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Old 19-12-2007, 11:02
hiawatha
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Extract from Daily Mail online 19/12/07.

Ofcom swamped by 1,500 calls from Rhydian's fans - but ITV says Leon was ahead by 10%
ITV is facing a further crisis in confidence after 1,500 viewers claimed that the X Factor final was a fix.
Fans of runner-up Rhydian Roberts rang Ofcom to complain that phone lines for voting were jammed during Saturday night's show.

They say it was that alone which allowed bookies' outsider Leon Jackson to triumph.
Voting scandal: Fans could not get through to Rhydian's voting line during the show's final on Saturday
'Robbed' Rhydian snubs X Factor party as probe launched into phone vote after 1000 complaints
The level of complaints about the result is expected to lead to an Ofcom investigation.
Last night, however, an ITV spokesman confirmed that Leon won by a 10 per cent margin.

She said the broadcaster was happy to take the unusual step of revealing the figure to demonstrate the absence of "bias".

She said the margin was 1 per cent when the voting was between Leon, Rhydian and the English duo Same Difference early in Saturday's final, but increased to 10 per cent by the time the final vote closed.
X Factor judge Louis Walsh also stepped in last night to dismiss suggestions of a fix.
He said: "Rhydian is a better singer, there's no doubt about that in my mind, but Leon's last [video clip] when he made an emotional plea to the public probably pipped it for him."

Rhydian appeared to make his feelings regarding the scandal clear by snubbing the series wrap party in Soho on Sunday night.
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.
There have already been concerns about the safety of phone-in voting on ITV.
It was found guilty last month of "widespread and systematic deception of millions of viewers" and an investigation into more than 60 programmes by Deloitte also discovered "serious editorial issues".
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:11
Sazaleeno
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but Leon's last [video clip] when he made an emotional plea to the public probably pipped it for him."
It's funny how VT's have influenced the votings this year. Come on, Leon shouldn't have won, and the fact that it might have been the VT that won it for him is stupid.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:14
yohinnchild
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Same Story... Different thread
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:16
lumpbottom
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Ofcom swamped by 1,500 calls from Rhydian's fans

I'm sure Ofcom will realise that Leon fans couldn't vote either, they're just not complaining.
I think ITV or whoever just didn't have enough lines.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:17
The Spoon
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is it possible that Leon could overturn Rhydian's support?

yes - if SD voters actually voted for Leon - after all, SD were an 'immature' act and Leon's "och, I'm a wee laddie tha' loves me mam" angle could have convinced a few people t vote.


I've just been away from the board for a couple of days for commenting on the relative stupidity of people voting, yet all the enquiries and the reports confirm scandal after scandal. I think that voting is inherently daft in such circumstances.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:30
hiawatha
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is it possible that Leon could overturn Rhydian's support?

yes - if SD voters actually voted for Leon - after all, SD were an 'immature' act and Leon's "och, I'm a wee laddie tha' loves me mam" angle could have convinced a few people t vote.


I've just been away from the board for a couple of days for commenting on the relative stupidity of people voting, yet all the enquiries and the reports confirm scandal after scandal. I think that voting is inherently daft in such circumstances.
I agree and I think the public should respond to these scandals by NOT voting by phone in future competitions such as this.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:37
Reality Sucks
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is it possible that Leon could overturn Rhydian's support?

yes - if SD voters actually voted for Leon - after all, SD were an 'immature' act and Leon's "och, I'm a wee laddie tha' loves me mam" angle could have convinced a few people t vote.


I've just been away from the board for a couple of days for commenting on the relative stupidity of people voting, yet all the enquiries and the reports confirm scandal after scandal. I think that voting is inherently daft in such circumstances.
Well it's true that Leon does seem to be a very lovable guy with not a bad bone in his body who just went in for a talent show and did his best.

A lot of us preferred his best to Rhydian's best - couldn't just be that, I suppose? Nah - too simple an explanation.

