Well, here I am late at night having watched the X Factor final with a gang of journalists! What a tense final it was too – I was convinced Ray was going to win on teenager votes, but common sense prevailed and the nation has given Leona Lewis a shot at being a recording artist! And the first female X Factor winner to boot!

We were brought into the studio after the show had ended and the last piece of glitter fell to the stage floor, and press were assembled in the little area between the judges desk and the main stage. By the way, the X Factor studio is so much smaller than it looks on TV!

We could hear the Xtra Factor wrapping up in the other studio and then Leona and Simon came back on to the stage.

Simon mentioned that Clive Davis of J Records in America had phoned him some time ago and said that they were watching Leona in the USA and to count him in. Simon was quick to stress that they wouldn’t be making an album quickly with Leona, they’re “going to take the votes of the public seriously”.

Leona was asked if she felt she had the competition in the bag, but said “No, there were actually moments when I thought Ray had won. I only thought I’d won when I heard I’d won!” She also said that she only began to overcome her shyness through experience on the live shows.

When asked about the final song being more suited to Leona than Ray, Simon responded, “We receive lots of new songs for the show, but none of them were up to scratch. Since we never released the Kelly Clarkson song in the UK as a single, we decided to use it. We approached the final 4 or 5 contestants and none of them had a problem with it except Ben, and he was alright after he recorded it.”

It also looks like Ray Quinn won’t be totally out in the cold after his defeat tonight – Simon said “I’m going to have a little chat with Ray after this and I think there’ll be a smile on his face when we’re finished!”

At the point in the press conference, we were told that there had been an amazing 50,000 downloads of the winner’s single after the show and the voting spilt was confirmed as 60/40 in favour of Leona – a complete landslide, and as Simon Cowell said “A clear winner.”

So, after all these long months, Simon is contemplating Saturday nights without X Factor and Leona is hoping to take her family on a well-deserved break.

I ended the night by actually managing to utter a few words to Simon, who shook my hand before leaving the press conference! I’m certain that to the seasoned press crowd, I was totally starstruck!

To top the night off, I witnessed Antony Hannah and one of the others from Eton Road getting papped outside the venue, and got a little bit papped myself….ah showbiz!