A high street fundraiser was disowned by her charity today after branding the townsfolk who supported her as the ”great unwashed”.
Red-faced Muriel Bauduin, 37, collected £400 in loose change from the generous people of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in a single day.
But after arriving home she logged onto Facebook and wrote a blistering critique of the seaside resort, describing it as a ”blot on the landscape”.
She described the locals as overweight, tattooed, chain smoking, benefit claimants who ”didn’t realise how much of their precious handouts they were giving away”.
Her online rant said: ”I think I’m scarred for life after that experience – NEVER again!
”Well not unless I put on about 20 stone, get loads of tattoos, dye my hair red, take up smoking and wear the skimpiest clothes with my arse hanging out.
”Saying that – we still managed to get £400 out of the great unwashed, so maybe we shouldn’t be quite so mean!
”They obviously didn’t realise how much of their precious handouts they were giving away! Think how many packs of fags they could have bought for that!
”The whole place needs to be picked up and put further north – it would fit in better, and stop being a blot on the south western landscape.”
The South African, who lives near Bridgwater, Somerset, visited Weston with her collecting tin on April 2 to collect money for Help for Heroes.
But she was forced into an embarrassing public apology yesterday after the charity distanced itself from her and insisted she was not an official representative.
Ms Bauduin said her comments were made privately on Facebook but had been leaked,
She said: ”We collected some £400 from generous members of the public, whom we thanked at the time and to whom we continue to be thankful.
”That evening, I exchanged some comments with some friends on Facebook, naively assuming that our comments were private.
”I have of course now removed the comments and can only regret any offence caused. I can only apologise that my silly comments were seen outside my circle of friends and may have caused upset to anyone.
”I hope those who were offended can accept my apology with my heartfelt regret at the comments I made.
”I just hope my mistake does not in any way detract from the wonderful work of the charity.”
Help for Heroes said Mrs Bauduin holds no formal position with the organisation.
A spokesman said: ”Help for Heroes does not in any way condone the actions of this fund-raiser and we were upset to hear of the distress that it caused the people of Weston, who we know support the charity hugely.
”We would like to make clear that Ms Bauduin is not an official representative of the charity and was collecting on her own initiative.”