The X Factor (British TV series)

***The X Factor*** is a British television music programme created by Simon Cowell. It was shown in the UK and Ireland on the television channel ITV every year from 2004 to 2018.

It was shown from August to December each year on Saturdays and Sundays. The show was extremely popular as millions of people watched it and many people who took part became famous. The most-watched episode was the final of the seventh series, which 19.4 million people watched.

It has created the careers of many famous musical artists such as One Direction, Little Mix, and Olly Murs. Many countries have made their own versions of _The X Factor_ because of its popularity in the UK.

## Description

_The X Factor_ was a singing competition and reality television series in which ordinary people who want to be singers compete for a recording contract and a cash prize. It is similar to other shows like _Pop Idol_ and _Got Talent_.

### Auditions

In the auditions stage, people have to perform a song of their own choice in front of the celebrity judges. Anyone over the age of 16 could audition. In most series, this is done in a small studio but in some it is done in an arena with an audience. If most of the judges like the performance, then the person goes to the next round.

Many auditions have gone viral or received lots of attention in the media because the person who auditioned went angry at the judges because they didn't like the audition.

### Boot Camp

After the auditions, the successful contestants went to "boot camp". They were split into categories. The categories changed depending on the series but were usually Boys, Girls, Groups, and Over 25s. The judges had the power to put contestants together to create groups, as they did with One Direction and Little Mix.

Each judge is assigned a category to mentor. Each judge must pick a certain number of contestants from their category to pass to the next round.

### Six-Chair Challenge

The Six-Chair Challenge was added in Series 10 (2013) and did not appear in the first nine series. In some series, it happened after Boot Camp but in other series it entirely replaced Boot Camp. Each category had six available chairs. The contestants had to perform in front of the judges and an audience. The judge for each category gave a place in one of the six chairs to a contestant that they wanted to pass to the next round. Once all chairs were full, judges would have to swap a contestant with someone already in a chair if they wanted them instead. The last contestants in the six chairs for each category passed to the next round.

### Judges' Houses

The contestants from each category were sent to stay at their judge's luxury house, usually in another tropical country. They had to perform to their judge and a celebrity guest adviser. The judges had to decide which contestants from their category would go to the last round. The number of contestants who went through changed each year but was usually between two to four from each category.

### Live shows

The contestants who made it to the last stage entered the "live shows", which lasted between six to ten weeks depending on the series. Every week, the contestants performed to the judges, an audience, and live on television. The general public voted for their favourites. The two least-popular contestants had to perform again and the judges decided who would leave the competition. If the judges could not decide, then the contestant that got the fewest votes was sent home. Once only three contestants remained in the final week, the public voted for the winner. The winner received a £1 million record deal from Simon Cowell's company. Sometimes, contestants who did not win were also offered record deals by Cowell.

## Series overview

|Series|Year|colspan="2"|Presenter|Winner|Runner-up|No. of episodes|Average viewers|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2004|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Kate Thornton|Steve Brookstein|G4|24|7.40 million||
|2005|Shayne Ward|Andy Abraham|30|8.73 million||||
|2006|Leona Lewis|Ray Quinn|30|8.27 million||||
|2007|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Dermot O'Leary|Leon Jackson|Rhydian Roberts|28|8.57 million||
|2008|Alexandra Burke|JLS|rowspan="3"|30|10.51 million|||
|2009|Joe McElderry|Olly Murs|13 million|||||
|2010|Matt Cardle|Rebecca Ferguson|14.13 million|||||
|2011|Little Mix|Marcus Collins|rowspan="2"|31|12.41 million|||
|2012|James Arthur|Jahméne Douglas|9.92 million|||||
|2013|Sam Bailey|Nicholas McDonald|32|9.69 million||||
|2014|Ben Haenow|Fleur East|34|8.98 million||||
|2015|Caroline Flack|Olly Murs|Louisa Johnson|Reggie n Bollie|28|8.02 million||
|2016|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Dermot O'Leary|Matt Terry|Saara Aalto|32|7.62 million||
|2017|Rak-Su|Grace Davies|rowspan="2"|28|6.34 million|||
|2018|Dalton Harris|Scarlett Lee|5.75 million|||||

