Youv'e got to hand it to the producers of ABC's Celebrity Wife Swap for its latest programing coup. On an upcoming episode of the reality TV show, disheveled actor Gary Busey will trade partners with pastor Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who was removed in disgrace after confessing to drug use and a relationship with a male prostitute, reports ColoradoSprings.com. The premise has Busey and Haggard swapping partners and the men drawing up new rules for their new spouses. As the New York Daily News notes, Busey isn't married but he has a child with his girlfriend Steffanie Sampson who will be participating in the show. This should make for some pretty insane television. But not that insane, as the report notes.

On the surface, it might seem like an unlikely pairing, but there are several surprising parallels between Busey and Haggard. Busey is a born-again Christian and active minister with Promise Keepers, and Haggard has returned to the ministry as pastor of St. James, a new nondenominational Christian church in Colorado Springs.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at jhudson at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
John Hudson