X Factor Winner: It's not all about Rhyds

Leon and Niki look good too...

Still Singing: Rhyds, Dinner Lady, Tremble Lip, Creepy Inbreds, Slappers

Regardless of her reputation as a ballsy music woman, Sharon Osbourne exhibited a frightening lack of much-needed cojones on Saturday night when she opened the final two up to the public vote. Her one job left of the show was to act as the final word on the contestant’s fates, and she couldn’t even do that right – a spent force. But which of this little lot will be demanding free entry into clubs come the new year?

Rhydian
The front runner, he might be slightly too Aryan for left-wing England, so nothing is set in stone. With less people to vote for, closet Niki/Leon fans could start plundering in, and Operatic Dolph Lundgren might just lose out.

Niki
Has suffered on silly theme nights like Disco Week and Big Band Week, because she is a soaring ballad kind of girl, nothing more. As the fads disappear, she could set pulses racing.

Leon
Should there be a big upset Leon will provide it. No one expected whimpering Gareth Gates to lose Pop Idol having been the big favourite from the beginning, but then Will Young muscled in and pipped it. Could yet be found steamrollering through swish London bars, him one end, Gaffney/Best/Danan at the other. One to watch.

Same Difference
The joke has worn off now, leaving just an empty pair of gurning dimwits performing upsetting new versions of old songs. Probably now even too “light entertainment” for Butlins, they should refashion themselves as creepy performance artists by doing their usual act but with a waxwork of Michael Jackson holding an axe in the background. Won’t win.

Hope
Have been in the bottom two far too many times to mount a surprise attack (only Chico has survived more). With Phoebe the main one, the other girls are becoming increasingly glum and moody. This week expect them to split the vocals, then split the show.