The mirror has for the second day in a row, published an article with criticism of the BBC for the Making Your Mind Up show. Today, the British tabloid newspaper claims that the BBC have been criticised for conning the British public by Eurovision Song Contest �chiefs�. Both the BBC and EBU have been quick to issue strong denials.

In today’s ‘Exclusive’, The Mirror published that "Eurovision Song Contest chiefs last night rapped the BBC for duping viewers in the British final. They admitted the BBC broke the rules by not letting viewers know that winning entrant Scooch had two backing singers hidden offstage".

esctoday.com contacted the EBU to ask if the story is true and have been told very clearly that it is not.In a strong denial from Svante Stockselius of the EBU, he claims:

"This is totally false. The Mirror called me yesterday and I informed them that the national selections can have any kind of rules they like. The Eurovision Song Contest rules is a concern for Helsinki. We have not commented the Scooch performance at all."

Although the BBC managed the final in accordance with EBU regulations to ensure that all Making Your Mind Up performances were in line with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU does not set any rules for a national final other than stating that the selection process must be conducted transparently. The BBC were clear that the television show, Making Your Mind Up, would be used to select their entry for the upcoming contest in Helsinki, and rules andvoting procedures were published on their website in accordance with the rules.

esctoday.com spoke to the BBC and have been told by them that theyare happy that the competition was managed correctly, and despite the confusion as the result was announced, the show production and televoting passed without incident.

Scooch won the United Kingdom ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest and will represent the country in the final on 12th May.