Albania decides for Eurovision 2012. Time to hide behind the sofa.

My first reaction was to hide behind the sofa but on second play it has some merit, although there are some seriously wrong notes for my taste here and there. The choices are slowly being made for countries' entries for Eurovision 2012. Albania here with something that will either be a Top Ten or completely fail to make it past the semis. No half measures. It'll certainly get talked about a lot, though. And if that's an indication of the fashion trend for 2012 then I shall get an awful lot more work done next year.

As I said ... Little Mix win X Factor 2011

Well that's that then. Not a lot to say really. Coldplay were good. Westlife were predictable. Marcus did his best but there was this feeling running through the whole show that it would end with Little Mix jumping with joy and saying OMG a lot.

If anyone did manage to get hold of the winner's single by Amelia that was briefly advertised on the HMV site during the week then they probably have the best version of that track as well as something of a collector's item as I presume hers and the Marcus one will now have been melted down and the plastic reprocessed for more copies of Little Mix's main competition for the Christmas No.1, that choir hymn that Chris Evans has been playing virtually non-stop for the last few weeks.

One thing that was quite nice - Tulisa looked genuinely pleased.

Now, can Simon's altogether more superior efforts across the pond produce a Melanie v Josh final that both acts deserve. Follow me on XFUSA as I bid farewell to XFUK for another year.

Guess what: Little Mix win X Factor.

It's Final time after what seems to have been best part of a year. And what do we get? Dermot dancing. That's weird and must be some kind of in-joke or dare. I can hear the producers now: "Right, how idiotic can we make Dermot look tonight?" They'll dress him as Santa tomorrow and have him bouncing Louis on his knee.

Then we get Peter Dickson banking a nice pile for an endless bit of shouting, Tulisa in a dress that looks like something you'd put on a doll not a supposedly cool NDubz singer. Gary makes an extra few bob too as they all sing-along-a Gary song and, at last, we get on with the show. Oh, no, now we get some home town visit, back story and goodness knows what. After an age Marcus actually sings. He does Hey Ya! and, to be fair, does it well. Nice job and that won't do him any harm at all. What didn't look good was Scooch as backing in the blue air hostess uniforms and, at one point, I am sure he was straddling a jumbo which was not a sight to behold.

Little Mix next, well, after we watch them go to High Wycombe, Romford and South Shields to what looked like quite small crowds but that may just have been the camera angle. Instead of aeroplanes we get motorbikes for some reason that totally flew over my head. They had YMCA to support them. With You've Got The Look they really did not impress anyone. Yes, they do look good and do have the look, well, three of them do, but that was no winner's performance. They'd have been out first week if they'd done that eight or nine weeks ago.

Amelia Lily sang Ain't No Other Man and sang it very well, really showing how much better she is in so many respects to the four girls before. It may not have been the song that anyone's going to remember, though, and think 'Oh I must vote for her' afterwards. You just kinda watched, thought it was pretty good and moved on. She'll need something much smarter next time. Thereagain, they all will.

Gary took the place of Scooch and the aeroplane and sang along with Marcus for the second track, a Billy Joel number, Always A Woman. No comment. It was nice. Nice. Not inspiring or anything to leap up and down about.

Little Mix then came along and I guess Tulisa was up there two, not that I noticed. They did another mash up and the first bit was instantly forgettable, not very good but they did make up with the second section which actually showed, for the first time tonight, that they can be good. But not brilliant.

We haven't had the wow factor that you usually get on X Factor Finals. The track that one act does that makes the show worthwhile, even if they don't win. An approximation to a wow factor finally arrives when Amelia Lily duets with Kelly. Forgetting the dancing, which was not a pretty sight, this was a cool and very good performance.

There can be little argument that Amelia and Marcus are by far and away the better acts but I just have this feeling that it's the Little Mix Show this year.

X Factor 2011 Final Song Choices

This information from the good people at tellymix this evening. It appears that whilst Marcus and Little Mix will be presented with all the glitter, fire, smoke, background effects and stage decoration, choirs, dancers and gadgets imaginable, Kelly is just shoving Amelia onto a small stage and hoping for the best. I suppose all the added distractions will disguise the miming to their backing tracks. Amelia has also been trying to get a different Christmas song to do so we're not yet sure which of the two she'll do.

You do get the feeling all this is going Little Mix's way... Should be fun to watch, though. Expect a ghostly presence from Simon at some stage over the weekend too.

