[Red Moon]

'Robbed' Rhydian snubs X Factor party as probe launched into phone vote after 1000 complaints

X Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts showed his fury at the voting scandal engulfing the show by snubbing the series wrap party in Soho last night.

The Welsh singer is furious after claims hundreds of fans could not get through during the show's final on Saturday, where he lost out to Leon Jackson.

And he left no doubt about his feelings by delivering the humiliating snub to organisers.

The party took place following reports that Ofcom will investigate the row after receiving over 1000 complaints from viewers.

The other contestants, including 18-year-old Leon, attended the knees-up at Studio Valbonne and were joined by presenters Dermot O'Leary and Fearne Cotton, as well as judge Louis Walsh.

But white-haired Rhydian, 25, was nowhere to be seen.

A source said: "Rhydian feels he was stitched-up over the final. He was the hot favourite, and was shocked to hear that many viewers couldn't get through to register their votes for him.

"He's very disappointed and feels he should have won. He didn't feel he had anything to celebrate last night, so thought it best to stay away until an investigation is held into the phone voting.

"It was a slap in the face for the show's producers and has come at a pretty bad time."

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom will now investigate the row after receiving 1000 complaints from viewers.

"They expressed concerns about the operation of the voting and many said they were struggling to get through," an Ofcom spokesman said.

An X Factor spokeswoman denied any voting irregularities, and producers TalkbackThame said the voting bottleneck was down to the volume of calls and insisted the contest was not rigged.

Last night's party was also snubbed by judges Simon Cowell - who is now on holiday in Barbados - and rival judges Dannii Minogue and Sharon Osbourne.

Louis Walsh was quick to boast to guests how he was the only judge who bothered to turn up.

But presenters Fearne Cotton and a dapper Dermot O' Leary didn't disappoint.

And flop finalists Futureproof and Hope, made up the numbers at the decidedly low-key end of show bash.

Rhydian's father Malcolm, 60, revealed the X Factor finalist was left feeling "stitched up" and that the shock result, after the Welshman was the firm favourite to win, was a "fix".

Malcolm said: "Rhyd's not a bad loser but he feels the same as us about the result - and we think it's a fix.
"He believes it's possible he was stitched up. He's disappointed for himself and his fans."

Mr Roberts, 60, added: "Most of Wales couldn't get through."

Leon's mother Wendy Jackson today hit back at claims of voting irregularities.

She told Glasgow-based Real Radio: "I think it's just a lot of rubbish because on Saturday night I had a lot of people texting me they couldn't get through on the lines for Leon - the lines were absolutely jammed.

"I even had one person tell me they had tried 300 times to get through to Leon on the landline and they couldn't get through - so it's not just the Welsh folk that the lines were jammed, the Scottish ones were as well.

"Actually Rydian's mum came up and cuddled me at the start of the show. When Leon won, not one member of his family came up to me to congratulate me after the show.

She added: "I think it's been a fair competition and because Rhydian was the favourite all the way through that's why his family's upset, because he didn't win it."

Media watchdog Ofcom confirmed it has launched an investigation, the latest in a series of probes into phone-in competitions.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said the number of complaints has now reached 1,100.

Net messageboards have been swamped. One fan said: "Rhydian was robbed. For the last three minutes his line was blocked and that had not happened before."

Leon, who is to release his version of When You Believe, ended up with 10 per cent more votes than Rhydian.

Simon Cowell is reported to be signing Rhydian on to his own label. But today Leon defended his win, telling LBC 97.3: "On the night, I just went out and did my best.

"You never know how the public is voting and that aspect is out of my hands... On a show like this, there is always a large volume of calls, so you never know what the truth is. I just hope I did my best."

The Welshman, who started Saturday's show as 1-3 favourite, was beaten by Leon in what bookmakers described as "the biggest shock in reality show history".

Leon's cover of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston's hit When You Believe is now expected to be the Christmas number one.

But fansites and internet messageboards have been inundated by suggestions that Rhydian was the victim of a major "miscarriage" as phone lines were engaged during the final, which was watched by 12.7million.

One fan complained: "Rhydian was robbed in my view. For the last three minutes his line was blocked and that had not happened before."

Five radio stations in Wales have banned Leon's single in protest.

An Ofcom spokesman said: "Viewers expressed concerns about the operation of the voting and many said they were struggling to get through."

Last night an ITV spokesman insisted the result was not affected.

He said: "Phone lines were monitored throughout the night and there were no issues on voting lines.

"We do get a huge surge of calls and depending on phone operators some callers may have experienced an engaged tone or busy message and therefore may have to call back, but these should not be charged.

"Some Virgin Media customers did experience problems because of high call volumes but there were no other reported faults on the lines."

A Virgin Media spokesman said: "We are looking into the matter but have not found anything unusual."

Phone voting on The X Factor has attracted controversy before.

A report by auditors Deloitte into ITV competitions found "serious technical issues" surrounding voting on the show.

For the 2005 final 13.9 per cent of text votes arrived too late to be counted. ITV also admitted overcharging viewers by £200,000 on last year's series, after 1.3million votes were accidentally charged at the wrong rate.

Source: Daily Mail

[Jackie]

Oh thats a shame he missed out on the party.

[Harry!]

I would not go if I was him at the moment...

[GiRTh]

This is a shame. He should have gone to the party.