Shilpa Shetty never had it so good. And even Akshay Kumar and Anubhav Sinha would agree! Bollywood's face (and figure, of course) at the centre of a race row on the UK series of Celebrity Big Brother is now expected to appear on the Australian reality TV show.

Shilpa Shetty, a marginal actress in Mumbai who won international sympathy and pots of money to go with it, also became a brand name and went on to sign on one of the best known business agents in England.

The controversial show which exploded in the faces of TV viewers earlier this year, will have the winner Shilpa Shetty go into the Big Brother house on the Gold Coast while on a promotional tour, an Australian daily has reported.

The paper quoted a Ten Network spokesman as saying: "We are trying to work out just how long she can spend in the house." Shilpa will be in Australia next month to promote her new movie, Life in a... Metro, which itself is basking in the newly acquired reflected glory of one of its cast.

The Indian actress accused fellow Celebrity Big Brother housemates of racist bullying, but later withdrew her claims, saying she did not believe the alleged comments were racially motivated.

Last week, she again found herself stirring up a hornet's nest when Hollywood actor Richard Gere embraced and kissed her at an AIDS-awareness event for 40,000 truck drivers in New Delhi.

Before that she has been legally charged for obscenity because of some stills from her South Indian film were published in a regional magazine, in a sari showing her navel. Some people and celebrities have all the luck! -