CONTROVERSIAL X Factor contestant Alan Turner is to stay in the show after begging producers not to dump him.
Tearful Alan, aged 23, claimed he was "confused" when he told millions of viewers he grew up in foster care - and said: "I honestly didn't mean to lie."
The singer, who won through to the next round after impressing Simon Cowell on Saturday night's ITV show, claimed on television he did not know his real parents.
But in fact he lives near his mum Debbie in Barnsley and spoke to dad Alan Snr on the phone only weeks ago.
Alan yesterday said he had merely meant he did not know his parents as well as he would like as he spent part of his childhood with his grandmother.
Alan told producers: "The emotion of the audition got to me. I didn't realise what I was saying would be taken that way. Please give me another chance. I'm not a bad person. I never meant to deceive anyone.
"I was a bit confused. I just want a proper relationship with my parents and didn't explain myself."
The call centre worker was branded a liar by his natural father after he claimed he had been in foster care since he was four.
Alan Snr, who now lives in Co Durham, said: "It is utterly untrue. I am astonished - he absolutely knows who we are and where we are. Over the years I have seen him and spent time with him. We have the photographs to prove it."
He conceded he had not seen his son for five years but insisted they spoke regularly.
It is understood young Alan was brought up by his "grandmother" Irene but she is not a biological relation. She initially fostered his mother Debbie and then, when Alan was four, took over caring for him.
On the show, Alan insisted he did not want the judges to feel sorry for him, before singing a shaky version of Westlife's Us Against the World.
A spokesman for The X Factor said the confusion may have been caused by the way the show was edited.
"As far as we're concerned Alan has not deceived us and this does not affect his place within the show."
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