Yet another TV vote-rigging scandal has erupted today – and an investigation has revealed that it’s apparently in part down to Robbie Williams. Back in 2005, Robbie agreed to present a gong at the British Comedy Awards but only if he got to hand it to his pals Ant and Dec. The duo were nominated for the People’s Choice prize but, according to details that have emerged today, actually lost out to Catherine Tate in the official phone vote. However, as organisers were desperate for Robbie to be on board, they disregarded the votes and rigged it for Ant and Dec to win – although there is no suggestion that Ant, Dec and Robbie were aware that this was the case. Thanks to this kind of naughtiness, ITV have had to pay a massive £13.5million fine due to “institutionalised failure within ITV that enabled the broadcaster to make money from misconduct on mass audience programmes”. The investigation into this misconduct also found wrongdoing in a number of other big ITV shows, including competition-rigging on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and vote-rigging on Soapstar Superstar. Little old ITV2 has also come under fire and been fined the smaller sum of £275,000 for failing to inform viewers that interactive competitions had closed – on 28 separate occasions! Blimey, it’s all a bit scandalous, innit?
Robbie linked to phone-in scam