Banished to the back for being too fat? Fan 'told she couldn't sit on front row at American Idol because of her size'

'There were two ladies and one said: "Oh, I don't want shorts in front," about my friend,' Miss Kauffman, of Riverside, California, told MailOnline.

'Then she looked at me and said: "Oh no, you're too big, too heavy to be in front!"

'I was taken aback by it. I was hurt. My friends were completely taken back.

'I'm the heavier one in our group but I'm not even that heavy,' she said.

The second year college student and five of her girlfriends had been given the free tickets after friends of theirs couldn't go to the show.

'We were so excited,' said Miss Kauffman.

'I'm a big fan. I went shopping to buy a new outfit but in the end I decided to wear some black pants and a shirt I already had.

'I didn't think I looked too bad.'

To make matters worse Miss Kauffman and the two other girls were then seated in the back of the theatre rather than directly behind their other friends.