Jade Ewen, the 21-year-old beauty – who replaced Keisha in pop trio Sugababes in September – has spoken out about her fears of having a nasty confrontation with the ejected singer.

She said: "I haven't met her yet. I'm quite scared. I'm sure she wouldn't do anything to me…"

Keisha had been the last remaining original member of the group before she was ousted from the band in September after months of bitter feuding with bandmates Amelle Berrabah and Heidi Range.

Despite never meeting Keisha, Jade admits replacing her in the successful girl band has been distressing.

She explained: "One of the things I struggled with was being accused of being her friend beforehand and stabbing her in the back – but I've never met her in my life!

"Weirdly, she sent me a friend request on social networking website Facebook a couple of weeks before this all happened. I was like, 'Why would Keisha from the Sugababes add me?' I sent her a message to say hi and I never got anything back. Maybe it was a sign!"

Jade – who previously represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest – also revealed she came close to missing out on her place in the group when her fellow singers almost had a last-minute change of heart.

She explained to Britain's Evening Standard newspaper: "I can remember getting ready to get on the plane and the girls changed their mind and said they were going to do whatever it took to make it work with Keisha. I was really upset but I kept my suitcase with me just in case they changed their minds!" (c) BANG