Young Libyans - male and female - are lining up to audition for the Arab world's version of Big Brother, although its also a talent show.
Sixteen young Muslim Arabs from across many Muslim countries will live in a house together with 24 hour camera coverage. Earlier versions of the show were immensely popular and controversial.
The chief objections are the communal living space for boys and girls and the intrusive 24-hour coverage of the contestants' lives.
As one conservative Libyan woman put it: "I love watching it, but I hate the fact that there are cameras in the bedroom; it's an invasion of privacy for the girls and inappropriate... I don't want to see girls sprawled on their beds in their sleep, it's degrading."
Others said they also enjoyed watching the show but would never accept a family member in it.
This however, did not stop some 80 Libyan girls - all groomed and dressed-to-impress - from auditioning.
The cropped tops and tight pants I witnessed would never be seen in public, where the streets are populated by predominantly veiled women.
The effect of the girls on their male counterparts was devastating.
Hazem Dawoud, a young Libyan actor said: "I was surprised by the amount of girls who came... I never imagined we had girls who looked and dressed like that here."
A cultural breaking point? Its commonly known that young Iranians, as one example, have a public "street life" and a private "party life" behind closed doors that might resemble much of what you see in North America.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3656818.stm
Cowperson
