Rules ripped up at X Factor

There's hardly a day goes by without one of the tabs suggesting that Simon Cowell Says Opportunity Knocks ("The X Factor") is undergoing some sort of scandal or other - usually along the lines of it all being a stitch-up and in the bag and none of the artists can really sing and it's all Louis Walsh in make-up and wigs.

Today's story is slightly different. The Daily Mirror is reporting the programme has landed itself in Ofcom programme code hot water because of Sharon Osbourne's phone.

Or rather, Louis Walsh's.

During a sequence last weekend when the pair were seen talking on the phone, Sharon's Motorola phone was blurred out to leave it unidentifiable. Louis' Nokia phone, however, was left in the clear and visible.

Guess which company sponsors the X-Factor?

Of course, giving undue prominence to a sponsor's products in the programme is a clear breach of the rules; Ofcom is set to investigate.

ITV's best defence might be to point out that - following the cold chill she cast down the Wal-Mart aisles as an Asda spokesperson - they thought that it was being generous trying and prevent the public associating the Motorola product with Sharon Osbourne.

music sharon osbourne louis walsh x factor