X Factor reject Ryan Ruckledge claims show is FIXED

Following a huge amount of backlash from the recent Fright Night conspiracy, X Factor fix claims accelerated into overdrive after Big Brother star Ryan Ruckledge claimed a producer offered to get him through to the live finals.

Ryan appeared on the ITV reality show last year, but was axed from the competition following a catastrophic performance at Boot Camp, where Simon branded him “a horror of a human being.”

Making the shock confession, he told The Daily Star: “I was dating one of the producers for the show which no-one knew and I was told that he would be able to get me far in the competition even though I couldn’t sing.

“He begged me to be with him and told me he would get me to the lives because they have an input on what acts go through to what stage.”

However, X Factor bosses have hit back at his shocking claims and strongly denied his suggestion that the show is “fixed”.

A spokeswoman said: “Acts are chosen on the merit of their audition in front of the judges and we don’t believe there is any substance to these claims.”

This isn’t the first time that Ryan has slammed the singing competition as he recently insisted that X Factor producers “egged him on” to get drunk, knowing that it would provide entertainment for the show.

“The producers knew what they were doing putting me through, they knew I couldn’t sing and they knew I knew I couldn’t sing,” he told The Express. “A camera crew was following me from the pool, dripping wet, p***** out of my brains, falling into bushes all the way back to the hotel. They were egging me on to do all sorts!”

The former hopeful, who has since appeared on Big Brother, also claimed that he only auditioned for the show for “a bit of a laugh.”

The show was hit with further “fix” claims following Sunday night’s result show, where the jukebox revealed that this week’s theme would be, by chance, Fright Night to coincide with Halloween.

Amid criticism, X Factor stars and judges have since insisted that it really was just a coincidence, including The Xtra Factor host Rylan Clark-Neal.

“I had the executive producer trying to blow it so it wouldn’t stop on [Fright Night],” Rylan told This Morning earlier this week.

“I even asked Simon [Cowell] if there was something inside it pushing it. There is an empty shell – it’s tatty, the budget didn’t go far with that.”

Fix or no fix, we’re looking forward to finding out which spooky song selections we are (trick-or-)treated to when the X Factor returns on Saturday, ITV1 at 8pm.