Cowell: G4 'won' first 'X Factor'

Simon Cowell has admitted that his rival X Factor judge Louis Walsh was the real winner of last year's show.

Although his act, crooner Steve Brookstein, won the series, the runners-up went on to sell more albums.

Now Cowell is considering whether to offer Brookstein a new contract. "I'll have to have a very serious think about it," he told the Daily Mail today. "He had a No 1 album so I can't complain but I would be lying if I said that I went on to this show to sell 250,000 records. The irony is that Louis won, he sold a million (with G4). So I didn't win last year, he did."

He added: "My priority this year has to be Il Divo. They've done five million albums against 250,000 with Steve. So you know where your priorities are. Sometimes you win because you're popular. G4 came second and they sold more records.

"All we can do on this show is give someone a huge push up the ladder. Without this competition there would have been no No 1 album. He would still be singing in wine bars."

The second series begins on ITV this Saturday.