Who is Paris Hilton?

Today's BBC Olympic quote is a classic illustration of just how disconnected one can get from "popular culture".

BBC Commentator: "This American skater is the Paris Hilton of the skating world."

I have absolutely no idea who Paris Hilton is. I found the picture at left by doing a Google search for images, and then carefully picking my way through about five thousand hits to find one picture that wasn't mostly naked or outright pornographic. I first became aware of the name a year or two ago when I began receiving a lot of spam emails with Paris Hilton in the subject. I innocently assumed they all referred to the Hilton hotel in Paris, of course (Yes, you can point and laugh now). Eventually I came to realize that this was (in theory) a person and not a building, at which point I assumed she must be a porn star with a name like that (If you name your daughter Candy or Ferrari-Lynn, you know she's going to have a brass pole in her future). I still don't know if Miss Paris is an actress, model, or just one of those people who manage to get in the news a lot. It's weird being so detached from reality - Next thing I know, there will be popular bands with names like "Enter the Haggis"......

And this still doesn't explain just what the BBC guy meant by his comment. Does the US skater spend most of his life flashing his midriff for cameras? Inquiring minds want to know.