Post by Teddy Bear on Dec 17, 2008 0:21:05 GMT
I heard about this story a few days ago and was avoiding posting about it simply because I have no interest in this kind of programme, much less care about those that have and what they were getting excited about.
But a scam is a scam, and though initially the BBC were refusing to offer any refund to their cheated audience, they again have been forced to do an about turn. The following article also highlights the crap attitude of those running the show. Frankly if you can't turn this crap off, and worse if you pay for it and support these people, then you deserve what you get.
But a scam is a scam, and though initially the BBC were refusing to offer any refund to their cheated audience, they again have been forced to do an about turn. The following article also highlights the crap attitude of those running the show. Frankly if you can't turn this crap off, and worse if you pay for it and support these people, then you deserve what you get.
'Get over it,' Strictly judges Craig and Bruno blast viewers over BBC voting bungle
By Nathan Kay, Paul Revoir and Simon Cable
Strictly judges Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli have waded into the BBC voting bungle row and said the public need to 'get over it', it has emerged.
After nearly 2,000 complaints the BBC came to their senses by offering voters refunds yesterday.
But, at the Sunset Boulevard premiere last night the acerbic-tongued Craig did not seem to share the contrition of his employers.
He said: 'People need to get over it.
'It's a rollover week, the lottery has it every week so people should be used to it.'
He added: 'There's always controversy every year. There's always good dancers going out, bad dancers going through. I'm a judge, I don't count the votes.'
Meanwhile, fellow judge Bruno Tonioli similarly dismissed the row as 'a whole lot of drama about nothing.'
The scathing comments comes in light of the phone vote scandal which erupted after Saturday's show, when all three of the finalists were kept in.
Although the public voted to save their favourite on the show, singer Rachel Stevens, and presenter Lisa Snowdon were awarded exactly the same score by the judges.
So, no matter how much public support Holby City actor Tom Chambers, and partner Camilla Dallerup, received they could not be saved from the dance off - so, the public vote was scrapped.
Judge Arlene Phillips blamed the row on the show's producers.
She said: 'It's the producers, its got nothing to do with me. I just do my job and have nothing to do with that part of the show.
And in answer to accusations that the judges might have 'fixed' the voting, she added: 'I had my keypad over here, Craig had his over there, Len had his over there, and Bruno had his. We have no idea what the others are doing.
'The voting system has worked for six series and in countries all over the world.'
The judges's comments will no doubt come as a severe embarrassment to the corporation which is desperately trying to salvage it's reputation following another phone vote scandal.
And last night, the BBC announced they would reverse their initial decision not to refund voters, and will now offer Strictly Come Dancing viewers a refund following last weekend’s voting bungle.
After earlier insisting it would not give any money back, the corporation yesterday performed a pirouette worthy of one of its professional dancers.
A spokesman said voters could get their cash back – with the BBC footing the bill for administering the refunds.
Media regulator Ofcom has confirmed it is investigating a mix-up in the show’s scoring system on Saturday night which led to all three contestants being put through into this week’s final.
The judges gave model Lisa Snowdon and singer Rachel Stevens three points each, leaving third-placed Holby City actor Tom Chambers with one point.
Viewers were then invited to vote for which celebrity they wanted to escape the dance-off.
But even if Chambers had received the maximum three points from the public, he would still have been in the bottom two. This meant that any votes for him were effectively wasted.
However, the show’s producers allowed phone lines to remain open on Saturday for almost two hours before realising the mistake.
The BBC formed an ‘emergency expert panel’ to try to find a way out of the mess. It decided the best way to win back the faith of the show’s viewers was to offer refunds.
Professional dancer Ian Waite said: 'I think stopping the voting was the only fair thing they could have done. I'm really happy for Camilla (his partner).
'She's never been in the final, and it's great that she has a chance, even if it's just by default. I don't really understand the voting system, I don't think the BBC did either.'
And former contestant Don Warrington expressed a common view when he said: 'Will someone please explain to me what happened on Saturday night?
'Will someone please explain the rules? I don't understand how if it was unfair last week, it won't be unfair this week. People keep saying that it's very convenient that there are three in the final.'
The corporation last night released a statement saying it had received almost 2,000 complaints over the fiasco.
It confirmed it would be offering refunds to ‘anyone unhappy about their votes in the semi-final, who would like to be reimbursed’.
Details of how to claim the money will be available on the Strictly Come Dancing website from today as well as on the usual audience service numbers.
