The public has voted Little Mix as this year's winners of The X Factor following the show's biggest ever Final at Wembley Arena.

Little Mix claimed the win following a final showdown with runner-up Marcus Collins after Amelia Lily went out of the Final at the end of Saturday night's show.

After being crowned winners, an emotional Little Mix said: "This is never going to sink in! We cannot thank the public enough for voting for us."

Their mentor, Tulisa said: "I think I wanted them to win more than they did!"

Talking about Tulisa, Little Mix said: "We love you so much. You are amazing, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't be here."

Little Mix performed 'Silent Night' and 'Don't Let Go' and Marcus Collins performed 'Last Christmas' and 'Higher and Higher'. Little Mix closed the show with the winner's single - 'Cannonball'.

This year's spectacular final was split over two nights with 10,000 fans watching at the Arena and top stars including Coldplay, Michael Buble, Westlife, Leona Lewis, JLS and One Direction performed across the weekend and for the first time the Judges sang duets with their acts.

This year's contestants who went through to the Live Shows plus Goldie Cheung and David Wilder returned tonight (Sunday 11 December) to sing a mega mash-up of We Found Love, Party Rock Anthem, On The Floor, Moves Like Jagger and The Edge of Glory.

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT THE X FACTOR

The X Factor is one of the most-watched entertainment programmes in the UK. Airing on ITV, the UK's largest commercial broadcaster, The X Factor was created by Simon Cowell and is owned and co-produced by Syco TV (a joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment) and talkbackTHAMES.

11 December 2011