn her way back into the show.
Sister-in-law Stephanie Pratt (who, shockingly, has 118,000 Twitter followers), tweeted:
Rushed to the hospital and has an IV in her arm after being locked in a dark room for 3 days w no food or water. Pls pray she will be ok
NBC, Spencer, Heidi: STOP MANIPULATING MY EMOTIONS.
Apparently navigating Illinois politics isn't all that different from life in the jungle. On last night's "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Patti Blagojevich had some words of advice for John Salley, who was struggling with a crotchety Janice Dickinson.
"My husband had this campaign where he was running against this woman who was a little bit like her," Patti told him quietly. "And he thought of her as, as like a crazy old aunt. That he had to kind of like suffer and kind of like, and kind of just like, roll your eyes at. Like she's the kooky old aunt. You had to be respectful to her because she's your old aunt."
Presumably she was speaking of Judy Baar Topinka, who challenged Rod Blagojevich in the 2006 governor's race. Topinka is more often described as "colorful." (She calls her red hair "chemically dependent" and also plays the accordion.)
Patti also got air time volunteering for a food trial that involved mud and giant sponge block puzzle pieces. She lost the competition, but earned Salley's respect. "Patti was a beast," he said admiringly.
During the live portion of the show, Patti conspicuously tugged on her ear. It could have been a secret signal for somebody back home. Either that, or she's battling some sort of infection.
Bad news for Chicago: Angela V. Shelton, the former host of WTTW's "Cheap Show" and one half of comedy duo Frangela, was the first celebrity voted off the show. She looked relieved.
Patti Blagojevich has wormed her way even further into the hearts of her "I'm a Celebrity" comrades. On last night's installment, Patti was the only woman to successfully complete a challenge that involved blindly plunging her hand into a hole. Going head to head against "American Idol's" formidable Sanjaya Malakar, Patti fished amidst what looked to be eels -- and emerged, triumphant, with a star.
The prize? A slab of raw pork and some mangoes. Which went to the men's team.
All in all, Patti seems to be adjusting admirably to jungle life. "It's starting to feel a little bit more like home," she said. Considering that John Salley, Torrie Wilson and Janice Dickinson all cried on the episode, Patti's composure was all the more notable.
In other news:
*Heidi and Spencer Pratt are back, and tomorrow night they will learn if they can stay. Why did they leave? "The devil got to us," Heidi explained. Then they admitted that they never thought Spencer would make it through the psych screening test.
*Lou Diamond Phillips was repeatedly bitten by rats.
*John Salley is no longer frightened of spiders "looking" at him.
*During the live portion, when the hosts asked what the celebrities were doing, Patti said quietly, "Missing my kids."
I hate myself for reporting this, but the Pratts remain on "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here," says Us magazine. This, despite Spencer chanting "Get me out of here!" over and over.
I would like to suggest a new rule for the show: No backsies.
"Heidi and Spencer are still in the jungle and part of the show," their rep told Us Wednesday morning. And then there was some hoo-hah with "decoys" at the airport so everyone would think Heidi and Spencer really left.
I hate them. And not in a fun way, like my loathing of Coach on "Survivor." This is just calculated manipulation because they think everyone in America is stupid. Don't they have some goal beyond being the next Omarosa?
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