Cowell's decision on Sunday night to back ‘Jedward' over Welsh singer Lucie Jones has also resulted in Ofcom receiving 50 complaints.
Celebrity publicist and chairman of The Corporation Gary Farrow said: ‘Simon knows what he is doing. He knows what to do to drive viewers and keep advertisers happy. 3,000 complaints out of millions of viewers isn't bad and they will probably still watch the show next week.'
He added: ‘Simon is a shrewd operator and Sunday night's decision will have no impact on the show's reputation. The winner is always the one with the most talent.'
Public interest in the programme does not seem to have been affected, with the results show receiving a new high of 16.6 million views on Sunday night. The story has made the front page of The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror today.
PR and communications manager for The X-Factor Sue Wilks denied Cowell's decision was a PR stunt and said: 'It is not a fix as has been suggested. We are trying to get out the message that the judges do not know the result of the viewer vote or voting patterns.'
Slice MD Nadia Gabbie believes the decision was made to improve ratings. She said: ‘The whole programme is based on manipulating our emotions and this was just another great twist and turn in the show. I'm sure that Simon Cowell's motivation was also to look after his own acts as well, but the fact that so many people are ‘incensed' enough to complain shows how well the programme has managed to penetrate into the nation's consciousness.'
Frank PR co-founder Andrew Bloch added: ‘Simon Cowell knows the script he has to write to get ratings up. It shows how successful he has been to evoke such a reaction from the public.'
