I am very concerned with a statement given to "The Sun" attributed to a spokeswoman from X Factor, which I presume is Simon Cowell's TV Production Company SICO.

I have just contacted ITV as this is a serious matter if the viewers where told alleged "LIES" to try and obtain more premium phone votes, by being told it is NECK AND NECK! - how could 2 Million votes gap, if True? be that case. It is a serious matter that both OFCOM as the regulator and the ITCA should look into.

It may be just a throw away line to give more credence to Steve, but whoever said this has made a very serious comment.

We deserve to know the truth, or no further voting competition will ever have the confidence of many of us.

J

To be fair I don't recall Kate saying it was neck and neck on saturday.
She did in previous weeks.

This is probably because Steve was miles ahead each week, and those behind were close to each other.

See this thread about voting

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...d.php?t=175291

I thought Kate did when she went over to the two seperate dressing rooms? - sorry I did not see the other thread.

It annoys me though if we are told un truths just to get extra calls.

J

They have no obligation to tell you the number of votes difference, and they will claim that with such a number of votes, that it was neck and neck because so many people have voted on the night that the difference could be made up. They are hardly going to say, 'Stop voting - the ugly blokes with the good looking frontman are already screwed.'

The figures have been released, and the only people you should really pity are the millions of people who chose to vote for either of the Butlins acts on offer.

Ratinho, you say "the figures have been released" So that I can get it right here, is that the correct and indeed true situation, and if so, where have they been released?

X FACTOR winner Steve Brookstein was kept away from judge Sharon Osbourne at the after-show party — for fear of sparking another row.
The pair stayed at separate ends of the room for the glitzy wrap bash in London’s Mayfair.

Organisers feared a repeat of the backstage clash during last Saturday’s grand final when Sharon branded him “crap” and “fake”.

A show insider said: “Steve and Sharon were kept far apart. She spent a lot of time with her family while Steve was with his record company representatives.”

Last night ITV bosses revealed that Steve won the show with a landslide 5.4million votes compared to 3.1million for opera quartet G4.

A spokeswoman for the show said Steve won by such a massive margin that Sharon’s comments could not have made a difference to the viewer vote.

I have asked ITV to clarify the matter, and the Duty Officer has informed me my request has been passed to the london Talkback press Office who dealt with this release and they will get back to me.

It was interesting today at PM's Question Time, someone asked Mr Blair about these premium lines and more to do with connection with the internet, and part of his answer said something along the lines" We must be careful not to damage the Million Pound TV Voting Premium Lines Industry - a couple of weeks ago, we had Record of The Year, based on premium line voting, followed by X factor, the same and then finally I'm a Celebrity, yes again premium line voting, we must be all idiots these days, as we don't know if we are beint told the Whole Truth!

J

You'd have to find out what the votes were at different time during the evening to prove a fraud. It's possible maybe that when KT said it was too close to call it might have been. Maybe the pattern did not emerge until later in the evening. Maybe Sharon's outburst did have a great effect? Without figures and times and a chance to see voting patterns before and after Sharon's outburst, we'll never know.

I don't think she made much of a point about how "close" is supposedly was. She usually makes a big deal out of it, by ramming the fact down the audience's throats at every opportunity, often quoting actual percentages between acts. What is "close" or "neck and neck" is subjective really. I doubt saying that one act had almost double the number of votes than the other one would have doen much for voting revenue.