Why can't ITV stop fiddling these TV vote type things?

[Loosehead]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91248-1 297418,00.html

Rydian was miles better, only a bunch of tone deaf sweaties would vote for the other guy!

Why can't ITV bare to have a fair and square vote on these things?

[Amunrah]

Def was a fix, I tried to vote for Rhydian over the space of twom hours and could never get through, i couldnt get it logged through interactive either, always busy!

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, its not certain whether it was fiddled yet. I think same difference should have won really, but i think a lot of people feel sorry for the underdog and thats why they get the votes.
A tip for next year, put a bet on the underdog and you will have a great xmas. You could have got 5-1 on saturday morning...

[buildersmate]

If the phone lines were overloaded it impacted all contestants equally. The only ones bleating about it are those preference did not win.

[joannie10]

I was trying to vote for Leon and was busy for ages then it was like i was getting through but nothing happening as did many people i know. I think there has been faults in general with both but of course would only be moaning if Leon had not got through. Things like this happen all the time does not mean it has been rigged just too many people trying to phone at once.

[Quinlad]

Rhydian lost because there was a substantial group of viewers who were in the 'Anyone but Rhydian' camp. So when there were only two left, they voted for Leon whether they were fans of his or not. Rhydian does polarise opinion. For all his singing abilities, there is something incredibly sinister about him.

But ignore all that.

Think about what ITV would stand to gain from vote-rigging:

- Pretty much nothing. I literally can't think of anything.

Think about what ITV would stand to lose from vote-rigging:

- Huge, huge embarrassment if caught.
- A massive fine from Ofcom.
- Zero credibility for X Factor which would mean ITV would probably have to axe its biggest, most profitable show.
- They'd be shooting themselves in the foot by crowning Leon as winner when he clearly has a much much shorter shelflife than Rhydian.

It's a no-brainer. The conspiracy theory here (like most conspiracy theories) is thick.

[Loosehead]

I guess it must just be sour grapes then Quinlad! Perhaps they could make the voting a bit more visible next time, eg with a running total for example. It doesn't make much difference I think they'll both get deals etc and last a year or 2 before falling back to obscurity. I think Rydian will last a bit longer though.

[Quinlad]

Again, though, Loosehead, it's not really in ITV's interests to do that.

I'd expect that they have independent assessors monitoring the telephone votes so that their a$$ is covered.

If they show a running total, they subtract most of the who's-gonna-win drama out of the show. The majority of viewers just want to see who's won. How many of them are going to stay tuned if after 5 minutes they see that 90% of votes are going to Rhydian? They'd turn over straight away and ITV would lose huge swathes of their audience. And upset all of their advertisers.

Besides, they're probably loving the fact that the votes are being discussed like this. It means that people are still talking about the show.

But you're right. It doesn't make the Rhydian supporters feel any happier.

[ludwig]

I must admit I became quite suspicious when Dermot O'Leary said 'There's only a 1% difference in the votes'.

Oh yeah? what are the odds of that - sounds more like a good ploy to get everyone doubling their voting efforts if you ask me.

[Chillum]

Enough of the "tone deaf sweaties" ya ******' moron! See it's pretty easy to make offensive remarks, d!ckhead.

[Loosehead]

If the cap fits........

[Chillum]

oh don't don't be so hard on yourself.

[helpmetoo]

theres history on the x factor,
need to filter the jock vote,

didnt some lumpy bird with dodgy teeth from scotland also win when obvious to all she was hopeless and never to be seen again,

strikes me that a bald tone deaf orang-utang with a serious speach impediment would win if it came from glasgow!

[sp1814]

I was at The X Factor final and I should point out a few things.

1. It wasn't a fix. I assure you that it absolutely and definitely could not have been a fix. The eyes of the regulators are all over television phone votes at the moment. ITV1 execs will not risk another fine to fix a talent show.

2. Why would they fix it? For what purpose?

3. Rhydian screwed up the final song. Shockingly, he sang it flat in places. Leon (whom I've always had no regard for) sang it well.

4. On the final you got to see Rhydian and Leon during the audition phase. Rhydian came across as arrogant (people may have forgotten this). However, Leon's clip would've tugged the heartstrings of many of the key voters (he cried when he got through and he went immediately to phone his mum and he was there all on his own.

All of the above added up to Rhydian losing out to Leon.

Also, Rhydian looks like Max Headroom. I reckon that may have cost him a few thousand votes.

[prattler]

what do you mean the 'jock' vote?the welsh were ****** off
cos their same tactics didn't get the same result.None of them were Leona Lewis but Leon has a likeability,Who wants another classically trained gimp? surely the real point of this show(cough) is to discover the average joe on the street who hadn't already come to the attention of the bigwigs at BMG and just needs some free publicity at the expense of the public, not to mention money skimmed from phone votes? little Leon was a karaoke singer, and the public are getting fed up with Simon Cowell et al dictating who's going to win.LONG LIVE LEON :-)

[nedflanders]

Yeah less of the racist anti scots comments please!!! Just cos we support our own we are being abused. Its not that when the england rugby losers get team of the year cos the english public vote. I still thinkk its a miracle that calzaghe won!!! maybe middle england thought that he was english?

[sydenmal13]

We all know that Rhydian, was without doubt the best singer not only on the night but all through, although it was a disapointing verdict, almost certainly brought about by teenage girls voting for a pretty face,leon seemed like a nice lad and I wish him well. but lets be honest which one of these two chaps is going to be there in five years from now but good luck to them both.