Claim: The X Factor is a competition.

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent . The seventh series started on ITV on 21 August 2010 and ended on 12 December 2010 . The winner was Matt Cardle and his debut single `` When We Collide '' was released after the final . Cardle was mentored throughout by Dannii Minogue , who won as mentor for the second time . A total of 15,448,019 votes were cast throughout the series . It was presented by Dermot O'Leary , with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Konnie Huq on ITV2 , who took over from Holly Willoughby .   The competition was split into several stages : auditions , bootcamp , judges ' houses and live shows . Auditions took place throughout June and July 2010 , with Simon Cowell , Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole returning as judges . Minogue missed the auditions and bootcamp due to being on maternity leave , so Geri Halliwell , Natalie Imbruglia , Katy Perry , Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger were brought in as guest judges . Cole missed the auditions in Manchester and bootcamp because she had malaria . Following bootcamp , successful acts were split into four categories : Boys -LRB- male soloists aged 16 to 28 -RRB- , Girls -LRB- female soloists aged 16 to 28 -RRB- , Over 28s -LRB- soloists aged 29 and over -RRB- and Groups . Minogue and Cole returned for the judges ' houses stage , and each judge mentored eight acts through judges ' houses . The live shows started on 9 October 2010 . Four acts eliminated at judges ' houses were brought back as wildcards , making this the first series to have 16 acts perform in the live shows .   This was the first series of the show to be filmed in high definition , and was simulcast on ITV1 HD and STV HD . From October , The Xtra Factor was also shown in high definition , simulcast on the new channel ITV2 HD . It was sponsored by TalkTalk in the United Kingdom and Dominos Pizza in Ireland .   This series proved to be highly controversial , with many people complaining about the use of pitch correction software on the broadcast of contestants ' auditions , the decision to form two groups out of rejected soloists , the rejection of popular contestant Gamu Nhengu at judges ' houses and Cole 's failure to vote to eliminate an act in week 5 of the live shows . Controversy also surrounded contestants Shirlena Johnson , who was axed over fears for her mental health , and Treyc Cohen , who was reported to already have a record deal when the live shows started . There were also accusations of fixing , which were denied by the show 's producers . It was the most watched series to date , with an average of 14.13 million viewers per episode . The final was watched by 17.71 million people , making it the highest rated television episode of 2010 in the UK .