[Red Moon]

Rhyd row rocks X Factor chiefs

ITV bosses were rocked last night after Ofcom demanded all their information on the disputed X Factor final voting.

Thousands of complaints were made about the phone vote system after hot favourite Rhydian Roberts was beaten by outsider Leon Jackson on Saturday.

Viewers and many Sun readers claim the phone poll was a fix. More than 2,400 angry fans complained to the TV watchdog about the vote and demanded an inquiry.

They claim that when they tried to vote for Rhydian they constantly got an engaged tone.

The Sun’s own poll showed Rhydian, 25, was the runaway winner with 14,982 votes while Leon, 18, scooped only 5,535.

Yesterday gutted Rhydian broke his silence and blamed his defeat on a technical fault.

He said: “It’s obvious there was a technical fault on the night, and it might have affected all three competitors. I was disappointed. I shed a tear.” ITV say Scot Leon won fair and square.

Ofcom’s demand for information was revealed in a letter to Culture Secretary James Purnell.

It said it had also asked ITV for the full findings of its Deloitte report into problems with participation-TV on programmes such as Saturday Night Takeaway.

Failures

The broadcaster was slammed for not publishing the full report.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards wrote: “The Deloitte review publicly identified seven programmes or series where failures occurred (Soapstar Superstar, Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Ant and Dec’s Gameshow Marathon, I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, X Factor, Dancing On Ice and The British Comedy Awards).

An ITV spokesman said: “We will co-operate fully with Ofcom but we are confident any investigation will show Leon was the rightful winner.”

Meanwhile, Rhydian has received a letter of support from PM Gordon Brown. His mum Angela Roberts said: “Rhydian said it was a very nice note wishing him well.”

Source: Daily Mail