CHARLOTTE CHURCH - SCOOCH ATTACK CHURCH "OUTBURST"

Scooch have dismissed chatshow host Charlotte Church's claims that the group stands no chance of winning this year's Eurovision song contest.

Britain's entrants, who were chosen last week by the British public ahead of rivals like Justin Hawkins and Brian Harvey, were slammed as "absolute s**t" by Church yesterday.

The 21-year-old Voice of the Valleys was in full rant mode yesterday as she lambasted Scooch, who have reformed for their Eurovision attempt after a string of hits in the late 90s.

She used her video log to describe how the Flying the Flag number preferred by British voters "made every pore in my body itch with embarrassment" before, less descriptively, adding that "I've never seen s**t like it, because Scooch are really s**t".

Today, however, Scooch have responded by doing a bit of lambasting of their own.

"It is natural that not everybody is going to like our song. For some reason good fun pop music offends some people. But there is a polite way to express your opinion, something that Charlotte wasn't able to do," band member Caroline Barnes said.

Meanwhile David Ducasse described Church's "outburst" as "cheap" and "attention-seeking" while Russ Spencer delivered the following damning verdict: "What a pity that 'the voice of an angel' has acquired the mouth of a sewer".

There's a high chance that this war of words might not yet be completely over.