We've received this press release from ASO/Brandt, which implies that they chose the podium girls this year by way of a contest. Presumably it was a bit like a cross between Pop Idol and a beauty pageant, but better because there was no singing and all the girls were in polka dot dresses.

Before they even start the Tour, the six Brandt hostesses have already faced some stiff competition.

Determined to uncover the bubbliest girls, the sponsor of the Fighting Spirit Prize launched a grand-scale recruiting operation, worthy of American Idol or Pop Star, relayed by the company's web site. 600 young women signed up from all over France, providing a picture. Given grades by the public via the web site, they took part in highly-selective castings in Lille, Montpellier and Toulouse. The 3 members of the jury held 150 auditions to assess their appearance, ease, wit and vivacity, and video highlights can be seen on line.

After such a promising debut in front of the camera, Brandt's ambassadors are set to move on to greater things: with their red dresses, they are sure to be seen all over the world giving champions a peck on the cheek!

If anybody has any photos or YouTube clips from the auditions, especially the "hand a toy lion to a 55kg man" round, we'd love you to e-mail them to us. If we amass enough photographs we could probably pad the whole thing out for a week or so.