After the recent furore over altered vocals in X Factor audition shows, insiders have claimed that the technology has also been used in live shows in the past.

Fans have complained in their thousands after the voice altering technology was used during Saturday night’s launch show, to adjust the vocals of hopefuls such as Gamu Nhengu and the better half of G&S.

However, sources have suggested that the use of auto-tune technology is common place on reality TV shows and that in the past, vocals have been tweaked to make finalists sound better, or worse, to the viewing public.

Casting doubts on the integrity of the ITV talent show, a member of the production team told The Mirror:

“It was an open secret on the show that Auto-Tune was used to both make contestants slightly more on key – or off – key. On some occasions it was used to such extremes that while the contestant may have sounded like they were hitting the right note, the backing band had gone right out of tune.

“It has been used for a long time on the show both for the auditions and the live shows.

“The problem is that you have got a lot of contestants who sound equally good, so how do viewers at home make a judgement on who to pick.

“So Auto-Tune has been used to make good singers sound even better and not so good singers sound much worse.

“Obviously that would result in a much more entertaining show where some singers sounded hilariously bad, constantly missing notes, and others were amazingly polished. We all thought it wasn’t right to use that kind of equipment on a talent contest as it gave viewers a misleading view of the singers’ ability. It was a bit of a con.”

Simon Cowell has now reportedly taken action and banned the use of auto-tune from all future episodes, but will that be enough to restore viewers faith in the show? We’d love to hear your thoughts, you can leave your comments below.