It's all very well for those under 18 to get permission before they call a premium phone line, but maybe the adults working on various TV shows should also seek permission before they go ahead and open the lines in the first place.

All hell kicked off recently when the apt. named 'You Say, We Pay' game show on Richard & Judy asked viewers to keep calling in despite a contestant already picked to participate in the lame quiz. Since then further investigation has opened a can of worms regarding phone-in competitions predominantly on the ITV network.

If you are a night owl you will be familiar with the awful ITV Play shows such as The Mint. Where a dumb retarded presenter e.g. Brian 'Gayboy' Downing asks mentally deranged viewers to call in to answer such an easy question even a dribbling coffin-dodger 70 year old pensioner could get right! This appalling TV show thankfully suffered a domino effect casualty from the investigation and the last show, aired last week had a the message 'we hope to be back very soon' as the titles rolled.

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway has 'taking away' a few pounds from it's viewers illegally and is having a separate investigation as well.

Over at the Beeb as Wogan picks up a few thousand notes for pretending to care for disadvantage kids Saturday Kitchen has cooked up a lethal recipe from it's premium-rate phone lines as a competition gave a lucky budding chef the opportunity to appear on the next show. Which was incidentally filmed straight afterwards!

BBC and Five have finished such cases and have agreed that they both comply with the guidelines, but Channel 4 have had to bring in an independent third-lawyer.

Premium-rate lines are big business, ITV Play brought in £20 million profit alone! John Cresswell is the broadcaster chief operating officer. He said,

"It is critical that our viewers have absolute confidence in the services that we offer. We believe that all programs currently on air are compliant."

At the time of writing this report the semifinal for Dancing On Ice was in jeopardy because of the phone votes.

Other TV shows with phone bill predicaments are Loose Women & Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. What do you think about all this? Have you been conned entering a phone-in? Are you worried that you may have been affected? Call us on 0891 555882268458. Calls cost £3 a minute and all the profit will go in Terry Wogan's cold-hearted pocket!