Offers pile up for Madonna ticket

Madonna's Berlin shows are sold out

BERLIN, Germany -- More than 100 Madonna fans have responded to an online magazine's offer of a ticket to the pop diva's sold-out Berlin concert in exchange for sex.

Thema1 publisher Bernd Heusinger said that readership on his website, www.thema1.de, has increased tenfold to 500,000 hits a day since he advertised the offer.

He said: ''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.''

Ninety men have applied to have sex with the website's columnist, Shelley Masters. Another 11 men applied to have sex with a gay staff member, and 19 women have sent in applications to have sex with one of three men on the staff, Reuters reported.

Masters said: "Ninety men from around the world want to spend the night with me: That's something women around the world dream of."

Heusinger has rebuffed critics who have called his offer illegal and immoral, saying that both his staff and readers are participating of their free will. Prostitution is not illegal in Germany.

Madonna's Germany tour was set to start June 5 in Cologne, with a concert the following day in the same city. But due to technical problems, both shows were cancelled, leaving four remaining shows in Germany in Berlin on June 19 to 23. Tickets had gone on sale in April and were sold in record time.

Angry fans, who had paid up to 250 marks ($110) for tickets bombarded the singer's German fan club website when the concerts were cancelled early May.