How can we mend his broken heart?

Nelson man Peter Madsen, who performed as Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb on the episode screened on May 7, has contacted the Standard complaining about Mr Lampp's review and demanding the comments be removed from the internet.

In an email to the newspaper on Sunday night, Mr Madsen said he is a professional impersonator and the critique can be viewed by potential clients.

"Your comments are a direct threat and could be permanently damaging to my income . . . and to my company's reputation," he wrote.

Mr Madsen said the Standard should ask internet search engine Google to remove the comments.

"I may have to consult legal advice about this if you don't do so."

When contacted yesterday, Mr Madsen said he went on the show "as a bit of moral support for TVNZ" but admitted the appearance also helped promote his business.

He again asked the Standard to take steps to remove the review from the internet. The Standard declined Mr Madsen's request, telling him Mr Lampp's article was a review of the show and he was entitled to express his opinion.

"You're allowed to have an opinion but why does it have to be on an international website? I'm not happy about it," Mr Madsen said, before hanging up.

A Google search found only one other review of Mr Madsen's Stars in Their Eyes performance yesterday. The NZ Reality TV article said he looked the part of Barry Gibb "but he sounds like he swallowed the air from a helium balloon before he came on . . . People pay him for this nasally interpretation of a Bee Gee?"

Mr Lampp said yesterday he did not know Mr Madsen was a professional performer when he wrote the article "because he didn't sound like one, really".

"I might have been even more scathing if I'd known," he said.

Mr Lampp said Stars in their Eyes should either have a separate category for professional acts or they should be barred from entering.

Standard editor Paul Taggart said Mr Lampp's reviews of Stars in Their Eyes and Dancing with the Stars were hugely popular with readers and will appear in the newspaper again next year.

THE OFFENDING REMARKS

* Barry Gibb (Pete Madsen, 39) from the Bee Gees took the cake last night for unadulterated screeching. Had he been on America's Got Talent, Piers Morgan would've zapped him after the first yelp.

* I mistook Madsen, a beachie who humanely inhabits a caravan down Kaiteriteri Beach way, for a rooster on nitrous oxide.

* Maybe his grundies were too gonad-restrictive, because his Night Fever was excruciating. At any minute I expected his adenoids to fly into the audience.
 - Peter Lampp, Stars in Their Eyes review

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linda   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

I have seen the guy Pete Madsen at several shows and he has been really slick and the performance great, I did see the tv show and was surprised he chose that song as I have seen him perform better. I did note his brother got 2nd in the finals performing as George Michael, these guys are a very talented family and I salute their talent.

Regards

Linda Blake

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