Emilie speaks out over how she solved her problem with Maria

Now she has spoken for the first time of her traumatic experience with the show - and why she left despite being shortlisted for the winning role.

The singer, who is now appearing in the comic opera Albert Herring at RSAMD, has told of how she felt misrepresented as a "snob" by the BBC because she left after realising she did not want to appear in musicals.

Ms Alford says she was asked to sing despite having a damaged throat, and in particular was left distressed after a letter, allegedly written by her to the BBC explaining her reasons for leaving, was read on air by the host of the show, Graham Norton.

The classically-trained artist, who wishes to be a professional opera singer after college, said quotes were taken from a filmed interview she made before leaving the show, and were taken out of context when, in arch fashion, Norton read the "letter" on air.

"I was very disappointed. I was interviewed and it was all very chummy, but they made me out to be snobby when in fact I had said the whole experience had been brilliant, but that I made it clear I was out of my depth but trying very hard," she told The Herald.

"They made me look like a snob when in fact it was the opposite. It was a hard decision to make and they made it hard for me, I had to put my foot down."

She added: "I left after I realised how much I loved it here in Scotland and how gutted I would be to leave, and vocally I just didn't know if I could physically work on six shows a week.

"I never wrote the letter. People thought I had, but it is just not the kind of thing I would have done.

"The quotes were all out of context - it's just not the kind of thing you expect the BBC to do.

"I haven't taken it up with them, what good would that do? It's the BBC and I am a lone student with no money."

The idea of composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? set out to find someone to play the role, made famous by Julie Andrews, of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

In the final edition of the show, after more than two million votes were cast, Connie Fisher was declared the winner.

The BBC has now launched a follow-up show, Any Dream Will Do, in which a new male star will be sought to take the lead role in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Ms Alford was a student at the RSAMD when the BBC began auditions for the show last year. After succeeding at an open audition in Edinburgh, she was invited to further auditions in London where she was chosen for the "Maria School", and eventually found herself in the final ten.

However, despite being chosen, she decided a career in musicals was not for her, and Siobhan Dillon took her place, a singer who eventually got to the final.

Ms Alford was also alarmed that she felt pressured to sing while having a bad throat. "It was like asking an athlete to play with an injury, it had just gone from overuse: I had a busted voice and they made me sing again," she said.

The director of Albert Herring, Martin Constantine, said: "Without doubt she would have been a better Maria than Connie Fisher.

"Emilie is everything you look for in a cast member: kind, hard-working, selfless, talented and as far removed from a diva as possible."

A spokeswoman for the BBC said that what Graham Norton read out was not a "letter" but a "message" from Emilie, and that Norton is known for his "irreverent" style and nothing malicious was intended.

"The producers asked Emilie to attend the first show but she could not because she was attending an opera school," she said.

"The message read by Graham was taken from the transcript of an interview with Emilie and everything in it was what she had said. His tone is witty and irreverent but there was nothing malicious intended at all."

Albert Herring is being performed at the RSAMD on May 5, 8 and 10.