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| March 14, 2007 |
| Blue Peter sorry over fake winner |
The hosts of BBC children's programme Blue Peter have apologised to viewers after the results of a competition were faked last November. A technical problem meant viewers calling for the Whose Shoes contest did not get through to the studio.
Instead, a visiting child was asked to pose as a caller, and won the prize. Host Konnie Huq said: "We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened we let you down." The BBC did not profit from the calls.
BBC Children's controller Richard Deverell called the incident a "serious error of judgement".
The contest, on 27 November, was raising money for children orphaned by Aids in Malawi. Callers were asked to phone in and identify a mystery celebrity's shoes. More than 13,800 people entered, with calls costing 10p each, including 3.25p for the Unicef charity.
But an "unavoidable technical difficulty" meant producers were unable to access the callers' details and so found a stand-in. The winner could select a prize from a list of children's toys. The child they found was already in the studio because she had won a separate competition.
Premium phone line regulator Icstis is investigating the incident, which was discovered when another visitor to the programme set, Mona Zahoor, wrote to the BBC's Have Your Say messageboard. |
posted by viraks @ 11:32:00 PM  |
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