[James]

Tony Blair might want to consider doing this.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._television_dc

[James]

He's actuallly been in the Colombian Big Brother house now.

Colombian leader's Big Brother jaunt annoys rivals
By Jason Webb

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 3 — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has become the first head of state to participate in the hit reality TV show Big Brother, producers said, angering political opponents.

In footage set to be broadcast on Caracol Television on Friday, Uribe appears for about 15 minutes in a Bogota studio where young contestants live together, competing in challenges and trying to avoid being voted out of the ''house'' by the audience.

The appearance, in which the usually stern-faced president is shown smiling, prompted opponents to say Uribe was unfairly using prime-time television to campaign for a national referendum on state spending cuts and political reform set for Oct. 25.

''If I told you I watch all your programs I'd be lying,'' said Uribe, who visited the house to thank contestants for responding to his challenge to examine the referendum's 15 points including a call for a two-year public sector wage freeze.

Uribe sat on a coach and had a cup of coffee as he chatted with contestants, who seemed awed by his presence. He complimented them for showing Colombians how to live peacefully together and advised them to take their education seriously.

A Caracol producer said it was the first time a head of state had ever appeared on a Big Brother show. Created in the Netherlands, versions of the show have aired in some two dozen countries with huge success.

But Uribe's opponents were not amused.
''The young people who participated in the program were manipulated,'' said referendum opponents Sen. Antonio Navarro and former Finance Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo in a letter to Caracol.

The producer said Navarro and Restrepo had been allowed to address the house via taped appearances that the contestants watched on their lounge room television.

Uribe is campaigning hard for the referendum, but polls show most Colombians do not understand what it is about.

Big Brother's contestants, responding to Uribe's challenge, did their best to explain, producing their own music video clips illustrating each of its 15 complicated questions.

In one clip, a house inhabitant sang about the need for fiscal discipline while being tied up by female contestants dressed as schoolgirls.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl...p?reg=AMERICAS