Tattle: Spotlight takes a toll on Susan Boyle

DURING SATURDAY'S finale of "Britain's Got Talent," the galaxy's favorite singer,

Susan Boyle

, appeared so tense, it was as if rigor had sent in.

It was painful to watch her try to control her nerves.

So it wasn't really surprising yesterday when word came from across the pond that Boyle was being treated for exhaustion at London's Priory Clinic, checking in a day after she finished second to the dance troupe Diversity, the London Sun reported.

"Nobody has had to put up with the kind of attention Susan has had. Nobody could have predicted it," show judge Piers Morgan told a British breakfast show. "It has been crazy, she has gone from anonymity to being the most downloaded woman in history."

(Bet Cindy Margolis never thought she'd lose her title to Susan Boyle.)

But Boyle's YouTube clip ("Wow, women who don't look like Britney can actually sing better than Britney"), which was viewed more than 220 million times, led to a media storm which questioned her looks, her awkwardness and her remark that she had never been kissed.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond was scathing about the pressure, saying there were "elements of a press who like nothing better than to build people up and then drag them down."

By Friday, the pressure Boyled over as Susan reportedly went into seclusion after exploding at a pack of tabloid journalists.

TV company TalkbackThames yesterday said Boyle was "exhausted and emotionally drained" and was taking a few days off.

The Priory, one of a chain of mental-health clinics, is known for treating celebs such as Kate Moss and druggie/rocker Pete Doherty.

* In other Susan Boyle news, Piers

Morgan told "Inside Edition" that he had received a call from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who "was very concerned about Susan. He heard what happened and wanted to make sure she was OK," Morgan said.

We're sure President Obama is equally worried about Adam Lambert.

* Speaking of the way the media

builds up and tears down, Tattle came across this Internet headline yesterday on an Australian news site's "Most Popular" Links: "Swayze 'says goodbye as cancer spreads.' "

Uh oh, we thought.

The story talked about how the "Dirty Dancing" star had gathered together his friends and loved ones upon learning that his pancreatic cancer had spread to his liver.

In it, the National Enquirer was reporting Swayze had prepared himself for death.

One problem: Although it was still popular yesterday, the story was written Nov. 28, 2008, meaning Swayze has entered his eighth month of preparations.

Tattle's Tuesday giveaway

Here's a treat for fans of Italian food.

One of Philadelphia's longtime favorite restaurants, Panorama (Front and Market streets), is unveiling new dishes this summer and a few lucky Tattle readers are going to get to try them.

Two winners will each receive a free dinner for two and one free flight of wine per person chosen from Panorama's huge selection. (A flight is five tasting-size glasses which arrive in a rack designed by owner Luca Sena.)

To have a chance to win, send an e-mail to tattlecontest@philly news.com by Thursday at noon with your name, address, phone number AND the words Aragosta Napoletana, the name for the delicious poached lobster over broccoli rabe with sweet pea and truffled mascarpone. Other new dishes include a pan-seared softshell crab with saffron sorbetto and a homemade cannoli shell filled with chocolate and ricotta mousses, topped with pistachios. It's ridiculously good. But you are free to order whatever you'd like.

Only one entry per e-mail address. The two winners will be picked at random. Good luck.

Tattbits

* Chicago

and Earth, Wind & Fire have toured together for years but billboard.

com reports the two groups may pair up for an album.

Chicago's Robert Lamm says that a Chicago/EWF album "would sound big. It obviously has to genetically reflect where the two bands are coming from sonically and writing-wise, but I'm hoping that something new could emerge; something modern, something contemporary that the sum of the two bands is greater than, so that's my fantasy of what it could be."

Two groups with a combined 70 years of experience team up to make "something modern"?

That's a fantasy.

* Geena Davis ("A League of Their

Own") told graduates at Maine's Bates College that it's critical for young people to see more women in movies and TV.

"Society can only benefit if women are at the table," she said.

The founder of the aptly named Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media told the graduates Sunday that studies show kids are seeing "a very unbalanced world," with three male characters for every one female.

Sounds like "The Bachelorette."

* The pitch: "Baby Mama" meets psycho drama.

The Hollywood Reporter says Halle Berry is in talks to star in "The Surrogate," to be directed by out-there visual stylist Paul Verhoeven ("Total Recall," "Basic Instinct," "Black Book").

Based on the 2004 book by Kathryn Mackel, the story centers on a couple who learn that the surrogate they hired to carry their baby is insane.

Alas, Halle wants to play the wife and not the surrogate.

* There was a Paris Hilton sighting

yesterday on "The View."

But just as Paris was about to dish on the MTV Movie Awards, ABC cut away - President Obama wanted to gab about General Motors.

What's more important, ABC? Paris discussing MTV or Obama discussing the failure of what once was the world's largest company and America's largest employer?

Has everyone lost his sense of priorities? *

Ellen Gray and Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Send e-mail to gensleh@phillynews.com