### Judges

Until Series 4, there was only three judges.
|Series|colspan="4"|Judges||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="11"|Louis Walsh|rowspan="4"|Sharon Osbourne|rowspan="7"|Simon Cowell|
|rowspan="4"|Dannii Minogue|||||
|rowspan="3"|Cheryl|||||
|rowspan="2"|Tulisa|rowspan="3"|Gary Barlow|Kelly Rowland||
|rowspan="2"|Nicole Scherzinger|||||
|Sharon Osbourne||||||
|rowspan="2"|Cheryl|rowspan="5"|Simon Cowell|Mel B||
|Nick Grimshaw|Rita Ora|||||
|rowspan="2"|Louis Walsh|rowspan="2"|Sharon Osbourne|rowspan="2"|Nicole Scherzinger|
|Louis Tomlinson|Ayda Field|Robbie Williams||||

### _Xtra Factor_

The ***Xtra Factor*** was the spin-off show of _The X Factor_. It was shown on the channel ITV2. It has been presented by various people including Ben Shephard, Fearne Cotton, Holly Willoughby, Konnie Huq, Olly Murs, Caroline Flack, Matt Richardson, Sarah-Jane Crawford, Rochelle Humes, Melvin Odoom, and Rylan Clark. It was shown after the main show and usually included interviews with judges, contestants, and unseen moments. It did not come back after the thirteenth series.

### Celebrity version

In 2006, there was a celebrity version titled ***The X Factor: Battle of the Stars**._ It saw nine celebrity acts perform over the course of 8 episodes. The winner (Lucy Benjamin) received money for her chosen charity as a prize. The judges were Simon, Sharon and Louis.

In 2019, there was a similar version returned titled ***The X Factor: Celebrity.*** The judges were Simon, Louis and Nicole.
|Year|Title|Presenter|Winner|Episodes|Contestants||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2006|_The X Factor: Battle of the Stars_|Kate Thornton|Lucy Benjamin|rowspan="2"|8|9|
|2019|_The X Factor: Celebrity_|Dermot O'Leary|Megan McKenna|15|||

### _The X Factor: The Band_

***The X Factor: The Band**_ was a special series of the show in December 2019. It was a version with the aim of creating a new popular band. The show had four episodes. The first episode was the auditions. The second and third episodes saw the creation of a boy group and a girl group. The fourth episode was a live final where the viewers voted for their favourite. The girl group Real Like You won. The show was judged by Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and former winner Leona Lewis. It was the last series of the show.

## Popularity and impact

The show was very popular and became one of the most-watched Saturday evening shows. It often competed with BBC's _Strictly Come Dancing_ to be the most popular Saturday show. The show's most famous and successful winners include Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, Little Mix, and James Arthur. There have also been contestants who did not win that have become famous because of the programme such as One Direction (the show's most successful act), Jedward, Olly Murs, Ella Henderson, Stacey Solomon, Fleur East, Rylan Clark, JLS, Cher Lloyd, Saara Aalto, and Ruth Lorenzo. The winners and other contestants often had lots of success in the charts in the weeks after the show.

The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight series of _The X Factor_ all averaged more than 10 million viewers per episode. The most-watched episode was the seventh series' final, with 19.4 million people. After the ninth series, however, the show began to lose popularity.

### Controversy

As well as the music, _The X Factor_ became known for being dramatic. Bad auditions, rude contestants, arguments between judges, or other shocking moments went viral and received attention from newspapers and tabloids. However, in the years since the show has ended, many people formerly involved have accused the show of treating contestants badly (such as limited water access and long waiting times), controlling events to create dramatic moments, especially in the auditions, and editing moments in a certain way.

Many music industry professionals and media sources said that _The X Factor_ cared more about entertaining drama and storylines than music talent. Some former contestants have come out and spoken about their bad experiences on the show. Misha B, a fan-favourite of Series 8, was suicidal after Tulisa and Louis Walsh said during a live show that she was bullying other contestants without any proof. Gary Barlow said in his 2018 autobiography that the producers had told judges to say this. Other contestants such as Zoe Alexander, Jedward, and Jade Thirlwall have also said the show treated some contestants badly.

## End of the show

After the fifteenth series received the lowest number of viewers than the others, it did not return in 2019 (when the shorter celebrity and Band spin-offs were released instead). However, it was still believed that the show would return at some point. In 2021, ITV confirmed that they had no plans to bring it back.

## Infobox (television)

- **genre**: Reality television
- **creator**: Simon Cowell
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **language**: English
- **runtime**: 60–150 minutes
- **network**: ITV (TV network), ITV
- **image**: X Factor UK LT 2016.png