Britain's Got Talent has found itself in the doghouse after the television regulator found that the show had misled viewers through the use of a second 'stunt' dog by the winning act in the talent show.
Jules O'Dwyer and her dog Matisse won the show in June, but it was later revealed that another dog, Chase, performed the tightrope walk section of the act.
Viewers were outraged by the apparent deception and 1,175 complaints were made to the British television regulator Ofcom.
Today Ofcom said that while ITV didn't intend to deliberately deceive viewers, it found that they had been "materially misled" nonethleless by failing to be informed exactly what they were voting for.
ITV have now said they will refund disgruntled viewers who paid to vote on premium phonelines for the winning act or donate money to charity.
In a statement, the broadcaster said "The Britain's Got Talent production team apologised at the time for not making it clearer to the judges and viewers at home that three dogs were involved in the final performance.
"There was never any intention to mislead viewers and in their decision Ofcom said they 'have no reason to believe that there was any intention to deceive viewers that the tightrope walk actually involved a second dog'."
More than 13 million viewers in the UK watched O'Dwyer and Matisse become the second dog act to win Britain's Got Talent, following Ashleigh Butler and Pudsey in 2012. Voting figures showed revealed that they won by just 2%, ahead of magician Jamie Raven.
