[Red Moon]

Leon Has Proved Me Wrong Says Sharon Osbourne

X FACTOR judge Sharon Osbourne has revealed she would have dumped Scots finalist Leon Jackson from the show.

The 18-year-old former shop assistant looked shocked as Sharon said he would have been out if she had been mentoring the solo boys.

She admitted: "I had my eye on two other boys for the finals, and, to be completely honest, I wouldn't have picked Leon."

However, the judges yesterday all agreed the teenager - the first Scot in an X Factor final - has star quality and could clinch the million-pound recording contract on Saturday.

Sharon said: "He has made more progress than anybody else on this show. Once he grows up a bit, he will be an absolute star."

Louis Walsh added: "Leon has potential to be a total star. He is as good a vocalist as Michael Buble."

Leon, of Whitburn, West Lothian,is up against Welsh opera singer Rhydian Roberts and duo Same Difference, brother and sister Sean and Sarah Smith, from Portsmouth.

Leon admitted he was a nervous wreck in the first two or three live shows. And proud mentor Dannii Minogue - whose superstar sister Kylie will duet with Leon in Saturday's final - admitted she was terrified Leon would get stage fright on the first night.

She revealed: "At times it has been hard and in the first week, we didn't know if Leon would get to the end of the show.

"I'm absolutely rapt my two boys (Leon and Rhydian) are in the final."

Leon added: "By performing week by week, my nerves have faded and big band week was a turning point for me. I'm really enjoying singing and performing now."

Last night, when the three finalists were asked how they would celebrate a Christmas No1, Leon shouted: "By getting drunk!"

Rhydian, the favourite to win the £1million record deal prize, said he would celebrate by spending time with his family.

He added he felt he had been seen as the "villain" in the early stages.

He added: "It's done me a favour because people took an interest in me."

Leon already has a huge fanbase, including Michael Buble - who he sang with at Wembley - Celine Dion and Girls Aloud.

And now he will be the envy of millions as he sings with Kylie.

Dannii joked: "Leon will work with Kylie. He can flirt with her more than Michael Buble."

When asked which of the Minogue sisters he preferred, he said: "I'd say Dannii, because she's my mentor, but they're both very good-looking sisters."

Meanwhile, Sharon, 55, has been bitching about Dannii.

She will be seen on tonight's Graham Norton show on BBC2, being asked what she really thinks of Dannii, 36.

She turns around and pats her bottom, sniping: "She (Dannii) knows she's there because of her looks, not because of her contribution to the music industry."

In a further insult aimed at the Aussie's closeness to the show's boss Simon Cowell, Sharon added: "She's younger, she's better-looking, Simon wants her and he doesn't want me ... thank God!"

And in an interview with daytime hosts Richard and Judy, she claims of the show: "We're like a soap opera. It is like a soap opera backstage."

'He has made more progress than anybody else on this show'

Source: Daily Record