Simon Cowell 'may use deadlock again'

Simon Cowell would be willing to take the judges' vote to deadlock yet again in a future episode of The X Factor, according to a report.

The music mogul has faced strong criticism for causing an even split in Sunday night's sing-off verdict. His decision resulted in Welsh singer Lucie Jones being eliminated rather than twins John & Edward when producers reverted to the earlier viewer vote.

According to the Daily Mail, Cowell is undeterred by the recent viewer backlash and has no plans to change his approach.

A source said: "Until rules are put in place to ban deadlock from the show, which is not very likely, the judges will continue to use it. There has been public outcry, but none of this is in breach of the show's rules."

Sunday's controversial result was the second time that Cowell had forced a deadlock situation in this series. A similar outcome caused Rachel Adedeji to be voted off at the beginning of the month.