I first read that Blue Peter, one the foundations of British Society has been implicated in the growing TV show fake phoneline scandal on The Register. At first I thought it was a spoof story, but it’s on the BBC so it must be true. Apparently a technical problem meant viewers calling for the Whose Shoes contest did not get through to the studio. So a child who was passing by was asked to pose as a caller live on air to win the competition.
Konnie Haq (pictured below on the left, who funnily enough was a very good friend of mine at Uni), said on air:
“We’d like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened we let you down.”
If TV Shows like Blue Peter have been swept up in this scandal, I think we are going to discover that many more TV Shows have been banking viewers money when they have no chance of getting onto a show, or of winning a competition.
Personally I blame Icstis, the industry body who are supposed to regulate this space, and who also police ringtones and premium rate numbers, and we all know what a great job they’ve done of that.
