As a 'Thankyou' to fans for tuning in each week the X Factor finalists took to the stage for a private gig in front of a select group of viewers. Bookies' favourite Alexandra Burke and her rivals performed for the winners of a competition to meet the pop hopefuls.

Twenty-year-old songbird Alexandra told the audience that being the frontrunner was "very, very scary".

You wouldn't have known it from her note-perfect rendition of You Are So Beautiful To Me, which she performed despite nursing a sore throat.

Her friend and fellow contestant Diana Vickers seemed fully recovered from her bout of laryngitis, singing Blondie's Call Me, and Michael Jackson tune Man In The Mirror.

Not a week goes by without a headline about the show suggesting in-fighting amongst the judges or difficult behaviour from big-name guests invited to perform on the programme.

The would-be stars appeared to remain refreshingly free of such concerns, however, chatting cheerfully with fans about Cheryl Cole's nerves at results time and life in the communal house they share.