© ITV
The Kitty dramas and Frankie fiascos are in the distant past and it's all come down to one final show. Marcus Collins, a loveable hairdresser from Liverpool, and Little Mix, four cheeky pop minxes from across the UK, battling for the title of X Factor Champ 2011.
Who do you want to see win? How can Dermot top his Austin Powers dance routine? And which mad man will Caroline Flack and Olly Murs find in the audience to interview tonight? All these key questions, we should get answers for this evening.
To lighten the mood, we've also got soon to be extinct stool-botherers Westlife and some small-time indie band called Coldplay providing the halftime entertainment. All of that and we get Louis Walsh thrown in for free. What more could you ask for?
21:33: Thanks for all your comments and Tweets throughout the series. You've made it worthwhile for all the DS bloggers. Make sure you keep in touch on @dsrealitybites in the future. Night all!
21:28: That's it folks. Little Mix have won. They look like they'll be more Leona than Leon. You can catch them on tour in the New Year or wait around for nine months and they'll probably get an album out. Just in time for next year's first X Factor live show. It can't come soon enough. What on earth are we going to do at weekends without it? We may have to *whisper it* go outside.
21:23: Congrats to the Little Muffins. They deserved it. Marcus is free to sign up to Gary Barlow's label now, so fear not Marcus fans. Everyone is a winner. The biggest winner of the night? Damien Rice's bank manager.
21:21: Right. Serious time. The winner is.... GIGANTIC PAUSE..... Little Mix. I don't know who's happier, the girls or Tulisa. Definitely Tulisa. She can barely contain herself.
21:19: Last ad break dealt with, this really is the final countdown now people. Lines are closed now. Don't vote now unless you're an idiot who enjoys chucking their money down the drain. YOUR VOTE WON'T COUNT!
21:16: Best Tweet of the night comes from a nostalgic Andi Peters. "@andipeters: Greetings from the CD Pressing Plant...where is everybody #xfactor". Oh, Andi. Those were the days, those were the days. Flicking a keyboard button in iTunes HQ just isn't the same.
21:12: Dermot chats with a sweaty Chris Martin. Chris Martin can't get offstage quick enough. The frontman clearly fears a Q&A session with Louis Walsh. The band dash off hoping that a shred of their indie cred remains intact.
21:10: Coldplay get two songs. Greedy buggers. Still enjoying the pretty colours though.
21:06: It looks like the budget for special guests this year went on Coldplay's light show. Very, very pretty.
21:03: Thanks for that Dermot. We definitely needed another recap of everything we've been watching over the last two nights. Sighs. Next up... Coldplay. They've sold a lot of records. Played a lot of gigs. Won some awards. They're quite popular. Well, it can't be any worse than Westlife can it. Can it?
21:00: Right, we're back. We've got a montage. I think my guess about killing time may have been on the money.
20:55: Feels like we're killing time now. 35 minutes still to go. A Coldplay performance to come. The results. What about the other 28 minutes? More ad breaks and montages I'm guessing...
20:49: I couldn't call it between those two final performances. I don't think they'll come into it. I think this competition will have been won before that. Both covers were fairly straight and similar. Where was the rap in the Little Mix version? I want some hip-hop when I'm dancing around the Christmas tree.
20:46: Little Mix's turn at 'Canonball' now. Whatever the result, we're going to be hearing this song a hell of a lot more over the coming weeks and festive seasons. So if you don't like it, you'd best get used to lumping it.
20:43: If you're not welling up already there's a video wall of emotional messages for Marcus from his mam, his brother and a worse for wear looking Robbie Williams. Gary's pulling out the big guns at the final hour. Will it be enough to earn them the win.
20:41: Ooh, Gary Barlow is in tears. Beat that Tulisa. Beat that.
20:38: You want a Winners' Single? Well, here it is. This year's festive offering? A cover of Damien Rice's indie ballad 'Canonball'. Marcus does it pretty straight. It's harmless stuff. It's no 'That's My Goal', but it's better 'The Climb'. Am I the only person who wants to hear Goldie Cheung's take on it.
