I know it was cheesy and some of the acts were dreadful, but it can’t be right that the contestants in the BBC Show The One and Only were not paid. When I think of that really nice guy, who performed as Frank Sinatra, not being paid – he worked so hard and came in second. He must have lost out on his day job. I just hope he gets lots of bookings now to make up for Endemol’s stinginess.

Endemol has hit back at accusations from actors’ union Equity that it should have paid contestants who took part in BBC1 tribute act show The One and Only. Equity questioned the legality of not paying contestants at least minimum wage, as the show has required acts to waive their protections under working time laws, as well as assign all rights in their performances to Endemol, which makes the show through its subsidiary Initial.The union contrasted this approach with BBC1’s in-house talent shows How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, in which all finalists had industry-standard contracts with pay rates well above minimum wage.  

You’re probably asking “Why does he care?” and I’ve probably blown the credibility of this blog – but I read this in Broadcast and thought – this isn’t right. So now I’ve had my say.