Burnett qualified for the 2008 UK Championship, losing 3–9 to his practice partner Stephen Maguire in the first round. Bookmakers ceased taking bets on the exact scoreline after a surge of bets for that result. In frame 12 Burnett had a chance to make the scoreline 4–8, missing a straightforward final black by so much that BBC analyst John Parrott suggested that an amateur player would be unhappy. The BBC's Clive Everton commented that the circumstances of the final two frames merited investigation. Everton said in commentary "An independent inquiry should be conducted by snooker people with knowledge to appreciate the relative difficulty of shots. The last two frames should be studied particularly closely."