I had to make it seem like the competition was still a close fought battle.

Aw, thank you both! That really means a lot. Aw, Rick your too kind. You are definitely the king of hosting. Thank you all for putting up with my late running orders or me turning up late etc.

It's been a pleasure having you all on the panel and all of you working so hard to make this a fantastic series

Oh, an no, that's all the announcements from me.

Aw, thank you ever so much Eddy.

Ooh, I'm looking forward to what you've got up your sleeves.

Oh, an no essay Steve. I was kind of singing in my kitchen for some reason.

Oh right, haha.

Oh, and like Eddy said. If we don't speak before, have a brilliant Christmas.

So I guess it's our turn to make a few announcements then, cause I've got a few.

It is, the time has come.

Alright ladies and gentleman, I've teased this a little bit since The Mix Factor Series 6, but it's going to happen for real this time. Everyone who has seen me mentoring since the early days of 2012, is it with emotional sadness that I am now officially retired from mentoring with no plans to come out of it anytime soon.

This has been a very hard decision to make, but I think after tonight, I have peaked and I wish to retire on a high point while I still can, it is upsetting that I won't be partaking in any more mentoring games now, I will nonetheless help out on song suggestions for newcomers who wanna try their luck at mentoring in the future.

Speaking of songs, I'll be adding a "Best Song Choices" section in my bio page tomorrow where I'll list out the songs I picked that were the best for me and this is gonna range from several games across my career.

Which means I'll be retiring with two wins, coming second a record five times and coming third three times, so overall, it's been mostly a top 3 moment for me.

But don't get too upset everyone, as this means that I will now have time to host TWO games instead of the one and I suppose you all wanna know what they are, eh? Well first off, Battle Of The Seasons will be returning for a FIFTH Series on New Year's Day where there'll be a sign-up and launch thread made. As for my second game, it's a brand NEW one with a new method that I hope becomes a success in it's first try.

Oh and I am currently hosting You Choose where tomorrow will be the result of Round 2 at 8pm.

So until then, have a wonderful Christmas folks if I don't see a few of you tomorrow.

Aw, it's so sad to see you retire Steve. However you are definitely leaving on a high and I can't wait to see what new game you have lined up.

BATTLE OF THE SEASONS I was a judge in season 1, I'd love to return I got Belle Amie to 3rd, the best I've done so far

Such an emosh moment here...

I've told a number of people this already, but I too will be officially retiring from mentoring. I actually planned to retire when I was forced to pull out of The VS Factor 4, but then this game came along and needed a replacement mentor for the groups, a role I accepted only because I'd been an avid viewer of The X Factor 20 since series 2 and didn't want to see this fail.

However, this time really is goodbye from me on the mentoring front. I find myself not enjoying it nearly as much as used to in the past and it simply takes too much time, time that could be spent on other things (like uni). With 4 wins and one second place under my belt, I think this is the right time to end it all. Besides, where am I supposed to go from winning a competition where my act topped the vote 8 out of 10 weeks?

That's not to say I didn't enjoy this series though, because I genuinely did. Hosting has always been more my thing though, and that's exactly where you'll see me in 2015. So don't worry about me disappearing from DS, my time as a major player in the organization of these games is not over quite yet.

For the new year, I have a number of projects planned. The first of these is the revival of The Chance Factor, which will get a fourth series with an (almost) entirely new panel - keep an eye out for the launch thread. After that, I have a special one-off game coming up as well as another series of The Mix Factor somewhere in March/April. Oh, and I'll also be hosting the forum behemoth that is NTA somewhere next year. If you just can't take your eyes off me, you can always catch me on The DS Factor or The X Factor: Project Stars, both of which I'm currently hosting.

For now, merry Christmas and a happy New Year everyone!

Yes indeed, with both of us retiring, one could say it's like the end of an era and a new one beginning with some of the other veterans carrying it on.

Awww, it is horrid to see you retiring too Rick. You really are an amazing mentor who will genuinely be misee on that front. However, I do know how busy you are so I understand.

Gosh, you're making me feel old.

Lol, I don't mean to.

Aw, it's a sad to see you both retire from mentoring but I look forward to viewing your future series.

I feel even older, I remember when you first started on these games Ahhh I'm feeling nostalgic now lol

The game I have planned for late 2015 is something that has never been done before. It's going to be incredibly challenging though. There is a hell of a lot to sort out for this game. It's something literally brand new to the gaming front.

Oooo.......sounds interesting

Anybody interested in starting this up again?

I would. I expressed interest to Connor at the start of this year's series and got no response. Maybe he's offline.

What I love about this game is getting to mentor the latest, freshest series of acts and I haven't played in a long time

Me too, I'm absolutely dying to mentor Lauren

Well, I think he did say that he was gonna stick to his word.

But if it makes you feel better, I have one of my games that I just launched today, so go there if you like.