The BBC has decided to carry over the audience’s and judges’ votes from last Saturday.
It will take the unprecedented step of revealing the marks already given by the audience during this Saturday’s first programme.
The new votes will be added to these, and the judges’ scores, when deciding who will be thrown out of the competition first.
In the second show the remaining two couples will start from scratch and a further public vote will decide who is crowned Strictly champion.
The bill to compensate viewers for the fiasco will come out of the BBC’s coffers. Some two million votes were cast.
Calls cost from 15p on a landline but are as much as 80p on some mobile phone services.
It is understood that Ofcom will examine whether the BBC broke rules and ‘materially misled’ audiences by letting them vote for Chambers.
Yesterday it was revealed that the actor himself realised on the night that he could not escape the dance-off. He even texted his family and friends to tell them to stop voting for him.
According to show insiders, while the celebrities were happy to have a three-way final, there was anger among their professional partners.
A source said: ‘There is no rivalry between the three celebrities at all on the show. The dancers are a different matter entirely.
‘Brendan (Cole, Lisa Snowdon’s partner) is furious. With him it is all about winning. I think he thought he had a serious chance against Rachel.’
The row comes just weeks after a public backlash over the way John Sergeant quit the show, after claims that he was bullied by the judges.
A BBC spokesman added: 'The BBC recognises that this has been an unprecedented situation and would like to thank viewers and the contestants for their understanding.
Earlier Arlene Phillips dismissed theories that Saturday's voting fiasco was simply a 'conspiracy' among the show's judges.
She said they hadn't discussed the points they awarded contestants.
'We look at the leaderboard the same time as everyone else does. It was a complete shock to us,' she said.
Strictly judge Bruno also faced another controversy today when he was rapped for swearing on live TV.
The BBC Trust said the 53-year-old Italian-born choreographer breached guidelines on harm and offence when he used the F-word on Saturday Kitchen, at a time when children were likely to be watching.
The show, in December last year, involved Tonioli having to cook and eat his 'food hell' -oxtail soup -with host James Martin.
As he was attempting to cook the dish, a flustered Tonioli said 'pass the f***ing, sorry, give me sorry, sh sh sh...'
The gaffe was described as a clear breach of the code on harm and offence before the watershed, by the BBC Trust, which upheld viewer complaints.
But the Trust, an independent body set up to hold the BBC to account on behalf on licence-fee payers, said the corporation’s response to complaints earlier this year had been satisfactory.
The Trust added that Martin’s immediate apology to viewers had reduced the damage.
The BBC has promised to crack down on swearing on TV and radio in the wake of the Jonathan Ross phone prank row.
By Nathan Kay, Paul Revoir and Simon Cable
Strictly judges Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli have waded into the BBC voting bungle row and said the public need to 'get over it', it has emerged.
After nearly 2,000 complaints the BBC came to their senses by offering voters refunds yesterday.
But, at the Sunset Boulevard premiere last night the acerbic-tongued Craig did not seem to share the contrition of his employers.
He said: 'People need to get over it.
'It's a rollover week, the lottery has it every week so people should be used to it.'
He added: 'There's always controversy every year. There's always good dancers going out, bad dancers going through. I'm a judge, I don't count the votes.'
Meanwhile, fellow judge Bruno Tonioli similarly dismissed the row as 'a whole lot of drama about nothing.'
The scathing comments comes in light of the phone vote scandal which erupted after Saturday's show, when all three of the finalists were kept in.
Although the public voted to save their favourite on the show, singer Rachel Stevens, and presenter Lisa Snowdon were awarded exactly the same score by the judges.
So, no matter how much public support Holby City actor Tom Chambers, and partner Camilla Dallerup, received they could not be saved from the dance off - so, the public vote was scrapped.
Judge Arlene Phillips blamed the row on the show's producers.
She said: 'It's the producers, its got nothing to do with me. I just do my job and have nothing to do with that part of the show.
And in answer to accusations that the judges might have 'fixed' the voting, she added: 'I had my keypad over here, Craig had his over there, Len had his over there, and Bruno had his. We have no idea what the others are doing.
'The voting system has worked for six series and in countries all over the world.'
The judges's comments will no doubt come as a severe embarrassment to the corporation which is desperately trying to salvage it's reputation following another phone vote scandal.
And last night, the BBC announced they would reverse their initial decision not to refund voters, and will now offer Strictly Come Dancing viewers a refund following last weekend’s voting bungle.
