[Red Moon]

X Factor fans complain over phone-in votes

Fans of Welsh baritone Rhydian Roberts claim he was robbed of the X Factor crown last night because the talent show's voting lines were constantly engaged.

The ITV1 programme's message board and Rhydian Roberts fansites have today been inundated with complaints from fans claiming they could not get through to register their vote.

Scottish vocalist Leon Jackson was the surprise winner in the finale, upsetting Roberts – the bookmakers' favourite - and sibling duo Same Difference to take the title.

An X Factor spokesperson today denied there were problems with the show's voting system, although she said some viewers may have had problems with their phone service providers.

But in a year in which broadcasters have been dogged by phone-in scandals, fans immediately suspected foul play.

On the Rhydian Roberts fansite, those who were unable to cast their vote are being urged to email news organisations to complain.

One fan, Emma Newton, wrote: "I tried and tried and tried to vote for Rhydian! And the phone was constantly engaged!"

Another fan, Lisa, wrote: "I tried for 15 minutes to register my vote for you [Rhydian] without success. You were robbed."

Henry1234 said: "I also tried to vote many times for Rhydian and got the engaged tone… That Leon won is a joke - for the first time ever I wont be buying the X Factor single."

On the official X Factor message board, Sally_T85 complained that she could not get through for the last half hour of the show.

"On Rhydian forums I am visiting 75 per cent per cent of members are saying that they couldn't vote because all they got was an engaged tone from landlines. The only way they could get through was from a mobile. I couldn't vote for the last 20-30 minutes of the results show," she said.

However, some Leon Jackson supporters also reported problems getting through to cast their votes.

Sandra Lemetti wrote on the Scottish singer's fansite: "Well done Leon. Tried hundreds of times tonight to get through but only managed a few votes due to high demand."

The X Factor spokesperson said there were some reports of problems with callers whose phone service is provided by Virgin Media, but that this was unrelated the show's voting system.

Source: Daily Telegraph

[Jackie]

No ones gonna ever know if it was a fix or not,because the phone votes are hard to judge because the general public do not see them votes,so jamming the switchboard could of stopped the votes for rhydian going through.

[Sam!]

Oh god, this always happens with reality shows. Happened with BB8 and IAC and is is with X factor

[Captain.Remy]

I was wondering when that type of story would come out ! These are some theories about the fix or whatever, people need to get over it !

[Billy]

Of course there gunna be engaged its the final fgs

[MarkWaldorf]

Some people need to get over the fact that Leon won. I wanted SD to win, I couldn't vote once because it was constantly engaged, yet you don't see me moaning at them coming 3rd.

[Sarah.]

I tried voting for Rhydian a couple of times and both times I couldn't get through.

[Shaun]

Lol Well when I voted, 4 times, for Rhydian the lines were fine. So I dunno

[Tom4784]

I had some troubles getting through to vote for Leon before the lines closed, I suspect it's just because their were a lot of votes so it get jammed, no foul play involved just the limitations of technology i suppose.

[MarkWaldorf]

It's just bitter Rhydian fans moaning because he didn't win.

[Sarah.]

We have good reason to moan if we want. =D

[MarkWaldorf]

Well, Rhydian was 100x better than Leon. But some still moaning aint going to change anything.

[andybigbro]

Leons Lines were constantly engaged when i tried to vote..but that didnt stop me trying and i got through eventually, if the phone is engaged then that means there are people phoninh in. so that means his lines where getting alot of votes..just not as much as Leon

SO rhdian fans get over it

[XxShortyxX]

Lol, oh well, Leon has won now. I didn't vote once, was too busy voting for Alesha and Matt C on SCD

[Red Moon]

I know some of the Leon fans on this site had problems getting through in the last half hour. Some commented about it in the live thread. So I guess it was the same for all the people that phoned.

Given that both acts would have the same number of phone lines, the fact they would have made sure the messages on each phone line would have been the same length and that the call was cut off at the end of the message. Then the fans of both acts would have had the same chance of getting through making the poll fair.

[Retroman]

It doesn't really matter either way...
They're just two men, trying to sing. It's not all that important, and even if a conspiracy was going on in regards to it, I can't say id care.

Though perhaps the people who telephoned for Rhydian would.

They've both shared equal amounts of publicity, though some could argue Rhydian had more, so im sure they both stand a good chance of having successful careers regardless of the positions they came in.

What does matter though, is:

Rhydian: "Thanks for all your votes, I know IT'S EXPENSIVE but..."

Aha ^_^

[Redmond]

I got through on my mobile fine every time. But my Mum tried on the landline and never got through once.

[Tom]

The Leon lines were also constantly engaged. My mum voted for Leon 15 times, but only 2 of those votes were registered.

[CassetteFinger]

Me and my mum tried ages trying to get through for SD and Rhydian. We got through adventually, but everytime i rang the number it just kept beeping cause it was engaged.

[GiRTh]

This always seems to happen. Apparently there was only a few percent in it. Who knows what would have happened if every body had been able to get through.