THE CURIOUS CASE OF LISA SCOTT-LEE

We've been trying to avert our eyes from the burning wreck of Lisa Scott-Lee for most of the week, but as we get nearer the chart reveal of the week, we feel it's our kind of duty to bring you up to date with what's going on.

In a bid to persuade MTV it would be worth giving her her own "reality" series, Lisa signed a contract stating if he comeback single failed to make the Top Ten, she'd quit music altogether. Which seemed like a breeze - you have to sell about three or four singles to get to number 10, so how hard could it be?

Very, it turns out. The midweeks had her languishing at 26, and it was a languish she spoke fluently. (Old joke property of Danny Baker, of course.) Her people attempted to counter that the midweeks were wrong, and they'd forgotten to count Woolworth's sales - in fact, she was at 14. Probably.

But the air of nervousness in the Scott-Lee camp could be seen; it's like a Sure deodorant commercial down there. In fact, they're trying to deny there was ever a legally binding contract at all:

And even if she doesn't get into the Top 10, Lisa has told Capital FMs Richard Bacon that she probably won't quit music unless she is legally forced to. She said: "There's a lot of confusion. I don't get my chart position till Sunday and I won't make any decisions till then."

He then asked if the MTV deal would force her to give up, and she said: "I can't say what the deal is, but that's not true."

The thing is, if you don't want to paint yourself into this sort of silly corner, don't go on live TV and pretend you're signing a contract to send yourself off to the restart course queue.

Meanwhile, Lisa's sailing close to the wind on the chart rules. In an attempt to shore up her sales, she's offering a prize draw for people who can prove they buy her download more than once. Since last Sunday, the chart company outlawed competitions which were dependent on purchasing downloads; competitions which encourage multiple downloads are surely way out of order.

26 might be the least of her worries - the way she's heading, she could be kicked out the chart entirely.

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