Producer blamed for Sarah Murdoch's wrong winner announcement on Australia's Next Top Model

Producer blamed for Sarah Murdoch's wrong winner announcement on Australia's Next Top Model

Australia's Next Top Model Amanda Ware (L) and Kelsey Martinovich with Sarah Murdoch, who announced the wrong winner to the model talent show.

Host Sarah Murdoch & finalists Amanda Ware and Kelsey Martinovich during the announcement of the winner of Australia's Next Top Model

A PRODUCER of Australia's Next Top Model, not host Sarah Murdoch, is to blame for the wrong contestant being named as the show's winner, Foxtel and production company Granada say.

A major blunder on one of the country's most watched reality TV shows led to the wrong victor being announced - sparking outrage against Australia's Next Top Model.

In a statement today, the two companies said they had conducted an investigation and taken responsibility for the bungle.

"It has been confirmed that it was human error, and not a technical glitch, which caused the incident," they said.

The statement comes three days after the embarrassing gaffe in which Murdoch announced Sydney girl Kelsey Martinovich, 19, as the winner during the live finale, but moments later had to correct herself - the actual winner was 18-year-old Gold Coast contestant Amanda Ware.

Earlier this week, Murdoch told A Current Affair that the mistake occurred when she was forced to go with earlier information because of technical difficulties during the announcement.

But Foxtel's executive director of television Brian Walsh said inquiries had revealed that neither Murdoch nor technical problems were the reason for the error.

"We have confirmed that the fault was a human communications error to the host Sarah Murdoch and that an assumption had been made by the producer which has now shown to be incorrect," he said.

Walsh said allegations that it was a publicity stunt were also unfounded.

"Live television can be unpredictable and people can be forgiven for making a mistake," he said.

"What isn't acceptable, though, is any suggestion that the host, Sarah Murdoch, was at fault or that this was a publicity stunt.

"Nothing could be further from the truth and we apologies to Sarah for any embarrassment it, and the subsequent publicity, has caused her."

He said they had also apologized to Ware and Martinovich.

Granada Productions managing director Leonie Lowe said the person responsible for the error had "conceded the mistake" and personally apologized to Murdoch.

"The show's finale was a flawless piece of television up until that last moment when one producer simply got it wrong," she said in the statement.