She is an unlikely figurehead for the political protests that have rocked Russia over the last few months. Ksenia Sobchak, 30, is a family friend of Vladimir Putin and the host of a reality TV program known for its scandalous scenes. But it is her new political talkshow that has caused a real stir – and that has just been ordered off Russian television.

Sobchak was once dubbed the Paris Hilton of Russia because of her similarity to the American hotel heiress. She used to be just a rich society girl: thin, blonde, with a sharp tongue and a reputation for being spoilt.

She has written books on how to be a success and hosts Dom-2, the longest-running reality show in the world, which has been memorably described as the worst thing to hit Russian culture since the Mongols.

The daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s when Putin was his deputy, she is close to the prime minister – Putin is said to have cried when he attended her father's funeral in 2000 – while her mother is a loyal senator. "[Putin] is not a bad person," she said recently on Russian TV. Nevertheless, on Christmas Eve she walked on stage in front of 100,000 protesters in Moscow and said: "My name is Ksenia Sobchak and I have something to lose, but nevertheless I am here."