American Idol star Clay Aiken is being outed by a former US Army special services agent who claims he had a romantic liaison with the singer. John Paulus, who took a lie detector test to prove he was telling the truth, alleges he spent the night with Clay after the idol runner-up saw John’s ad on a gay website. They met at a hotel after Clay asked John to be his “discreet boyfriend” and the couple had sex. John says, “Clay told me that he just came out of the closet to his mother and a few close friends last year… I hope he comes out of the closet because he’d be a great role model for the gay man.” [31 January 2006]