Oh, this is all good fun. Media regulator OfCom has now received over 1500 complaints from fans of unsuccessful 'X Factor' finalist Rhydian Roberts who claim they were unable to vote for the singer in the final phone poll because their calls to the vote line number always got an engaged tone. And as an increasing number of print media began to question the legitimacy of the 'X Factor' voting system, even Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan joined in, revealing he had tried to vote for Welsh boy Roberts but had not been able to get through to the voting lines.
As previously reported, OfCom have said they will investigate whether the phone vote that led to Leon Jackson scoring a surprise victory in the pop talent show this weekend was conducted appropriately. ITV maintain that, while their phone system was very busy during the final vote, there were no problems or cock ups, and that while some callers inevitably would not have got through, that problem would have equally effected those voting for all finalists, and so would not skew the vote. They have also said that while voting for Roberts and Jackson was close during much of the final vote - there was only 1% in it at one point - in the end Jackson won by a 10% lead. The broadcaster concluded that Jackson had won "fair and square".
They're probably right of course, but that hasn't stopped hundreds of Roberts fans blogging, ranting and formally complaining, which is [a] very amusing and [b] very interesting because what it shows is that the public's trust in TV bosses has really slumped since it was revealed just how many dodgy rip off phone ins there have been in recent years. ITV, of course, scored something of a PR coup regarding the whole phone in rip off scandal by quickly organising an independent investigation into phone in practices after the first phone in cons were revealed. After that more attention was given to the cock ups over at the BBC - mainly because it's a bigger story when a publicly owned broadcaster deceives its audience. But in reality ITV's phone in crimes were much more serious, and the latest 'X Factor' debacle suggests that bosses there have a lot more PR work to do if they are going to earn the benefit of the doubt off their viewers. And that means more than banning the Comedy Awards from being aired because comedians there were likely to make fun of the broadcaster's phone in failings.
Anyway, back to 'X Factor', and the families of Roberts and Jackson have now got involved in the story. Robert's dad Malcolm has told the Sun that while his son doesn't want to be a bad loser, he is concerned about just how many of his supporters couldn't place their vote. Malcolm told the tabloid: "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". Despite Roberts Senior's comments, Rhydian's uncle had previously said the singer's family didn't want to get involved in the dispute, telling reporters: "we don't want to sound as a family churlish or that there's any sour grapes".
On the other side of the debacle, Jackson's mother was keen to tell reporters that she felt her son had legitimately won the pop contest, adding that she knew many people who had tried to vote for her son who had also got an engaged tone - ie that the struggling 'X Factor' phone system would have affected Jackson as much as Roberts. She told Scottish radio station Real Radio: "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".
Ah well, word has it Roberts is about to signed anyway, and could enjoy as much success as winner Jackson. Though he won't have the privilege of getting this year's Christmas number one, of course. Though for a brief moment yesterday we thought Jackson might not be getting the Christmas number one either, when an early week sales chart put current number one, Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy, at the top of the pack. But Music Week has since reported that the Official Charts Company has said the Melua/Cassidy single topped that midweek chart because of "data reporting issues" and that Jackson's version of 'When You Believe' is actually "comfortably ahead". So that's alright then.
PS: Another interesting feature of the whole 'X-Factor' debacle is that one finalist came from Wales and the other from Scotland. I can't help thinking that has helped give this story legs - it being much easier to rally the Welsh and the Scots behind their respective representatives than had one of the contestants been English.
PPS: And what has 'X Factor' host Dermot O'Leary got to say about all of this? That he'd rather the Killers' Christmas track 'Don't Shoot Me Santa' be Christmas number one. Where's your loyalty O'Leary?