This Morning has axed the possibility for viewers’ household bills to be paid for as prizes in their Spin To Win phone-in game, following a backlash on social media.
Monday’s edition of the ITV daytime show saw the return of the popular game, which usually includes cash or holidays as prizes.
However, many viewers were saddened to see that an “energy bills” prize had been added to the wheel amid the ongoing energy crisis, with any player who landed on it having their bills covered by ITV for the next four months.
Many branded the move “dystopian” and compared it to a scene from Black Mirror, with 170 eventually complaining to Ofcom about Monday’s show.
This Morning doubled down the following day by adding all household bills – including “mortgage, petrol, food or energy” – as part of the prize.
Alluding to the backlash, presenter Phillip Schofield remarked at the time: “Wonder how much of that they can complain about online?”
During Wednesday’s Spin To Win segment, it was revealed that “energy bills” and “household bills” had been removed from the wheel, with only different amounts of cash up for grabs as prizes.
While Phillip did not reference this change on air, he did say: “We’ve got prizes up to two thousand pounds which you can spend on anything.
“You can put that towards your energy bills, it could be your supermarket bills, it could be petrol, it could be gin! Whatever you fancy.”
HuffPost UK has contacted This Morning for further comment.
This Morning airs every weekday from 10am on ITV.