Kitty Brucknell, a contestant on the latest series of The X Factor, voted for herself 126 times after her performance on Saturday's live show (15th October 2011). The singer was reportedly "petrified" she would get the boot during the first elimination and decided to take matters into her own hands, according to the UK's Sun newspaper.
The singer, who performed an energetic rendition of Bjork's 'It's Oh So Quiet', clocked up a bill of at least £50 after hitting the redial button around 100 times. A source said, "Kitty was so convinced that she was going to get the shove on Sunday that she just started dialling her own number.It was a bit daft really - as you need thousands of votes to make a difference. But you can't blame her for trying". Rules concerning whether contestants can vote for themselves are unclear, therefore Kitty took full advantage. The insider added, "She is so desperate to stay in the show and, in fairness to her, the show kind of needs it.She's one of the only interesting acts on there". Kitty admitted she was "stressing" about getting voted off after Saturday's show and pleaded with Twitter followers to vote, saying, "Please please! 09016161612 - need your votes!!! Xxxx"
Brucknell was eventually spared by the British public, with boy band Nu Vibe the first to be eliminated from the show.
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