EX-PLAYMATE STEALS THE SHOW

Who won Mexico's Presidential Debate? Based on the media and Twitter frenzy, Julia Orayen - the curvaceous model in a tight gown who puzzled millions by appearing on stage for less than 30 seconds during the showdown was the winner.

Orayen has posed nude for Playboy and appeared barely dressed in other media, but she made her mark on Mexican minds over the weekend by carrying an urn filled with bits of paper determining the order in which candidates would speak.

It emerged later that she had been hired as a production assistant for the show.

She wore a tight, white dress with a wide, teardrop cutout that revealed her ample decolletage.

"The best was the girl in white with the cleavage at the beginning," tweeted former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, who is also a New York University professor.

Her name jockeyed for third and fourth place throughout the day under Twitter's Mexico City trends.

A click revealed her previous work, which included an almost-nude spread commemorating Mexican Independence Day.

She appears in the spread in minimal garb modelled on images of Mexican founding father Jose Maria Morelos, AP reported.

Alfredo Figueroa, director of the Federal Electoral Institute responsible for organising the debate, blamed the incident on a production associate hired by the institute to help with the debate.

The institute later issued an apology to Mexican citizens and the candidates for Orayen's dress.

Figueroa told MVS radio that he had requested an aide in "sober dress".

When interviewed by the Cadena Tres TV network, Orayen said the production team gave her instructions to wear a long, white dress, but she picked it out from her own closet.

She said: "It was my only choice for a long dress. I didn't think it would reveal as much or cause this much scandal. I learnt I like myself better when I'm covered up."

At least one candidate was seen gawking at her posterior from the dais. Gabriel Quadri, who is drawing single-digit support as the candidate of the New Alliance party, said her appearance made him nervous.

"It is impossible not to concentrate your attention on a woman so spectacular," he told MVS radio. (The New Paper)