Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent
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Organisers of the British Comedy Awards promised Robbie Williams that he could present an award to Ant and Dec if the singer agreed to appear - even though the ITV presenters had not been selected for a prize.
The disclosure came in findings, published for the first time today, after an inquiry by law firm Olswang into the 2005 awards broadcast on ITV1.
Olswang found that comedy star Catherine Tate had been cheated out of the People’s Choice Award, which she should have won for her BBC sketch show, after a viewer vote.
The award was wrongly presented to Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for their ITV1 Saturday Night Takeaway show, after a rigged premium-rate vote.
The presenting duo were said to be “completely appalled” by the error and will return their award to ITV. A spokesman for Ms Tate said she was an “innocent bystander” of the affair and did not wish to comment.
An Ofcom investigation is now under way into the scam, published separately from the offences which led to a record £5.6 million fine slapped on ITV. But the broadcaster will not face further financial punishment for the Comedy Awards debacle. The awards were produced for ITV by independent company Michael Hurll Television.
The Olswang independent report stated that Williams was invited to present an award at the ceremony. It was “understood” the LA-based pop star would be happy to present an award if the recipients were Ant and Dec, and in order to guarantee the former Take That star’s attendance, he was told he could present a gong to the duo even though they had not won any of the awards determined by the jury.
The only award that the I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! presenters could have gone on to win was the People’s Choice Award, but this was dependent on a public vote.
In the event, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway was announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award, when the actual winner should have been The Catherine Tate Show, which collected the most public votes. The trophy was presented to Ant and Dec by Williams.
The awards had moved to a recorded portion while ITV viewers were watching the evening news. During the “as live” broadcast, viewers were encouraged to vote for the People’s Choice Award - which they did, even though the votes had already been counted and the award had actually already been presented.
The Olswang report says it cannot be concluded from the sequence of events that the assurance to Williams was the reason the wrong winner of the People’s Choice Award was announced.
It said: “In addition to the People’s Choice Award there were a series of awards determined by a jury. Robbie Williams was invited to present an award. It was understood that he would be happy to present an award if the recipients were Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
“In order to ensure his attendance, this assurance was given, albeit at a time when the winners of all the jury awards had been decided and Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly had not been selected.
“As such it was an assurance that could not legitimately have been guaranteed, as the only award still to be decided was the People’s Choice Award, the winner of which was then unknown and dependent upon the public vote.”
It adds: “While it can be concluded that the assurance was given to ensure Robbie Williams’ attendance to present an award, it cannot be concluded that this was the reason why the wrong winner of the People’s Choice Award was announced.”
The report states that there is no suggestion that Williams or Ant and Dec were aware of “any of these issues”. ITV will make a decision on the future transmission of the British Comedy Awards on the network after Ofcom’s investigation into alleged compliance issues has been concluded. The show went ahead last year without an ITV broadcast.
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The 2003 Eurovision poll needs inquiry. Russia had votes from every country until only Eire and UK gave zero scores. Ireland used a "jury" vote. UK's was said to be from the phone-poll. Would recent UK No.1 artistes be voted so far down? Was it fixed to assist host country Latvia where anti-Russian feeling was strong?
Jenny, Manchester,
Why should we protect simple minded people - if they're willing to part with their cash this way - let them...
Chris, Newcastle, UK
Arrest Robbie Williams! It's long overdue anyway.
Del, Newcastle, UK
TV phone-ins should be banned to protect the simple minded people who participate in them.
Casper Slides, Ibiza, Spain
Imposing heavy fines is all very well, but this TV viewer wants to see the culprits put in the dock and hopefully prison. Just where did this culture of dishonesty and deceit begin and why was it ever deemed acceptable? Ant and Dec: can't believe as executive directors they were so clueless either!
Phillip Anderton, Poole, England
If you are daft enough to vote for something using premium rate 'phone lines seems to me you are a mug anyway.
However, what it does illustrate is that much of what appears on TV is contrived, not really what it seems and sometimes downright dishonest!
Time for a proper audit of these people.
doug, Manchester,
All this is small potatoes compared to Simon Fuller's cash machine, a.k.a. 'American Idol' which took in 51 million votes last night. It boggles the mind how much money the franchise is making on little teeny boppers using Mum and Dad's phone to call multiple times. The scope for fiddling is huge.
Colin Suter, Shaftesbury, UK
In a country where all are rewarded by awards of some sort, it is hardly surprising. The Queen started the trend with the Sirs of some sort. Add to the list the Bafta, the Oscars and zillion of other rewards across the planet, that have no other aim, than making a few lots of money. No hopes there.
lauren, London, UK
Did Zara Phillips really receive the most votes in the BBC sports personality Of The Year awards in 2006?!?
James, london,
I laugh at all those who bother to vote in any of these farcical shows and I fart in the general direction of Ant , Dec and Robbie . Am i right to feel this way ? If you think so ring ... if not ring ... Suckers .
Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,
What a hoot! These premium rate phone lines are merely a way of separating the gullible from their cash anyway, so I don't suppose a lot of harm was done.
The money would have been spent on something equally idiotic if it hadn't gone to the promoters......
Jeremy Fry, Gateshead, UK
How sad of Robbie Williams. I feel bad for Ant & Dec though. I think theres been enough of these phone-in voting scandals for us all to accept that we shouldn't waste our time or money on them
Claire, Dublin,
As huge amounts of money was conned out of people who phoned in to these and many other shows, how come nobody, as yet, has been arrested and charged with fraud?
In any other area of life, that is what would happen (except politics).
sedgwick, London, UK
My opinion is that they are all rigged and purely there for revenue generation!
Kazza, Melbourne, Australia
Doesn't it all seem a bit childish? If you present an award you present an award...why insist on only doing so if you can give it to Ant'n'Dec...what's that all about? And how weak of the event organisers to ensure this would happen....and how awful to make the viewers look like fools...
Mark Lewis, Manchester, UK
Ashley Jensen from Extra's won an award for best comedy actress, beating Catherine Tate. This award was also presented by Robbie Williams. Is there any more on this?
Lawrence, Birmingham, UK
It certainly opens up the question once again as to whether placing Rhydian second in the Xfactor series - and pronouncing Leon the winner- last December was also a 'fix'
Clare Birch, Sittingbourne,
It certainly opens up the question once again as to whether Leon's win over Rhydian in last December's Xfactor was also a fix.
Clare Birch, Sittingbourne,
Richard, Kiev: I don't think I'm being naive here - I doubt very much that Ant and Dec would rig this kind of thing. They were at the top of their game at the time, so it's not like they needed the marketing and money that comes from this. This sounds like floor level producer incompetence to me.
Paul Tinker, Henley-on-Thames, England
i worked for a (very minor) tv channel once for a few months as a production assistant. We had a competition where viewers had to phone in and vote for something and i'm pretty sure my boss went with her choice of winner and ignored the results of the phone in.
mia, london, uk
Ant and Dec were publicly promoted as 'Associate Producers' of the show. How come they didn't know ? I find it difficult to believe they did not know what their mate Robbie was up to. They go to soccer matches with him - and he didn't let it slip ?
Deeply surprising!
Richard, Kiev, Ukraine
Now we know where the Mugabe learned the ropes...
Rui, Lisbon,
I trust the Ofcom files will be passed to the criminal authorities as this appears to be a clear case of fraud. Individuals were defrauded of money when taking part in these pay to vote or pay to play schemes.
Jonathan Mills, Brighton,