Little Mix have made X Factor history by becoming the first group to win the title. Mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos, the band scooped the crown in front a 10,000-strong audience at Wembley Arena in north London with millions more watching the ITV show live on TV.
The band, made up of Jade Thirlwall, 18, Perrie Edwards, also 18, Jesy Nelson, 20, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 19, beat Marcus Collins to the title.The girls and their mentor looked stunned when host Dermot O'Leary announced the result with Leigh-Anne only managing to say "oh my god, wow".Jade added: "We are just so so grateful and thankful to everyone who voted and to everyone backstage. "Asked when the news would sink in, Jesy said: "Oh my god this is never going to sink in. We cannot thank the public enough. "The girls have walked away from the talent show with a recording contract and will now release their winner's single, a rendition of Damien Rice's Cannonball, in a bid to top the charts with a Christmas number one.The two finalists reunited with other acts from the series, including Janet Devlin, Misha B and Craig Colton to kick off the final show.
For their first solo performance the two acts sang their favourite song of the series.The next theme was Christmas songs and Marcus performed Last Christmas by Wham!, with Little Mix choosing the classic Silent Night. Both acts then made a final bid to win the public's vote with their rendition of the winner's single.Little Mix are second favourites to take the Christmas number one slot in the charts following their X Factor win, Ladbrokes said. The girl band are trailing behind the Military Wives, who are 1/2 favourites, in the race to top the festive charts.