from www.dailymail.co.uk – The topless fire-eater who impressed the two male judges last night on Britain’s Got Talent has appeared in pornographic films.
Exotic dancer Tia Brodie advanced to the next round of the ITV talent show after singing the Kasabian song Fire while running a burning torch over her skin, wearing only high heels, knickers and two patches over her breasts.
The show’s creator Simon Cowell said he ‘loved it’, while fellow judge Piers Morgan said he would like to ‘see more’ of her act.
Only the third member of the panel, Amanda Holden, was critical, dismissing the performance as a ‘brilliant new way of hair removal on the legs’.
Ms Brodie, 33, who has worked in the sex industry for nine years, said she was not ashamed of her past.
But media campaigners last night criticised ITV, saying the sexualised performance was inappropriate for Saturday night family entertainment.
Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch UK, said: ‘This show is watched by thousands of children. ITV push the boundaries and push them again. It’s an erosion of standards that we have to resist.’
Ms Brodie claimed she had not intended to go topless for the audition. ‘I had brought along a liquid to spray on clothing so it becomes fireproof but it didn’t work so I couldn’t wear the top I wanted to wear.
‘For health and safety reasons I had to do it without the top otherwise I would have set myself on fire.’ Ms Brodie left school with eight GCSEs and two A-levels. She worked at a magistrates court in Kent and became a legal secretary before giving up her career in 2001 to be a pole dancer and stripper.
She then became a porn model, setting up her own agency in 2002, and she has worked for adult TV channels. She has also been a clerk at polling stations during local elections, but is not working at next month’s General Election.
Ms Brodie said: ‘I stopped all my work in the porn industry in 2008. I started a relationship and thought that if the boot was on the other foot I wouldn’t want him going with anybody else.
‘I’d like people to look at my act as it is now, not what I’ve done in the past. Simon was very, very sweet. Piers had a poker face so I just didn’t know what he was thinking.’
Asked what she thought the Queen would make of her if she wins the contest and appears at the Royal Variety Performance, Ms Brodie said: ‘She’d find it different, unique, entertaining. I reckon she’d like it.’
Christopher Stone Britain’s Got Talent
An ITV spokeswoman said: ‘Britain’s Got Talent aims to reflect the diversity of talent in the UK. It offers equal opportunities to all performers who operate within the law.’