Ofcom find 'Britain's Got Talent' did mislead viewers with dog switch

ITV have announced they will refund thousands of fans who paid 50p to vote for Jules and Matisse in the 'Britain's Got Talent' final after Ofcom decided viewers had been misled.

Jules O'Dwyer's win caused fury in June it was revealed the day after the final that she used another dog as part of her winning act. As the act that was voted for was 'Jules and Matisse' Ofcom found that producers made a series of decisions that misled viewers as it wasn't clear that a stunt double dog had been used for the tightrope section of the act.

More than 1,100 people complained to Ofcom after it emerged that Matisse had not performed the tightrope stunt (instead Chase was used) and after a detailed investigation the watchdog decided today that the show had breached broadcasting rules.

Jules and her dogs Chase and Matisse, PA Images The failures listed by the Ofcom investigation included:

1. Producers keeping the name of the act as 'Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse', with no mention of Chase, giving the impression Matisse would do all the tricks

2. Presenters Ant and Dec introduced the performers as a 'double act'

3. The BGT set design and the timing of exit and entrances of the dogs in the final contributed to the belief Matisse had performed all the tricks

4. Chase did not appear alongside Jules O'Dwyer, Matisse and Skippy after the performance.

An Ofcom spokesman said: "We accepted ITV had no intention to deceive the audience. However, the presentation of the act did not make clear to viewers that a central part was performed by a second dog.Broadcasters inviting viewers to vote using premium rate numbers have a particular responsibility to ensure the audience is clear about what they are voting for. By failing to do so, we've concluded the presentation of the act was likely to have materially misled some people."

Simon Cowell admitted he 'felt a bit of an idiot' when it emerged afterwards another dog was involved, however it was decided that Jules O'Dwyer and her dog Matisse could keep the £250,000. O'Dwyer will still perform at the Royal Variety Performance in November as it is deemed not to be her fault that viewers were misled.

ITV have chosen to voluntarily offer refunds and will only apply to those who paid to vote for the winning act.

A spokesman said: "In the light of this adjudication, ITV and co-producers Thames and Syco Entertainment have agreed that viewers who voted for the winning act by a paid voting route may wish to seek a refund of the cost incurred in voting, or may wish for the entirety of those costs to be donated to charity, in this case the Royal Variety Charity, which already receives 15p from each phone vote."

A message on the ITV website regarding the refund, said: "For avoidance of doubt, viewers who voted by a paid route for any other act in the final of BGT 2015 (ie other than the winning act) are not eligible for a refund or to request donation of a refund."

Watch the controversial winning performance here:

• Ofcom
• The Buzz