{babes} Sarah Palin gets down and dirty in new TV show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Forget the "Real Housewives" and trying to keep up with the Kardashians.

"Sarah Palin's Alaska", which makes its TV debut on Sunday, couldn't be further from the pampered pooches and designer divas seen in much of the popular reality TV fare about the lives of American women.

The eight-part show on cable channel TLC portrays the Tea Party favorite, and arguably America's most polarizing public figure, as a family-loving, outdoors woman who is as happy gutting salmon in the mud as addressing political rallies.

Advance clips show Palin hiking with various family members in the glaciers of her Alaska home state, kayaking along its rivers, teaching her five children how to handle wild bears, and gathering in prayer for a homespun 16th birthday party for daughter Willow.

"I'd rather she be out here doing this than with her iPhone, texting her buddies, and thinking she needs to be all dolled up and going out partying," Palin, a former beauty queen in her Wasilla hometown, says of Willow.

On Friday, TLC announced that Christian rock band Third Day will provide the theme music for the series with their song "Follow Me There".

The Grammy-award winning group from Georgia said in a statement it was honored to have its song chosen as the theme song for "Sarah Palin's Alaska."

The TV series is the latest media venture from the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential hopeful who is widely seen as a prospective 2012 presidential candidate.

Palin, 46, has a second book, "America By Heart", coming out soon, following her 2009 best-seller "Going Rogue." Her eldest daughter Bristol, 20, a single mom, is currently a contestant on TV show "Dancing with the Stars".

The mother of five told People magazine in an interview this week that the show was an opportunity to showcase Alaska and its hard-working people, adding that she hoped it would "correct some untruths out there".

She also shrugged off recent comments by Republican political strategist Karl Rove who said that making a reality TV show diminished her credentials as a serious contender for high political office.

"I'd like Karl Rove to come up to Alaska and see me being in a man's world," Palin told People magazine.

On Sunday, Rove and the rest of America will get its chance. "Sarah Palin's Alaska" makes its debut November 14 on TLC.