Telly Talk: What a weekend! Tension, emotion, tears, a few shock results and something to quite rightly complain about. X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing certainly delivered.

Now let me join the growing clamour for some kind of investigation, or at least explanation, as to what happened on last night’s X-Factor results show because there’s no doubt it didn’t look right. At least can we be given an official explanation of the rules of voting and what happens in various scenarios. I’m sure I am alone in hating the fact it looks like producers are making it up as they go along.

But am I the only one to feel a tiny ounce of sympathy for Cheryl Cole? She may be a good actress but I don’t know if she’s that good. She looked distinctly shocked last night, if not a little horrified, when host Dermot O’Leary went to her second for her vote between Katie Waissel and Treyc Cohen after Simon Cowell had cast his.

If it were me and I had two acts up on stage I would probably have expected the courtesy of being allowed to go last and see what the other judges had done. Her vote would either have been superfluous or she could have taken it to deadlock and let the viewers decide. There may be claims that that would have been unfair but these judges engage in tactical voting every week – regardless of the performances they will always go with their own act if they have one in the final showdown, so what would be any different in allowing Cheryl to go last on this occasion?

Something tells me Cheryl your former pal Mr Cowell set you up good and proper last night to add to the drama. If so, mission accomplished but I don’t know if it did the X-factor any favours in general.

I like the pantomime of it but there has to be a sense of fairness to it. If the order of voting is already decided than somebody should have explained that. In fact Lord Sugar gave Paloma her marching orders in Wednesday night’s Apprentice for a set-up that looked far less grave than last night’s debacle.

Cheryl is the target of everyone’s anger today and, yes maybe the girl should have taken a deep breath and judged on performance and performance alone, but you can’t help thinking she was taken by surprise and it would have been difficult to choose between two girls she has worked closely with. But whoever was behind last night’s elimination shambles the outrage surrounding it is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Luckily the surprises on Strictly were far more palatable and touching. It’s rare that a bloke on the dancing show can reduce you to tears – hot flushes maybe, thanks to those tight trousers and bare chests – but Jimi Mistry – what a sweetheart. So emotional was he that he couldn’t get the words out when interviewed by Tess Daly after he was voted off. Choking back the tears he looked distraught to be leaving. While Ann Widdecombe has been this show’s one-woman viewer magnet this was also one of the highlights of this series.

But even with the X-Factor disaster over on ITV1 I still think Jimi’s exit would have been all the more poignant after the tension of a dance-off. BBC take note because it could be time for a rethink.

By Tracey O’Sullivan