The competition in Toronto's mayoral race may be getting a little more, err.. competitive. Adult film actress Nikki Benz has declared her political ambitions on Twitter. The Toronto-born entertainer tells TMZ that she's on the verge of filing the paperwork needed to confirm her candidacy. UPDATE: Benz tried to register at Toronto city hall but was unsuccessful because of paperwork issues.

It's almost as if the election, which takes place on October 27, 2014, needed to get more interesting. Benz would join the fray on the heels of Rob Ford's hasty hiatus. The embattled mayor, who is also, somehow, in the running, took a private plane to Chicago following the release of yet more potentially damaging images and audio taken at what seems like a never-ending supply of unguarded moments.

Meanwhile, another prominent contender, Olivia Chow, faces some scrutiny over a downright loopy endorsement from Khosrow Vaziri, better known as The Iron Sheik. The Sheik visited Toronto, where he mugged it up with Chow at a local sandwich shop -- prompting a hail of criticism. As the National Post's Matt Gurney noted, there was a certain awkardness about a "progressive darling" like Chow linking arms with the Sheik whose homophobic, racist and sexist tweets suggest either insanity or "one gigantic, vulgar bit of performance art taken to the extreme."