The X Factor: nearly 1,000 complain over 'fix'

Cheryl Cole's refusal to vote on Sunday night's The X Factor sparked close to 1,000 complaints to Ofcom, it emerged today. The media regulator said this morning that 903 viewers have contacted it about the incident, which it has been claimed was an attempt to fix the show to ensure contestant Katie Waissel remained in the contest. The X Factor host, Dermot O'Leary, last night revealed he was following orders to allow Cole to opt out, a decision which kept Waissel in the show because two of the other three judges voted in her favour. If Cole had voted to remove Waissel the judges' scores would have been tied and the contestant with the fewest public votes would have left the show. Waissel would have gone as she received the fewest public votes. The contentious decision saw Treyc Cohen become the latest contestant to leave. "My producer said if Cheryl decides to opt out we go to majority vote," Dermot said at an industry event on Tuesday. "She did decide to opt out and then she said, 'Come back to me and we'll do deadlock'. But you can't do that because it devalues the other two judges' votes. It wouldn't have made sense." Nearly 17 million people watched The X Factor results show on Sunday, making it ITV1's most successful Sunday evening of the year so far. Complaints about the show are expected to rise in the wake of media coverage claiming bosses rigged the result, an accusation the producers of the show deny. Two of Cole's acts – Waissel and Cohen – found themselves in the bottom two following Saturday night's show, but the judge refused to choose which one she wanted to send home. If she had opted for Waissel, the show would have gone to "deadlock", with public votes deciding which act got the boot. Cohen's father claimed the show was "a fix" and "a freak show" following Sunday's result, and called for an investigation into why Cole was allowed to opt out of voting. The Sun today claimed that O'Leary, who has hosted the ITV talent show for three years, admitted the vote was rigged. O'Leary, 37, took to Twitter this morning to clarify his comments. "Just thought I'd clear up the Sun story. Bless them. Wrong end of the stick, as always. No 'plot' as quoted ... We never know which way the judges are going to vote," he said . • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".