In the resurfaced segment, Ellen DeGeneres shamed an audience member for stealing free merchandise during a taping in Los Angeles. Photo / Getty Images
Australian football WAG Rebecca Judd has slammed Ellen DeGeneres over an 'awful' segment that aired on her eponymous talk show in 2017.
In the resurfaced segment, DeGeneres shamed an audience member for stealing free merchandise during a taping in Los Angeles.
The talk show host had her team set up a table of free merchandise in the backstage area with a sign that clearly told fans to help themselves- but only to one item.
While most people respected the rule, two women grabbed more gadgets than they should have. What they didn't know was that a hidden camera was recording their every move.
'That is such an awful set-up,' Judd complained to her co-host Monty Dimond on their radio show.
'They even set up the cameras to film people knowing that someone was going to take more than one... and then to do that to them,' she added.
'That would have been the worst day of her life.'
Ellen later confronted one of the women, who identified herself as Suzie, on air.
"I just wanted to see how honest my audience was," the host said, explaining the hidden camera situation.
She began by commending a woman who wanted both an Ellen T-shirt and a hat but, in order to obey the rules, only grabbed the T-shirt and decided she would buy the hat with her own money.
As a reward for her honesty, Ellen ended up giving her the hat during the taping. "That's for you, for being honest," she told the fan. "You don't have to buy it now."
Ellen congratulated her once again, then told the audience: "Any of you could have taken more than one thing, and you didn't. Except for these ladies right here."
Hidden camera footage played, revealing how Suzie grabbed three items from the table, including a T-shirt and a mug.
The woman with her, meanwhile, took a T-shirt, a pencil and a shot glass. "No one will see it," one of the two women said as they stepped away with the merch.
Suzie later returned to the table to trade her mug for an Ellen hat.
She smiled, apparently embarrassed, as the backstage footage played in front of the entire audience.
Suzie tried to tell the host that her sister couldn't come, so she took an extra item for her as a souvenir.
But Ellen had none of it. "Yeah, a lot of people's sisters couldn't come," she said.
The host then lectured Suzie and made her sit in the 'Ellen jail'-a high stool set up in front of the entire audience.
"Let that be a lesson to you," Ellen said. "You think nobody's watching you and you just need to be a good person, just because you want to be a good person."
Dobbyn feels his musicality has been affected, but remains in good spirits.