After taking over Orkut where they represent 64% of Google's social networking site Brazilians seem ready to surpass Spaniards as the world's number one YouTube visitors.
All thanks to a spicy 4-minute tape showing model Daniella Cicarelli, former wife of soccer star Ronaldo, making love on the beach to her new beau, a Brazilian executive.
For two weeks now, despite or maybe because of the continuous political scandal. the country has been transfixed by the scenes that suggest more than show, but also show much more than you might expect.
In August, 19.1% of YouTube visitors were from Brazil while 19.1% accessed the video site from Spain. Cicarelli's indiscretion however, filmed by a paparazzo, has become a huge hit among Brazilians, many of whom hadn't heard about YouTube before.
They keep coming to see the hot scenes accompanied by exciting music even though YouTube threatened by lawsuits keeps taking down the video while dozens or hundreds of people keep uploading it back.
The polemic erotic (not even soft porn because the video shows no flash and whatever happens is hidden by the sea waves) shots has generated thousands of pages in blogs and serious publications alike.
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Most of the comments have been critical. Even Raquel Pacheco, better known as Bruna Surfistinha, a former prostitute who became a celebrity after writing a book on her call-girl days, panned Cicarelli:
"She went a little overboard since she is a famous person and had sex in an entirely public place," said the author of Doce Veneno do Escorpião, o Diário de uma Garota de Programa (Scorpion's Sweet Poison, the Diary of a Call Girl), who also starred in porno movies.
Bruna will be going to Europe early next year to launch there her book. Holland, France, Spain, Germany and Italy they are all on her itinerary.
Cicarelli on the other hand is busy suing those who made the video and are spreading it throughout the world. The 26-year-old model and her boyfriend, Renato Malzoni Filho, a 33-year-old Brazilian, better known as Tato, who works for Merrill Lynch, are threatening to sue all Brazilian and foreign sites and magazines that showed the video and pictures from it.Â
There are rumors that Merrill Lynch is thinking about firing Malzoni Filho. As for Daniella she has already lost two gigs: one with the GM and another one with Tim, a cell phone operator. Her work as an MTV presenter, however, seems to have gotten a boost from the scandal.
Although the video has disappeared from the big sites that offer videos like YouTube, RapidShare, Google and even PornoTube, the piece is being shown in uncountable minor sites. A search using "Daniella Cicarelli video" is enough to unearth several copies among other videos that are using her name just to take advantage of name recognition
Naturally, the video can be downloaded through peer-to-peer programs like Morpheus, eMule and LimeWire. Some people, however, are trying to make some money selling a copy of the video for around US$ 2 in the Free Market, the Brazilian E-Bay.
Hackers, spammers and virus spreaders are having a field day too sending emails that promise Cicarelli making love but only offer heartaches if opened.Â