Updated: Brookstein not included on 'X Factor' site

The first ever winner of The X Factor Steve Brookstein has not been included on the show's updated official site.

In a selection of videos titled 'Winning Moments' on the ITV1 site, there are clips of the other five champions, Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson, Alexandra Burke and last year's winner Joe McElderry.

Fans of the show on the DS forum have suggested that the move signals Brookstein being "written out" of the programme's history.

Forum member dexydal said: "I think it is absolutely right to exclude him. He has bad-mouthed The X Factor and Simon for sometime, in a vile, foul-mouthed way.

"If someone had done that at a place of work, would you expect the company to include them in a promotional video? I think not."

Teenagermartyr disagreed, commenting: "I understand that he's been a bit of a four-letter-word and has refused to cooperate with the show, but excluding him from this is a bit silly and infantile."

Brookstein released a number one single and album after picking up over 6 million votes in the 2004 X Factor final. However, after splitting from Simon Cowell and Sony he failed to continue his early chart success. In recent years, he has been vocal in his criticism of the show, the judges and acts including JLS and Jedward.

However, an X Factor spokesperson had denied that Brookstein is being removed deliberately from the show's site, claiming that the absence of his winning video was "a technical issue and not a personal one".

"We only launched the new X Factor website yesterday and the videos we have put on there are the ones we could easily transfer from previous series," said a rep.

"Steve's video will take longer to appear because it was from the first series and we can't easily place the video of his winning moment on the site, but it will be there. This is a technical issue and not a personal one."