BERLIN (Reuters) - A German Internet website offering a ticket to a sold-out Madonna concert in exchange for sex has picked a winner after being bombarded with applicants from around the world.
Thema1 publisher Bernd Heusinger said 120 readers applied for a chance to win the ticket to attend the Berlin concert of the pop icon as his guest on Friday.
The winner was identified only as 26-year-old "Aaron" from Frankfurt, Heusinger said. He will spend the night with the website's columnist Shelley Masters.
Heusinger said there had been some 500,000 "hits", or page viewings, of Thema1 each day since the offer was made -- more than 10 times the usual readership.
"The worldwide interest has been overwhelming," said Heusinger, who received dozens of pictures of body parts from applicants.
"The demand was so great that our computers crashed. We've got people sending in applications from everywhere: Canada, Mexico, Singapore, the United States, Belgium, Italy. It's unbelievable."
"NOT ILLEGAL OR IMMORAL"
Brushing off criticism that his offer of a ticket in exchange for sex with one of his reporters was either illegal or immoral, Heusinger said readers were taking part voluntarily. Five men and two women on the website's staff volunteered.
"A number of German tabloid newspapers have written stories about our offer," he said. "I'm sure every prosecutor and lawyer in Berlin read about it and if there were something illegal, you can be sure they would have been in touch with us by now."
Prostitution is not illegal in Germany.
Heusinger said the website's offer might be reprehensible to some, but its acceptance was a reflection of the times.
Some 90 men applied to have sex with Masters. A further 11 men sent bids to have sex with a gay staff member and 19 women applied for sex with one of three male staff.
Heusinger said Masters won the staff part of the contest by popular demand. The website's staff narrowed down the 90 male public candidates to four and Masters then picked out "Aaron", who told Heusinger by telephone he was "thrilled" to have won.
"He said he'd take a train to Berlin either on Tuesday or Wednesday," said Heusinger, who will accompany the Frankfurt man to the concert after his meeting with Masters.
Masters insisted there was nothing immoral about it.
"I'm excited about all the well-qualified men out there," she said. "Ninety men from around the world want to spend the night with me: That's something women around the world dream of."
Madonna's Berlin concerts sold out within minutes in April, with tickets going for a German record price of up to 250 marks ($110) each
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