After several incidents involving “fake” guests on TV talk shows, the Edinburgh (Scotland) International TV Festival hosted a panel discussion of television executives to talk about the problem. “Fake” guests are most often actors paid to promote a cause, or pranksters who just want to be on TV. Either way, several scandals have resulted, causing at least one show to be taken off the air. The TV Festival’s “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” debate was billed as a “lively, provocative and sometimes raucous look at one of the most talked about issues of the television year - chat show fakery.” During the debate, it was revealed that one of the panellists &√Ǭ£45;- the “researcher for talk show host Jerry Springer” - was a fake.

(c) Reuters