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TVNZ said it makes nothing from Dancing With The Stars voting but is refusing to reveal exactly where the money goes. The broadcaster has reacted angrily to calls from former contestant Georgina Beyers to announce what proportion of each 99 cents vote goes to celebrities' charities.
TVNZ executive Andrew Shaw is reported to have said the former Labour MP should "stick to being a bad politician". But yesterday Beyers, who appeared in the first series, said viewers had a right to know and the secrecy even extended to contestants.
"I don't meant to be niggly about this kind of thing, but it's a fair call."
TVNZ spokeswoman Melanya Burrows said the state-owned enterprise had always been up front about how money was divided.
"TVNZ takes nothing," Burrows said. "There are charges from the telecommunication and vote-counting companies but how much is commercially sensitive and confidential."
The show has raised $1.1 million for charity over the past three years, she added. But the figure has been steadily declining, from $468,868 in the first season to $347,051 in 2006 and $288,532 last year.
Viewing figures are also down. According to AC Nielsen, last Tuesday's series opener was watched by 720,700 people, compared to 785,300 viewers at the same stage last year - a drop of 64,600.
In 2006, 779,600 people tuned in to the first episode, while the first episode ever attracted only 542,600 viewers in 2005.
The show remains one of TVNZ's most-watched, attracting an average audience of 876,000 people last year.
Meanwhile the latest season has seen a new role for one celebrity.
Television and radio personality Louise Wallace, who has previously been a host and contestant on reality series Celebrity Treasure Island, is a field producer.
She films broadcaster Martin Devlin and his partner Lauren de Boeck as they rehearse their routines.
"I'm quite out of my comfort zone, and am by far the most inexperienced camera operator so it's a bit scary," Wallace told the Herald on Sunday. She said the couple would be "great" on Tuesday, adding that Devlin has "great rhythm".
