Channel 9
Channel 9 has been forced to issue a denial today after a string of reports that guests at a recent taping of The Voice were held against their will, as taping extended many hours overdue and distressed audience members began to revolt. Things reportedly got so bad that the crowd was booing and demanding to be released, as judges including Delta Goodrem and Boy George endured a disastrously staggered production.
According to TV star Grant Denyer, speaking on his 2Day FM radio show, ‘some terrible things happening around the production’, which is ‘already falling apart.’
‘They were running three hours over and the audience had already been there for nearly nine hours for a record.
‘It got so bad that the audience started booing in the record. When the judges started pressing the buzzers, people were like, ‘Boo!’ They were revolting.
‘The staff had to lock all the doors to the recording studio and they manned the doors and refused to let anybody out. People were trying to storm out and leave and say, “You can’t stop me!” And they saying, “Yes we can!”’
Denyer says that some guests called the police as they became desperate.
‘It got so bad that audience members started ringing the cops. They were calling triple-0 at the exits saying, “I’m being held against my will at Studio 3 in Fox studios at The Voice set.”’
The host claims that security staff stopped people from leaving by blocking doors – something Nine denies.
“The records for the Knockout round did run over, as often filming does, but no one was held against their will and was free to leave as soon as it was safe to do so. The studio doors were not locked nor were exits blocked,” a spokesperson for The Voice said. “Our priority and responsibility is the safety of the audience and crew in a working studio.”
A caller to Triple M’s Kennedy Molloy show said that recording stretched to an astounding nine hours.
‘It was pretty traumatising by the time we finished yeah,’ said one caller, John. ‘It started at 2 o’clock, it was only supposed to go until 7:30pm and at about 10:30pm I walked out.
John said the audience were only allowed to go to the toilet at intervals and we fed ‘Gluten free, shi**y chips.’
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