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Print This StoryPhone Snafu Has Local Resident Wanting To 'Get Out'
Calls For ABC's 'Celebrity' Get Misdirected To Family's Home
POSTED: 6:12 p.m. EST February 24, 2003
MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A Madison Township family has been unwillingly dragged into ABC's new reality show, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here."
NewsChannel5's Joe Pagonakis reported that hundreds of people across the country are accidentally ringing the family's phone.
The ABC show has placed 10 pseudo-celebrities in the Australian jungle, and viewers are asked to call in and vote as to which celebrity is to face uncertain danger each night.
Marina Rimes (pictured, left) and her family didn't know anything about the show until it hit the air late last week. That's when their phone started to ring and ring, and Rimes was forced to play secretary.
In fact, every night since the show started, the phone rings for three hours straight.
"At first it was something to laugh at," she said.
Rimes' caller identification was left smoking, so she kept a log of the hundreds of phone calls from viewers who thought they were calling the TV show.
The Rimes family received little help from the phone company.
"Basically, there was nothing they could do, because it wasn't in their phone area (or) their coverage," she said.
As the show entered its fourth consecutive day on the air, the Rimes family decided to contact the nuisance call hot line. So far, the people there have not been able to do anything about the hundreds misdirected calls.
NewsChannel5 called ABC's programming department looking for answers. Ellen Gonzales, the show's publicist, said she hopes to have the problem taken care of by Tuesday night.
"I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" can be seen on NewsChannel5 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday.
NewsChannel5's Joe Pagonakis reported that hundreds of people across the country are accidentally ringing the family's phone.
The ABC show has placed 10 pseudo-celebrities in the Australian jungle, and viewers are asked to call in and vote as to which celebrity is to face uncertain danger each night.
Marina Rimes (pictured, left) and her family didn't know anything about the show until it hit the air late last week. That's when their phone started to ring and ring, and Rimes was forced to play secretary.
In fact, every night since the show started, the phone rings for three hours straight.
"At first it was something to laugh at," she said.
Rimes' caller identification was left smoking, so she kept a log of the hundreds of phone calls from viewers who thought they were calling the TV show.
The Rimes family received little help from the phone company.
"Basically, there was nothing they could do, because it wasn't in their phone area (or) their coverage," she said.
As the show entered its fourth consecutive day on the air, the Rimes family decided to contact the nuisance call hot line. So far, the people there have not been able to do anything about the hundreds misdirected calls.
NewsChannel5 called ABC's programming department looking for answers. Ellen Gonzales, the show's publicist, said she hopes to have the problem taken care of by Tuesday night.
"I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" can be seen on NewsChannel5 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday.
Copyright 2003 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
