[SairBabi92]

Simon Cowell has confessed he was surprised his protege and last year's X Factor winner Leona Lewis has done so well with her latest single Bleeding Love.

The X Factor judge, 48, boasted about Leona's current success, saying: "She's going to be number one again this week. I think she'll have the number one album in two weeks time - so it just shows you it's a show worth winning.

But he admitted: "It's more than we thought it would do, to be honest with you. But she's a world class artist, I mean she's better now than she was on the show and I think she'll be the biggest-selling artist this year."

Simon also claimed he was in with a good chance of winning the ITV talent show again this year with one of his groups.

"I'd like a group to win and I think they've got the best shot they've ever had, so fingers crossed. Every year I'm confident and we're going to get stronger over the next few weeks. More than anything else, I just hate losing," he added.