Australia's Next Top Model voting handler denies hands in winning top model mixed-up
Australia's Next Top Model phone voting handler defended their polling methods following the wrong announcement of the winning top model. Be.Interactive said that the vote was closed at the correct time and the correct winner was given to Fox8.
"There were no technical problems with Australia's Next Top Model voting and the vote was closed at the correct time and the correct winner was delivered to Fox8," said Be.Interactive managing director Lara Thom.
Australia's Next Top Model host Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong winner for the Fox Television's talent search. Murdoch initially announced Sydney's Kelsey Martinovich as the season six's winner, and later admitted a mistake after Martinovich had already delivered her acceptance speech.
It turned out that the 18-year-old Gold Coast contestant Amanda Ware, was the winner, as voted by the public through phone voting method handled by Be.Interactive
.Murdoch said: "It was fed to me wrong... 'This is what happens when you have live TV folks, this is insane, insane, insane."
But Be.Interactive begged to differ. Through its managing director Lara Thom said that they would never compromise the outcome or allow their system to be manipulated.
"All votes recieved by Be.Interactive prior to the close time were processed and counted. A secondary internal audit on the votes was conducted on Wednesday morning and the outcome remained the same. Be.Interactive take the vote and the final result very seriously and would never compromise the outcome or allow the system to be manipulated."
Foxtel had accepted the explanation provided by the show's producers that Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong winner due to a "communications breakdown."
"Foxtel is not blaming any individual, and certainly not Sarah Murdoch, as some reports have suggested. That is not true. Sarah dealt with a very difficult situation with grace, dignity and professionalism," said Brian Walsh, Foxtel executive director of television.