Presenter(s) Dermot O'Leary (ITV1) Genre(s) Pop, operatic pop, R&B Air date August 22, 2009 Presented by Dermot O'Leary (ITV1) | Origin South Shields, England Mentor Cheryl Cole Host Dermot O'Leary (ITV1) Song The Climb | |
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Broadcast from 22 August – 13 December 2009 Co-presenter(s) Holly Willoughby (ITV2) Judges Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Cheryl Broadcasters ITV, ITV2 (The Xtra Factor) Winner Joe McElderry | ||
The x factor uk 2016 6 chair challenge episode 9 intro full clip s13e09
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The sixth series started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back series. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Holly Willoughby on ITV2. McElderry's winner's single was a cover version of Miley Cyrus's "The Climb". Public auditions by aspiring singers began in June 2009 and were held in five cities across the UK. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Minogue and Cole returned as judges. This season was the first to be sponsored by Talktalk after they took over the sponsorship from The Carphone Warehouse. For the first time, auditions were held in front of a live audience. Following initial auditions, the "bootcamp" stage took place in August 2009, where the number of contestants was narrowed down to 24. The 24 contestants were split into their categories, Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups, and given a judge to mentor them at the "judges' houses" stage and throughout the finals.
Contents
- The x factor uk 2016 6 chair challenge episode 9 intro full clip s13e09
- The x factor 2009 auditions episode 1
- Judges presenters and other personnel
- Auditions
- Bootcamp
- Judges houses
- Finalists and categories
- Live shows
- Musical guests
- Results summary
- Week 1 1011 October
- Week 2 1718 October
- Week 3 2425 October
- Week 4 31 October1 November
- Week 5 78 November
- Week 6 1415 November
- Week 7 2122 November
- Week 8 2829 November
- Week 9 Semi final 56 December
- Week 10 Final 1213 December
- Sponsors
- Ratings
- Controversy and criticism
- References
During "judges' houses", the 24 acts were reduced to twelve, who went on to the live finals, with one act being eliminated each week by a combination of public vote and judges' decision until a winner was found. The live shows started on 10 October 2009. The acts performed every Saturday night with the results announced on Sundays. This was change of format from previous series in which the results were announced later on the Saturday evening.
The x factor 2009 auditions episode 1
Judges, presenters and other personnel
During series 5, it was rumoured that Dannii Minogue would not return as a judge for series 6. Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham was reported as a replacement for Minogue. In June 2009, however, it was confirmed that Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Minogue would all return as judges for series 6. Walsh missed the first results show due to Boyzone member Stephen Gateley's sudden death and missed the second week due to attending Gateley's funeral.
Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV, while Holly Willoughby returned as presenter on The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Brian Friedman returned to the show as creative director and Yvie Burnett returned as vocal coach.
Auditions
Auditions were held during June and July 2009 across five cities: London (Excel Centre, 22–25 June), Birmingham (ICC, 29–30 June), Manchester (Manchester Central, 3–5 July), Cardiff (International Arena, 9 July) and Glasgow (Braehead Arena, 12 July). In a change to previous series, auditions were held in front of a live audience due to the success of a similar system on Britain's Got Talent. However, Glaswegian auditionees had already been judged using the old format, meaning that they had to apply again, as their initial audition was void.
Bootcamp
As with the auditions, the "Bootcamp" selection stage was filmed in front of a live audience. Filming took place on 1 August at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. Approximately 200 acts attended bootcamp. They were initially split into groups of three, and judges gave instant decisions on who would leave based on the group performances, bringing the number of acts down to 100. The judges then cut the number of acts down to 50. Following a further set of auditions, the number of contestants was narrowed to 24. Originally, the group Trucolorz were chosen by the judges for the final 24 but were disqualified due to one of the group's members being too young for the show, and they were replaced by Harmony Hood.
The contestants were then split into the usual four categories before the judges discovered which category they would mentor for the rest of the competition. The Boys (16–24) were mentored by Cole, Minogue had the Girls (16–24), Cowell mentored the Over 25s, and Walsh took charge of the Groups.
