The X Factor (UK series 8)

Judges, presenters and other personnel

On 5 May 2011, it was announced that Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole would not return as judges for series 8 in order to concentrate on The X Factor USA. On 14 May 2011, Dannii Minogue announced that she would not appear as a judge on the eighth series either, due to a clash with Australia's Got Talent, another show for which she judges. Of her decision, Minogue said, "During discussions for me to return to The X Factor it became clear that unfortunately, this year, The X Factor audition dates in the UK clash with the live shows of Australia's Got Talent during June and July. For this reason I am unable to return".

After Cowell and Cole announced their departures, a number of celebrities were linked to the judging role including Frankie Sandford of The Saturdays and Alesha Dixon, a judge on the rival Strictly Come Dancing. On 9 May 2011, five days before Minogue announced she would not return, news broke that Cowell had offered a seat to Gary Barlow of Take That, though his contract was not finalised. Following Minogue's announcement, it was reported that Tulisa Contostavlos from N-Dubz had been in talks with producers to take on a judging role. It was also suggested that Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny's Child, was in talks to take a seat on the judging panel, which was later confirmed. On 30 May 2011, the judging line-up was confirmed as Louis Walsh, Barlow, Contostavlos and Rowland. Barlow said that he was "extremely excited" to work on the show, and hoped to find a global superstar. Contostavlos hoped to "bring something fresh and new to the panel", promising to speak her mind. Rowland wanted an "opportunity to hear a few diamonds in the rough" and said she would be "sternly honest". In week 4 of the live finals on 29 and 30 October, Rowland was unable to attend due to a throat infection and was replaced for these shows by Alexandra Burke, who won series 5.

In March 2011, Konnie Huq, who presented spin-off series The Xtra Factor for series 7, was told that her contract would not be renewed. Matt Edmondson, Sandford, Kimberley Walsh, and series 6 contestant Stacey Solomon were all rumoured to be in the running, but it was confirmed on 31 May 2011 that Caroline Flack would co-present The Xtra Factor with series 6 runner-up Olly Murs.

Applications and auditions

The first appeal for applicants for series 8 was broadcast during series 7 on 11 December 2010. For the first time, contestants could upload a video to YouTube. Auditions in front of the judges for series 8 took place in Cardiff, London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. It is the first time auditions have taken place in Liverpool, and the city replaces Dublin, where auditions were held in 2010. A source from the show said, "There are only so many places we can go for auditions. We went to Dublin last year but we haven't been to Liverpool so we thought we should do it this year. Obviously this is a blow to the Irish contestants but it's only a short hop across the Irish Sea to Liverpool".

The auditions started in Birmingham's LG Arena on 1 and 2 June. They then took place in Glasgow's Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on 6 June and continued in Manchester's Event City on 12, 13 and 14 June. More auditions took place at Cardiff's International Arena on 29 June, and at London's O2 on 6, 7 and 8 July, and finished in Liverpool's Echo Arena on 13 and 14 July. The Manchester auditions were postponed from 18–20 May.

London and Birmingham auditions were broadcast during the first episode on 20 August 2011. More of the London auditions, as well as the Liverpool and Manchester auditions, aired on 27 August 2011. On 3 September, the Glasgow auditions and more from London were shown. More auditions from Manchester, Birmingham and London were broadcast during the 10 September episode. More from London, plus the Manchester and Glasgow auditions were broadcast in the 11 September episode. The 17 September episode showed more auditions from Liverpool, Cardiff, London, Glasgow and Manchester. The final auditions aired on 18 September, and featured auditions from Liverpool, London and Cardiff.

Bootcamp

Bootcamp started on 18 August 2011. The first episode of bootcamp was broadcast on 24 September 2011. It showed 187 acts attend a pre-bootcamp party at a hotel in Croydon, while the judges reviewed their auditions to see if there were some acts they wanted to cut before bootcamp started. They cut 35 acts, leaving 152. The acts were split into 30 groups in which to perform at Wembley Arena, and each group was given one of six songs by the judges: "You've Got the Love", "Breakeven", "Price Tag", "Born This Way", "Forget You" or "Firework". The judges then went on to cut over 80 acts, but called some soloists back, who were asked if they were interested in forming groups. All agreed and were workshopped to see which singers would work well together. They formed six groups. The 61 remaining acts were then given the task of learning one song, making it their own and performing it in front of a live audience, the second time bootcamp was open to an audience (the first was in 2009). The judges then chose the final 32 acts, based on these performances. However, they only chose 31 acts, and the final group was made from four members of two groups previously put together by the judges.

