The BBC's 7-million baht Phuket beach party

[buksida]

State-supported British Broadcasting Corp is footing the 10-day, 150,000-pound (7.24 million baht) bill of a film crew that spent its time in Phuket "partying on the beach and drinking".

The partying was based at the Kalima Resort and Spa in Phuket, headquarters for the team during their Thailand stay.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is financed by British taxpayers, including through a special tax on every TV set and radio sold.

According to a report in The Telegraph of London, the 15-person crew was in Thailand on a sensationlist story about teenagers on their first holiday abroad.

But the crew decided that the planned "Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents" show wasn't worth doing, after all.

The premise of the show was that British parents allowed teen-aged sons and daughters to fly to Thailand, thinking they were going on their first holiday alone. But in fact, the parents and BBC crew flew to Phuket as well, with the express purpose of spying on the young people.

"With 10 days left before filming for the next documentary started, the crew decided to spend their time partying, spending their time on a yacht and in bars," the newspaper reported.

The Telegraph said BBC executives defended the 7.24-million-baht layover.

"BBC bosses insisted the group had not broken BBC guidelines and they had continued to work on other material," the newspaper continued.

The crew used social media to document their own partying. At one point, producer-director Blake McGrow posted a message that says, "Not much to film at the mo, so spending time relaxing down the beach! So yeah, it’s going well."

The Sun newspaper said the show was scrapped when one of the teenagers discovered the plot. A BBC spokesman quoted by The Telegraph denied that filming had halted.

"There was a break in filming but the team continued to work on other material," a BBC spokesman told the newspaper.

The resort's web page says the cheapest room at the resort this week is 3,600 baht a night.

Source: Bangkok Post

[stevedom]

that's a blatant lie ..plenty of rooms under 1000 baht per night!