Judges' houses
Each judge had help from a guest judge during the "Judges' houses" stage. Will Young assisted Cole in Marrakech, Morocco, Minogue had help from her sister Kylie Minogue in Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai, Boyzone singer Ronan Keating helped Walsh near Lake Como in Italy, and Cowell had help from Sinitta in Los Angeles. At Judges' Houses, each act sang for their respective judge, and each judge and their guest eliminated three acts, leaving 12 acts to perform in the live shows.
Finalists and categories
The final 12 acts were confirmed as follows:
Key:
– Winner – Runner-up – Third placeLive shows
The live shows began on 10 October 2009, and continued through to the finale on 12 December 2009. For this series the results shows were on Sunday nights instead of Saturdays as they were for the first five series. In another change to the format of previous years, the remaining finalists performed a song as a group at the start of each results show. As previously, each week had a different song theme. Each act performed one song on the Saturday night show and the results were announced on the Sunday. Beginning with week 8 of the live shows, with five acts remaining, each contestant would sing two songs. Up to week 8, the two acts with the fewest public votes were in the bottom two and would sing again in the "final showdown". The songs they performed in the bottom two were of their own choice and did not necessarily follow that week's theme. The four judges then each chose one act from the bottom two that they wanted to be eliminated from the show. If each act received an equal number of judges' votes, the result was deadlocked and the act with the fewest public votes was eliminated. From week 8 onwards, there was no bottom two and the act with the fewest votes was eliminated. In a change to the format of previous years, the remaining finalists performed a song as a group at the start of each results show.
Musical guests
During each results show, either one or two guest artists would perform. Series 5 winner Alexandra Burke and Robbie Williams performed on the first live results show, with Whitney Houston and judge Cole on the second. Michael Bublé and Westlife appeared on the third week, and Bon Jovi and JLS performed in week 4. Leona Lewis and The Black Eyed Peas performed for week 5, while week 6 featured a performance from Shakira. Susan Boyle appeared on the show for week 7 along with Mariah Carey. Rihanna and Alicia Keys performed in week 8 with Janet Jackson and Lady Gaga appearing in week 9. Guests in the final were Robbie Williams, Michael Bublé and George Michael (Saturday show) and Burke, JLS, Lewis, George Michael and Paul McCartney (Sunday show). In some weeks, the guest performers also mentored the acts in the run-up to that week's live show.
The choice of musical guests on The X Factor live shows had a significant impact on the UK Singles Chart. Of the seven singles that made number one from 18 October to 19 December, six of them had done so after having been performed on an X Factor live show the previous weekend. They were, in order: "Bad Boys" by Alexandra Burke, "Fight for This Love" by Cole, "Everybody in Love" by JLS, "Meet Me Halfway" by the Black Eyed Peas, "You Are Not Alone" by the finalists and "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. This impact was noted by several commentators. After "Bad Romance" became the sixth song to reach Number One off the back of a performance on The X Factor, James Masterton of Yahoo! Music called the show "a guarantor of Number One hits". Gennaro Castaldo of HMV remarked:
Music Week editor Paul Williams explained:
Results summary
Week 1 (10/11 October)
Walsh was absent from the Sunday night results show due to the sudden death of Boyzone singer and close friend Stephen Gately, whom he managed. Due to this, the show did not take its usual format; there were no lights and neither O'Leary nor the three other judges made an entrance. Instead, the show commenced with O'Leary already on stage and the judges already sitting at their desk. Both O'Leary and Cowell addressed the viewers and audience regarding Gately's death and Walsh's absence. Following this, the show went on as normal with Minogue, Cowell and Cole present as judges.
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Kandy Rain were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 2 (17/18 October)
Walsh was absent from both shows this weekend, again due to Stephen Gately's death. The funeral took place on 17 October and Walsh paid his respects. This statement was released: "Due to recent tragic events, Louis Walsh will not be appearing on either the Saturday or Sunday live The X Factor shows this weekend as he is attending Stephen Gately's funeral. Louis has been in close contact with his acts throughout the week, although his opinions will not be represented in the show this weekend."
