Fix Factor: Amelia announced as winner before voting closed

Another blunder by ITV bosses led to speculation that the broadcaster had fixed the vote to decide which one of four X Factor rejects would win the right to return to the programme.

Amelia Lily was announced as the winner of the public vote an hour before phone lines closed.

Fans took to Twitter after they spotted a video on the website of Scottish ITV (STV) which they believed showed Amelia Lily, 17, had won the public vote even though fans were still being urged to pay for telephone votes.

The video showed clips of Amelia from earlier rounds with a report proclaiming her the winner. It said: ‘Amelia Lily is back in The X Factor after winning the public vote tonight.’

There was also a statement posted on the website that added: ‘As Dermot O’Leary read out her name, mentor Kelly Rowland jumped to her feet screaming as Amelia Lily looked stunned.’

Fan Erica Davies tweeted: ‘Oops apparently X Factor website’s already posted news about Amelia winning the vote.’

The public vote did not close until 9.15pm but due to a power-cut and technical problems the winner was announced by accident almost an hour earlier.

X Factor producers themselves recognised the blunder at just after 9pm, saying on their official Twitter profile: ‘Voting is still open for your favourite act to return!! A video was just released by mistake! #toomanytechnical difficulties keep voting.’

STV last night said it had accidentally uploaded four videos to its website at the same time declaring each of the contestants a winner.

A spokesman said: ‘The STV web team prepared stories regarding each contestant in anticipation of the result and due to a technical hitch, all four stories went live on our website. We apologise.’

Amelia triumphed in the vote over James Michael, 2 Shoes and Jonjo Kerr. The pink-haired teenager gave a rousing version of Queen’s The Show Must Go On.

Last night’s show began 15 minutes late after a power failure at the BT Tower in London.

Millions of viewers watched old footage of The X Factor and were confused as to what was happening.

When the actual show finally aired, host Dermot O’Leary said: ‘Apologies for coming on air later than planned for technical reasons beyond our control. It’s going to be some show. Let’s get it started.’

Dermot explained later in the show that: ‘It was a power cut – just a little power cut – at the BT Tower in London.’

An ITV spokesman said later: ‘The problem, which was caused by a power failure at BT Tower and was outside ITV’s and the producers’ control, was resolved as quickly as possible. We apologise for the ­disruption to programming.’

A BT spokesman said: ‘There was an unusual power spike this evening which disrupted services from the BT Tower for a short time. We are looking into the circumstances behind the outage.’