The X Factor (UK series 5)

The X Factor
Series 5
Broadcast from 16 August 2008–13 December 2008
Judges Simon Cowell
Dannii Minogue
Louis Walsh
Cheryl Cole
Presenter(s) Dermot O'Leary (ITV1)
Holly Willoughby (ITV2)
Broadcaster ITV
Winner:
Alexandra Burke

Winner Alexandra Burke
Origin Islington, London, England
Song "Hallelujah"
Genre(s) R&B, pop, soul
Runner-up
JLS
Chronology
2008

The fifth UK series of The X Factor was broadcast on ITV in 2008. The series started on 16 August and was won by Alexandra Burke on 13 December, with new judge Cheryl Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April/May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000[1] people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Mariah Carey, Girls Aloud, Beyoncé Knowles, Take That, Il Divo, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and series 3 winner Leona Lewis performed during the live stages of the show.

Burke's prize, as winner, was a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music (a subsidiary of Sony BMG). Her debut single, "Hallelujah", written by Leonard Cohen, was released for digital download at 00:01 on 14 December 2008, with the physical format following on 17 December. It was later announced that her single had become the fastest selling song of all time.

Contents

Selection process

Auditions

A reported "record-breaking" 182,000 applied for series 5,[1][2] with filming for auditions in front of judges taking place in June/July 2008. Auditions were held in the cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow.[3]

Dannii Minogue was missing from some of the auditions due to visits to her native Australia in order to film auditions for Australia's Got Talent.

Bootcamp

As in series 4, all four judges worked together at the bootcamp stage of the competition. This took place at indigO2 at The O2 in Greenwich, London on 4 August 2008, and was televised in two episodes on 27 and 28 September 2008.[4][5] Contestants are said to have stayed in a nearby hotel in Blackheath.[5]

During bootcamp, around 150 acts were whittled down to just 24 which advanced to the next round, six in each category.

After completion of bootcamp, the judges were told the category that they were to mentor. The category mentors were as follows:[6]

Judges' houses

This round was filmed in late August/early September and was broadcast over two shows on 4 October and 5 October. As in previous years, the judges welcomed the six acts from their selected category to their "homes".[7] Each act had only one chance to impress their mentor who, along with a guest judge, had the task of selecting which three acts were to go through to the live shows and which three would be eliminated. For her guest judge Dannii chose former Spice Girls member and successful solo artist Emma Bunton. Cheryl Cole chose her fellow Girls Aloud member Kimberly Walsh ,Simon chose 80's singer Sinitta and Louis chose Shane Filan a global chart topping singer from westlife

Category Mentor Location !
Boys Simon Cowell Barbados
Over 25s Dannii Minogue St. Tropez
Girls Cheryl Cole Cannes
Groups Louis Walsh Castle Leslie, Ireland

The acts eliminated at the judges houses stage were:

Personnel

Judges

The judges for series 5 were Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole. On 6 June 2008 (six days before filming was due to begin at the London auditions) ITV announced that long-standing judge Sharon Osbourne had left the show.[8][9] Media speculation over the reasons for Osbourne's departure alluded to rising tensions between her and fellow judge Dannii Minogue, as well as disputes over pay.[9] When interviewed by Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1, Osbourne said that it was "the best four years of [her] life" but felt that it was "time to move on."[10] She later revealed that fellow judge Dannii was "99.9%" of her reason for leaving, citing that the atmosphere was causing too much stress. Osbourne admitted that when she informed the producers of her decision to resign, she hoped to be kept on instead of Dannii.[11]

Much media coverage and speculation surrounded the question of who would replace Osbourne. Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown revealed on 16 September 2008 in an interview for New! Magazine that she, among others, was approached by Cowell as a possible replacement.[12] However, on 10 June 2008, four days after Osbourne's departure, ITV confirmed that Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole was the new judge for series 5 and the replacement for Sharon Osbourne. Minogue praised the new judge, saying: "She’s very knowledgeable about music and I think she’s going to bring a new side to the show."[13] Cowell is reported by Minogue to feel that Cole's voiced opinions are something "which he loves".[13]

Presenters

Presenter Dermot O'Leary returned to host the main ITV1 show, choosing to leave other projects, including his ongoing role as the host of Big Brother's Little Brother, in order to concentrate on The X Factor.[14] Xtra Factor presenter Fearne Cotton left after series 4, having presented for only one series, to be replaced by Holly Willoughby.[15] Brian Friedman returned as choreographer and performance coach (billed as "Creative Director"), along with Yvie Burnett as vocal coach.

Categories and finalists

The final 12 were confirmed as follows.

