The last New Zealand "human shield" to leave Iraq in 2003, Gordon Sloan, has died in mysterious circumstances at a Beijing hospital after collapsing.
Mr Sloan, 34, a New Zealand-born architect, died at 1pm Australian time (3pm NZT) on Wednesday, according to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.
He was admitted to hospital on September 1 and was in a coma before he died.
Mr Sloan caught public attention when he starred as "Donkey Boy" in the first Big Brother house for the Australian Channel Ten show in 2001.
In that show Mr Sloan was famous for his crazy haircuts, orange rubber pants and extreme views. Shortly after leaving the house he dated Rogue Traders singer and Neighbours' star Natalie Basingthwaite and then quit his job to go to Iraq as a human shield.
The fitness fanatic believed passionately the invasion of Iraq was wrong but quickly became disillusioned by his treatment by Saddam's regime saying he was just happy not to "get shot in the head in the desert" in the end.
Australia's Channel 9 reported that drugs were suspected in the death and that Sloan might have taken an overdose or been deliberately drugged by another person.
Mr Sloan's parents and brother and sister - who had travelled to Beijing from New Zealand - declined to comment on his death, The Age newspaper reported.
A service is being held in Randwick at Sydney next week when his body returns from China, according to Donna Mulhearn, a friend.
Ms Mulhearn worked with Mr Sloan as a human shield in Baghdad for several months in 2003 and the pair set up a shelter for homeless children in the Iraq capital.
"I was absolutely shocked to hear about his death," Ms Mulhearn said. "I thought he was invincible.
"He was a hero. He was dedicated to 20 Iraqi street kids and risked his life to document and film life in Baghdad. His detractors, because of Big Brother, just didn't know him," she said.
Another contestant in the 2001 Big Brother house, Peter Timms, said he last saw Mr Sloan at a bar in Sydney three months ago and said "he was as loud and obnoxious as he always was".
"Which was one good thing about Gordon - you always knew where you stood with him."
"He stood up for what he believed in".
- NZPA
