X Factor hopeful Kitty Brucknell 'was honeytrap'

An X Factor contestant who bemused the judges with her odd behaviour worked as a "honeytrap" girl for a detective agency, it was claimed today.

Kitty Brucknell, 26, was paid to entrap targets into touching or kissing her while working for the agency Executive Honeytraps, it is alleged.

The claims were made by Dalbir Virdee, 37, who alleges his ex-wife Puishpinda Matharu used pictures of him with Kitty in their 2008 divorce.

The IT manager, from Manor Park, east London, says he met her at the Fifth Floor Bar at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge after she approached him on Facebook.

He said: "I had a feeling I was being set up. We had champagne, which she spilled down her front. I realise it was a ploy to get me to rub it off her.

"She said she felt unwell and did this sort of pretend swoon. When I leaned over to help her, she quickly planted a kiss on my mouth. She was very flirtatious and kept trying to get me in positions where I would touch her."

Brucknell has been billed as this year's Katie Waissel for her bizarre performance on X Factor, where she sat on the edge of the stage and blurted out a stream of consciousness. It has emerged she is a successful Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera impersonator who has toured the world with her act.

The show also faced claims that the producers had approached the singer, from Cheltenham, specifically to generate controversy. Her mother Mary said: "She'd never thought about going on the show before."

An X Factor spokesman insisted this was not the case and that she had applied for the series through YouTube. They refused to comment on the honeytrap claims.