For the first time in the show's history, a contestant sang a cover version of a new song that had not yet even been sung live by the original recording artist. Cowell's decision for Danyl Johnson to sing "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" garnered a disapproving reception from Houston, with Cowell saying that Johnson "didn't exactly get rave reviews [from Houston and Davis] in that room [for the masterclass]."
Week 3 (24/25 October)
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Miss Frank were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 4 (31 October/1 November)
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Adedeji was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 5 (7/8 November)
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Jones was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 6 (14/15 November)
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Archer was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 7 (21/22 November)
Week 8 (28/29 November)
This week did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Lloyd Daniels, was automatically eliminated. After his elimination, Daniels reprised his week 8 performance of "A Million Love Songs" as his exit song.
Week 9: Semi-final (5/6 December)
The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Danyl Johnson, was automatically eliminated. After his elimination, Johnson reprised his week 9 performance of "Man in the Mirror" as his exit song.
Week 10: Final (12/13 December)
12 December
The show also featured Jeff Brazier reporting from Solomon's home town of Dagenham, Michael Underwood in Colchester for Murs and Kimberley Walsh in McElderry's home town of South Shields.
13 December
Sponsors
This series of The X Factor was sponsored by TalkTalk and featured break bumpers pioneered by CHI & Partners, showing light graffiti set against night-time backdrops across the United Kingdom. Part of the deal, which applied to ITV, ITV2 and the programme's website, saw TalkTalk customers having the chance to design the break bumpers and download exclusive content. In the Republic of Ireland, the series was sponsored by Domino's Pizza.
Ratings
The first episode, which was broadcast on 22 August and showed the first set of auditions, attracted 9.9 million viewers; 47.9% of the viewing audience and the largest amount of viewers within its timeslot. One week later, 9.75 million people viewed the second episode; a 47.1% share of the TV audience. The third episode averaged 11.76 million viewers and a 51.9% audience share. Episode four attracted 10.26 million viewers. The fifth episode, which was scheduled directly against Strictly Come Dancing drew in about 9.27 million viewers, compared to 7.72 for Strictly. The X Factor reached a record high number of viewers for the second and third results shows on 18 and 25 October, scoring 14.8 million viewers each. This was beaten on 8 November when the fifth results show peaked at 16.6 million people.
The final episode peaked with 19.7 million viewers when Joe McElderry was announced as the winner.
Controversy and criticism
On 2 August 2009, The People reported that some bootcamp contestants felt they had been poorly treated by the show's producers; one compared the experience with that of a concentration camp and another claimed that those competing were only allowed to use the toilet twice a day. However, a spokesperson for the programme refuted the claims, saying "Yes, it was long hours but they knew what they were signing up for. The hopefuls got breakfast at the hotel and decent food throughout the day".
The new audition format (whereby auditions are held in front of a studio audience) was criticised by fans, by Cole and by certain former contestants.
The show was criticised in September 2009 for "recycling" contestants, as three singers from the final 24 acts had already been in pop bands, two had auditioned for The X Factor in previous years and one had appeared on Britain's Got Talent.
Controversy began after the first live show on 10 October, after Minogue commented on press reports regarding Danyl Johnson's sexuality, sparking an online backlash. Minogue's comments received some media coverage resulting in Minogue releasing a statement on the issue:
"I want to clear up exactly what happened on last night's X Factor show and post my sincere apologies to anyone who took offense [sic]. I made a comment about Danyl changing the lyrics of his song. It was meant to be a humorous moment about the fact he has an opportunity to have fun with his song. An openly bi-sexual singing a song that is lyrically a 'girl's song'. Danyl and I were joking about the very same thing in rehearsals on Friday, so it carried on to the show. I'd like to apologise to anyone that was offended by my comments, it was never my intention. I spoke to Danyl straight after the show last night and he wasn't offended or upset by my comments, and knew exactly what I was saying."
Minogue also apologised on the live results show on 11 October, saying Danyl was not upset by her comments. It has since been reported that Ofcom received around 4000 complaints from viewers over the comment.