Christmas is just around the corner and so, rather than waiting another week to ring the bells, X Factor decided to toll them a little earlier.

And what a Saturday night they gave us with relatively mediocre song choices and brilliant beats between the performances.

Indeed, the choons that rang out as Dermot O’Leary did this ‘thang’ were far superior to those performed on stage.

Can we talk about the jingling belles?

Little Lauren Platt (no relation to Corrie’s David) kicked things off with East 17’s Stay Another Day before belting out One Direction’s Story Of My Life later in the evening.

It’ll be tough to imagine her staying another week, but stranger things have happened.

The performing musical beast that is Fleur East was up next: Her first track left a lot to be desired for Christmas but her second tune brought the house, and Twitter, down.

The Uptown Funk made up for a Mariahd (is that a pun too far for myriad?) of sins on song one.

Out back in the car park, Ben Haenow was humming a festive tune with the help of a rather cosy chorus line. The white hats, scarves and gloves came off though, as he burst into a less than rousing rendition of Hallelujah.

What was this? X Factor 2008?

And finally there was Andrea. He picked a cracker of a hymn in Oh Holy Night but added one oh too many to each and every word before coming in like a wrecking ball with a bitta Miley Cyrus.

A cracking vocal no doubt, but his oversinging wre-eh-ecked the aul eardrums by the end of the evening.

I don’t want a lot for Christmas, but a stronger final wouldn’t be too much to ask.