DANCER Lorna Edgar almost became a Blind Date first after refusing to return to Cilla's couch because of the insulting things that had been said about her.

But the 22-year-old from Nelson won the hearts of the nation after television viewers saw her suffer a barrage of insults.

Lorna, 22, had her final ten minutes of fame on "lorra lorra laughs" Cilla Black's Blind Date when she returned to the show for one of the most gripping sofa chats ever seen.

The bubbly manageress at the Harlequin Workshop, in Sandy Lane, Barrowford, listened to the insults dished out by Cockney boy Toby, who claimed to have had more than 150 girlfriends.

The couple had just returned from their date in Borneo after Lorna was picked two weeks earlier by her mystery man., proudly sporting a raunchy blue PVC cat suit which her mum had made for her.

But the blonde bombshell was not put off by his comments and the revelations he had spent the date with a mystery woman and had the audience screaming and clapping when she replied: "You say I'm thick. But the ones who are, are the 150 girls who thought you were something."

In the weeks running up to the show, Lorna admitted she was reduced to tears ten minutes before the programme was due to go on air after she found out the things he had said about her.

She said: "I was gutted. I refused to go on the show at one point. I had tears all down my face and my make-up was everywhere.

"The make-up artists were all round me touching my eyes up to make them right again and then counted the minutes down before it was time to go on."