After filming reality TV show There's Something About Miriam, Tom Rooke had not planned on kissing another man for a while.

Show makers Sky One had duped him and five others into trying to woo a pre-operative male-to-female transgendered woman for a £10,000 prize and they were preparing to sue the company for more than £100,000 each.

Furious at being tricked into kissing voluptuous South American Miriam, Tom led his fellow contestants to a top media law firm.

An hour before their appointment at Schillings' offices, Tom, 23, from Worthing, decided to clear his head with a walk through London.

As he reached Marylebone station, a German tourist keeled over and trained lifeguard Tom gave him the kiss of life.

He kept going for several minutes, until paramedics shocked the 72-year-old man back to life and a crowd cheered Tom's efforts. Then off he went to begin the biggest legal battle of his life.

Six months later, Sky One settled out of court for a sizeable sum and the show was aired. Tom, now nurturing an acting career, told The Argus how kissing two men had turned his life upside down.

The lifeguard and travelling surfer had been making a number of TV appearances when he was selected for the reality show last August. Tom did not care how attractive Miriam was because he wanted the £10,000 cash prize, although he turned down the chance of going on a luxury cruise with Miriam when he won the show.

After being flown to a multi-million pound Spanish mansion with the other contestants, Tom was soon settling into a party lifestyle.

The six young men would spend the day jostling for Miriam's affections before enjoying wild nightlife - all paid for by Sky One.

He said: "There were copious amounts of alcohol, as much as we could drink. A woman would come and ask what we wanted.

"For the first couple of days Miriam was very much kept at a distance, which was good because we were not big friends.

"She was quite annoying. The whole bit that portrays us as fancying her was edited.

"It was 18 days of continuous challenges and dates, of trying to woo her and trying to get time with her.

"When we found out she was a man we were pretty furious. I've not met a single person who said they would be able to tell."

The six contestants were flown back to England at the end of filming in October.

The next day Tom went for a walk and, within minutes, saw Harald Mester, from Dresden, Germany, collapse.

Tom had been trained in resuscitation techniques at the Aquarena swimming pool in Worthing.

He gave the elderly man a heart massage and mouth-to-mouth for several minutes before another passer-by stepped in to help.

Tom said: "It was pretty disgusting. He pretty much puked in my mouth. It's not like in the films and there was nothing to protect me from him."

When an ambulance crew took over the resuscitation, Tom collapsed on the floor, exhausted.

Mr Mester made a full recovery and he and wife Ruth have sent Tom thank you letters and emails inviting him to visit.

Tom said: "I walked back through all these people and they started clapping really slowly. It was quite surreal. It was the second bloke I'd kissed in three days."

All six contestants accused Sky and the producers of a string of offences including conspiracy to commit sexual assault, defamation, personal injury and breach of contract.

They eventually agreed for the show to be aired and accepted compensation of £125,000 each rather than endure a lengthy legal fight.

Tom said: "We felt we were fighting for every reality show victim who has been humiliated in the past. We were reality show martyrs overnight. No one had ever sued before."

He is now auditioning for acting courses in London and has already performed in Mile High, Murphy's Law, Dream Team and a new Vinnie Jones film called Action Hero.

Toby Green, from Shoreham, and Scott Gibson, from Peacehaven, also appeared in the show and have remained firm friends with Tom.

Toby, 24, said: "I don't regret going on the show. At the end of it, I had a good time even though we were emotionally affected by it. We thought it would be a reality TV show about trying to impress a model.

"We thought the humiliating bit was being bad at chatting her up but it was something else. It was a TV show and so you should expect anything."

Toby was the only contestant to suspect Miriam was a man.

Web site Gay.Com said the show had been criticised by transsexual groups, who feared the depiction of Miriam might turn public opinion against them.