[dollyrocker]

Some 11,500 text votes for the Dancing on Ice final were not counted, Vodaphone has admitted.

The mobile phone operator realised the texts, meant to contribute to the Saturday night show, were not delivered until Monday morning.

It is to refund the cost of the votes to all the customers affected and said in a statement: "These votes represented only a small minority of votes cast by Vodafone customers. All other texts were successfully delivered.

"The Vodafone customers who were affected received a message to tell them that the vote was too late and Vodafone UK will this week be automatically refunding those customers the cost of their text."

However, ITV has said the extra texts would not have affected the result on the night - a win for former England rugby ace Kryan Bracken.

"These votes represent less than 1 per cent of votes cast on Saturday night," said a spokesman. "Vodafone has assured us that this was an isolated problem and they will be giving their customers a full refund."

from digital spy