Fermoy residents clap back after town labelled ‘horrible’ on Graham Norton show

Don’t mess with the Tidy Towns Committee.

Residents of an Irish town labelled a ‘horrible, horrible town’ on the Graham Norton Show have hit back in anger and intend to contact the show to complain.

The comments came during the Big Red Chair segment on the BBC chat show, where random contestants take a seat on the chair while Graham and his guests judge how good their anecdote is.

While on the chair, a Scottish woman named Zoe said she lived in Fermoy, Co. Cork, where she described it as a “horrible, horrible town”.

Norton, a Cork native, responded by saying “It’s got a giant pencil in it,” referencing the signpost for the former Faber-Castell factory, to which his guest replied: “It’s got a bridge if people want to jump off it.”

Fermoy locals hit back at comments on Graham Norton show

Fermoy locals were understandably upset by the comments made on an extremely popular international chat show, with some taking steps to hit back.

“We are horrified at the way our town was described,” Fine Gael councillor and local Tidy Towns committee chairman Noel McCarthy told the Irish Examiner. “To think our town would be portrayed like that by someone who was living here is terrible.”

Describing the town as a “fantastic town and a great community”, Mr McCarthy said the committee would be writing to the show to complain about the comments.

He added he had received calls from a lot of people in the area who were very upset about the comments, with one woman contacting him in tears.

The comments were also brought up on The Opinion Line on Cork’s 96fm, with a local texting in to the show saying that he knew the woman.

“I know that girl,” the resident said. “She worked in Coolmore Stud. I’m very annoyed at those comments. She lived her for thirty years, it mustn’t have been that bad. Very bad form from her.”

Our solution? Get Zoe back on the Big Red Chair next week, get some Fermoy residents on the couch and give them control of the lever. Everybody wins.