In 2003, Dicko commented on Paulini's dress on Australian Idol. Then he received a letter.

Content warning: This article mentions disordered eating and may be distressing to some readers.

Ian 'Dicko' Dickson had finished filming the first season of Australian Idol when he received a letter from a father.

That season, the TV presenter had infamously commented on Fijian-Australian singer Paulini Curuenavuli's appearance on the show, after she performed on stage in a fitted gold dress. 

"It’s the real world, you should choose more appropriate clothes or shed some pounds. I’m sorry," he told the 21-year-old in front of the nation. 

Reflecting on the moment on Monday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, the 60-year-old said a father later wrote him to tell him his daughter had been admitted to hospital for anorexia.

"He said, 'This is your fault. She was an Australian Idol fan and when you said that comment to Paulini, she spiralled out of control and she is now in hospital, she might die and if she does, I am going to hold you personally responsible,'" he told radio host Woody Whitelaw. 

"To feel that my comments might have driven a beautiful young girl, the apple of her father's eye, into a hospital ward where she could die, is really hard," he said, as his voice broke. 

Dicko said he later had a "pretty terse conversation" with the father and spoke to a psychologist who told him he had to accept his comments "could have been the trigger". 

"You've got to accept responsibility, you know, and I'm prepared to accept in that long society struggle to get there, I'm one of the villains that brought us here and I can't change that," he said. 

"I'd like to have learned from it [and] I'd like the world to have learned from it. I certainly don't have the slightest inkling of bailing someone up for the way they look these days."

During the conversation, Dicko claimed he doesn't feel like the same person he was in 2003.

"I don't feel like that guy Dicko on television 20 years ago. I am a different person. It's interesting for me to feel how that impacts on the person I am today."

He also added that he didn't want to hurt Paulini. 

"If Paulini, had come to me at the record company and... she'd have walked out in that dress and said, 'This is what I'm wearing to the Arias' I would have advised her against it. I didn't want to hurt her. And I promise you, if she was to walk a red carpet looking like that 20 years ago, there would have been comments made in women's magazines."

Dicko was previously asked about the incident on the show last week.

"There was this girl called Paulini... amazing voice. But she came on towards the end of Australian Idol when it was massive, 2.5 million people per show," he told his fellow camp mates.

"She wore a two-piece dress and it looked, it just didn't look good. It went though my mind. I can actually shut-up because people have started to like me now... I can shut up or I can do what I said I would do. Unfortunately, I said you need to choose more appropriate clothes or shed some pounds."

At the time, Dicko appeared to double down on the comments, explaining that he said "11 very banal words that sent the whole country into a tailspin".

"I'm a straight shooter but these days I've had my arrows confiscated," he added. 

"It's not worth it. You've got find a way to be straight these days."

Read more: 

'I'm a Celeb's Dicko was confronted about his infamous cruel comment on Idol. He still doesn't get it.'

For help and support for eating disorders, contact the Butterfly Foundation’s National Support line and online service on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673).

Feature Image: Channel 10.