The X Factor (British TV series)

The X Factor
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Simon Cowell
Presented by	Kate Thornton Dermot O'Leary Caroline Flack Olly Murs
Judges	Simon Cowell Sharon Osbourne Louis Walsh Dannii Minogue Brian Friedman Cheryl Gary Barlow Kelly Rowland Tulisa Nicole Scherzinger Mel B Nick Grimshaw Rita Ora Ayda Field Louis Tomlinson Robbie Williams
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
Production
Running time	60–150 minutes
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	4 September 2004 (2004-09-04) – 2 December 2018 (2018-12-02)

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	Presenter		Winner	Runner-up	No. of episodes	Average viewers
1	2004	Kate Thornton		Steve Brookstein	G4	24	7.40 million
2	2005			Shayne Ward	Andy Abraham	30	8.73 million
3	2006			Leona Lewis	Ray Quinn	30	8.27 million
4	2007	Dermot O'Leary		Leon Jackson	Rhydian Roberts	28	8.57 million
5	2008			Alexandra Burke	JLS	30	10.51 million
6	2009			Joe McElderry	Olly Murs		13 million
7	2010			Matt Cardle	Rebecca Ferguson		14.13 million
8	2011			Little Mix	Marcus Collins	31	12.41 million
9	2012			James Arthur	Jahméne Douglas		9.92 million
10	2013			Sam Bailey	Nicholas McDonald	32	9.69 million
11	2014			Ben Haenow	Fleur East	34	8.98 million
12	2015	Caroline Flack	Olly Murs	Louisa Johnson	Reggie n Bollie	28	8.02 million
13	2016	Dermot O'Leary		Matt Terry	Saara Aalto	32	7.62 million
14	2017			Rak-Su	Grace Davies	28	6.34 million
15	2018			Dalton Harris	Scarlett Lee		5.75 million

Judges

Simon Cowell and Cheryl during the Series 7 auditions

Until Series 4, there was only three judges.

Series	Judges
1	Louis Walsh	Sharon Osbourne	Simon Cowell
2
3
4				Dannii Minogue
5		Cheryl
6
7
8		Tulisa	Gary Barlow	Kelly Rowland
9				Nicole Scherzinger
10		Sharon Osbourne
11		Cheryl	Simon Cowell	Mel B
12	Nick Grimshaw			Rita Ora
13	Louis Walsh	Sharon Osbourne		Nicole Scherzinger
14
15	Louis Tomlinson	Ayda Field		Robbie Williams

Spin-offs

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.

Winners of the celebrity version of The X Factor

Year	Title	Presenter	Winner	Episodes	Contestants
2006	The X Factor: Battle of the Stars	Kate Thornton	Lucy Benjamin	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

Misha B said she was depressed after the show made it look like she was a bully

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.