Stunt Dog Wins Britain's Got Talent, Is Chided For Not Being a Regular Dog

A dog named Matisse and his trainer won the most recent season of Britain’s Got Talent, with an impressive routine featuring a tightrope walk. Well, UK media watchdog Ofcom says the TV talent show misled the public by deploying a stunt dog instead of a regular dog.

That’s according to The Hollywood Reporter:

The tightrope walk prompted a standing ovation from the judges, including Cowell. The dog act drew 22.6 percent of the public’s vote, 2 percentage points ahead of a magician, to win the show’s $383,000 prize. When the trainer the next morning mentioned that a stunt-double dog had performed the tightrope walk, more than 1,000 viewers complained to Ofcom.

They didn’t mean to mislead anybody (?) but it happened, and so they are very sorry:

Ofcom concluded that ITV did not mean to deceive viewers, but ruled the audience was nonetheless misled. “After a detailed investigation, we found ITV broke broadcasting rules by misleading viewers during the series finale,” said Ofcom.

“There was never any intention to mislead viewers,” ITV said in a statement.

Anybody who paid to vote can now get a refund, or request the money be redirected to a charity. Of course, let’s not get distracted from the fact that there’s a dog trainer who managed to train not just one but multiple dogs so well she could get any of them to walk a tightrope on national television.