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By Richard Shears
Outburst: Brian McFadden on the panel of Australia's Got TalentA British-born comedienne was stunned when Australia's Got Talent judge Brian McFadden told her to 'f*** off back to England'.
Anne Ferguson-Howe, a 50-year-old who now lives Down Under, had hoped to impress the judges, who included pregnant Dannii Minogue, with her comedy routine.
However, she failed to raise much of a laugh and the audition in Brisbane descended into a bitter row with two members of the panel.
Channel 7 deleted the scenes from the final cut but not before the family show's reputation had been dragged through the mud.
Mrs Ferguson-Howe, a mother of two, claimed the row ignited when the third judge, Kyle Sandilands, made a comment about her weight.
She retaliated with a reference to the Australian Big Brother host's radio show, which prompted McFadden to jump in, saying 'Get off, get off'.
Mrs Ferguson-Howe told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: '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?" '
Offended: Comedienne Anne Ferguson-Howe was stunned after the auditionOutburst: Brian McFadden on the panel of Australia's Got Talent
Mrs Ferguson-Howe, a mother of two, claimed the row ignited when the third judge, Kyle Sandilands, made a comment about her weight.
She retaliated with a reference to the Australian Big Brother host's radio show, which prompted McFadden to jump in, saying 'Get off, get off'.
Mrs Ferguson-Howe told the Sydney Daily Telegraph: '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?" '
Panel: The 50-year-old's jokes were judged by McFadden, Dannii Minogue and Kyle SandilandsCalling the episode 'horrific', Mrs Ferguson-Howe said that if she had been an overweight 20-year-old girl with low self-esteem, 'I think I would have gone home and shot myself'.
Interviewed later on current affairs programme Today Tonight, McFadden said: 'The problem I had with her today was, which she doesn't seem to remember, was that we have got kids in our audience and then she started to curse and use bad language.
'I didn't want this woman standing on stage screaming profanities when there are children in the audience.'
He was not going to apologise for his actions, because he believed he was in the right.
He added: 'As I was walking out, she came over, kept going and that's when I gave my little blast. I've got no problem - I'd say it to her again if she ever did that again in front of an audience full of kids.'
Unimpressed: Brian told the comedienne to 'get off' after she started using bad language
McFadden at the MTV Classic: The Launch event in Melbourne yesterdaySydney's Channel 7 network admitted the exchange had taken place but said they had decided to delete it before the show was screened.
A spokesperson said: 'The exchange was unacceptable and didn't fit with the vibe of the show, so it was deleted.'
Mrs Ferguson-Howe added that if she ever saw McFadden again she would 'whack him' or 'spit on him'
It was a reference to Sandilands' use of a lie detector on a teenage rape victim that sparked off the vicious exchange.
Upset by the negative reaction to her act, Mrs Ferguson-Howe admits to saying to Sandilands: '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 I made that comment to Kyle,' she told the paper, 'everybody went mental'.
This is the latest scandal for McFadden, who has been embroiled in a bitter argument with ex-wife Kerry Katona for the past two weeks.
After calling Katona a 'pig-faced mole' as he hit back against her claims that he was a bad father to their daughters Lilly-Sue and Molly, McFadden accused the former singer of living 'in a fantasy world'.
Dispute: Mrs Ferguson-Howe talks to Sandilands and Minogue after her auditionResponding to Katona's claims that he only calls their two daughters five times a year, McFadden replied: 'Kerry lives in a fantasy world. It’s all absolute nonsense.
'She was making it up as she went along and didn’t care how hurtful she was being.
‘I don’t know why she said I only ring the girls five times a year. It can be difficult because of the time difference - when the girls wake up it’s the middle of the night here, but I ring my girls twice a week.’
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