Judges' houses

Judges' houses, the final part of the selection process, was filmed in September. Judges were given their categories in late August. Barlow mentored the Boys, Rowland the Girls, Walsh the Over 25s, and Tulisa the Groups. Robbie Williams joined Barlow in Los Angeles, Jennifer Hudson assisted Rowland in Miami, Walsh was accompanied by Sinitta in Barcelona, and Tulisa received help from Jessie J in Mykonos. At judges' houses each act performed two songs for their mentor and his/her guest judge, although only one song was mentioned and shown on the main show, with the other song shown on The Xtra Factor instead.

Sian Phillips was originally selected for the judges' houses, but due to visa issues, she was unable to travel to Miami and was thus replaced by Sarah Watson in the Girls category.

Goldie Cheung was initially put through to the finals by Walsh, but pulled out of the competition at the end of the judges' houses stage, stating that she did not want to be away from her family. Sami Brookes, who had initially not made it through, took her place in the live shows.

Finalists

The final 16 finalists were confirmed as follows;

Key:

     – Winner      – Runner-up      – Third place      – Ejected

¹ formerly known as Rhythmix until 26 October 2011.

Live shows

The live shows began on 8 October. Each week, the contestants' performances took place on Saturday and the results were announced on Sunday. As with previous series, each live show had a different theme. The results show often featured a group performance by the remaining contestants and guest live performances.

The first live results show included live performances from series 7 winner Matt Cardle and Cee Lo Green, while Katy Perry and The Wanted performed on the second results show. On the third results show, Bruno Mars, Professor Green featuring Emeli Sandé and Kelly Clarkson performed. Series 7 contestant Cher Lloyd and The X Factor USA judge Nicole Scherzinger performed on the fourth live result show. Series 5 runners up JLS and Florence and the Machine performed on the fifth live results show, while Lady Gaga and series 7 contestants One Direction performed on the sixth. The seventh live show featured performances from Rihanna and series 7 runner-up Rebecca Ferguson,. The eighth live results show included performances from former contestant and The Xtra Factor host Olly Murs featuring The Muppets, and Jessie J. JLS and One Direction also appeared alongside the 16 finalists to perform this year's charity single, "Wishing on a Star". The semi-final live result show featured performances from Justin Bieber and The X Factor judge Rowland. The live final featured performances from Coldplay, JLS, Leona Lewis, Michael Bublé and One Direction

For the live finals, The X Factor received new graphics and theme music similar to those already introduced on The X Factor USA. Voting by text message, which had been absent since 2007, was reintroduced for this series in addition to the premium rate telephone vote, but was not available during the final.

During the fourth week of the live shows, it was announced that Rowland was unable to travel back from Los Angeles due to a throat infection. During the week, it was announced that Burke would replace her as a judge on the show. After Burke accepted the role as guest judge, she became the first X Factor contestant to return to the show as a judge. It was reported on 28 June 2011 that the final would take place on 10 and 11 December 2011 at Wembley Arena instead of the usual Fountain Studios. ITV later confirmed this on 15 August.

On 26 October 2011, Rhythmix announced that they would change their name due to pressure from a children's music charity of the same name, after the programme tried to trademark "Rhythmix" in Europe. It was reported that the group decided to make the change, despite no legal reason to do so, to avoid any difficulties for the charity. The name was subsequently changed to Little Mix.

On 28 October 2011, Ashley Baptiste decided to leave The Risk. In an interview on the official website, he explained "I don't believe my future lies in a boyband and it's not fair on [the other members] Charlie, Derry and Andy to remain in the band when I am not truly committed to it for the long term. I believe The Risk can win The X Factor and I'm backing them all the way. I count them as my friends so I know we'll stay in touch." He was replaced by Ashford Campbell, who was a member of Nu Vibe, another manufactured boyband who had already previously been eliminated.

