Sacha Baron Cohen has ditched his hapless alter-ego BORAT following the phenomenal success of movie BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN.

The British comedian scored an international smash hit with the 2006 film, in which his seedy Kazakhstani journalist made fun of unsuspecting members of the American public.

But Cohen has decided to officially retire Borat - because the character is now so well-known, he'll never fool anybody into believing he's a real person again.

Cohen says, "When I was being Ali G and Borat, I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day, and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing. It is like saying goodbye to a loved one.

"It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I 'get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really."