The X Factor Final

There has been a lot of judge back-biting going on in the press in the run up to this final featuring Steve, from Simon Cowell's camp and G4 from Louis' team.

Having won the toss, Louis chose Steve to go on first and he went on and sang his personal choice of Higher and Higher, the Jackie Wilson song. It was a very good version and he was joined by a choir. G4 performed the operatic classic, Nessum Dorma, which was a risky move, but it is a well known tune and the audience seemed to enjoy it.

In between musical numbers this week, there were lots of montages of the finalists' best bits as well as footage on the other contestants and the judges' most memorable auditions (won by a chicken plucker, who came on to sing Tragedy).

For their second numbers, the acts' respective mentors chose the songs they felt their act performed best. Simon chose Smile for Steve, which he did well again, and Louis chose Bohemian Rhapsody, which had been so popular for G4 the previous week, and which they again did well.

Milking the show for all it is worth we saw messages for the acts' families and friends before eventually seeing them perform their last songs. Steve did Phil Collins' Against All Odds, a song I really like, but Steve found a bit emotional, and struggled with at the end. Sharon laid into him and called him 'fake' and claiming she didn't like his 'Mr Humble' act and 'victim' role. Steve looked mystified. It was obvious that Sharon did not like Steve. Simon just stated that it was not fair to get personal at this stage of the competition. G4 did a cover of Radiohead's Creep which was fantastic. The judges comments were less het up this time.

For the second show we saw more summaries of the first show and reviews of the series. Eventually the winner was announced: Steve. He was delighted and struggled to sing again as he seemed to be half singing, half laughing.

In the paper this morning, Sharon reckoned that she had contributed to his victory, unintentionally, as people didn't like her comments and thus voted for Steve. It seemed to me that Sharon had a problem with Steve, and went about it all the wrong way. It was a shame to tarnish the final like that.