Key:

     – Winner
     – Runner-up
     – Third Place
Category (Mentor) Acts
Boys (Simon Cowell) Scott Bruton Austin Drage Eoghan Quigg
Over 25s (Dannii Minogue) Daniel Evans Rachel Hylton Ruth Lorenzo
Girls (Cheryl Cole) Alexandra Burke Diana Vickers Laura White
Groups (Louis Walsh) Bad Lashes Girlband JLS

Live shows

The live shows began on 11 October 2008, and continued through to the finale on 13 December 2008. Leon Jackson performed on the first live show, promoting his second single "Don't Call This Love". Girls Aloud performed their new single, "The Promise", on the second show on 18 October. This became the first single from their fifth album Out of Control, as announced by Cole at the X Factor launch in August. Will Young performed his new song "Grace" on 1 November. Mariah Carey appeared on 8 November and performed her new single "I Stay in Love", plus a special version of "Hero" with 11 of the finalists (Diana Vickers was ill with laryngitis so could not perform). Leona Lewis appeared the week after and performed her new single "Run" from the deluxe edition of her album Spirit. Take That performed on the 22 November show, as did series 4 third-place act Same Difference, who performed their debut single, and series 4 runner-up Rhydian Roberts, who sang a track from his debut album.[16] On the 29 November show, Miley Cyrus performed her new song "7 Things" and Britney Spears performed her new single "Womanizer".

Boyzone, Westlife and Beyoncé Knowles were guests on the final show where they duetted with the finalists, with Knowles performing "Listen" with Alexandra Burke. Knowles also performed "If I Were a Boy" from her album I Am... Sasha Fierce.

An added twist for this series, confirmed on the first live show, was that acts in the bottom-two showdown sang a new song of their own choosing, rather than repeating the song they performed in the first part of the show (as was the case in previous series). As the series continued, some bloggers noticed a pattern emerging, that the acts performing early on are much more likely to feature in the "sing-off" to decide who will be eliminated.[17]

Results summary

Colour key
     – Contestant did not perform
     – Contestant received the highest number of votes that week
     – Contestant was in the bottom 2 and had to perform in the final showdown
     – Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10
Round 1 Round 2
Alexandra Burke 6th
7.20%
7th
7.15%
6th
8.83%
6th
8.82%
2nd
18.35%
4th
13.31%
4th
14.97%
1st
24.53%
2nd
31.04%
1st
44.02%
Winner
58.34%
JLS 7th
5.03%
3rd
9.21%
4th
10.81%
2nd
17.00%
4th
13.26%
5th
9.91%
5th
11.75%
2nd
24.34%
1st
35.03%
2nd
30.65%
Runner-up
41.66%
Eoghan Quigg 1st
21.19%
1st
26.77%
1st
20.73%
1st
19.81%
1st
27.39%
2nd
19.56%
1st
31.79%
3rd
19.58%
3rd
21.14%
3rd
25.33%
Eliminated
(Week 10)
Diana Vickers 4th
7.35%
2nd
16.24%
2nd
15.13%
3rd
15.24%
N/A1 1st
31.30%
2nd
18.94%
4th
16.32%
4th
12.79%
Eliminated
(Week 9)
Ruth Lorenzo 10th
3.47%
10th
2.95%
5th
8.93%
5th
10.25%
7th
6.94%
3rd
13.91%
3rd
16.07%
5th
15.23%
Eliminated
(Week 8)
Rachel Hylton 8th
4.77%
8th
5.01%
3rd
12.21%
9th
3.81%
5th
10.39%
7th
4.48%
6th
6.48%
Eliminated
(Week 7)
Daniel Evans 5th
7.21%
6th
8.23%
9th
5.94%
4th
10.83%
3rd
13.77%
6th
7.53%
Eliminated
(Week 6)
Laura White 3rd
16.99%
4th
8.99%
7th
7.53%
7th
7.38%
6th
9.90%
Eliminated
(Week 5)
Austin Drage 9th
3.63%
5th
8.98%
8th
6.22%
8th
6.86%
Eliminated
(Week 4)
Scott Bruton 2nd
19.48%
9th
4.17%
10th
3.67%
Eliminated
(Week 3)
Girlband 11th
2.17%
11th
2.30%
Eliminated
(Week 2)
Bad Lashes 12th
1.51%
Eliminated
(Week 1)
Final showdown Bad Lashes,
Girlband
Girlband,
Ruth Lorenzo
Daniel Evans,
Scott Bruton
Austin Drage,
Rachel Hylton
Laura White,
Ruth Lorenzo
Daniel Evans,
Rachel Hylton
JLS,
Rachel Hylton
No final showdown/judges' vote; public votes alone decide who is eliminated.
Cowell's vote to eliminate Bad Lashes Ruth Lorenzo Daniel Evans Rachel Hylton Laura White Daniel Evans Rachel Hylton
Minogue's vote to eliminate Girlband Girlband Scott Bruton Austin Drage Laura White N/A2 JLS
Cole's vote to eliminate Girlband Girlband Scott Bruton Austin Drage Ruth Lorenzo Daniel Evans Rachel Hylton
Walsh's vote to eliminate Bad Lashes Ruth Lorenzo Scott Bruton Austin Drage Laura White Daniel Evans Rachel Hylton
Eliminated Bad Lashes
2 of 4 votes
Deadlock
Girlband
2 of 4 votes
Deadlock
Scott Bruton
3 of 4 votes
Majority
Austin Drage
3 of 4 votes
Majority
Laura White
3 of 4 votes
Majority
Daniel Evans
3 of 3 votes
Majority
Rachel Hylton
3 of 4 votes
Majority
Ruth Lorenzo
15.23%
to save
Diana Vickers
12.79%
to save
Eoghan Quigg
25.33%
to win
JLS
41.66%
to win
Alexandra Burke
58.34%
to win