On 8 November 2011, Frankie Cocozza was ejected from the competition, saying he "no longer [deserved his] place in the show", having broken competition rules. As a result, it was announced that the four contestants eliminated by their mentors in week 1; 2 Shoes, Amelia Lily, James Michael and Jonjo Kerr; would be given the chance to face a public vote, with the winner of the vote being reinstated in the competition. Amelia Lily won the public vote with 48% of the overall total and replaced Cocozza in the competition.

Results summary

Colour key

^1 There was no public vote in the first week and therefore no final showdown. Each judge was required to eliminate one of their own acts instead.

^2 Rowland was not present due to illness but voted via telephone link from Los Angeles.

^3 Barlow was not required to vote as there was already a majority. However, he stated that he would have voted against Sophie Habibis in week 4, Johnny Robinson in week 5 and Janet Devlin in week 8.

^4 Following Frankie Cocozza's withdrawal from the competition, one of the four acts who were eliminated in the first week of the competition by the judges (2 Shoes, Amelia Lily, James Michael, or Jonjo Kerr) returned to the competition following a public vote. The winner of the vote was announced as Amelia Lily with 48%.

^5 The voting percentages in week 10 for Sunday round do not add up to 100%, owing to the freezing of votes. Amelia Lily received 8.9% of the final vote.

Week 1 (8/9 October)

Theme: Songs by British and American artists (billed as "Britain vs. America")

Musical guests: Matt Cardle ("Run for Your Life") and Cee Lo Green ("Satisfied/Forget You")

There was no public vote in the first week. Instead, each of the judges selected one of their own acts to eliminate.

Judges' decisions to eliminate

Walsh: Jonjo Kerr – said he was the weakest performer in his category

Barlow: James Michael – thought the other three boys had more star quality than Michael

Tulisa: 2 Shoes – the decision came down to 2 Shoes and Nu Vibe, and Tulisa decided that Nu Vibe had more potential to improve

Rowland: Amelia Lily – the decision came down to Amelia Lily and Sophie Habibis; while Rowland felt that Lily had more of a star quality, she conceded that Habibis had given the better performance

Week 2 (15/16 October)

Theme: "Love and heartbreak"

Group performance: "Hello"

Musical guests: The Wanted ("Lightning") and Katy Perry ("The One That Got Away")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Barlow: Nu Vibe – gave no reason, though effectively backed his own act, Frankie Cocozza

Rowland: Nu Vibe – gave no reason

Tulisa: Frankie– gave no reason, though effectively backed her own act, Nu Vibe

Walsh: Nu Vibe – backed the act he believed had more potential

Week 3 (22/23 October)

Theme: Rock

Musical guests: Kelly Clarkson ("Mr. Know It All"), Professor Green featuring Emeli Sandé ("Read All About It") and Bruno Mars ("Runaway Baby")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Barlow: Sami Brookes – said that both acts were very good, but felt that Brucknell was "more exciting" and Brookes was "dated"

Rowland: Sami Brookes – gave no reason

Tulisa: Kitty Brucknell – thought Brookes had a better connection with the viewing audience

Walsh: Sami Brookes – refused to take the vote to deadlock and chose to go with his heart

Week 4 (29/30 October)

Theme: Halloween

Group performance: "Bright Lights Bigger City"

Musical guests: Cher Lloyd ("With Ur Love") and Nicole Scherzinger ("Try with Me")

Rowland did not appear on the judging panel for week 4 due to illness, so series 5 winner Alexandra Burke took her place on the panel. However, Burke did not vote on the results show; instead, Rowland voted via telephone link from Los Angeles. Rhythmix's new name 'Little Mix' took effect from Week 4. Ashley Baptiste from The Risk quit the group and Ashford Campbell who was originally in Nu Vive (eliminated Week 2) joined The Risk.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Walsh: Sophie Habibis – said that Misha B was a better performer

Tulisa: Sophie Habibis – said she related more to Misha B as an artist

Rowland: Sophie Habibis – felt that Misha B wanted it more

Barlow was not required to vote since there was already a majority, but confirmed he would have eliminated Sophie Habibis