20:35: You want montages? Montages you've got. Two bloody massive ones. First up is Marcus Collins's X Factor "story". It would appear story has replaced journey in the reality TV vocabulary.
20:29: I thought Kelly Rowland's blase attitude to the evening was the most false thing about the show tonight. Dermot's comments about how Westlife's performance "got me", takes the biscuit though. You never play them on your Radio 2 show Derm!
20:26: Ooh, Dermot sneaked that in. In the middle of a chat with the judges he twizzled around and revealed Westlife onstage. Oof. Naughty Dermot. Brace yourself for a key change. Or five.
20:22: Little Mix do a rather sweet 'Silent Night'. Tulisa hasn't calmed down yet. She's compared to Winston Churchill by Dermot O'Leary. I think if Winston Churchill was as scary as Tulisa right now, WWII would have been over years earlier. She's off her rocker this evening.
20:17: Gary tells people to pick up the phone and vote for Marcus in what appears to be a slight dig at the desperate remarks of other judges. Either that or he's suddenly realised he probably needs to pull his finger out. Olly Murs and CaCaroline Flack are with the Lord Mayor of Liverpool. He's no Lord Mayor of South Shields. I hope neither has expensed their trips to Wembley on their local taxpayers.
20:13: Things are looking up people. It's Christmas songs time. Happy memories of Eoghan Quigg warbling through 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' and riding a sledge come flooding back. Marcus is first up with a rather lukewarm 'Last Christmas'. He's too nice a guy to pull off the Wham! classic. It needs a dark edge for that track to work.
20:07: In the audience Olly Murs is beatboxing with some Little Mix fans. Someone pass me the bottle of gin. I need it.
20:05: The judges all adore the Little Muffins. Gary approves of the song choice. Kelly is in tears. Louis is almost ripping off his Hugh Hefner jacket with enthusiasm. And Tulisa. Tulisa is going bonkers. It's her Bob Geldof Live Aid moment and she screams for people to pick up their phones and vote. "Give us you f***ing money!" She doesn't actually shout that, but given another 30 seconds and she probably would have.
20:01: Little Mix's song of the series. It had to be 'Don't Let Go (Love)'. They have the obvious helping hand that this is probably one of the greatest pop songs of all time. Love the girls performance though. I think the phrase is "put it down". Love it.
19:56: In case you didn't pick it up last night, Marcus has a mum. He loves his mum. We hear from his mum in the crowd, who is surrounded by lunatic fans and Caroline Flack (lock up your sons) and Olly Murs. She's proud of him. He loves his mum. He thanks his mum. Etc etc.
19:50: Time for Marcus and Little Mix to recreate their best performances of the series. For Marcus it's 'Higher and Higher'. You can't deny the guy's got a bit of soul in those big pipes. Nice gospel tinges. He's a better performer than 99% of X Factor acts past and present. I think he's been undersold by the judges as "Mr Consistent". In reality that just means he started very well and he's never let it slip. No bad thing.
19:42: Kitty steals the show in the final 16 (minus Cocozza, plus Goldie) reunion. Straddling the judges desk for a solo blast on 'Edge of Glory', she showcases why she really should have got much further. On a side note, I'm rather enjoying Louis Walsh's velvet dinner jacket. He's like a little Hugh Hefner (he really isn't).
19:40: Goldie alert. Or is that Frankie Cocozza after a bad night on the Miaow Miaow, Miaow. I'm not sure. But either way, don't take drugs kids. All the old favourites are back onstage. Sophie whatserface. The biscuit boy. The other ones. That boyband. Erm...
19:36: First entertainment of the evening? "X Factor's finest!" according to Dermot. Apparently that includes Nu Vibe and 2 Shoes. I think someone should contact trades descriptions.
19:34: Two acts left. Two hours of TV. Two guest performances (Coldplay and Westlife... I know, thrilling). What more could you want? Best news of all? Dermot didn't do his dad dance!
19:33: Evening all! Apparently the X Factor final was down by 3.5million viewers last night. Where were you all? You miised Mr Pink and toast man. If you weren't there, you won't understand. I was there and I still don't quite understand.
