Mum exposes Blue Peter's fake phone-in
15/03/2007 - 09:35
A horrified mum revealed the latest TV phone-in scandal when she claimed that a girl was used as a fake caller in a competition on kids' favourite Blue Peter.
Mona Zahoor was visiting the Blue Peter studio when she reportedly witnessed the 12-year-old girl ring up after a technical fault meant 14,000 competition calls were ignored.
On Thursday, Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq said: "When this mistake happened we let you down."
The Mirror reports that children were asked to call in to identify a star from a picture of their shoes, but a technical fault meant no callers could get through. So a member of the production team asked the girl to ring in from the studio. She pretended to be 'calling from London' - and won the prize.
CBBC controller Richard Deverell said: "The decision to put a child on air in this way was a serious error of judgment. I apologise to viewers and the children."
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