Correct way to call arbiter

[Alex McFarlane]

Alex will probably disagree with me

Only slightly.

Your basic answer is correct. Both players are being disadvantaged. It should equal out.

I would need to have seen the situation. It is possible that an assistant is trying to help one player by taking a different amount of time to move for one over the other. It is also possible that the assistant was genuinely confused over one move and took longer to play it.

It is common to use an arbiter or other assistant in a match which has reached a critical time period where one of the players has a sight disability. This could also be done in the situation described with the new assistant making the BD player's moves on the normal board.