Jumping to his defence .... Ben Roberts-Smith. Credit:Channel Seven "It was worse than I thought it would be ... it just seemed to come out of nowhere and it was just a smart-arse comment that was totally and utterly unnecessary," he said of remarks made by Stynes. Mr Kierath would not say how much his decision would have cost Channel Ten. Earlier, Mirvac Hotels and Resorts revealed in a post on its Facebook page that it had cancelled all sponsorship due to the "abhorrent comments". "We would like to reiterate our stand on this, and as expressed immediately following the incident, that Mirvac Hotels & Resorts did not endorse nor support the comments ... and as a consequence, confirm that all ties with The Circle have been severed by the cancellation of our sponsorship," the company said.

Apology ... Veteran journalist George Negus spoke to Ben Roberts-Smith after the backlash. Credit:Ten Yoplait has also reportedly withdrawn its advertising within the morning television show. Yoplait has been contacted for comment. It follows news yesterday that Swisse Vitamins, coffee chain Jamaica Blue and Big 4 Holiday Parks had cut their ties with The Circle after Stynes, along with and veteran journalist and guest co-host George Negus, made comments construed by some to be mocking the Victoria Cross recipient. Contrite ... Yumi Stynes issued her second public apology for the day on Channel Ten show The Project. Credit:Ten Stynes has since become the target of an online hate campaign, including physical threats against her and her children, and racial vilification. This website has chosen not to repeat details of the threats.

When asked about online abuse being levelled at Stynes, a Network Ten spokesman said he was aware of the comments, which had been made on Facebook, Twitter and alterations to Stynes's Wikipedia page. We are concerned about the extreme nature of some of those comments and are monitoring them very closely. "We are concerned about the extreme nature of some of those comments and are monitoring them very closely," the spokesman said. "We are removing the most offensive comments from The Circle sites ... "We will keep on monitoring the situation very closely, in terms of the online comments and Yumi's personal situation."

The spokesman would not say whether any of the threats had been referred to police for investigation. Network Ten also posted a Facebook message warning people not to attack other users and said serial offenders would be banned from the page. Stynes admitted she did not know much about Corporal Roberts-Smith, who stormed an enemy machinegun position in Afghanistan in 2010, when she quipped: "He's going to dive down to the bottom of the pool to see if his brain is there." Negus responded: "I'm sure he's a really good guy, nothing about poor old Ben. But that sort of bloke ... and what if they're not up to it in the sack?" Another host questioned whether Negus was suggesting "that he could be a dud root", to laughter from the audience.

The Network Ten spokesman said the company understood and respected the decision by some sponsors to end their involvement with The Circle. "Network Ten has publicly apologised to Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, as have Yumi Stynes and George Negus," the spokesman said. "George and Yumi apologised on-air and also contacted Corporal Roberts-Smith directly. Corporal Roberts-Smith accepted their apologies and said, in a statement, that their comments were not intended to be malicious." In 2010, Channel Ten threatened to ban MasterChef fans from posting comments on its official program website in the wake of a backlash against unpopular contestant Joanne Zalm. The Sydney mother-of-two became the target of an online hate campaign with everything from her cooking skills to her looks and frequent outbursts of on-screen emotion coming in for criticism, with some physical threats made against her.

Associate Professor Scott McQuire, from the University of Melbourne's school of Culture and Communication, said online forums such as Twitter and Facebook encouraged participation in public debate from a broad range of people with differing views. "If you spend a lot of time online you see there is a group of people who will have particular political diatribes, a group of people who will respond in offensive manners and very dismissive manners," Associate Professor McQuire said. "But there are other people who engage in much more thoughtful, compassionate, reasoned debates at times. We don't want to throw that bit out because of the fear that can come around through this kind of amplified extremities. Loading "The way in which these things comes to people's attention is through mainstream media. One of the responsibilities of the media is to think about what parts of the debate we fan."

In 2012, Fairfax publications asserted in a number of articles that Yumi Stynes and George Negus had made derogatory comments regarding the sexual character of Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith and his use of IVF procedures. The discussion occurred on The Circle television chat show. Our interpretation was wrong and we accept that both Negus and Stynes were not referring to Corporal Roberts-Smith personally, but to strongly-built men generally. We apologise for the error.