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AIMS: The cluster of hot stars observed in orbit around the central blackhole of M31 has been interpreted as a 200 Myr starburst. The formation of apopulation of young stars in close proximity to a massive black hole presents adifficult challenge to star formation theory. We point out that in a highstellar density environment, the course of stellar evolution is modified byfrequent collisions and mergers. METHODS: Blue stragglers, which are theresults of mergers in globular clusters, occupy the same position in thecolor-magnitude diagram as the observed hot stars in M31. For confirmation, theintegrated spectrum of P3 is shown to be compatible with the spectral energydistribution of a blue horizontal branch field star. RESULTS: We suggest an oldstellar population of evolved blue horizontal-branch stars and of mergerproducts cannot be ruled out on the basis of the available data. Observationsare suggested that would help distinguish between a ``young'' and ``old''stellar population interpretation of the observations.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&A for publication, in pres

The hot stars in orbit around the M 31 central supermassive black hole: are they young or old?