‘Lost for words’: The Project hosts divided over thong bikini debate

The Project panel was divided over calls for a thong bikini ban with one host saying they were “lost for words”.

The question of whether thong bikinis should be banned has sparked furious debate across Australia after one man called for them to be axed.

Ian Grace pleaded for Tom Tate, the Mayor of the Gold Coast, to prohibit the skimpy swimwear in a letter published by the Gold Coast Bulletin on Saturday.

His argument was that the revealing fashion trend makes him feel “uncomfortable” and claims women are “sending the wrong message”.

Mr Grace appeared on The Project on Monday and doubled down on his stance, arguing that if men wore a similar garment they would be accused of “absurd behaviour”.

Ian Grace says thong bikinis make him feel uncomfortable.

He proposed the ban after seeing a woman ‘as close to naked as anyone could be’ walk past him recently. Picture: iStock

It turns out that Mr Grace is not alone in his musings and host Steve Price said he did “tend to agree” with Mr Grace’s view.

“You tend to say in the letter that you feel uncomfortable when you see this. I tend to agree with that,” Price said.

“Particularly when you are getting down to the younger ages. How uncomfortable does it make you feel?”

Mr Grace said when he saw a woman in a thong he said it looked like a nice “view” but then it makes him feel “uncomfortable” if the same young woman is later “serving me a coffee”.

Sarah Harris asked why Mr Grace feel he needed he look.

“You can’t help it when you are walking down the street and you have a couple of young ladies with their bare bums in front of you,” he said.

Sarah Harris said she was “lost for words”.

Steve Price said he did “tend to agree” with Mr Grace’s stance.

“There is a difference between looking and ogling.”

Mr Grace went even further than he did in his letter and went as far to say that he took women who wore revealing clothes in business meetings less seriously than those who covered up.

“I have seen women at fairly high-level networking meetings that were very much exposing their breasts and you think, ‘Well, you’ve kind of lost a bit of business credibility straightaway’ because if you are needing to do that to get attention, I would rather talk to you about what you’ve got to offer in business or whatever it might be that we are there for,” he said.

Harris jumped in and said: “It sounds like you don’t respect women if you can see too much skin in business meetings? Is that what you are saying?”

“It’s tot a case of respect, but sometimes being taking seriously,” he said.

Harris finished the interview with : “Thank you so much for your time, Ian. I’m lost for words.”

Some viewers reacting to the interview supported Mr Grace’s viewpoint.

One said: “Trust me ladies. It’s better to leave a bit of mystery for that special person in your life to discover. If you don’t have a romantic bone in your body, at least get a dinner before you get your gear off.”

Another added: “It’s just indecent!”

But others were quick to dismiss Mr Grace as a “dinosaur”.

“Sounds like you’re the problem dude,” one said.