France 3

A France 3 TV presenter, Evelyne Thomas, has been chosen by the mayors of France to be the next "Marianne"*.

A sculpture of her bust will adorn town halls for the next four years, replacing previous Mariannes embodied by such women as Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Denueve and top-model Laetitia Casta.

Evelyne Thomas presents the talk show "C'est mon choix" (It's my choice), which is similar to reality-TV. Themes on the show have included "Mummy, I want you to be eccentric","If you're not good looking then don't even bother to chat me up", "I'm fat...and really sexy!", "I'm not even 10 and I'm a circus performer", "I can't stand body hair anymore (in two parts)" and "I'm a loud mouth!"

The organizers of the competition say that she has been chosen because of her "Republican qualities", her "personality" and her "dynamic" personality.

* Marianne is a symbol of the French Republic.