Australian Idol feud: Mark Holden slams Dicko again

MARK Holden has once again dissed Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, who he claims was responsible for his sacking from Australian Idol in 2008.

MARK Holden has once again let loose at his former Australian Idol co-judge, Ian “Dicko” Dickson.

The two TV stars had a falling out in 2008 when Holden was sacked from the judging line-up for the reality show’s sixth season, a move he blames on Dicko.

“When I was fired, it was such a shock and I didn’t see it coming,” Holden told WSFM hosts Jonesy and Amanda this morning.

“I was so humiliated, publicly humiliated. It was an enormous kick in the guts. And I realised I’d been outplayed by Dicko. Dicko had completely put me in his pocket and then moved me around like a chess piece. He played me like a violin.”

Mark Holden, Marcia Hines and Ian Dickson were the original judges on Australia Idol in 2003.

Dicko was a judge on Australian Idol for the first two seasons before jumping ship to rival station Channel Seven.

The controversial personality returned to Channel 10 in 2007 for the fifth season of Idol but he was only allowed back with Holden’s blessing, according to Holden.

“David Mott ... who ran Channel 10 at the time, told me that I had the veto over whether Dicko came back or not,” he said on radio this morning.

“I thought we could be Hamish and Andy senior and so I said, ‘Yeah, lets get him back on’.”

Dicko returned to Australian Idol 2007, joining Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden.

The move backfired and when producers wanted to cull a judge for season six in 2008, it was Holden who was given the boot.

Holden also claimed that Dicko cut him out of a radio deal to host the breakfast show on Melbourne’s Vega 91.5 FM in 2008 alongside Dicko and Chrissie Swan.

“We were supposed to do the breakfast show and then one day I walk in and pick up the papers and I realise that it’s Chrissie, Dicko and Dave O’Neill,” Holden said.

“And he [Dicko] was managing me at the time ... and didn’t have the courtesy to say, ‘By the way, we’re not doing it with you’.”

As for Dicko, he rejects the claim that he had a hand in Holden’s sacking from Australian Idol, telling the Herald Sun, “If Mark has painted me as a Machiavellian figure he is giving me a little too much credit”.

Mark Holden is now a barrister and has written about his feud with Dicko in his new book, My Idol Years, which is out now.

Mark Holden with his new book.