MP Galloway participating in Big Brother show |
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Sat, 07 Jan 2006 02:10
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LONDON: Controversial British M.P. George Galloway has joined a celebrity version of TV reality show, Big Brother. Galloway, charged by the U.S. as a beneficiary of the U.N. food-for-oil programme in Iraq and expelled from Labour in 2003 over his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war in Iraq , said he wanted to show a large and different audience "what I'm really like".
He joins 10 other celebrities to face the camera and a vote-out by the public in the next 23 days. The other worthies are U.S. basketball star Denis Rodman and Faria Alam, who had an affair with England's football coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Galloway had been proclaiming himself to be a friend of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. Upon his ouster from the Labour Party, he had floated his anti-war Respect party, and won a keenly contested London seat of Bow and Bethnal Green in last May.
The U.S. congressional investigators had said they had evidence to show that Galloway benefitted from the U.N. programme of food-for-oil and that he had personally solicited and granted 23 million barrels of oil between 1999 and 2003. Galloway had denied the allegations and had faced the U.S. senate even as he attacked the U.S. on its decision to attack Iraq.
Galloway said his inclusion in the Big Brother show is good for politics. "Politicians should use every opportunity to communicate with people," he said. Bookmakers say he is a 14-1 outsider to win the show. The scales are tilted towards ex-gameshow host Michael Barrymore, who has a 3-1 score.
The other contestants include singer Samuel Preston of rock band The Ordinary Boys, rapper Maggot from hip-hop act Goldie Lookin' Chain, actress Rula Lenska, ex-Baywatch star Traci Bingham, 1980s pop star Pete Burns and an unknown contestant, Chantelle, who has to convince the others she is famous.
According to unofficial figures, the average audience for the opening show Thursday was 6.5 million, giving Channel 4 a huge ratings boost.
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