Week 5 (5/6 November)

Theme: Club classics

Group performance: "Price Tag"

Musical guests : JLS ("Take a Chance on Me") and Florence and the Machine ("Shake It Out")

Two acts were eliminated from the series fifth results show. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced as the bottom three and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and faced the judges' votes.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Walsh: Johnny Robinson – said that Brucknell was more likely to succeed in the music industry

Tulisa: Johnny Robinson – agreed with Walsh

Rowland: Johnny Robinson – also agreed with Walsh, and added that she felt Brucknell had more of an "excitement factor"

Barlow was not required to vote since there was already a majority, but confirmed he would have eliminated Robinson

Week 6 (12/13 November)

Theme: Songs by Lady Gaga or Queen (billed as "Lady Gaga vs. Queen")

Group performance: "Walking on Sunshine"

Musical guests: One Direction ("Gotta Be You") and Lady Gaga ("Marry the Night")

On 8 November 2011, Frankie Cocozza was ejected from the competition. The four acts that did not face the public vote in week 1 and were eliminated by their mentors—Amelia Lily, James Michael, Jonjo Kerr, and 2 Shoes—faced the public vote and the act with the most votes would replace Cocozza. The winner of the vote was announced as Amelia Lily with 48% of the public vote. The show was also delayed by fifteen minutes due to a power fault at the BT Tower, the show's main relay device, so footage from the auditions stage was shown instead.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Walsh: Misha Bryan – backed his own act, Kitty Brucknell

Tulisa: Kitty Brucknell – said that after the show she would've bought Misha B's album

Rowland: Kitty Brucknell – backed her own act, Misha B, who she felt had more potential in the competition

Barlow: Kitty Brucknell – said that Misha B had more potential and he thought that Kitty was not connecting with the audience since this was her third time in the bottom two

Week 7 (19/20 November)

Theme: Songs from films (billed as "movie week")

Group performance: "When You're Gone" (with Bryan Adams)

Musical guests: Rebecca Ferguson ("Nothing's Real but Love") and Rihanna ("We Found Love")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Barlow: Amelia Lily – backed his own act, Craig Colton, and said that Amelia Lily had "shouted her way" through the final showdown

Rowland: Craig Colton – backed her own act, Amelia Lily

Tulisa: Amelia Lily – said that Colton sang better in the sing off

Walsh: Craig Colton – said Amelia was a ready made pop star

With the judges deadlocked, Craig Colton was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 8 (26/27 November)

Themes: Guilty pleasures; musical heroes

Group performance: "Wishing on a Star" (all finalists except Frankie Cocozza, along with JLS and One Direction)

Musical guests: Olly Murs and The Muppets ("Dance with Me Tonight") and Jessie J ("Who You Are")

Starting in week 8, each act performed two songs with voting lines opening after the first round of performances.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Walsh: Janet Devlin – based on the performances across both of this week's shows

Tulisa: Janet Devlin – based on the performances across both of this week's shows, and thought Misha had more long-term potential

Rowland: Abstained from voting as both her acts were in the bottom two, O'Leary warned Rowland this would mean Devlin would be eliminated as two judges voted against her, but Rowland still declined to vote

Barlow was not required to vote since there was already a majority, but confirmed he would have eliminated Devlin

Week 9: Semi-final (3/4 December)

Themes: Motown; "songs to get you to the final" (no theme)

Group performance: "Hold On"

Musical guests: Justin Bieber ("Mistletoe") and Kelly Rowland ("When Love Takes Over" / "Down for Whatever" / "Commander")

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Misha B, was automatically eliminated. After her elimination, Misha B reprised her week 6 final showdown performance of "Who You Are" as her exit song.

Week 10: Final (10/11 December)

The final was held at Wembley Arena and lasted for over four hours, split over Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December 2011.

10 December

Themes: No theme; mentor duets

Group performance: "Greatest Day"

Musical guests: JLS and One Direction ("She Makes Me Wanna" / "What Makes You Beautiful"), Michael Bublé ("Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)") and Leona Lewis ("Hurt")

If Amelia Lily had made the final two, her favourite performance would have been, "The Show Must Go On" from week six, and would have sung "All I Want For Christmas Is You" for her Christmas song, as well as performing "Cannonball".

