Big Brother 'golden ticket draw' slammed
Big Brother's 'golden ticket' draw picked a random person to join housemates
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Wednesday, 13, Sep 2006 07:30
Big Brother's 'golden ticket draw' to select a new housemate during the latest series of the reality TV show was not fixed, the UK's advertising watchdog has ruled.
But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the prize draw had breached promotions guidelines because it was not properly supervised.
11 Big Brother fans had complained about the way the draw was handled after it emerged that the winner of the competition, 43-year-old model Susie Verrico, had auditioned to take part in the Channel 4 show previously.
Under the terms of the promotion the show's producers teamed up with chocolate manufacturer Nestle in order to select a random new Big Brother housemate by hiding special 'golden tickets' inside wrappers of Kit Kat bars made by the company.
Tickets found by viewers were then entered into a lottery-style draw to secure a place in the Big Brother house, with the winning ticket randomly selected by an existing housemate.
Dismissing claims that the draw had been rigged, the ASA said that slow-motion footage showed that the winning ball selected in the draw was "undoubtedly" stamped with the number 14, which corresponded to the ticket held by winner Susie.
But, the watchdog stressed that Big Brother bosses had breached prize promotion guidelines by failing to ensure that the draw was monitored by an independent observer.
"Because we considered that an independent observer should have been present and watching throughout the process of the draw and particularly at the point the winning ball was drawn, we concluded that the draw was not conducted under the supervision of an independent observer," the ASA said.
In a joint response Nestle, Channel 4 and Big Brother production firm Endemol said that an observer had not been present during the draw because the rules of the reality TV show prevented outsiders from coming into contact with housemates.
They stressed that the competition draw, carried out in the presence of ten housemates, was continuously monitored by Big Brother's production team and had been watched live by five million viewers.
Meanwhile, Big Brother producers are awaiting the outcome of a second investigation over claims the seventh series of the reality show breached telecom rules.
Premium phone line regulator ICSTIS is examining whether the 13-week series breached its code after almost 3,000 people complained to the watchdog over a telephone vote which led to an evicted housemate being reintroduced into the Big Brother house.