Notes

Percentages:[18]

Live show details

Week 1 (11 October 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Girlband "Venus" Bottom two
2 Austin Drage "Every Breath You Take" Safe
3 Daniel Evans "I Want To Know What Love Is" Safe
4 Alexandra Burke "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" Safe
5 JLS "I'll Make Love To You" Safe
6 Scott Bruton "Yeh Yeh" Safe
7 Rachel Hylton "With Every Heartbeat" Safe
8 Diana Vickers "With or Without You" Safe
9 Bad Lashes "It Must Have Been Love" Bottom two
10 Eoghan Quigg "Imagine" Safe
11 Ruth Lorenzo "Take My Breath Away" Safe
12 Laura White "Fallin'" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Girlband "That's What Friends Are For" Safe
2 Bad Lashes "Wonderwall" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate
Notes

Week 2 (18 October 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Alexandra Burke "I'll Be There" Safe
2 Scott Bruton "She's Out of My Life" Safe
3 Ruth Lorenzo "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" Bottom two
4 Girlband "Heal the World" Bottom two
5 Laura White "You Are Not Alone" Safe
6 Austin Drage "Billie Jean" Safe
7 Daniel Evans "One Day in Your Life" Safe
8 JLS "The Way You Make Me Feel" Safe
9 Diana Vickers "Man in the Mirror" Safe
10 Rachel Hylton "Dirty Diana" Safe
11 Eoghan Quigg "Ben" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Ruth Lorenzo "Purple Rain" Safe
2 Girlband "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate
Notes

Week 3 (25 October 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Scott Bruton "That's Life" Bottom two
2 Daniel Evans "The Lady Is A Tramp" Bottom two
3 Laura White "God Bless the Child" Safe
4 Eoghan Quigg "L-O-V-E" Safe
5 Ruth Lorenzo "Summertime" Safe
6 Alexandra Burke "Candyman" Safe
7 Austin Drage "Mack The Knife" Safe
8 JLS "Ain't That A Kick In The Head?" Safe
9 Diana Vickers "Smile" Safe
10 Rachel Hylton "Feeling Good" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Scott Bruton "I Can't Make You Love Me" Eliminated
2 Daniel Evans "To Where You Are" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate

Week 4 (1 November 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Rachel Hylton "Lost In Music" Bottom two
2 Austin Drage "Wishing on a Star" Bottom two
3 Diana Vickers "Call Me" Safe
4 Daniel Evans "Don't Leave Me This Way" Safe
5 Laura White "Somebody Else's Guy" Safe
6 Eoghan Quigg "Could It Be Magic" Safe
7 Ruth Lorenzo "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" Safe
8 Alexandra Burke "On The Radio" Safe
9 JLS Medley of "Working My Way Back To You"/"Forgive Me Girl" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Rachel Hylton "No More Drama" Safe
2 Austin Drage "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate

Week 5 (8 November 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Eoghan Quigg "Anytime You Need a Friend" Safe
2 Ruth Lorenzo "My All" Bottom two
3 Laura White "Endless Love" Bottom two
4 Rachel Hylton "Against All Odds" Safe
5 JLS "One Sweet Day" Safe
6 Daniel Evans "Open Arms" Safe
7 Alexandra Burke "Without You" Safe
8 Diana Vickers N/A – see note below. Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Ruth Lorenzo "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" Safe
2 Laura White "Over the Rainbow" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate
Notes

