Reality Tv Presenter Selected As France's New Marianne

In previous incarnations, she was modelled on Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Now France's new Marianne - the proud emblem of the Republic - is a 40-year-old TV presenter who hosts the Gallic equivalent of The Jerry Springer Show.

A committee representing 36,779 mayors said yesterday it had unanimously selected Evelyne Thomas, the unglamorous but popular presenter of C'est mon choix (It's My Choice), as Marianne for the next four years.

The announcement that sculpted busts of the aquiline Thomas would soon be on show in town and village halls across France was greeted with disbelief by many. "It must be a joke," said Segolene Royal, a former education minister. "What's the country coming to?"

A leading radio commentator, Pascale Clarke, said the choice showed "just how far French culture has descended in the reality TV age". But the mayors praised her "republican qualities".

Recent topics on Thomas's daily chatshow include "I'm a male cross-dresser but I'm still virile".