"She is trying to put the bacon on the table, and she's shown a lot of strength and fortitude," said Thom Serafin, a Chicago political analyst.
A tearful Patti Blagojevich introduced herself to viewers by explaining that her family had been going through a hard time. She later told her supportive castmates she and her husband had lost their jobs and she was doing this to support their daughters.
"For the last few months of our lives it's been pretty difficult, so in some ways
- ah, I'm going to cry," she told an interviewer, looking upward, "after that, the jungle doesn't seem quite so scary."
Rod Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to charges that he schemed to sell or trade President Obama's former Senate seat and used the muscle of the governor's office to get campaign donations. He was ousted from office in January.
NBC had wanted the former governor on the show, in which viewers vote the quasi-celebrities out of the steaming, bug-ridden jungle camp. The network did get publicity shots of him hoisted in the air by a harness, flapping his arms and legs like a bird.
But U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who is presiding over Blagojevich's corruption case, refused to let him leave the country, so his wife joined the cast instead. She is cited on one FBI tape as urging the firing of newspaper writers unfriendly to her husband, but she has not been charged with wrongdoing.
In the first episode (the show airs four nights a week), the former Illinois first lady got carried away by rapids and ate a tarantula. For the rest of the week, she avoided castmate catfights and won immunity from the men in camp, who had to pick one woman to save from the public vote.
But she's got a few weeks to go, and at least one jury expert questions her surprising move to join the cast.
Philip K. Anthony, a Los Angeles-based jury consultant, said while memories of the show may fade, any juror who searches the Internet for Blagojevich's name will find images of Patti Blagojevich crawling on her hands and knees through muck.
"I think it hurts him because for a lot of jurors it will cause him and his family to seem disrespectful of the system ... This occurred because of bad behavior and they are flaunting their celebrity status to the world," Anthony said.
Veteran Chicago political consultant Don Rose said Patti Blagojevich might look good "in contrast to those other goofy people on the show."
But the Chicago-style wisecracks are inevitable.
"After living with Rod Blagojevich, eating a tarantula should be no trick," Rose chortled.
The winner is named King or Queen of the Jungle. Contestants also make money for their favorite charities.