Gotta be a fix, only Rhydian's fans couldn't get through (apart from the 3 million odd ones that did get through of course)
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:38
foxy23
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Jeez, lets stop this please!

It would have been the same conspiracy theory if Rydian had won.

Does it really matter?

They both have their own fan bases, so it will be up to the supporters to elevate them to sell records etc.

What will be will be.

We had the exact same conspiracy theories floating around when Will Young rightfully beat Gareth Gates in 2001 - Just because Gareth was the hot favourite!
Sour grapes, if you ask me.

Rydian will probably do better than Leon in the long run anyway.
You don't have to win the show to be successful!
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:52
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ITV could find out within hours what the true picture was.
BT and all other companies keep records of the traffic and volume.
now this is what puzzles me normally when these issues arise BT normally make a statement to say how much traffic was on the lines and how the BT system itself copes with it....they have been VERY silent this time even on the internal forums at BT theres nothing which is very odd.
i still say this all boils down to ITV hyping up battle of the nations they didnt realise this would prompt so many to vote and the lines they had laid on for the final simply didnt cope with the volume of traffic.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:55
lulu g
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... He said: "Rhydian is a better singer, there's no doubt about that in my mind, but Leon's last [video clip] when he made an emotional plea to the public probably pipped it for him." ...
I don't remember Leon making an emotional plea or, indeed, any kind of plea, to the public.
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Old 19-12-2007, 11:59
lulu g
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It's funny how VT's have influenced the votings this year. Come on, Leon shouldn't have won, and the fact that it might have been the VT that won it for him is stupid.
What makes you think VTs have influenced the votings? Louis Walsh has said what he thought might have made the difference - that's a long way from being a fact. There are plenty of other likely reasons why Leon won.
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Old 19-12-2007, 12:06
lulu g
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... It would have been the same conspiracy theory if Rydian had won. ...
I really don't think that's the case, because for weeks we had been fed the notion that Rhydian only had to turn up to win.
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Old 19-12-2007, 12:35
Toxic Lemon
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I really don't think that's the case, because for weeks we had been fed the notion that Rhydian only had to turn up to win.
Fed by whom?
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Old 19-12-2007, 12:51
Reality Sucks
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I don't remember Leon making an emotional plea or, indeed, any kind of plea, to the public.
He didn't - Louis talks such garbage I can't see how he has any credibility. Remember Hope being better than the Spice Girls? One minute Leon has no personality, next minute he's the next Michael Buble. Louis should stick to managing Westlife.
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Old 19-12-2007, 13:01
LazySusan
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The trouble was they never put Rhydian's voting number up until after he sang and they had shown the good luck messages. Then they put his number up and then there was only a minute or so left to vote, no wonder the lines were jammed. I know this because I was sat with the phone in my hand waiting to vote. They may have put it up briefly before he sang the last song but anyone waiting to hear the song first may have got fed up waiting or more likely phoned in the 2 minutes left to vote and got the engaged signal.

They should have had both guys sing the last song, then re-opened the voting lines and then shown the good luck messages, that way voters for both of them would have had an equal amount of time to vote instead of one having about 15 minutes and one 2 minutes at the most. Very unfair
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Old 19-12-2007, 13:07
Lofgrenfan
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The trouble was they never put Rhydian's voting number up until after he sang and they had shown the good luck messages. Then they put his number up and then there was only a minute or so left to vote, no wonder the lines were jammed. I know this because I was sat with the phone in my hand waiting to vote. They may have put it up briefly before he sang the last song but anyone waiting to hear the song first may have got fed up waiting or more likely phoned in the 2 minutes left to vote and got the engaged signal.

