Channel Nine has booted their controversial show The Briefcase from primetime after being bombarded with complaints.
The social experiment has experienced disastrous ratings after being dubbed ‘the most unethical show ever’ by angry viewers, forcing the network to bury it in a 9.40pm positioning.
The premise of the show sees sees two ‘deserving’ families given a briefcase filled with $100,000 cash, then told their have the choice to keep the money or give some or all of the cash to the other ‘struggling’ family. Neither family is aware until the end that they have also been given the same choice.
However, viewers have questioned just how deserving some of the people chosen actually are, and have slammed the network for being ‘cruel’ and ‘exploitative’.
Though Nine hasn’t commented on the reasoning behind the time change, several of the families involved have spoken out about being duped into starring in something very different than expected.
Indeed, Channel Nine’s Head of Programming and Production, Andrew Backwell, has confirmed underhanded methods were at play when it came to securing participants.
‘We told people we were doing a show called Making Ends Meet, in which we were going to come and speak to them about their financial situation and provide some financial advice,’ he explains. ‘Deceit was part of my arsenal. What’s wrong with deceit if there’s good to come from it?’
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