Inside 2007 phone-in scandal – Ant and Dec 'nearly ruined' to Richard and Judy apology

Anyone around in the noughties will likely remember the 2007 phone-in scandal.

The scandal affected a huge number of programmes across all the major channels – including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

In essence, the scandal began when members of the public were invited to call a premium-rate phone number to enter various competitions or cast their votes on reality TV shows – and encouragement to do so continued even after the potential winners had been chosen.

ITV also admitted to overcharging its viewers via the red button services offered during series three of The X Factor.

Things kicked off in February 2007, when The Mail on Sunday received leaked emails regarding Richard and Judy’s show, which revealed the You Say We Pay segment of the show saw its cut-off happen just nine minutes into the programme.

Telephone service provider Eckoh would email production company Cactus TV a list of 24 potential winners, from which one would be chosen. But after this was sent, another message would appear on screen to invite viewers to keep phoning in for a chance to win.

Initial investigations

During the phone-in scandal, broadcasting watchdog Ofcom revealed it has 23 open investigations against various broadcasters, while phone-paid services authority ICSTIS had a further 15.

Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards released a statement at the time which read: “Widespread concern about the use of premium rate telephone lines by broadcasters and editorial standards in those programmes has raised serious questions about trust between broadcasters and viewers.

“Ofcom has been monitoring the issue closely and has launched a number of individual investigations since the start of the year.

“However it is clear from the number of cases underway that a broader set of issues need to be examined as a matter of priority.

“This inquiry will seek to establish the root cause of the compliance issues which have emerged over recent weeks, and inform key decisions about protecting consumers.”

Public fury

Amid the investigation, a whole host of further findings came out – including the prolific method of fake competition winners on various programmes – from Channel 5’s BrainTeaser to Blue Peter.

Members of the production staff would sometimes pose as winners, with further winners entirely fabricated by the production team itself.

But there more – votes were often finalised early or completely overridden by producers – including changing the winner of the 2005 People’s Choice Award at the British Comedy Awards.

Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway was named the winner of the gong, despite The Catherine Tate Show receiving the largest number of votes.

Soapstar Superstar also saw its votes rigged – with eliminations and song choices disregarding the public vote entirely and instead allowing production staff to choose – with Ofcom branding the behaviour “absolutely reprehensible.”

And if you’ve ever wondered why pre-recorded shows watched on demand warn you over and over that lines are closed – it’s because during the scandal, it was shown that plenty still encouraged the public to vote despite not being live.

Some audience competitions even included the complete wrong answer as correct – and thus ensuring fans wouldn’t be able to win due to the flawed logic of the game.

Eventually fines were handed out by Ofcom, with the most heavily punished show being Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway – which received a sanction of £3million.

It was closely followed by GMTV, which had £2million worth of fines, Soapstar Superstar and Gameshow Marathon with £1.2million apiece and One Network with £1.11million.

Richard and Judy’s show, meanwhile, was fined £1million.

Other shows included in the scandal were Deal or No Deal, Blue Peter, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Children In Need 2005.

Things only got worse when it was suggested the taxpayer would foot the bill for the BBC’s fines – the first time the public broadcast service was ever fined.

Richard and Judy apology

Though there was never any suggestion that either Richard Madeley or wife Judy Finnigan had any knowledge of the phone-in scandal, the pair did offer an apology to the public affected.

Speaking on their show, Judy said: “Richard and I knew nothing about this until late on Friday afternoon. We were very shocked and also angry on your behalf. We’re very sorry.”

As Richard added: “A full investigation has been launched to find out exactly what has happened.

“A huge sorry this has happened. We promise you we will sort it out ASAP and then we can get things back to normal.”

The You Say, We Pay segment was pulled abruptly off air following the leaked email, with Judy insisting to viewers at the time that it was due to “a technical problem with our telephone supplier” – before reassuring them she hoped it would return later.

Ant and Dec ‘nearly ruined’

Presenting heavyweights Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly admitted that the scandal “nearly ruined” the pair back in 2007.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Dec explained: “We thought that was probably it. I think the viewers would have been justified in thinking their trust had been breached and if that had been the end I don’t think we could have had many complaints.

“It was, without doubt, our worst moment, our worst point. Totally. We couldn’t quite comprehend how it was allowed to happen.”

Ant added: “I think our audience trust us and with that case we worried that the trust had gone.

“It did affect us… it was probably the worst part of our career. We were credited as executive producers. A lot of people said, you are executive producers, you should have known this was going on, but we didn’t.”

The pair scooped three gongs at the National Television Awards shortly after – which Dec admitting he thought “all [was] not lost” and the pair could slowly begin to rebuild that trust.

He explained: “It was an emotional night because there is the realisation that maybe all is not lost and we started going about our work and trying to rebuild our trust with the viewer and hope that we could get back to where we were.”

The stars also donated profits from the following series of Saturday Night Takeaway to charity, releasing a statement at the time which read: “Our roles as executive producers are purely creative ones. We are not involved in running the phone lines, the logistics of the competitions or selecting winners.

“We are deeply upset about what the review uncovered. However, we welcome the full disclosure of these problems, not least because we can be sure that our viewers have the opportunity to get their money back.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk