Brian McFadden shoots from the hip… again

Australia’s Got Talent host Brian McFadden is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons, with the revelation that a spat with a contestant on the show turned particularly ugly.

McFadden is said to have whispered to an aspiring comedian, Anne Ferguson-Howe to “f*** off back to England.”

The Herald Sun reports that the exchange was edited from Tuesday’s episode in which Ferguson-Howe appeared.

During Ferguson-Howe’s comedy routine she was heckled by the audience, while judge Kyle Sandilands also made a joke about her appearance.

“Kyle said something personal and I thought ‘no, this isn’t appropriate’,” British-born Ms Ferguson-Howe said.

Referring to Sandilands 2009 radio controversy, she said, “That’s when I said, ‘It’s easy for you to sit there and have a cheap laugh – when was the last time you had a chat about rape?”

After that “everyone went mental”.

“Brian said ‘get off, get off’ in a really nasty tone. I then said to Brian ‘listen pal, if you’re going to dish it out, you’ve got to learn to take it back’. Brian pulled his mike off, climbed on stage and very cleverly, without anyone hearing, said ‘why don’t you just f*** off back to England’.

Ferguson-Howe said she made up with Sandilands after the taping but McFadden remained unapologetic.

A Seven spokesperson admitted to the ugly exchange saying, “All contestants who take part in the AGT auditions know what to expect.

“Usually everyone joins in the spirit of the day and has a lot of fun. In this case the exchange was unacceptable and didn’t fit with the vibe of the show, so was deleted.”

McFadden has previously attracted media attention for his abrupt opinions.

Two weeks ago he was in the press after he Twittered about his ex-wife Kerry Katona saying, “A certain pig-faced mole has suggested my own daughter Lilly doesn’t know me and I never talk to my kids.” He deleted them later but not before media had picked up on it.

At last year’s ASTRA Awards he said of his new co-host on Football Superstar, “she’s got a brain,” which many saw as a comment on his previous co-host.

In 2008 he told a New Zealand radio station, “If you are not gay, a man should not be wearing pink. Saying pink is a form of red is the same as saying homosexual is a form of male.”

Source: Herald Sun