The second live final of X Factor is just days away now, with the nation wondering if last week’s show was just a fluke or if 12 different singers really could be that feckless on a consistent basis.

But, hey, before we get to the last instalment of this week’s X Factor betting odds, you’ll never guess what’s happened. Sharon Osbourne is going to be back judging X Factor on Saturday. After all the kerfuffle about whether she was really quitting the show or not, it’ll be good to see Sharon Osbourne back where she belongs – perched uncomfortably between an Irishman she threw water over two years ago and a woman she obviously dosen’t like. And X Factor got loads of extra publicity out of it too. Who’d have thought?

Here are the X Factor betting odds for Niki Evans, Futureproof and Hope, with betting odds from Paddy Power…

Niki Evans – There’s probably nothing more heartless in the world than to think “look, just shut up about your dead Dad you bloody idiot,” but awfully that’s what popped into our head during Niki Evans’ X Factor intro on Saturday. Having spent the entire X Factor audition process banging on about her dead Dad, we were half expecting Niki’s first X Factor performance to be of Have I Ever Told You About That Time My Dad Died. But instead she chose Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor, and sang it perfectly. True, the whole thing was so miserable that it made Radiohead sound like The Cheeky Girls, but Niki managed to captivate the audience without resorting to frilly gimmicks like any of the other contestants. Possibly the best X Factor performance of the night, apart from all the bits where Sharon Osbourne kept rolling her eyes around like a drunk woman trying to read the world’s smallest menu. Current X Factor betting odds – 4/1

Futureproof – Somewhat predictably, the two best-placed X Factor acts after the first week were the groups that the X Factor judges manufactured during the audition process. And one of those was Futureproof, the group of boys who weren’t quite good enough to cut it as solo singers. Their first X Factor performance was She’s The One, performed with two-thirds of the world’s dry-ice supplies as a prop. However, something must have gone wrong during training because all of Futureproof seemed to think that they were on that awful Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat show from earlier in the year, all earnest faces and wonky musical theatre emoting. But we have to grudgingly admit that some of Furureproof’s harmonies were pretty decent, even if one of them does have the eyes of a paedophile. Current X Factor betting odds – 4/1

Hope – But as good as several people must have thought Futureproof were, they were no match for Hope – X Factor‘s manufactured girlband. Hope has everything you’d want from a girlband – a pretty girl dressed like a slut who boys want to have sex with, a less attractive girl who can actually sing, a blonde one who’ll be on the front of Nuts magazine for most of next year and a 12-foot tall transvestite who jiggles like she needs the toilet when she sings. On Saturday’s X Factor Hope performed an understated version of Umbrella that allowed them to show off their vocal skills, which at least made a change from all the Pussycat Dolls covers they’ll churn out week after week until Christmas. At the moment, though, Hope are the favourites to win X Factor – and that’s the way it’ll stay until they invariably have a catfight and spit up in a couple of months. Current X Factor betting odds – 10/3

Tomorrow: Strictly Come Dancing betting odds. But if that’s too long to wait – or you feel like making more money than you know what to do with – head right over to the Paddy Power X Factor betting odds page to see the latest, and best, betting odds.