Show apology over poll rigging

BLUE PETER presenters Konnie Huq and Zoe Salmon had to apologise to viewers yesterday about the rigging of an online poll to name the show’s cat.

Huq held up Cookie, the children’s show’s new kitten, which has been given the original name viewers wanted for the show’s pet.

Salmon stood next to her, and cradled the cat.

Huq told viewers that Cookie was “a brand-new kitten, only 13 weeks old, and we’re all in love with him”.

Salmon said: “You may have already seen or read in the news that Cookie was the name that actually should have been given.”

The presenters said that instead of calling the animal Cookie, as viewers wanted, the production team changed the winning name to Socks.

Salmon told viewers: “So today we had to say sorry, and what better way to say sorry than with this cute thing.”

The apology came in the first edition of the new series of the iconic BBC One children’s show.

Editor Richard Marson was reportedly sacked over the poll. He was also at the helm during Blue Peter’s first, most serious deception, in which a child visiting the studio was asked to pose as a phone-in contest winner.

The BBC was fined an unprecedented £50,000 (€71,382) by media watchdog Ofcom.