Ladbrokes say Westlife and whoever wins X-Factor are the joint favourites to get that all important Christmas number one, and as fellow bookies William Hill say Shayne Ward is going to win the X-Factor, he's the one most likely to be going up against the Irish boybland when they release their upcoming duet with Diana Ross.
Elsewhere in bookie/X-Factor news, the surprise departure of Maria Lawson from the competition on Saturday hit the aforementioned William Hill pretty hard, after they had given Lawson odds of just 66/1 to leave the programme. Spokesman Rupert Adams said "Sixty-six to one was completely the wrong price for Maria to leave the show, so we got completely hammered."