Simon Cowell must wish he had a twin. While he has managed to secure a recommission for his primetime entertainment show The X Factor in the US (on Fox), his absence from the UK version”s judging panel appears to have dented the show”s performance on ITV1.

Ratings for this weekend”s finale indicate that the Saturday leg of the show was down by 3m viewers year-on-year to 11m. While this is still a respectable 40% share, it”s the show”s lowest Saturday final rating since 2006 – and came despite the fact Leona Lewis, JLS and One Direction all performed on the show. Sunday, the day when the winner is announced, wasn”t much better. 13 million tuned in to see Little Mix win the show – down 4 million on last year. Echoing the Saturday show, this is the worst showing for the final Sunday since 2007.

While the most significant audience driver is the quality of the acts, there”s no question that the appeal of the judging panel is also a significant part of the show”s success and something Cowell will have to revisit in 2012; particularly now that the show is starting to lose out in the battle with BBC1”s Strictly Coming Dancing.