Big Brother's Kitten bites back

She burst into the house like a roaring lion, snarling abuse at the cameras - the worst kind of advert for all the causes she claims to represent.

So when I met her, I expected a good mauling. Instead I found a pussycat.

Kitten has been labelled everything from a gobby lesbian to a loony to a liar.

But yesterday at least, the girl booted off the show for wreaking havoc in the house was nowhere to be seen.

She was polite on the phone as we arranged our rendezvous. When we went into the caf, she offered to buy the drinks. When she spoke she was reticent, almost nervous.

She used words viewers would never have expected - "upset", "scared" and "insecure". And most surprising of all, she spoke of the tears she has cried.

After she was dumped from the house at the weekend, she was appalled to see the grotesque figure that emerged of her in the outside world.

In what might be the understatement of the year she said: "I didn't come across very well."

She added: "The programmes were edited to make me look like an idiot and really stupid and aggressive.

"It's very upsetting and makes you feel a bit scared and vulnerable."

As she sipped her orange juice, she explained she was worried for her personal safety after returning to Brighton.

Word has reached her that she is banned from several bars.

She is nervous about the reception she will get, particularly among the gay community. Some people have called her "a stain on gay consciousness".

She said: "I wasn't a brilliant representation of a lesbian. But at least I tried. I hope people can forgive me for that. I've learnt that you can only ever represent yourself."

Kitten lasted only seven days in the Big Brother House before she was sent packing without a public vote. The producers, fearing she would incite a mass revolt against house rules, gave her three warnings over incidents including damaging recording equipment, staging a rooftop protest and painting political slogans on mirrors.

She said she was "terrified" when she left, adding: "That was my lowest point. When I saw recordings of the shows and the newspapers I was really upset. I cried about it.

"I have never claimed to be a loveable person or a perfect representation of anything. I'm 24, still young and still learning.

"It's easy to have a hate figure in the media and that is what they have made me."

Kat - Kitten was invented for the show - has been called a rebel without a cause. In fact she has so many causes it's difficult to know where to start.

She is angry about lack of jobs, low wages, poverty, homelessness, capitalism and children being fed propaganda instead of information.

Emblazoned across her T-shirt is a broken Nike logo with the words No Sweat, a reference to foreign sweatshops producing designer goods while paying workers a pittance.

"Shows like Big Brother are into making money and I don't think they want to represent anti-capitalism in a sensible way.

"All the serious discussions I had were edited out."

The 24-year-old, of Grand Parade, Brighton, said she applied for a place in the Big Brother house because she was bored.

"Living in this capitalist society I have often felt quite down and alienated. I thought it would be interesting to see what it would be like on a TV reality show and see how much of me they would edit."

She says she made it quite clear to the producers she was a free spirit and would not take the house rules too seriously.

"The rules were not functional to me. It didn't feel like a big thing to break them. When you are in this weird, trippy, cartoon house and spoken to like a child, you revert back to being a teenager.

"I like to do my own thing. The Big Brother people put me in there knowing I was going to break the rules. I was quite clear I didn't take them seriously."

The photographs of her sticking two fingers up as she entered the house were her demonstrating her rage at the tabloid Press.

"I'm not happy with the way they represent asylum-seekers and gay people and women."

However, after her eviction, it didn't stop her selling her story to the News of the World for £15,000.

"I admit I absolutely sold out. But they were already writing about me and I wanted to give my side of the story."

I ask her about posing in a figure-hugging PVC catsuit, high-heels and a whip but she doesn't want to talk about that part of the deal.

She is now back in Brighton and nervously testing the water. Before entering the house she had worked as a youth worker and with the homeless at the St Patrick's Night Shelter in Hove.

She says: "I'm not likely to get a job as a youth worker now but I'd like to go back to St Pat's if they would have me.

"Whatever I've done on the TV, when I'm at work I behave in a professional manner."

Her dream job would be organising events and campaigns and improving the lot of young people, an area she feels she could tap into.

"It's interesting how many young people get into TV reality shows and vote - loads more than would vote in a general election.

"A lot of young people are alienated from what is going on politically.

"Maybe I can encourage the ones that are into TV reality shows that there other important and productive things they could be involved in."

She doesn't regret going on the show but with hindsight would do things differently.

Her biggest regret is revealing she had worked as a prostitute, which came as a surprise to her parents.

"I do and I don't regret it.

I think it's an issue that needs to be dealt with but I have upset my family, who are trying to maintain a good reputation.

"But I'm also really angry with them because it is my choice what I tell people or I don't."

Just when I thought she was ready to roll over and have her tummy tickled, I heard that after our interview she got into court and could not resist giving the magistrates an earful about Tony Blair.

That's the trouble with kittens.

They look cute but they still have sharp claws.

Kitten will be at Carphone Warehouse in Western Road, Brighton, tomorrow from noon to 2pm.