Ant and Dec 'sorry' over phone-in scandal

British television presenters Ant and Dec are to donate profits from the next series of their show Saturday Night Takeaway as a “gesture of goodwill” after the ITV phone-in investigation, they announced today.

British television presenters Ant and Dec are to donate profits from the next series of their show Saturday Night Takeaway as a “gesture of goodwill” after the ITV phone-in investigation, they announced today.

The popular stars sought to distance themselves from the scandal, saying they were “deeply upset” by the findings of an independent review that phone-in lines had been rigged and stressing they had received no financial benefit.

In a statement released today, they said: “It is important to us that people understand that none of the shows highlighted in the findings of the ITV’s independent review were made by our production company, Gallowgate, and that there was no financial benefit to us from the phone lines within those shows.

“Our roles as executive producers on Saturday Night Takeaway 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. The way our viewers and fans have been treated simply isn’t acceptable and we are truly sorry.”

They had spoken personally with ITV chairman Michael Grade about the review’s findings and were “confident” that ITV would not allow the problems to be repeated.

The statement continued: “We have proposed to ITV that as a gesture of goodwill, any profits from the competition entries on the next series of Takeaway should all be donated to charity, and we are delighted to say that ITV has readily agreed.”

Pressure has intensified on ITV bosses to take responsibility for the spate of phone-in scandals after Mr Grade admitted yesterday he would have resigned if he had been chief executive at the time of the deceit.

He has refused to sack anyone involved in the fakery, which could see the broadcaster refunding £7.8 million to viewers.

But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If I had been the chief executive at the time, I would have resigned.”

Competitions were rigged on Ant and Dec programmes Saturday Night Takeaway and Gameshow Marathon, as well as Soapstar Superstar.

Police and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have said they could decide to investigate the scandals, which involved 10 million calls, once they receive a report from broadcasting regulator Ofcom, who could impose a maximum £70 million fine on ITV.

The SFO confirmed yesterday it was reviewing evidence relating to the GMTV phone-in scandal, which led to the broadcaster being fined £2 million by Ofcom.

Mr Grade has offered to talk to the politicians who levelled criticisms following an investigation by accountancy firm Deloitte.

He said: “I can understand exactly why they would say that but I would ask them please to read the Deloitte findings and I am happy to discuss it with them to explain exactly how we’ve got here.”

Asked if it amounted to fraud, he said: “Let’s not dance around words and semantics: this is wrong. W-R-O-N-G wrong.”

But he added: “The motivation was not to induce greater revenues, the motivation was to cut corners and make better shows and disregard the contract they had made with viewers.”

The channel’s operation was now “clean as a whistle”, he added.

The Deloitte report identified “serious editorial issues” with the two Ant and Dec programmes and singing contest Soapstar Superstar.

All featured premium rate phone lines.

Viewers who called the phone lines to take part in the Ant and Dec shows were told that winners of contests such as Jiggy Bank and Grab The Ads would be chosen randomly.

But on numerous occasions the production team deliberately chose winners because they sounded “lively” or looked as if they would be entertaining on TV.

On other occasions they only shortlisted viewers who lived in a particular part of the country – meaning callers from other areas were wasting their money.

Ofcom has said its investigation is ongoing.

The Deloitte report highlighted serious technical issues with voting for the 2005 X Factor final, when 13.9% of votes cast in this way arrived too late to be counted.

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