M-Net consults DMSA for Idols South Africa

Another Idols fan will stand the chance of winning a Citroen C1 in the draw that will also include the more than 600 000 delayed valid votes that did not reach them before the cut-off time during the Idols final on Sunday, 3 May.

M-Net Channel Director: General Entertainment, Theo Erasmus, says it has been important for M-Net to resolve all the issues that stemmed from the vote recount as quickly and fairly as possible.

“The viewer competition proved to be particularly tricky as we have to ensure that people who cast legitimate votes since the start of entries on Sunday, 8 March until the competition closed on Sunday 3, May have an equal chance of winning the car now.”

In line with M-Net’s undertaking to give all voters an equal chance, M-Net consulted DMSA (Data Management Statistical Analysis Company). Their finding was that neither a draw including only the delayed votes, nor a draw collating all cast votes during the season would solve the problem.

Prof Paul Fatti, Senior Statistician at DMSA and Emeritus Professor School of Statistics & Actuarial Science, then created a mathematical formula to guarantee that all valid votes cast during the season from the Top 10 phase, also including the delayed votes, will have the same weight when the winner of the car is determined.

The draw will be done next week to coincide with an event during which Idols winner Jason Hartman, will receive his prizes from the Idols sponsors. The handover of Idols winner Sasha Lee Davids’ prizes took place at a media event after the Idols final on Sunday, 3 May.

The technical investigation commissioned by M-Net into the reasons for the delayed receipt of Idols sms votes has not yet been completed.

M-Net will hold a media conference next Tuesday to explain the issues and how the lessons learned will be put to use in future competitions.

Source: www.mnet.co.za