The woman at the centre of the sex scandal involving Silvio Berlusconi has claimed the Italian prime minister knew she was an escort when she spent the night with him last November.
In her first live interview on Italian television, Patrizia D'Addario, 42, said: "Certainly he knew that I was an escort."
She added she was not the only escort present at two parties she attended at Berlusconi's Rome residence. "When I arrived it seemed like a harem," she told the current affairs programme Annozero last night.
Berlusconi has denied ever paying for sex and has said he was unaware escorts were brought to his parties by Gianpaolo Tarantini, a Bari businessman being investigated for drug dealing and prostitution. Berlusconi is not under investigation.
D'Addario's visits to Berlusconi's residence were revealed in June. She has been widely interviewed by newspapers but had never appeared live on Italian television.
A spokesman for Berlusconi, Paolo Bonaiuti, said Annozero was relying on "gossip and peeping through a keyhole".
The state network RAI faces sanctions for violating its public service remit after the programme aired clips from a Spanish TV interview with D'Addario last week.
Berlusconi has sued newspapers for libel for coverage of the scandal and was reportedly "indignant" about D'Addario's live interview.
RAI lawyers unsuccessfully pressured the show's host, Michele Santoro, to cancel D'Addario's appearance. "The public does not want censorship," Santoro said.
D'Addario's interview was watched by 7.3 million Italians, a 30% share of viewers.
Political allies of the prime minister have listed other RAI shows they believe are biased against Berlusconi, including the widely respected investigative programme Report. A newspaper owned by Berlusconi's brother has urged Italians not to pay their licence fee.
Italian journalists will lead a nationwide protest tomorrow against perceived curbs on the press by Berlusconi, who owns three private television stations.