Appear on Reality Tv and Win an Arranged Marriage

A television company is to broadcast a Big Brother-style reality television show for Arab countries in which young women compete to win an arranged marriage.

The eight women chosen will live together in a house watched over by TV cameras.

They will be introduced to a series of bachelors, with family members on hand to offer advice on who would make a suitable husband, while viewers get the chance to vote for their favourite couples.

Al-Hawa Sawa - or Being Together - will be aired in several Middle Eastern countries this month.

Although the makers say they will respect "all aspects of Arabic culture" - explicit tattoos, shorts and "form-fitting leotard or Spandex-type clothing" are banned - the notion of a group of women competing for a husband is bound to draw criticism from devout religious quarters.

But more reality TV is destined for a region renowned for its conservatism. The Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, which is showing al-Hawa Sawa, is also planning a Big Brother show, to be filmed in Bahrain.

Fans of the British version - where producers' matchmaking efforts have become a key focus, with competitors plied with alcohol and offered "dates" as prizes - are unlikely to recognise the Middle East format. Men and women will be kept separate, and prayer and Koran reading rooms provided for participants.

The makers of al-Hawa Sawa have banned tobacco and alcohol and say contestants must maintain "high standards of moral and ethical conduct".