by mighty_tiger_79 » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:11 pm
TV producer connected to Big Brother places large bet on Brigitte eviction
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Garth Montgomery
Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:55pm
A TV producer connected to Big Brother placed a large bet on Brigitte being evicted, sparking calls by betting agencies to have voting legislated.
Concerns were raised on Tuesday with all sports betting agencies after a person connected with Big Brother placed an unusually large bet for Brigitte to be evicted.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a $2000 bet was placed on Tuesday morning by a TV producer connected to the show.
Brigitte was long odds for eviction at $14 when a punter phoned a betting agency asking the maximum amount allowable for Internet bets.
Internet bets at the agency in question were capped at $2000 and the man immediately placed the unusual bet.
The size of the bet triggered bookies to trace the identity of the punter, which returned damning evidence of him being a senior TV producer connected to Big Brother.
Book makers understand the punter is a senior producer involved in devising games for Friday Night Live and has worked on the show since 2003.
The punter has held a range of positions on Big Brother since 2003, including Supervising Task Producer on the daily show, Uplate, Uncut, Eviction shows, Live Nominations, and Adults Only.
Sportingbet Australia confirmed that Big Brother eviction markets were suspended on Tuesday after a number of suspicious bets were placed on Brigitte to leave at odds as big as $14.
Lasseters Sports followed suit shutting down the markets as book makers feared that either the show was fixed, or that someone had access to voting data well in advance of Wednesday night’s eviction.
Sportingbet Australia CEO Michael Sullivan refused to confirm or deny that the bets came from a source connected with the TV program.
“We have strict rules in regard to client confidentiality,” said Sullivan.
“What I will say is that if you watched the show on Wednesday night it all looked a little suspicious.”
Both of Brigitte’s parents were specially flown up on Wednesday to join her on stage after she was evicted.
Mr Sullivan called for reality show producers to release voting results after evictions and eliminations.
“I don’t know if the votes have to be audited,” said Sullivan.
“But they should be and then released to show that the public are getting a bang for their buck.”
Lasseters Sports betting manager Gerard Daffy called for legislation immediately.
“Those voting figures need to be released to the public,” Daffy said.
“As a member of the public you are led to believe that your vote matters. But what’s to stop the show from making up the result? They’re under no obligation to go with the voting results if they think someone is good value for the show.
“If the public are asked to pay to contribute to a result, their must be some guarantee that their vote matters .
“When they say ‘you have 20 minutes to vote’ and throw up some percentages, who knows if it’s a real reflection of the voting and who knows if you really can influence a decision or whether you are just being gouged by the show and throwing money away.
“Auditing the number of votes would sort that out. They do it overseas on all the shows, so why not here?” Daffy said.
Housemate Terri was earlier voted off the show when housemates had the power to do live evictions based on public nominations.
“That was a mistake because it was obvious after two days that Terri was going to be a story drawcard for the show,” said Daffy. “It wasn’t long after that the producers brought her back because she was the main thing that was different about this year.”
An online petition was launched yesterday to protest Brigitte’s eviction for reasons that fans say are suspicious.
Fans at Behind Big Brother claim that voting lines for Rory were engaged, and the forums are buzzing with debate about how Brigitte was turfed so suddenly after being so popular.
Sports agencies suspect that outside news about Brigitte and her boyfriend Eric had the potential to cruel her chances inside the house.
“Although, it is extremely rare that outside news influences a vote instead of the actions of a housemate inside,” said a bookie requesting anonymity.
“I can’t think of an instance where it’s happened before, so something about this Brigitte eviction stinks.”
Terms and Conditions for voting are published on the Big Brother site.
Network TEN and Endemol Southern Star reserve the right to keep all voting tallies confidential. No results other than what is required for the purpose of the format of the program will be released to the public.
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