Mark Holden has apologised for his bizarre creepy clown behaviour on Dancing with the Stars, which left some viewers suggesting he was drunk.
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The former Australian Idol judge delivered a "disaster on the dancefloor" on Tuesday night, after which he rubbed himself against host Daniel McPherson, snarling "Do ya like balloons Danny? I could get you a balloon Danny".
A laughing Holden told radio station Mix101.1 on Wednesday morning he was "feeling the shame" but assured listeners he wasn't "on the turps".
"That was sober Holden," he said.
The 60-year-old, who now works as a barrister, said the performance was supposed to be a homage to a clown from his childhood but it "went terribly wrong".
"I was entirely in character. It inhabited me and then the clown just erupted and I couldn't control it," he said.
Questions were asked about Holden's sense of humour after his prime-time act, in which he sprayed smoke from the bottom of his clown costume.
Judge Kym Johnson described the act as "really scary" and said it was a "disaster on the dancefloor".
In response, Holden said: "I promised the full Vlad and you didn't get the full Putin and you're just p---ed off at me. I've got to sit you down on my knee young girl and have a bloody good conversation."
Viewers were disturbed by the performance.
The "full Putin" was a reference to his promise to appear bare-chested, he later explained.
"This is, without a doubt, one of the scariest things I've ever seen," Mandy Crane tweeted.
"Can't sleep, Mark Holden will eat me," Channel V commented.
American choreographer Charles "Chucky" Klapow, who appeared as a judge on Australia's Young Talent Time, described Holden's performance as a "train wreck".
But Holden still managed to gain some support.
"I loved the judges battling with Mark Holden hope he makes the finals should be hilarious Vote Holden Vote often," Joe Degabriele tweeted.
Judges awarded Holden and his partner Jessica Prince one point apiece for the act - the lowest score since 2007.
Holden was a pop singer in the 1970s but is better known for his time as a judge on Australian Idol, where his "touchdown" was the highest form of praise and his putdowns included "that didn't shizzle my frizzle".
