Factor contestant Kitty Brucknell has admitted taking illegal hormones to lose weight.
On Facebook, in June last year, Kitty sang the the praises of diet drug hCG, writing:
“Oh my god. I’ve lost 2 inches from my hips in five days. This diet rules.” She added: “hCG. It’s amazing.”
In October she said: “Want a big bowl of pasta to cheer me up but I can’t…Thinking about how thin I’m going to be.
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“This diet will literally CHANGE YOUR LIFE. All of those who knows me…it freaking works,” she wrote in December, adding: “I have a six-pack…omg didn’t even have this with lipo. hCG Rules.”
It's illegal to sell hCG as a slimming aid, but it can be easily bought on the internet.
The 26-year-old, who impressed judges by singing Lady Gaga's The Edge of Reason, on last week's X Factor, forked out £3000 for liposuction in 2009 in a bid to look like Britney Spears.
But last night, Kitty told the Mirror: "I have a healthy approach to food and diet and I am really happy being a size 10. I have dieted at times in the past but no more than the average person."
A source close to Kitty told the Mirror that she didn't know the drug was illegal and that she only took it for a month.
An X Factor Insider said: “We have a doctor, a psychologist and a psychiatrist who are on call through the live shows and any other support the media team advise.
“Contestants in later stages are assessed by a doctor. If any concerns are raised by the doctor or clinical psychologist, they are referred to a consultant psychiatrist.”