Everyone was a winner on the X Factor announcement on Monday night.

Taylor Swift was the real winner. After host Luke Jacobz spent a large portion of the evening making it sound like the entire competition had been the warm-up act for Swift’s performance of ‘Shake It Off’, he summed matters up rather bluntly in the post-performance interview when he asked for her advice for the winner on the basis that she had already had more fame than the contestants could ever hope for.

The crowd were also big winners, as a vast majority had clearly made the pilgrimage to see Swift perform and thus were able to return home blessed by the religious experience.

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Ronan Keating clearly felt he was the real winner, warming up his thank you speech when asked for his final thoughts on the Brothers 3 after their exit, then extending his pride in the fact that he had coached the outsider to be his second winner in five years (having won with Altiyan Childs in 2010).

Even Marlisa Punzalan was allowed a moment in the spotlight as the now 15-year-old from Glendenning in New South Wales was declared the X Factor champion.

X Factor winner Marlisa Punzalan will now support Guy Sebastian on his tour. Photo: Supplied

As part of her prize, Punzalan will be the warm-up act for Guy Sebastian’s arena tour next year, and this series will have been good practice as the singers have more than occasionally seemed the support to the judges’ drama this season.

While Natalie Bassingthwaighte and her charge Dean Ray seemed generally happy for Punzalan, and the Brothers 3, who were knocked out earlier in the evening, took the news with the grace of the “true Aussie country gentlemen” their mentor labeled them, it was Minogue and fellow judge Redfoo who seemed to spend much of the evening waiting for the two-and-a-half-hour extravaganza to end.

The pair have already created headlines through their on-air bickering over Minogue’s criticism of Redfoo’s final eliminated contestant Reigan Derry, who she suggested was “overly sexual” in her approach to her performances, prompting Redfoo to suggest the same about Minogue.

Favourite Dean Ray missed out on the title. Photo: Supplied

Minogue is well-acquainted with scandal as an X Factor judge.

Oasis front man Noel Gallagher once said of her that “if there’s one person who wouldn’t know talent if it kicked her, it’s Dannii Minogue”.

Before we go any further, it should be noted that many would take being criticised by Gallagher as a badge of honour. And in the same interview with The Radio Times in the UK he demonstrated that he may not know comic book lore if it kicked him when he suggested: “The X Factor is like something the Riddler would do in Batman. It sucks out everyone’s brains.”

Still, had Minogue’s group Brothers 3 won the public vote, rather than prove Gallagher wrong it may have further evidenced his point. After all, she is the one who kicked them out of the competition.

Dannii Minogue’s group Brothers 3 only made the final after being saved by the audience. Photo: Supplied

Minogue went into the finale announcement without any of the groups that she selected as finalists: Trill, XOX and Younger Than Yesterday were three of the first four contenders eliminated.

Brothers 3 were saved in the first live show by the audience wildcard vote after Minogue sent them home as she didn’t believe there was an audience for their style.

There are two job titles to the role that Minogue performs on the X Factor: judge and mentor. Clearly Minogue has the runs on the board as a mentor, as regardless of how she gets her charges, she has won three out of the five series she has presided over here and abroad.

Just by making the final weekend, Minogue has done well because a group has only made the final three once in the past five years (The Collective who came third last year).

Minogue’s mentoring track record boasts one bigger group as well. She mentored Matt Cardle who won The X Factor UK in 2007, beating One Direction.

Her capacity to judge the performers is the skill that is still questioned. Minogue does not have the same claim to chart success as her desk-mates Redfoo, Keating and Bassingthwaighte and it is the first stick she is clubbed with by social media every time she makes a move fans disagree with.

Dani u don’t have the talent, experience or right to bring Regan down. Shutup and acknowledge her talent and don’t be jealous. #xfactorau

— Ben Farrell (@nomadic_rambler) October 5, 2014

Minogue faced semi-regular controversy in her four years as a judge on the UK version of the series where the tabloids relentlessly dissect every episode. She was accused of revealing one contestant’s sexuality in one series, was reduced to tears after bickering with another judge in her second series, and yet another judge, Sharon Osbourne, suggested that she left the series because she didn’t like working with Minogue who she described as “the devil”.

The series creator Simon Cowell once said on air that Minogue doesn’t “get” current pop music, then later declared he had had an affair with her in his biography.

Dannii Minogue has attracted plenty of criticism.

Even Minogue’s appointment in the UK caused a stir as previously the winners would go on to be managed by their mentor, however Minogue was not qualified to do so, so outside management was brought in. It is the question of qualification that has plagued Minogue there and here.

Though she had won two out of the four series she mentored in the UK, her appointment in Australia was met with commentary about her lack of hit songs.

She went on to win the series mentoring Dami Im, and she told AAP earlier this season that “it was good to get that in the bag and now you don’t feel like you have to kind of explain why you are doing things”.

Except, of course, Dami Im was also kicked off the show last year. Im was only reinstated to the ‘top 24’ after contestant Matt Gresham retired from the competition.

For now Minogue will have to wait until next year to try and again join the comprehensive winners’ circle on the X Factor, preferably with a contestant she didn’t eliminate first.