CTV scrambles to cover after Junos car gaffe
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 | 5:12 PM ET
CBC Arts
CTV and Insight Productions are offering use of a new car for one year to a Saskatoon couple who got caught in a mix-up at Sunday's Juno Awards ceremony.
However, the couple told the National Post they have refused the offer and are going to take the matter to court.
Vanessa Thomas and her boyfriend, Steve Ryde, were angry after being told they were winners of a convertible sports car in an announcement before the music awards, only to be told later that they'd won nothing.
The couple said they felt used after being asked to sit in the car throughout the Juno ceremony, which was produced by Insight.
"You almost had to stand on the seats to see anything," Ryde was quoted as saying. "I feel kind of burned, to be honest."
John Brunton, executive producer of the Junos, said he feels sick about the mistake and announced Tuesday the couple would be offered a car for a year.
The network was heavily criticized by Juno watchers over the incident.
CTV had originally said the incident was over with a private apology to the couple. The network had blamed the misunderstanding on Farley Flex, a music producer and Canadian Idol judge, who announced the couple had won a car.
Seat numbers called
Thomas and Ryde were first approached by a CTV producer who asked them to sit in the car, then Flex called their seat numbers and told the crowd at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon that they had won a red Pontiac Solstice.
Thomas said they remained in the car, despite the poor visibility, because they thought they'd won it.
But later in the show, a CTV producer came to the car to tell them there had been a mistake and they had won only the right to sit in the car, the couple said.
Show personnel had instructed them not to leave the car empty in case it appeared on television.
The couple, who stood and waved during the awards presentation, said they felt they had been used as eye candy.
Ryde said he felt "embarrassed and humiliated by the incident."
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