BDSM RTV NEWS!!!!

08 january 2009


Television quiz show escapes punishment over dominatrix forfeit


Source: www.3news.co.nz 3 News NZ - Auckland,New Zealand


The sports quiz show Game of Two Halves has escaped censure by the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) over a segment in which a losing "team captain" was put in stocks and whipped by a dominatrix .


The show, currently off air, pitched two teams, captained by sports personalities Marc Ellis and Matthew Ridge, against each other with the threat of a "Studio Forfeit" punishment which would be dished out to the losing captain.

At the end of an episode shown in August last year, the losing captain was placed in stocks having lowered his trousers to await the entrance of a woman dressed as a dominatrix.

She whipped him several times across the buttocks before he was released from the stocks and made to drop on all fours to be whipped again.

A Blenheim woman complained to the authority that the scene was "disgusting and breached standards of good taste, decency and violence .
In its defence, broadcaster TVNZ said the show was rated Adults Only, screened after 9.30pm and its audience was familiar with the style of humour and material it featured.

TVNZ said the punishment was intended to be humorous and the captain was clearly amused by the "light-hearted whipping".

It may have been fortunate for TVNZ that the authority disagreed on the last point.

"If he had displayed enjoyment at being whipped by an `erotic entertainer', the authority is of the view that the broadcast would have displayed elements of sexual violence that would not have been acceptable in the context of this programme," the BSA said.

"However, it was obvious the losing captain was very uncomfortable and not at all amused by what was occurring."

The Authority labelled the segment "distasteful and gratuitous" and said the whipping administered was "not playful or mild".

However, it acknowledged the intention was to be funny and given the show came with a warning and screened late in the evening, the BSA decided upholding the complaint would "unreasonably restrict the broadcaster's right to freedom of expression".