They should have had both guys sing the last song, then re-opened the voting lines and then shown the good luck messages, that way voters for both of them would have had an equal amount of time to vote instead of one having about 15 minutes and one 2 minutes at the most. Very unfair

He had the same number throughout the show, as did Leon and Same Difference.
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Old 19-12-2007, 15:43
hiawatha
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I don't remember Leon making an emotional plea or, indeed, any kind of plea, to the public.
It was Louis Walsh that said he made an emotional plea.Apparently when they showed clips between songs then little Leon was blubbering about him and his mum being on their ownand how he would repay her. This is fair enough but Louis Walsh said it influenced the vote.
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Old 19-12-2007, 19:38
LazySusan
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He had the same number throughout the show, as did Leon and Same Difference.
I know that and had voted earlier but phoned one of my daughters in between so couldn't last number redial and didn't write the number down.

It wasn't actually me I was talking about though it was the floating voters and those that were waiting to see who sung the best version of the song, if they hadn't noted the number they would have to wait until the number came up, which was about 2 minutes or less before the lines closed.
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Old 19-12-2007, 19:55
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It was Louis Walsh that said he made an emotional plea.Apparently when they showed clips between songs then little Leon was blubbering about him and his mum being on their ownand how he would repay her. This is fair enough but Louis Walsh said it influenced the vote.
It did influence the votes. The fact Rhydian didn't blubber through his VT.
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Old 19-12-2007, 19:59
ZipGypsy
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The trouble was they never put Rhydian's voting number up until after he sang and they had shown the good luck messages. Then they put his number up and then there was only a minute or so left to vote, no wonder the lines were jammed. I know this because I was sat with the phone in my hand waiting to vote. They may have put it up briefly before he sang the last song but anyone waiting to hear the song first may have got fed up waiting or more likely phoned in the 2 minutes left to vote and got the engaged signal.

They should have had both guys sing the last song, then re-opened the voting lines and then shown the good luck messages, that way voters for both of them would have had an equal amount of time to vote instead of one having about 15 minutes and one 2 minutes at the most. Very unfair

Not the case. When the voting reopened, both numbers were on the screen.
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Old 19-12-2007, 20:02
chinchin
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I don't remember Leon making an emotional plea or, indeed, any kind of plea, to the public.
I don't remember that either. The investigation will demonstrate the voting was sound. Anyone of the three acts could win and the bookies often get it wrong.
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Old 19-12-2007, 20:48
Liz G-S
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He had the same number throughout the show, as did Leon and Same Difference.
Except it was probably a number of new voters voting at this stage who may not have written the number down. There was a surge of votes after the elimination of Same Difference which took Leon to 10% ahead from a 1% difference, they haven't actually said who was ahead at that time. Going by Simon's words and Louis' to some extent, it was clear that Rhydian had lost before he even sang the first note.
Louis thinks it was the video which must have been very moving because Brian, Simon and Louis all said that, after seeing it, they felt that Leon needed the win more. Of course Louis doesn't know. It could have also been Same difference fans. But there was a reason why it changed so much so quickly. It wasn't that he sang the last song better because the decisive voting took place before Rhydian had even sung the first note.
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Old 19-12-2007, 21:04
gertie
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He had the same number throughout the show, as did Leon and Same Difference.


Like Lazysusan I didn't vote until it was down to the two, and sat waiting for Rhydians number to be displayed, when it finally was shown I couldn't get through

I wonder how many other viewers did the same
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Old 19-12-2007, 21:11
gertie
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Not the case. When the voting reopened, both numbers were on the screen.

For brief period both numbers went up ( I only know that because I sky + the show and have looked back on it) after that all we were shown was Leons number that was a good quater of an hour not showing Rhydians number.
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Old 19-12-2007, 21:14
x0x-gg4l-x0x
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I know I have posted this on another page, but Rhydians lines where constantly jammed, my mate voted for Leon and she got through straight away, and two other of my mates voting for Rhydian didnt get through. And if the phone being jammed is to do with so many votes being made at once its unable to allow anymore, you would think that would mean Rhydian was getting loads of votes, since I could only get through just as the lines open, after that I tried again for a hour and could not get through for the whole hour, so I just think its weird him lines where jammed up more than Leons becuase there where to many votes coming through, and Leon got more votes.
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