Is Britain’s Got Talent a fake and rigged? BGT is now under investigation over the dog controversy.
British media regulator OfCom said Monday that it will investigate Simon Cowell talent show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ over controversy surrounding a stunt-double dog used in the most recent season’s finale.
The show on the U.K’s ITV crowned dog Matisse and trainer Jules O’Dwyer as this season’s winners.
The team final act saw the dog balance cones on its head, jump around on its hind legs and perform a tightrope walk, erupting the crowd into a standing ovation from the judges, including Cowell. The dog and its trainer drew 22.6 percent of the public’s vote, 2 percentage points ahead of magician Jamie Raven, allowing for the team to win it’s $383,000 prize.
However, the next day O’Dwyer said that a stunt dog named Chase performed the tightrope walk, saying that Matisse was “a little bit afraid of heights.” That led to complaints, boycotts, and producers apologizing for “not making it clearer” that Matisse had been replaced for part of the act.
The BBC reported earlier this month that the number of viewer complaints of OfCom were over 1,000. The watchdog said the complaints will be reviewed before a decision will be made to investigate the company.
“We assessed a number of complaints about the welfare of the ‘talking’ dog act on this show but won’t be taking the matter forward for investigation,” said an Ofcom spokesman. “We’d previously assessed complaints about this issue and had received information from ITV about the steps it had taken to ensure the dog was appropriately cared for.”
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