After earlier insisting it would not give any money back, the corporation yesterday performed a pirouette worthy of one of its professional dancers.
A spokesman said voters could get their cash back – with the BBC footing the bill for administering the refunds.
Media regulator Ofcom has confirmed it is investigating a mix-up in the show’s scoring system on Saturday night which led to all three contestants being put through into this week’s final.
The judges gave model Lisa Snowdon and singer Rachel Stevens three points each, leaving third-placed Holby City actor Tom Chambers with one point.
Viewers were then invited to vote for which celebrity they wanted to escape the dance-off.
But even if Chambers had received the maximum three points from the public, he would still have been in the bottom two. This meant that any votes for him were effectively wasted.
However, the show’s producers allowed phone lines to remain open on Saturday for almost two hours before realising the mistake.
The BBC formed an ‘emergency expert panel’ to try to find a way out of the mess. It decided the best way to win back the faith of the show’s viewers was to offer refunds.
Professional dancer Ian Waite said: 'I think stopping the voting was the only fair thing they could have done. I'm really happy for Camilla (his partner).
'She's never been in the final, and it's great that she has a chance, even if it's just by default. I don't really understand the voting system, I don't think the BBC did either.'
And former contestant Don Warrington expressed a common view when he said: 'Will someone please explain to me what happened on Saturday night?
'Will someone please explain the rules? I don't understand how if it was unfair last week, it won't be unfair this week. People keep saying that it's very convenient that there are three in the final.'
The corporation last night released a statement saying it had received almost 2,000 complaints over the fiasco.
It confirmed it would be offering refunds to ‘anyone unhappy about their votes in the semi-final, who would like to be reimbursed’.
Details of how to claim the money will be available on the Strictly Come Dancing website from today as well as on the usual audience service numbers.
The BBC has decided to carry over the audience’s and judges’ votes from last Saturday.
It will take the unprecedented step of revealing the marks already given by the audience during this Saturday’s first programme.
The new votes will be added to these, and the judges’ scores, when deciding who will be thrown out of the competition first.
In the second show the remaining two couples will start from scratch and a further public vote will decide who is crowned Strictly champion.
The bill to compensate viewers for the fiasco will come out of the BBC’s coffers. Some two million votes were cast.
Calls cost from 15p on a landline but are as much as 80p on some mobile phone services.
It is understood that Ofcom will examine whether the BBC broke rules and ‘materially misled’ audiences by letting them vote for Chambers.
Yesterday it was revealed that the actor himself realised on the night that he could not escape the dance-off. He even texted his family and friends to tell them to stop voting for him.
According to show insiders, while the celebrities were happy to have a three-way final, there was anger among their professional partners.
A source said: ‘There is no rivalry between the three celebrities at all on the show. The dancers are a different matter entirely.
‘Brendan (Cole, Lisa Snowdon’s partner) is furious. With him it is all about winning. I think he thought he had a serious chance against Rachel.’
The row comes just weeks after a public backlash over the way John Sergeant quit the show, after claims that he was bullied by the judges.
A BBC spokesman added: 'The BBC recognises that this has been an unprecedented situation and would like to thank viewers and the contestants for their understanding.
Earlier Arlene Phillips dismissed theories that Saturday's voting fiasco was simply a 'conspiracy' among the show's judges.
She said they hadn't discussed the points they awarded contestants.
'We look at the leaderboard the same time as everyone else does. It was a complete shock to us,' she said.
Strictly judge Bruno also faced another controversy today when he was rapped for swearing on live TV.
The BBC Trust said the 53-year-old Italian-born choreographer breached guidelines on harm and offence when he used the F-word on Saturday Kitchen, at a time when children were likely to be watching.
The show, in December last year, involved Tonioli having to cook and eat his 'food hell' -oxtail soup -with host James Martin.
As he was attempting to cook the dish, a flustered Tonioli said 'pass the f***ing, sorry, give me sorry, sh sh sh...'
The gaffe was described as a clear breach of the code on harm and offence before the watershed, by the BBC Trust, which upheld viewer complaints.
But the Trust, an independent body set up to hold the BBC to account on behalf on licence-fee payers, said the corporation’s response to complaints earlier this year had been satisfactory.
The Trust added that Martin’s immediate apology to viewers had reduced the damage.
The BBC has promised to crack down on swearing on TV and radio in the wake of the Jonathan Ross phone prank row.