BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT...BUT WHERE ARE THE PHONE LINES?

27-05-2008

After the recent scandals about TV phone-in competitions, you'd have thought they'd have got it sorted by now.  But as Terry Wills reports, voters who rang into Britain's Got Talent last night were unable to cast their vote.

ITV….What’s the excuse this time!

Following revelations that both ITV and the BBC had conveniently managed to defraud countless number of viewers via ‘rigged’ phone lines one would have thought they would have ensured any future programmes, requiring votes, would have been 100% above board?

Don’t you believe it!

Last night for the first semi final of ‘Britain’s got Talent, there was the usual plea from Ant and Dec along the lines “The phone lines won’t be open until all the acts have performed so please wait, etc, etc”

Now I admit I rarely vote in programmes such as this but for once I decided to make an exception.

The scenario: All the eight acts have strutted their stuff, whether that be brilliant or truly horrendous, and the affable ‘Geordie Pair’ announce “The phone lines are now open get voting now if you want to see your favourite through to Saturday’s Final”.

What happened next? WELL after dialling the requisite number came the pre recorded reply “Sorry the phone lines are not yet open. You haven’t been charged for this call!”

Now as the hapless duo had announced a few seconds earlier “We’ll back after the break to announce the winners based on your phone calls “, I couldn’t help wonder what’s gone wrong this time!

Curious to almost to the point of disbelief I then attempted to redial at least four times only to hear the “Sorry the phone lines are not yet open. You haven’t been charged for this call”!!!!

Adverts over and back came Messrs Ant and Dec to proudly proclaim “We now have the result based on your phone calls .as to who you have chosen to perform in Saturday’s grand Final of Britain’s got Talent”

The rest is now history. The two winners were duly announced after Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Piers Morgan, had voted through who they had judged the appropriate second finalist.

Fair enough (!) apart from the fact that as most probably tens of thousands of viewers hadn’t been allowed to cast THEIR votes due to being repeatedly told “The lines are not yet open. You haven’t been charged for this call!”

Come on ITV let’s hear the excuse this time as to what went wrong this time?

How can you judge winners of a competition when viewers hadn’t actually in a position to cast their vote due to yet another seemingly almighty ‘cock’ up?

Oh as a matter of interest if the lines had been open to record my vote it wouldn’t have altered the final result. I too WOULD have voted for the amazing almost human dog act of Kate and Gin. What a ‘Star!

They may not win the competition but for sheer entertainment, compared with the hapless Keyboard player Michael Machell who shouldn’t have been there in the first place, they were on a different level entirely.

In fact so poor was he if the lines HAD been open I would have wasted the cost of a call to have voted him OFF!

Saturday’s Final should be fascinating in a macabre sort of way. But whoever triumphs s in the end I won’t help but wonder IF the winning act actually DID receive the most number of votes unless ITV manage to sort out their chaotic voting system.

If not it has to be open to question.

But then perhaps I’m being a total cynic when analysing the record of Television companies in determining winners of any competition?!

Explanations please ITV.

Editors Note:  We've contacted ITV this morning but no one was available for comment.  As soon as they reply, we'll let you know what they say.

DO YOU TRUST MEDIA COMPANIES TO RUN COMPETITIONS FAIRLY?  LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE STIRRER FORUM