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Channel 4 quiz programme cheating
viewers?
Richard and Judy programme You
Say, We Pay on Channel 4 suspected of
tricking viewers into calling after
potential winners chosen.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
February 19, 2006
United Kingdom’s Channel 4
television channel is facing serious
allegations that the Richard And Judy
show is systematically cheating
viewers out of tens of thousands of
pounds in a premium-rate phone quiz
scam.
Each day, an average of 15,000 viewers
pay £1 a time to enter the programme’s
popular daily competition, You Say, We
Pay.
But e-mails leaked to newspapers
reveal that the husband-and-wife team
encourages thousands of viewers to do
so after the potential winners have
already been chosen.
In the week beginning February 5,
2007, over 32,000 people were tricked
into believing that they had a chance
of competing for a cash prize,
according to the documents.
If that figure were to be repeated
every week for the duration of the
current nine-month series, it would
translate to around £1 million for
Channel 4 and Cactus TV, the makers of
the programme.
On Friday, the competition was pulled
off air within hours of The Mail on
Sunday presenting the TV company with
a series of detailed allegations.
Judy Finnigan told viewers it was
because of a “technical problem with
our telephone supplier” and added that
she hoped the competition would be
back soon.
The Culture, Media and Sport Select
Committee of MPs has promised to
investigate the claims. One of its
members, Labour MP Rosemary McKenna,
said: “This is shocking. We published
a report on quiz TV channels and found
that they were seriously misinforming
people, but even they didn’t go as far
as asking viewers to call after a
winner had been selected.”
The phone line is run by service
provider Eckoh, whose employees use a
computer to randomly select 24
potential winners from callers who
ring within the first five to seven
minutes of the show going on air.
By 5.10 p.m. their job is done, yet
viewers are not told to stop calling.
In fact, the viewers are actively
encouraged to ring in again at 5.19
p.m., when the premium-rate number is
flashed up on screen for a second
time.
Icstis, the premium-rate services
regulator, also promised an inquiry
and described the allegation as “very
serious.” It said its code of practice
includes a clause “dealing with
misleading statements.”
Ultimately, it could present Cactus
and Channel 4 with a refund bill. The
scandal comes as a devastating blow to
Judy and her husband Richard Madeley,
whose huge success and popularity is
based around their cosy rapport with
viewers.
There is no evidence to suggest that
they had any knowledge of the alleged
deception and their spokesman insisted
that they do not profit from the
calls.
The revelations are equally disastrous
for Channel 4 which has endured fierce
criticism over the past weeks over the
Big Brother phone-in debacle in which
viewers paid 50p a call to vote
housemates out – only to see four of
them return.
Cactus is run by Simon Ross, brother
of BBC talk show host Jonathan, and
his wife Amanda. Amanda produces the
show on behalf of Channel 4.
The premium-line quiz show format is
extremely lucrative for broadcasters,
but some of the programmes have
attracted criticism from Chancellor
Gordon Brown for exploiting the poor.
Financial Mail had on Sunday led the
way in highlighting the problem of
television quiz shows such as The
Mint, which use premium-rate numbers
to make millions for broadcasters at
the expense of viewers.
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