Former TNA personality Todd “Bubba The Love Sponge” Clem was pulled off the air a few week’s ago in Florida after being accused of possible ratings tampering for his radio show. Billboard reported at the time that Nielsen was investigating the claims of ratings tampering in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market, where Bubba’s show once aired.
Now, Clem has admitted to the tampering. According to the complaint, a mutual friend of Bubba’s arranged a deal with a listener to manipulate ratings in the Tampa area. Clem paid the person 300 per month (with bonuses of up to $400 monthly if certain goals were met) to manipulate the ratings. Bubba gave the person instructions to avoid detection while also not listening to key rivals radio shows.
Clem is now being sued for tampering with the ratings.
Opie and Jimmy of Sirius XM recently spoke the incident and then played the audio of Clem’s press conference of him admitting to tampering. You can listen to them discussing the case here:
