VIEWERS watching Good Morning Britain fumed as host Richard Madeley called an Olympic legend, ‘useless’.
Richard, 65, hosted Monday’s show alongside Ranvir Singh who had stepped in to replace Susanna Reid.
One of the final segments on the show looked into the controversial issue of whether the British public should stop funding the Winter Olympics.
The issue was raised as Team GB has yet to score any medals at this year’s games in Beijing, China.
The GMB hosts were joined by one of the most famous names in British sport, ski jumper Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards and Olympic badminton medallist, Gail Emms.
Gail argued “Is it really worth investing all this money?” into the Winter Games, especially as some of the funding comes from the National Lottery and could be spent on other charities.
But Eddie was adamant that funding should not be cut, even insisting that more money should be spent regardless of the Britain’s medal haul.
“I think we should be spending double the amount on our athletes… [because] sport is entertainment and we shouldn’t lose that,” the icon argued.
His comments came after Ranvir pointed out that in 2014 the Winter Olympics funding was £13.4million and Team GB won five medals.
But when the funding double in 2018 to £28million, the national team still only managed to bring home five.
“We got the same amount, doubling the money didn’t make any difference to our performance,” she started as Eddie added, “it doesn’t matter, we’re out there performing.”
Richard then stepped in with his controversial choice of words for Eddie.
“The one thing that we haven’t addressed is that we love a valiant loser… Eddie you’ve had half a life time or more to reflect on what happened to you at your Winter Olympics,” he started.
“Looking back on it, why do you think your conspicuous lack of success, your near uselessness made you a star?”
But Eddie didn’t shy away from the fact that he was not a successful athlete: “I don’t think it had much to do with the fact I came 58th, there was a lot of other things happening.
“I was Britain’s first ever Olympic ski jumper… I was doing the best with what we had.”
Despite Eddie’s response, viewers watching at home were shocked with Richard’s question.
“Did Richard Madeley really just tell Eddie the Eagle he was useless? When was the last time you took part in the Olympics Richsrd Madeley. Rude,” complained one fan.
Another added: “Richard Madeley is so rude.”
And a third wrote: “Bit harsh saying Eddie’s ‘near useless’ Richard?”
It was in Calgary 34 years ago that Edwards soared like an Eagle when finishing in last place in both the 70m and 80m ski jump events.
Some were disparaging about his feats, saying he did not deserve to be at the Olympics.
But Edwards says his story — which was made into a blockbuster film in 2016 — was about “resilience, tenacity and never giving up”.
He said: “It’s been a long time since I took part. I’m amazed people are still interested in me!”
