A raunchy reality television show hosted by Russia’s first “It girl” has aroused the wrath of Moscow’s council, which is trying to have it banned on the grounds that it promotes moral degeneracy.
Watched by millions, Dom-2, or House-2, which is broadcast nightly, follows a group of single young men and women as they build a house on the outskirts of the city. It is presented by Ksenia Sobchak, 23, a glamorous socialite who is close to President Vladimir Putin.
The participants have a strong incentive to build relationships because the finished house will be given to a couple picked by viewers at the end of the season. Some of them have responded by stripping and simulating sex acts.
The council is appalled. Its members, who have already campaigned for night-time curfews on adolescents and the imprisonment of anyone drinking beer in public, have urged prosecutors to move against the programme.
They believe that if it cannot be banned, it should at least be shown after 11pm rather than in its current 9pm slot.
“All of this is a form of luring young people into prostitution,” said Lyudmila Stebenkova, head of the council’s public health committee. “According to the rules of the game, one of the couples should win a big prize, and for that reason many participants imitate love and enter into sexual relationships strictly for pragmatic reasons.”
The complaint singles out Sobchak and the show’s producers, accusing them of exploiting sex and of organising a de facto prostitution ring — an offence punishable by up to three years in jail.
Sobchak looks certain to weather the storm, however, not least because of her impressive personal credentials. Her father Anatoly Sobchak, who died five years ago, was the former mayor of St Petersburg and a mentor to Putin, who was his deputy during his early years in politics.
Putin has known her since childhood and regards Lyudmila Narusova, her mother, as a friend. He is said to take a personal interest in the family’s wellbeing.
Sobchak — Russia’s answer to Paris Hilton, the brash American heiress — has become one of the most familiar of Moscow’s new rich. An indefatigable party-goer with a passion for diamonds and fur coats, she is a regular guest at the top nightclubs and social events.
In the past she has been romantically linked to some of Moscow’s richest men but now she is engaged to Alexander Shustorovich, a Russian-American businessman. Their wedding this summer, billed as Russia’s society event of the year, will be a “simple” affair for 300 people, she said.
Sobchak was unperturbed by the criticism. “Deputies should thank us for our programme instead of criticising it,” she said. “It’s aired at the same time as the evening news which is mainly about problems in our country that deputies are unable to solve. By watching Dom-2 young people at least don’t hear about them.”
Mark Franchetti, Moscow
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