AMMAN - The show on private satellite channel Jo Sat, aired on Friday, started to spin out of control after MP Mohammad Shawabka accused former deputy Mansur Murad of working as a spy for the Syrian regime.

The charge led to an sharp exchange of insults and accusations.

“You are a spy in the pay of the Syrian regime,” insisted Shawabka, only to be accused by Murad of being “spy in the pay of (Israel’s secret service) Mossad and a thief.”

The MP hurled his shoe as his accuser and threatened him with a pistol as both men jumped out of their seats, with the moderator scrambling between the men close up in front of the camera to keep tempers from flaring into all-out violence.

Jordan, where activists have been staging pro-reform and anti-corruption demonstrations, has also been the scene of several anti-Damascus protests since  the outbreak of the March 2011 revolt in neighbouring Syria.