Elusive: Viewers have been asking where The Voice presenter Holly Willoughby is
But a chorus of fans of BBC1’s The Voice are now asking: Where are the presenters?
Or, in particular, where is Holly Willoughby, who is pocketing £400,000 for the 14-part series or £28,000 per episode?
On Saturday night Miss Willoughby appeared for just 25 seconds, meaning she was being paid at a rate of £67,200 a minute or £1,120 for each second she was seen.
Last week Miss Willoughby, 32, who co-hosts with Radio 1 DJ Reggie Yates, was seen for just 50 seconds of the 70-minute programme and the week before she was on screen for just under two minutes of a 90-minute show.
Fans of The Voice, which has cost the BBC £22million to screen two series, have taken to Twitter to question the value for money she brings.
‘Are Holly and Reggie even in #TheVoiceUK this year...?’ asked viewer Simon Cossons.
Another, Caeshia St Paul, enquired: ‘What’s the point in Holly and Reggie being on TheVoiceUK? I haven’t heard them say 1 word between them today.’
Miss Willoughby, a former lingerie model who is reported to have built up a £10 million fortune through her work as a presenter, was lured to the BBC last year to help drive ratings for The Voice, a reality format the Corporation bought to take on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.
When the two programmes went head to head last week The Voice was trounced in the ratings, pulling in a peak audience 7.7 million compared with the 11.4 million for Britain’s Got Talent, which features Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, comedian David Walliams and Alesha Dixon as judges.
Last night in a bid to avoid another embarrassing showdown, the BBC moved the starting time of The Voice from 7.45pm to 8.20pm so there was a shorter crossover time with its big rival, which starts at 7pm.
A BBC source said Ms Willoughby’s role in The Voice would increase when the show went live next month.
More appearances: BBC sources say that Miss
Willoughby, pictured with fellow presenter Reggie Yates and judges Danny
O'Donoghue, Tom Jones, Jessie J and Will.i.am, will feature more
heavily when live shows start
Trounced: The Voice was beaten in the ratings by Britain's Got talent last week and shifted its airing time this week