Marcus
Duet with Gary Barlow – She’s Always A Woman by Billy Joel
Hey Ya by Outkast

First audition song – Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
Favourite performance – Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson
Christmas song – White Christmas by Bing Crosby

Amelia
Duet with Kelly Rowland – River Deep, Mountain High by Tina Turner
Ain’t No Other Man by Christina Aguilera

First audition song – Piece Of My Heart by Janis Joplin
Favourite performance – The Show Must Go On by Queen
Christmas song – All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey / I Wish It Could Be Christmas by Wizzard

Little Mix
Duet with Tulisa – Mash up of Empire State Of Mind and If I Ain’t Got You, both by Alicia Keys
You’ve Got The Love by Candi Staton

First audition song – Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake
Favourite performance – Don’t Let Go by En Vogue
Christmas song – All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey

Read more: http://xfactor.tellymix.co.uk/news/64207-x-factor-2011-spoilers-final-song-choices.html#ixzz1g9y6mP4B

It's Amelia v Marcus v Little Mix in the Final

Little Mix actually sounded quite good as they started whatever the group let's sing along song was to get the show underway tonight. Then I realised they were miming. Now that doesn't mean that they couldn't be a highly successful act - it may be the way it has to be for them, with well-written and recorded singles justifying all the hype that's building up around them and leave the live stuff for a while.

If they do get through to the final then that means they must have bags of support and so could well win.

Justin Bieber also mimed although the camera man had had instructions either to maintain a massive distance or take an angle that had the mike covering his mouth throughout the whole performance. It was a very uninspiring affair and I have no idea how he's made it so big or why they bothered bringing him over for this show.

Then we get an awful performance by Kelly Rowland which made you wish Cheryl Cole was back again. Dreadful, all over the place and in a bikini for no apparent reason whatsoever. She must have been wishing she could put on the sort of show that some of the contestants have been doing and I would find it quite difficult to pay much attention to her criticism of acts after watching that. Come to think of it, she has hardly said anything of much value throughout the whole series.

Eventually we get to the vote and, as the bookies predicted very accurately, MishaB is the one who doesn't make it to the final.

It's now anybody's guess and should be fun to watch and, hopefully, listen to. My vote goes to Amelia but it really could be any one and the big money is on Little Mix.

It Ought To Be Farewell to Little Mix But...

The betting odds at the close of tonight's show say a totally different story to what we saw and heard.

These show MishaB as a virtual certainty to be sent home, with Little Mix (Betfair can't change the name from its original Rhythmix) and Marcus pretty definitely in. At one point Marcus was 40-1 against being sent home but his second performance didn't help him maintain that level. Amelia Lily seems to have those with the money in a bit of a quandary. So what does the money know that we don't? Interesting. We'll probably won't find out tomorrow either.

Misha B
Dancing In the Street
A reasonable enough performance. Not a lot more to say, really. She looks a lot better although the teeth whitening was a bit overdone. I'd much rather have been watching Martha & the Vandellas, though, on an old black and white screen or Mick and David with their version. There was just no excitement or real desire to go dancing that came across. All a bit designed and created for our benefit. She does make an effort, you have to admit, but it's all a bit average and notes just nowhere near accurate enough so recording companies will have to spend a fortune on autotuners if they do take her on.

Pretty Pretty Please
Pretty pretty good. Indeed, I have to say 'well done' to MishaB for making a big effort and she would deserve to get through to the final on the basis of her performances tonight.

Amelia Lily
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
What a difference. Looking like a ready-made pop star and so confident, every note where it should be. This is a pretty tedious song at the best of times and MishaB definitely picked the better track but Amelia Lily is the one who can really entertain and deliver.

I'm With You
Wonderful performance of the rarely heard Avril Lavigne number. This truly held everyone's attention and, whilst MishaB had really made a good job just before, this was far more.

Little Mix
You Keep Me Hanging On
Disappointing. The lead missed some important notes and when the blonde took over near the end it was like listening to a totally different track. How they can be favourite to win when sounding like this I do not know. Unless they pull something amazing out of the bag then they'll be lucky to get through to the final, never mind win it. No chance.

If I Were A Boy
Really nervous start but eventually they get it together just as it's time to go back to the slow low bit at the end which, again, they can't get right. The problem I have with this group is not just that they don't seem to gel any more, being presented on stage as four separate singers again who seem to come from completely different singing style backgrounds but also the fact is that they are not very good, well, not tonight anyway.

Marcus
My Girl
Nervous start but once he got into his stride he was good, very naturally presenting this classic as if he was born to it. Great choice for him, although the slow number did catch him out a few times - not as easy a song to perform as you'd think.

Can You Feel It
Rubbish song but well done. Still not as competently presented as we're used to seeing him being but this guy is good and deserves to get through.

Although Marcus wasn't on top form tonight he should be a safe bet for the final and, indeed, is the favourite to get there. Amelia simply must be there after those fabulous songs. There's no judges' vote tomorrow so it's all down to fan votes. Rumour has it that Little Mix get through which could well cause some interesting headlines. MishaB not making the final after tonight's efforts won't go down too well (although I still don't see her making a huge impact in the recording industry). Perhaps Marcus will be the one to go, so helping SYCO avoid too much controversy and, to be honest, he wasn't that great. Monday might be a good day for the Chancellor of The Exchequer to announce that we're all doomed.