11 December

Themes: Favourite performance ("song of the series"); Christmas songs; winner's single

Group performance: "We Found Love" / "Party Rock Anthem" / "On the Floor" / "Moves Like Jagger" / "The Edge of Glory" (all finalists except Frankie Cocozza who was replaced by Goldie Cheung and David Wilder)

Musical guests: Westlife ("What About Now") and Coldplay ("Charlie Brown" and "Paradise")

Charity single

It was announced on 12 October 2011, that the 16 finalists would record a cover version of "Wishing on a Star", released on 20 November in aid of Together for Short Lives, a charity which Cowell said do "amazing work". It is the fourth time finalists have released a charity single. Series 5 contestants JLS and series 7 contestants One Direction also feature on the single.

Winner's single

The winner's single was Damien Rice's "Cannonball". It was previously announced that Barlow would write the debut single for the eventual winner of the competition. It would have been the second original winner's song, the first being Shayne Ward's "That's My Goal". For the first time since series 1, the winner's single was not released in the week of the coveted Christmas number one chart battle. The Official Charts Company announced that the 2011 Christmas number-one would be announced on Christmas Day, meaning releases on 18 December would be new entries in the chart that week. Little Mix's winner's single was released on 14 December, which meant it would have to maintain significant sales numbers in its second week to achieve the Christmas number one. It was announced on 17 November that N-Dubz rapper Fazer would be producing the single.

Marks & Spencer deal

In September 2011, it was announced that Marks & Spencer would be The X Factor's official fashion partner. On 2 October 2011, it was revealed that the 16 finalists would star in the retailer's 2011 Christmas advertisement. It is a one-minute advertisement that premiered during week 5 of the live shows. The finalists recorded a cover of the song "When You Wish upon a Star" to feature in the advert and modelled clothes from the company. The finalists will be paid for the advertisement. After his ejection from the competition, M&S announced that Frankie Cocozza's face would be edited out of the advert, as it wasn't possible to edit his voice from the advert. On 17 November 2011, M&S posted the latest edit of the advert to their official YouTube account, with Cocozza's vocals completely erased.

Ratings

Initial viewing figures for the first episode were placed at 11.3 million for ITV1, however, the peak audience was 12.6 million, a match for the highest viewing figures for an X Factor series opener, and almost 5 million more than Doctor Who on BBC One, the second-highest rated programme that night.

Despite an apparent drop in ratings from the previous series, it was the third most watched series in the show's eight-year history and the most watched show of 2011, beating the Royal Wedding which aired during the spring.

^1 The ITV+1 rating for the Live Results show that was broadcast on 23 October 2011 is unavailable as it is outside the Top 10 ratings recorded on the BARB website. It had fewer than 0.20 million viewers.

^2 The ITV+1 rating for the Live Results show that was broadcast on 13 November 2011 is unavailable as it is outside the Top 10 ratings recorded on the BARB website. It had fewer than 0.19 million viewers.

Allegation of bullying

Misha B was involved in a controversy during the third live show when Tulisa accused her of making "mean comments" and Walsh accused her of being a "bully" backstage. Both later apologised. The other two judges, Barlow and Rowland, and several contestants defended Misha B during and after the show. Barlow later said he believed the wrongful allegations had ended her chances of winning the competition."

Frankie Cocozza's withdrawal

On 8 November, Frankie Cocozza withdrew from the competition. He released a statement saying "I'd like to apologise to Gary, my fellow contestants and everyone who has voted for me, but, as of today, I will no longer be in The X Factor. My life during the show has gone out of control and my behaviour off stage has overstepped the rules of the competition."

The Sun newspaper claimed Cocozza had been overheard boasting about using cocaine. The rules of the series strictly prohibit drug use during the show. Cocozza's mentor, Barlow, said that he was "hugely disappointed" by Cocozza's behaviour, but wished him luck with his future.

Cocozza's behaviour earlier in the series has led to two Ofcom investigations – he swore during a live show and was also shown drinking heavily with some friends.