2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal

The 2007 British premium-rate phone-in scandal is a period that relates to a series of controversies regarding the use of premium-rate telephone numbers by several British television and radio broadcasters.

Shows and/or other material related to the Scandal

 * Richard and Judy (Channel 4) -The show featured a phone-in game titled "You Pay, We Say", where the presenters guess images on a TV screen that they can't see, but the caller can, which they were not permitted to refer to the displayed objects by their ordinary names. It was revealed that the phone line operator had selected 24 potential winners at random from callers who rang within the first five to seven minutes of the show, but after that viewers were still urged to call. Both Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan were not aware of this and were completely shocked to find out what was going on behind the scenes of their show after the scandal hit.
 * Brainteaser (Five) - Endemol, who produced the show, was caught out faking winners on the show's phone-in games whenever there were no real winners, with one instance listing a member of the show's production team as a winner.
 * Blue Peter (BBC) - The longest-running children's programme was affected not once, but twice:
 * The first instance involved a charity-promoted phone-in-game from November 2006 where a caller would have to identity of a mystery celebrity through their shoes. However, a technical issue with the line ended up with the show's production team posing a girl who was visiting BBC Television Centre as a caller that day. Even worse, she knew the answer and won everything that was offered!
 * The other instance was in September 2007, which involved a website/phone-in competition to name the newest Blue Peter cat. The name that gained the highest votes was "Cookie", but problems with the voting system caused the staff to name the kitten "Socks", blaming a surge in the name. This was eventually solved when Socks was joined with another kitten named "Cookie".
 * Saturday Kitchen (BBC) - The show asked viewers to call a hotline that would allow them to appear in the following week's show. However, the show was not "Live" as it claimed to be, and was in fact pre-recorded from the week prior - with viewers having of being put through.
 * Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV) - The show had several premium rate phone competitions, but they were rigged by the production staff where the callers would have little or no chance of winning. Such techniques used included:
 * The production staff selecting competition finalists before the telephone lines were announced as closed limiting chances of winning.
 * Selecting finalists on the basis of their suitability to be on television and where they lived instead of chosing someone randomly.
 * Listed an individual already known to them as a finalist for one game and let them win scot-free.
 * In December 2013, Ant and Dec said that the scandal was the worst thing to ever happen in their career.
 * Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon (ITV) - Repeats on ITV2 were not citified as such, leading to callers being charged over a closed hotline.
 * The X Factor (ITV) - During the third season, the phone operator for the show overcharged callers by 10p during voting.
 * Soapstar Superstar (ITV) - The production team for the show would overwrite song choices in favour of what they wanted to choose and closed the hotlines before they were due to close.

Why this scandal was Dreadful

 * 1) It shows how much corruption and shadiness can happen behind the scenes in the entertainment industry.
 * 2) Rigging phone-in games if the lines are hitched ruins the game for callers who want to win.