Sanjaya Officially Sworn Into The American Pseudo-Celebrity Firmament

Former American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar–the ponyhawked crooner who is probably one of the reasons that Simon Cowell is looking to abandon the States at the end of this season–will be returning to prime-time TV this summer, when he appears on the “celebrities trapped in the jungle” show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! MTV-spawned Barbie impersonator Heidi Montag will apparently be a member of the cast as well, thus opening the door for the two aspiring “singers” to get their duet on.

Sadly (?) former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich will not be surviving alongside Sanjaya, as was previously reported: A federal judge in Chicago has said that the disgraced politician cannot appear on the show (and collect $80,000 a week, what!). “I don’t think this defendant in all honesty … fully understands the position he finds himself in,” the judge said when denying Blago’s request to travel to Costa Rica and put himself up for humiliation. Au contraire, judge: I think he fully understands that he will soon be in a place where he won’t be making a lot of money, and is thus trying to cash in–or is it cash out?–before he’s on permanent license-plate duty.

Ex American Idol Sanjaya joins cast of ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get me out of here!’ [The Dishrag]