Bristol Evening Post reporter Sarah Feeley was the first journalist to be allowed into the Fame Academy to interview Bristol teenager Katie Lewis.

In an exclusive interview, Katie opened her heart about living in a reality TV show, meeting music megastars - and the terrible strain her new life has put on her relationship with her boyfriend.

She spoke candidly about two of the academy men with whom she has been romantically linked, and how she felt about being forced to sing for survival for the fourth week running.

Newspapers and televisions are banned at the academy, so Katie has no idea that she is already a household name. She does not know that tabloid newspapers have printed stories that she has dumped her boyfriend and is secretly in love with her dance teacher Kevin and fellow student David.

Since she moved into the Fame Academy, the Bristol girl has met music legends Shania Twain, Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey, performed in front of millions of TV viewers and had her every move captured on camera.

If she wins the contest, a life of luxury, fame and fortune will be hers.

Sarah said: "I am the first journalist to be invited into the £35m Fame Academy mansion in North London to interview Katie.

"But before the interview I was given strict instructions not to tell her anything that has happened in the outside world, and a Fame Academy official sat in the room ready to pounce if I asked her something I should not.

"Katie bounded in flashing that kilowatt smile, shook me warmly by the hand, settled into a leather chair and spoke breathlessly from the heart about her life in the academy.

"While she has been rubbing shoulders with the stars, her boyfriend Kevin Rawlings has been sitting at home in Kingswood watching her on the TV, bombarded with tabloid rumours that their 18-month relationship is over and her eye is wandering."

TV audiences this week watched an emotional phone call between them in which Kevin repeatedly told her he loved her and begged her to wait for him.

Sarah added: "When I asked about her boyfriend she suddenly lost her fizz, sighed deeply and said: 'I don't think I'm missing him as much as I should. I started feeling a bit like it before I came in. I don't fancy anyone in the academy except Kevin the dance teacher. He's lush.'

"Speaking about her boyfriend back home in Bristol, she said: 'I think if I was really in love with someone then I wouldn't look at anyone else in that way'."

Viewers saw Katie beat the chop for the fourth time on Friday - despite being voted the worst performer on the night by all her tutors.

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