Big Brother must pay £40k for phone vote farce

Big Brother bosses have been slammed for misleading viewers over telephone voting after evicted contestants were allowed back into the house.

And the two premium rate phone firms behind the show have now been landed with more than £40,000 costs following the probe by watchdog Icstis.

More than 2,600 viewers complained after it was announced that Big Brother housemates Nikki, Grace, Mikey and Lea would be returning to the show and would be eligible for the £100,000 prize.

They had already been kicked out by the public, who paid premium rates this summer to text and call in their votes via UK firms iTouch and Minick Ltd. But despite the rap, no viewers will get a refund.

Icstis, the premium phone line watchdog, said the "unprecedented number of complaints, combined with the undoubted strength of feeling shown by the complainants, clearly indicated that voters genuinely felt that they had been misled".

The two firms have been ordered to pay the "substantial" costs of administering the inquiry. The embarrassment comes just a day after the show was slammed by the advertising watchdog over a competition to find housemates.