PICKING UP on something Tattle said last week about reality- TV producers' taking responsibility for messing up lives, Great Britain's culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said his nation's media regulator (Ofcom) should look into the handling of Susan Boyle.

The Hollywood Reporter says Burnham is urging broadcasters to consider their "duty of care" to reality-TV contestants suddenly swallowed up whole by a media feeding frenzy.

Boyle was taken by ambulance to a private clinic over the weekend, after being assessed under Britain's Mental Health Act because of erratic behavior.

Burnham asked whether the network and "Britain's Got Talent" producers had done enough to protect Boyle, who had gotten testy with photogs in the days before the final.

"The contestants' welfare should always come first," Burnham told a meeting of the Broadcasting Press Guild.

Burnham said the 24-hour nature of news coverage means that broadcasters have an obligation to contestants well beyond their time on TV.

"We are living in a world where it is not just about what happens on telly on a Saturday night. There is 360-degree scrutiny, 365 days a year," he said.

"We need to look after people, not just around the camera."

* Speaking of reality TV ruining people's lives, Jon Gosselin ("Jon & Kate Plus Hate") tells People magazine that his eight children have not been hurt by the family's reality-TV series.

Jon says that even in the media glare, the couple's 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets are happy and healthy.

Then again, we all know how hard it is to see clearly when there's glare.

In Touch Weekly, meanwhile, reports that the unhappy couple has been separated for months and acts "together" only when they're in front of the cameras.

"They're married, but it's for the show," said Todd Cruz, a close friend of Jon's brother and a bartender at 3rd & Spruce - a Reading establishment where Jon used to drown his Kate-induced sorrows. "He explained it to us at the bar," Todd told In Touch. "He said he was completely miserable and the marriage was pretty much done."

If you can't trust your bartender not to blab to the media . . .

Tattle docket

Richelle Olson is suing NBC Universal and Sacha Baron Cohen, claiming a bit for his upcoming film, "Bruno," left her disabled.

Richelle claims she was severely injured after a struggle with Cohen during a charity bingo tournament. She claims he also used vulgar language (and we all know how disabling that can be), then struggled with her when she tried to reclaim the microphone.

The lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 in damages.

It says Olson fell after retreating, hitting her head on the concrete floor.

It states she now has to use a wheelchair or cane.