Chuckling away here at seeing Simon and Cheryl fall at the last hurdle

Hail winning judge Dannii Minogue, so pleased she managed to stop Simon and Cheryl

Very deserving winning judge but in all honesty Matt the dreary winner of a pretty poor and unfair series

Just pleased the manipulation backfired right at the end and Simon's creation didn't win and that Cheryl didn't get the hat-trick

Ok, I will put my hands up and say I don't think Matt will be remembered in a few months time and even now I have completely forgotten his winners song as it was that dreary and forgettable

Think this series for me is right down there amongst the more forgettable, and hopefully next year the show will be less manipulated as the public have seen right through it this year

I reckon Rebecca will go far.

Just heard from Xtra Factor on who won each show:

Matt - 8!!!
Rebecca - 1
Mary - 1

So I was right then, Mary had a huge start after week 1

Hopefully she will sign up with someone who will treat her with the respect she deserves

Unlike her mentor who just couldn't be bothered to spend ANY time with her and basically treated her like dirt all because her little pet went home

I love Matt's winners song. Usuallt get pop dread, but Biffy Clyro? I love them, I love the song and I love Matt's version. Such a better singer than Joe McElderry, and such a better song than The Climb. No Facebook campaign has really gotten ahead of steam, so I won't be surprised to see Matt as Christmas number 1. Deserved winner, and I was pretty shocked to see him come in the top 2 every week on Xtra Factor. Brilliant stuff from the public!

Rebecca a very deserved second, proving that her mentor was wrong to lavish so much attention on Cher and Katie and singing beautifully throughout the competition. I hope she gets a recording contract, because I think her voice is unique and fantastic.

One Direction were woeful, and to see them finish 3rd made my night. My flat mates were actually quite crushed, whilst I was there just giggling away to myself in a corner. Truly fantastic. Their version of Torn, whilst being good vocally, was very much the same as everything else they've done. The staging wasn't exactly innovative either. Just standing on a raised platform are we fellas? We ain't seen you do that yet have we?

All in all, a cracking final, and hopefully Matt and Rebecca go on to have successful careers.

Well this series was the best yet in my opinion for talent! Any of the last 4 would have been a worthy winner I think and it was so close to call tonight! I'm sad Rebecca didn't win, but I think she will go on to do better than Matt, as has happened so often in previous series. Hope they both do well, and I hope One Direction go on to have a great career as well!

Slightly off topic - but my low attention span got me thinking about Britains Got Talent next to come, then how there are plans to have a Worlds Got Talent. Which lead me on somehow to X Factor vs. American Idol (since I don't know any other "Idol" spinoffs or winners).

If we did have an X Factor vs. American Idol, who would win? Leona or Kelly? Odds on an American to win considering the population of the country? Or could someone like Matt or Lee Dewyze upset the odds somehow? Just a random train of thought I had really. I'd watch something like that for sure.

Here's the vote percentages for the whole series.

http://xfactor.itv.com/_uploads/userass ... te2010.pdf

Well, looking at that...just shows how popular Matt was since Week 2!

Mary got the head start but lost steam halfway through

I'll put this in graphs later this week like the last two years - but the immediate finding is that Mary was, indeed, robbed of a place in the final. If she'd made it there, then I think she'd have come third ahead of One Direction with the older crowd more likely to vote in the final...!

Also, Rebecca rallied on Sunday, and I know Davey said there were phone problems voting for Matt, but if that was an attempt to stop him, it was too little, too late. It was Matt's to lose as early as mid-November, once it became clear Mary was a specialist ballad singer, and hence unable to cross over beyond her demographic once Matt put in consistent strong performances. He did look like losing it at Beatles week, but that was the only close week at the top in the last six; once he stopped oversinging, he killed off the contest.

I likened Rebecca to Stacey, but she was more like Alexandra, steady mid-table early doors, emerging as clear contender in November. She actually overperformed in the final, completely against my hypothesis, and ought to thank Stacey for detoxifying the Single Mum from Chavville label. It was Cher who was like Stacey, one stand-out performance but unable to retain a fanbase after that. Interestingly she was bottom in Beatles Week despite another ballad, and Wagner was third-bottom so a double elimination was possible but could only have taken out one of him and Katie, and Cher would have gone. Hence it didn't happen.

Can I be that cynical? Look at last week. Yes I freaking well can.

YES YES YES Well done Matt

YEEEEEEEEEES!!!

The best man won, well done Matt! Fully deserved!

well done matt im pretty sure rebecca will be getting snapped up even louis will good show especially with my favorite boys/ men TAKE THAT plus they were on stricly aswell on sat night and sunday ......

SO pleased Matt won, some justice from a pretty awful series. The show's just got so blown up with its own self-importance over the years and personally I think the format is looking a bit tired now (secretly, that's probably how Cowell feels as well given he's off to America next year, and reportedly will not appear on our version, but no doubt still coin in the profits...). We might well argue it was tired when Leona Lewis won, practically the best possible winner.

Whatever, it's time for a series to end when it gets to the levels of manipulation and unfairness that we have seen in this series - complete disrespect of Wagner by Cheryl especially, needless over-lavishing of praise to Katie, tour exclusion for Treyc, Mary being robbed of a place on the final... I could probably go on. I know they're trying to make entertainment, but at whose expense, and if essentially making fools of contestants who have worked hard throughout the competition classes as 'entertainment', than as a nation we should be worried. But, disturbingly, we're not. The issue is that making fools of people has become the norm now, ever since the arrival of Big Brother in 2000. Why can't we have saturday night tv like Noel's House Party anymore, at least that made fools of people in a definitively harmless way, whereas this leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Another issue is the predictability, you can often tell who will end up in the final (I think a lot of us got the top 4 right), so given there are so many supposed 'hard' decisions at judge's house and even boot camp, I think maybe a 'heat' structure might be better, bit along the lines of Britain's Got Talent. Although in truth, I think the format is broken already. Too bad it's been commissioned until 2013, although hopefully no Cowell next year will kill it off. But I doubt it.


Sorry to be all negative! But I genuinely wish all the finalists the best of luck in securing a record deal, and hopefully Matt will get something out of this, probably my favourite winner since Leona!

I'm quite surprised that I haven't been complimented on how well I did with my predictions this year

Looking back at my predictions in October, I predicted Matt would win so a feather in my cap for this year and only the second winner I have got right in either X Factor or American Idol

And I also predicted Dannii would be the one to stop Cheryl getting the hat-trick and voila....

Shame my other predictions were so off course though

I also agree with StatsMan, Matt is my favourite winner since Leona too...and I think I might just have to buy his single to help ensure he does get the Christmas Number One!

(I feel so dirty after deciding to do this )

I must be the only one to not be happy with this one!

We all saw the CD last night - and for me, that was the first time and the last time aswell.

Still standing by my opinion that One Direction should've won!

*Shouts and screams at Matt*

Me too, and I've never thought of doing that, but it was just so great!

Well, I don't see any Anti-Facebook campaigns this time...guess this shows that the public definatly got what they wanted so no problem for Matt to reach Number one here.

I'm also tempted to get his Single as well, just so I can listen to his Week 5 song