THE couple who gatecrashed Barack Obama's first state dinner last week have begun touting their story to TV networks in reported search of a six-figure sum.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the socialites who gave the secret service its biggest public relations headache for many years by sneaking through a security cordon that was meant to be foolproof, cancelled an interview with Larry King Live and began seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars to appear on rival shows.

The embarrassment for the secret service was complete over the weekend when photographs were published of a smiling Obama shaking hands with Michaele in the Blue Room of the White House. Although all guests are put through metal detectors before entering the building, it is a first rule of the service that the machines do not guarantee protection for the president.

The Salahis are inveterate self-publicists who have been filming for a reality TV show, The Real Housewives of Washington DC. Tareq was captain of the US team in the America's Cup of Polo and is well known on the wealthy social circuit in Virginia, where he has a family winery. Over the weekend it was revealed that the winery had fallen into bankruptcy and that he had been involved in a prolonged legal dispute with his parents. The couple also have outstanding debts.

— The Guardian, London