Telly Talk: If ever there was a week when the fans had their say on the Saturday night talent quest this was it, writes Tracey O’Sullivan.

From Ann Widdecombe’s spinning success on Strictly to calculating Katie finding herself in the bottom two on X-Factor, it was a war of personalities, with viewers giving their verdict on what they will and won’t tolerate.

Ann is to dancing what Eddie the Eagle Edwards was to snow sports. Hapless, but a better laugh-a-minute spectacle you won’t find.

The public love her for that and for her honestly. “It was the only dance where I got every step right and the miseries didn’t even mention it,” she responded after a fairly swift and severe bashing of her Paso Doble by the judges.

She’s not in it to win it, even though she just might – I mean it, watch this space – but she is there to have fun and, like Anton, she is dragging us along.

Long may she reign because if ever the country was in need of a laugh it’s right now. Of course it was sad to see Tina O’Brien go last night as she was not that bad a dancer, but we need Ann and her own touch of magic just a that little bit longer.

Which is why Katie, and her brand of desperate attention-seeking is, unlike Ann, falling flat on her face. There is just no way to like the girl. Even as mentor Cheryl Cole attempts to soften her up with a series of quirky songs, that look of insincerity and those tears are just so frustrating for viewers.

Annoying with some semblance of a decent outlook would be one thing. Or if like Cher Lloyd she had proved her outstanding singing ability on Saturday night, viewers might just forgive the rest. But without either Wassiel the Weasel, as her fellow contestants have dubbed her, is on borrowed time.

Although in the grand scheme of things that is the X-Factor madness, it seems the general theme is living on borrowed time.

Cheryl was in the line of fire for Simon on Saturday night just weeks after he admitted the judges were in two camps and the Girls Aloud singer was firmly is his.

But that couldn’t have been further from the truth this weekend as he criticised her mentoring of two of her acts, even after one of her girls, Cher, was declared the Queen of the Halloween special.

The new cold front was easily spotted as soon as they walked out on stage, with Cheryl failing to link arms with the media mogul as she normally would. Maybe it’s the growing admiration for Dannii Minogue and her self-assured style which is trumping Cheryl at every turn that has got him thinking he picked the wrong side.

More likely it is his latest act of manipulation to ensure X-Factor is the talking point of the week. The man is a master at it.

And I’m starting not to care. Because watching last night’s double bill of results show there is another glaringly obvious feature of this weekend’s shows – the X-Factor hands viewers an amazing spectacle each week while without Ann Strictly is just stringing us along – and only just.

Compare last night’s guest performance from Alice Cooper and lack of any real drama with X-Factor’s line-up of Bon Jovi, Jamiroquai and Rhianna.

Who cares if Cowell is working overtime pulling the strings behind the scenes. It’s just entertainment, the fate of the world doesn’t rest on it and when you accept that, the man is putting on a jolly good puppet show each week.