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GMTV has set aside £35 million to refund viewers who called its premium-rate lines with no chance of winning competitions.

Executives have apparently identified 25 million people who may have phoned and entered after winners were already picked.

Bosses are also planning to hand out an extra £2.5 million in prize money as a goodwill gesture and are donating £250,000 to Childline, according to the Daily Mirror.

Presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shepherd told viewers of Wednesday's show they could call in for refunds.

A spokeswoman explained: "We have decided to err on the side of caution and make more people eligible for refunds than were actually excluded from the competition. This is to ensure no one is left out.

"We didn't make £35million profit from this, more than half of that has been spent on production costs, prize money and on the phone provider.

"But we will refund the full amount, and we want to make it as simple as possible for viewers to get their money back. We feel we are doing more than other broad casters to encourage people to claim."