US President Donald Trump's pick for New Zealand Ambassador is a controversial former nude model who supports waterboarding.
Mr Trump has announced his intent to nominate 57-year-old Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown for the role, though his selection still needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
The US Ambassador role also includes responsibility for Samoa.
Mr Brown has had a long political career and supported Mr Trump in his campaign for presidency.
His political ambitions can be traced back to at least 1982 in an interview in Cosmopolitan accompanied by a nude photo with his strategically placed arm having won the magazine's 'America's Sexiest Man' contest.
The then 22-year-old law student at Boston College told the magazine he was a "bit of a patriot" with dreams to enter politics.
The US$1000 payday he got from the spread helped him pay for law school and kicked of a part-time catalogue and print modelling career in New York and Boston in the 1980s.
In 2010, the veteran Republican defied the odds by winning his Massachusetts Senate seat over Democrat and then attorney general Martha Coakley in the strongly democratic state.
The seat had been long-held by Ted Kennedy, the brother of President John F Kennedy, for 47 years before his death in 2009.
"I think if someone is qualified, regardless of what they did in their youth - we all make mistakes," he said in 2010, after announcing he was running for the Senate.
"If I hadn't done that, I never would have been sitting here with you. It's all connected. So is there a double standard? I hope not. If someone is qualified to do the job, they should be able to do it, regardless of what they've done in their past."
Two years later, he challenged his competitor for the seat, Democrat Elizabeth Warren to take a DNA test to prove her Native American heritage. He lost that race.
He was beaten again in 2014 for the New Hampshire Senate race to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.
Mr Brown backed Mr Trump days before the New Hampshire primary.
He is currently a contributor for the Fox News Channel.
Mr Brown has in the past revealed an interest in coming to New Zealand to cycle.
Mr Brown insisted in 2010 he doesn't support torture, and didn't consider waterboarding a form of torture.
Waterboarding involves pouring water onto a captive's face, simulating drowning, and was used by the US against members of al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks.
The UN considers it a form of torture.
Mr Brown is also against gay marriage, but favours civil unions.
He caused controversy after saying then state Senator Cheryl Jacques' decision to have children with her female partner as "not normal". He later apologised.
President Obama-appointed Ambassador Mark Gilbert was recalled to the US following Mr Trump's win in November.
Newshub.
