I can be a big star!

This time last week, it was not the economy, Tory leadership and ongoing Iraq crisis that was at the forefront of the minds of several MPs. Instead, the television show Pop Idol had given them cause for concern.

While Simon Cowell's putdowns have become as intrinsic to the show as the hundreds of starry-eyed hopefuls (there is even a new Pop Idol PlayStation game based on his comments), some people have been taking them to heart - and not those on the receiving end. Ten MPs signed a Commons Early Day Motion saying that it was "irresponsible" to judge contestants on their looks rather than talent.

"What message are we sending out to youngsters who do not fit these preconceived ideas of people that you have to be slim and attractive?" asked one. They were referring to the comments made to Kim Gee, 23, and her fellow finalist, 23-year-old Michelle McManus, both 16st and a size 20.

"I'm sure their hearts were in the right place but I think there are more important things to be considering in Parliament than Pop Idol," says Kim, laughing. "The judges weren't as mean to me as I was expecting. I do have mirrors in my house, I do know what I look like. They were just being honest."

Kim has shown that, on a good day, she can out-sing anybody, but she doesn't so much break the pop star mould as shatter it completely. As the competition progressed, was she advised to lose weight? "No, never," she insists. "I think the show's stylist enjoyed having to think about what to put me and Michelle in."

Did she feel disappointed when Michelle went on a diet? "No, because that's what she wanted to do. I'm happy the way I am but if I want to lose weight, I will; I won't do it because someone tells me to." She says she didn't set out to champion larger girls. "But if it means that I have inspired young girls to have confidence in themselves and their looks, that's great. I know how much pressure there is to be skinny and gorgeous but I want to show that it just doesn't matter."

In an industry where talent comes second to appearance, it can only be a good thing that preconceptions of beauty are being challenged, but isn't it just as bad advocating being overweight as it is being skinny? "I'm healthy," she insists. "I have to be - I've got three small children to run after."

If Kim Gee's mother hadn't secretly sent off the Pop Idol application form, Kim would still be singing in pubs and clubs and looking after her children. Now, after being voted off the show after reaching the final eight, she's currently one of the most recognisable faces in the country. "It didn't even occur to me to apply," she says. "I'd have thought I wouldn't get anywhere and would have made myself a laughing stock."

Her husband of four years, Mark, accompanied her to the first audition in June. "He said he'd overheard some girls making snide comments about my size and all I could see were attractive, skinny girls wearing skimpy clothes. Lots of people were looking at me and I kept thinking to myself, 'What am I doing here?'"Ironically, it was her size, in a room of Identikit Britney-wannabes, that made Kim stand out, but it was an issue from then on. Simon Cowell described her as "a big girl", and another of the judges, Pete Waterman, later told a newspaper "I don't think she looks like a Pop Idol." But she made it through on the strength of her voice. "At the second round I was so amazed to be there that I wasn't nervous at all. I was convinced I wouldn't get any further so I was determined to enjoy it."

She is not, contrary to reports, the new face and body of Evans, the plus-size chain. Instead, she brazenly rang them up and asked if they could lend her some clothes. "Before I came down to London, I hated shopping but here there's a lot more choice for girls my size." Today she is dressed head to toe in Evans - a black coat, black sweater, dark jeans and highheeled boots - and she looks fantastic, confident and happy.