ITV rejects X Factor 'fix' claim by insisting: 'Leon had 10% more votes than Rhydian'

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.

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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.

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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.

"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."

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".