Despite the rantings of some militant clerics, Beyonce's highly anticipated concert on Egypt's Red Sea coast -- her first in North Africa -- went without a hitch this weekend. The only time she ran into trouble, apparently, was on Sunday during a private tour of the pyramids in Giza.

There, Beyonce faced an equally formidable diva: Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief who's known across the globe from his splashy documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery Channel and the History Channel on the lives of the pharaohs. It's hard to overstate how colorful a character Hawass is; the latest issue of The New Yorker has a profile of Hawass that portrays him as the self-important, wildly unreliable juggernaut behind Egyptomania, even as his contributions to Egyptology are disputed.

This is the man Beyonce reportedly left waiting for two hours, arriving late for a scheduled tour of the pyramids complex at Giza with Hawass as her personal escort (Hawass was also President Obama's escort during his visit to the pyramids this year).

Al Arabiya reported that Hawass gave Beyonce a tongue lashing, quoting him as telling the singer, "You're lucky I was writing an article and it took this long to finish it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have waited for you." And, according to Arabiya, Hawass chided one of Beyonce's aides for stopping a photographer from his Supreme Council of Antiquities from taking pictures.

"I give the orders here, not Beyonce," Hawass was quoted as saying.

That's a lesson some aspiring Egyptologists are learning. A reality show is in the works for the History Channel, featuring Zahi Hawass and young American acolytes "chasing mummies," according to some audition tapes for the potential show. Rumor has it that filming is going on in Egypt now, with scenes such as Hawass interrupting a young fan's speech by ordering the woman to get him some tea.

I don't know who's on the show, but YouTube has the audition tapes of several would-be contestants. They talk about their fascination with Egypt and the thrill of possibly working with Hawass.

Here are three of my favorites: an earnest Howard University student who is fluent in heiroglyphics, a British guy who works as a "costumed interpreter" at a history theme park, and this effusive actress who intones ancient chants while praying to Isis.

Photo credit: Photo of Beyonce and Zahi Hawass in Egypt is from Reuters.