Who/what & where can I find the audit figures for a particular reality TV show?
In the UK we’ve just had I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and the viewer votes (by way of a premium rate line) to keep their chosen celebrity in ‘The Jungle’.
But how do we know that our votes are correctly allocated? How do we know that the production company hasn’t put a massive wager on the long-shot and then rigged the figures so that they win (thus deferring production costs).
There must (I hope) be some independant auditing of these things. So who does it? Who decides who does it? Where can I see the figures?
While I can’t speak for the U.K., as far as I know, in the US there are no independant auditors of so-called reality programming. Here they are seen more as entertainment than as game shows. I know that with the game show scandals of the '50 in the US, game shows have been under greater scrutiny. However, no-one really takes reality shows as seriously. I’d say that the network might oversee any voting, just to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. But there’s no independant verification. And, short of a scandal, I don’t really see the need for any.
I also can’t speak for the UK. In the US, it is handled by the FCC. Their page on contests. There is no prior auditing done. The FCC only acts on complaints it receives.
Phew! For a minute I thought I wasn’t going to get ANY replies!
Maybe its just the fact that I was so upset that the moon-faced window-licker Kerry Mcfadden won the contest over here I wanted to know how it was possible!!! But that’s more of a pit thread than here in GQ.
This year especially a lot of the ‘favourites’ left early which was surprising. I know we have no control over the editing of any show and of course that editing can be used to alter the viewing public’s perception of any particular individual. I just concerned me slightly (for I have too much time on my mind) that there was no way of actually checking
The number of votes - after all a small proportion of the money is meant to go to charity or
How those votes were allocated.
Anyway - thanks for the replies concerning the US - hopefully a UK doper will pass by soon and kick me in the right direction for over here.