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Recap: X - Factor Finale Part Two, And The Winner Is

By Ian Cullen Dec 12, 2010, 23:04 GMT

Winner- Matt Cardle - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" World Premiere - Arrivals - Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square - London, UK © Landmark / PR Photos

After last night’s elimination of Cher Lloyd it was a matter of deciding the winner earlier tonight, and the gloves were off.

The show opened up with all the acts singing with some members of ‘Take That.’

The actual competition opened up with Matt Cardle singing the Katy Perry song ‘Firework’ and he did a fairly good version of it. Added to this his voice sounded more stronger tonight.

The song earned him a standing ovation by all the judges who all commented on him having a great performance and saying he had a great recording voice, and Simon agreed with my view that he sang better than in the first round of finals, which were last night.

Second up was One Direction who sang the song ‘Torn’ by Natalie Imbruglia. Yet another slick boy band like performance from them. Which is all right if your into Boy Bands, but my preferences aside they all sang well.

Louis Walsh said that they could potentially be the first band to win the competition, and the other judges all pretty much said that regardless of whether they win or not they’d still likely sell records. Of course, Simon was as biased as ever saying in so many words that they’ve worked hard and deserve to win.

Next up was Rebecca Fergusan who sang ‘Sweet Dreams’ by Annie Lennox. It was a pretty good rendition of the song starting off at a slower tempo and building up.

Louis Walsh said Rebecca was living proof that nice people could make it in the music biz and urged all those in Liverpool to vote for her. Simon said it was a brilliant song choice and a stunning performance. Cheryl Cole, who is Rebecca’s mentor said that she really shone and did it all by herself.

At this point in the proceedings there was a break to show a montage of all the worst 2010 auditions, which was followed up with them all performing ‘Caught In A Bad Romance’ by Lady Ga Ga.

This sounded not too far removed from awful. Though surprisingly we seen the return of Chloe Mafia, who courted controversy when it was revealed that she was a Working Girl, but more surprising was the fact that she was there with the failed auditionees despite the fact that she made it as far as boot camp whereas none of the others did. That said, she wasn’t particularly a great singer anyway, but not as bad as the others in this group.

After the not-so-musical interlude it was time to announce the act that had finished in third place, and that act was One Direction, which was somewhat of a surprise given that they have been the bookmakers favorite for the past few weeks. Though that had been turning in Matt Cardle’s favour.

This said I was happy that the voting public voted for the two strongest singers in the competition, and left us with a sing off between Rebecca Fergusan and Matt Cardle, who both have been overall the most consistent throughout the competition.

Simon Cowell said he was gutted for the band, but added that it is just the beginning for them.

Now it was time for the remaining two contestants to go head to head with what will be the X - Factor winners single. Essentially a song of their choosing, which is a change in the rules from previous years where the winner's song is chosen for them.

First up to sing for the final time was Matt Cardle, who did a version of the Biffy Clyro song ‘Many Of Horror.’ This song pretty much showed off much of his vocal range, and again got a standing ovation.

The judges comments were largely positive, and Cheryl Cole felt it was the best performance of the series by him so far. A point which Simon Cowell agreed with.

Next up of course was Rebecca Fergusan who covered a song called ‘I’m A Dreamer’ and knocked it out of the park and won much great feed back from the judges.

Both Rebecca and Matt sang brilliantly. Which makes it sad that there can be only one winner, but the final choice was with the voting public and after much deliberation the winning prize of a £1 Million Record deal went to Matt Cardle, who in my book totally deserved it...

That said, so did Rebecca. So we can only hope she has a career after the series.

Matt was totally speechless and humbled by the win, and said thanks to everyone that helped him and congratulated all those that had gotten through to the final stages of the competition.

Rebecca said that she was happy that she’d managed to get so far in the competition, though much like Cheryl Cole, I’m not in the least bit surprised that she did get this far. The girl has a great set of pipes on her and I’d buy her CD.

Matt Cardle winning represents Dannii Minogue’s second act to win X - Factor, and put an end to Cheryl Cole’s hopes of having an act win X-Factor for the third consecutive year.

Taking to the stage of this years winner. Matt Cardle sang ‘Many Of Horror’ one more time, but was so emotional he struggled to get through it. When asked what he thought of singing what will be the winning single he said, “I just hope the next time I sing it. I sing it better than that!”

So that wraps up another year of X - Factor, which begs the question: What cruel and unusual offenses to my hearing can next years auditions come up with for 2011, when the series returns in August?

I shudder to think..having just replaced my intestines and bought a new tray of blunt spoons. It is my hope that I don’t have to use them for awhile.