[Red Moon]

JUNGLE FINAL VOTE 'FIXED'

TELLY bosses were reeling last night over a jungle fix storm.

I’m A Celebrity fans claimed they could not vote for loudmouth Janice Dickinson.

One told the Daily Star: “I tried to call all night and couldn’t get through. It stinks.”

Viewers claim 52-year-old Jan’s number was engaged throughout Friday night’s live final – while telly rival Christopher Biggins’ line was always available, despite supposedly getting more calls.

Many are convinced the ITV voting systems “messed up”. And they claim panto dame Biggins should not have been crowned King Of The Jungle.

Show insiders told the Daily Star that, despite the bookies having roly-poly Biggins as favourite, he was in fact trailing model Janice in the voting all week in the run-up to the final.

However, that strong support evaporated at the last minute – with the spotlight now thrown on the telephone system.

Furious fans claim thousands of votes may have gone missing. Janet Daley, 36, of Wolverhamp-ton, called the Daily Star to say: “My family wanted Janice to win and were voting all week.

“But on Friday the votes kept being rejected. Sometimes it’d be engaged, other times the line would go dead.

“Talking to friends, they had the same result. A couple said they called in for Biggins to test that line – and got through first time.

“I tried all night for Janice and I don’t think a single one got through.”

On websites, fans alleged ITV “rigged” the show as Biggins, 58, has a deal in the pipeline to appear in their new show Star Traders.

One forum poster called Margaret, on gambling site Betfair, moaned: “It took me 20 attempts to finally register a vote for Janice. Something is not right if it was a problem throughout the night.”

A fan using the name Mugptr said: “I tried both lines, easy on one but not on the other – no need to guess which one.

“I know it was obvious on face value who ITV wanted to win because of future contracts.”

Other fans think TV bosses edited the show in Biggins’ favour so that early favourite Janice would not look so good come the final.

He is now due a £1million payday after taking the crown ahead of Janice and hunk Jason “J” Brown, 31, who came third.

SparkleBabe said on the website Digital Spy: “We have been subjected to pro-Biggins propaganda on ITV for the past week, not to mention the countless luvvies coming out of the woodwork to support him.

“To put it bluntly, I do not trust ITV when it comes to phone votes and I am convinced they fiddled this.”

Forum member Reality Sucks added: “I feel it must be fixed but it probably wasn’t – just manipulated in Biggins’ favour.”

Music mogul Malcolm McLaren walked out at the beginning of the series claiming it was a fix.

The Godfather Of Punk, 61, threw show chiefs into crisis last month by claiming they had already picked their winner.

He said: “I think they fix it and they know exactly who’s gonna win and who’s gonna lose.”

Jungle hosts Ant and Dec, both 32, apologised last month after Saturday Night Takeaway and Gameshow Marathon were caught up in an £8m phone line scandal.

ITV chiefs last night strongly denied the jungle fix claims. They said there were no problems with the phone voting and staff had received no official complaints.

A spokesman insisted the show was “editorially balanced” – and not edited in Biggins’ favour.

She added: “We have taken action to ensure our interactive services are completely robust. The phone lines were monitored to ensure fair and transparent operations. Biggins won fair and square.”

Source: Daily Star