National Bingo Night (Australian Game Show) - Controversy

Controversy

National Bingo Night achieved a degree of controversy concerning how the game was played and the allegations that the network has not paid winnings claimed by home viewers and audience members.

On 13 November 2007 the Nine Network's A Current Affair said that the show was rigged and the numbers could be easily predicted. It was revealed that the show is actually pre-recorded, and that the play-at-home bingo cards are purposely generated such that most - if not all - players will have cards that are "one away" from a complete winning combination, thus giving players the hope of having the winning card for most of the televised event. This analysis was performed by examining a large number of bingo cards, and seeing that all games shared a common subset of numbers. Disclaimers on the bottom of the play-at-home cards specifically stated that they were not legally considered bingo cards, indicative that the numbers were constructed following the taping. A Current Affair also showed footage about how the ball that came down the tube was not the ball that got picked up by Renee.

Then, on the following day, 14 November 2007, A Current Affair aired an exposé on the show, where a woman claimed she won $100 through the home viewer competition. After completing the claim form on Channel 7's website, and a longer than expected delay receiving her prize, she contacted Channel 7 where they told her that she never registered to claim her prize.

The day after the final, Tanveer Ahmed appeared on Channel 7's Today Tonight to defend the rigging claims. The story ended with Ahmed, in a reference to the show's catchphrase, saying:

On 18 March 2008 the hosts of Seven's Sunrise were ambushed by protesters chanting and carrying placards that claimed "Channel 7 doesn't pay", a reference to the non-payment of winnings to winning National Bingo Night audience members and home viewers, live on air. Host David Koch blamed the incident on A Current Affair, a theory that was lent credence when the same protesters appeared on that night's episode of the program. Both Koch and co-host Melissa Doyle have promised to look into the allegations, but later simply read a prepared statement from Seven Network Management.

There also was controversy in how players can be one away. In episode 4, red card, after the first four numbers were called containing 3 Os and a G, a studio audience player was one away. Another case was in episode 5, red card, after the first seven balls were called out containing 3 Bs, 2 Gs and 2 Os, two studio audience players were one away. (This is possible, as the middle "N" is a free space; BNGO is possible, with only the I-ball being needed.)

In episode 5, white card, one person was one away after six balls were called out (4 Is and 2 Gs, a plausible situation); the next ball called out was N41 – and another six audience members were one away. In these cases, there was no possible way of being one away from Bingo.