Week 6 (15 November 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Daniel Evans "It's Not Unusual" Bottom two
2 Alexandra Burke "You Are So Beautiful" Safe
3 JLS Medley of "I Want to Hold Your Hand"/"Twist and Shout"/"Hey Jude" Safe
4 Rachel Hylton "You Know I'm No Good" Bottom two
5 Eoghan Quigg "One More Try" Safe
6 Diana Vickers "Yellow" Safe
7 Ruth Lorenzo "Angels" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 Daniel Evans "Bridge over Troubled Water" Eliminated
2 Rachel Hylton "One" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate
Notes

Week 7 (22 November 2008)

Order Artist Song Result
1 Alexandra Burke "Relight My Fire" Safe
2 Ruth Lorenzo "Love Ain't Here Anymore" Safe
3 JLS "A Million Love Songs" Bottom two
4 Rachel Hylton "Rule the World" Bottom two
5 Diana Vickers "Patience" Safe
6 Eoghan Quigg "Never Forget" Safe
Final Showdown Details
1 JLS "Stand by Me"/"Beautiful Girls" Safe
2 Rachel Hylton "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate
Notes

Week 8 (29 November 2008)

Order Artist Britney Spears song Order American classic Result
1 Ruth Lorenzo "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" 6 "Always" Eliminated
2 JLS "...Baby One More Time" 7 "You Light Up My Life" Safe
3 Alexandra Burke "Toxic" 8 "Listen" Safe
4 Eoghan Quigg "Sometimes" 9 "We're All In This Together" Safe
5 Diana Vickers "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" 10 "Everybody Hurts" Safe
Notes

Week 9 (6 December 2008)

Order Artist Mentor's choice Order Contestant's choice Result
1 Eoghan Quigg "Year 3000" 5 "Does Your Mother Know?" Safe
2 Diana Vickers "Girlfriend" 6 "White Flag" Eliminated
3 Alexandra Burke "Don't Stop the Music" 7 "Un-Break My Heart" Safe
4 JLS "Umbrella" 8 "I'm Already There" Safe

Week 10: Final - 13 December 2008)

Order Artist Christmas song Celebrity duet Contestant's favourite Winner's song Result
1 Eoghan Quigg "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" "Picture of You" duet with Boyzone "We're All In This Together" N/A – eliminated after third performance Third place
2 JLS "Last Christmas" "Flying Without Wings" duet with Westlife "I'm Already There" "Hallelujah" Runner-up
3 Alexandra Burke "Silent Night" "Listen" duet with Beyoncé "You Are So Beautiful" "Hallelujah" Winner

Voting details

On the final Xtra Factor broadcast of the series, shortly after the winner was announced on the main show, presenter Holly Willoughby announced the contestants who received the most votes from the public for each of the 10 live shows. Also the official website published the official percentages of votes per week. Eoghan Quigg had the most with 6. See the results summary for details.

The total number of votes cast for the entire series was 16,469,064.

Reception

Ratings

Viewing figures for series 5 were, at the time of airing, the highest ever for any X Factor series, about 20% up on the previous series.[25] This, however, was beaten by the sixth series the following year.

The first show of the series had the highest launch audience for any series, peaking at over 12 million viewers.[26] The entire Auditions phase officially averaged 9.9m, a rise of 1.2m over the previous series.

The Bootcamp episodes performed well in the ratings; although the Saturday episode was beaten for the first time by Strictly Come Dancing,[27] the Sunday episode restored the balance.[28] The Saturday Judges' houses episode had the highest audience since the opening show, and the Sunday episode had a lower rating but still exceeded that of Strictly Come Dancing.[29] The entire bootcamp and judges' houses phase officially averaged 9.8m, a rise of 2.5m over the previous series.

The live shows pulled in very strong audiences, often rating as the most watched programme of the week.[30] The final was the second most watched television programme of 2008 with 14.06m viewers.[31]

Series 5 of The X Factor officially averaged 10.5m, at the time becoming the most watched British talent series of the 21st century.

Show Date Overnight rating Share Peak Official rating Weekly Rank Source
Auditions 1 16 August 10.2m 48.2% 12.1m 10.78m #1 [32]
Auditions 2 23 August 9.4m 45.4% 10.9m 10.10m #1 [33]
Auditions 3 30 August 8.2m 43.5% 9.8m 8.80m #2 [34]
Auditions 4 6 September 9.0m 42.8% 10.5m 9.57m #1 [35]
Auditions 5 13 September 9.4m 43.2% 10.4m 9.96m #1 [36]
Auditions 6 20 September 9.3m 41.7% 10.5m 10.01m #1 [37]
Bootcamp 1 27 September 8.2m 36.0% 9.3m 8.94m #6 [38]
Bootcamp 2 28 September 8.9m 38.1% 9.8m 9.47m #1 [39]
Judges' houses 1 4 October 9.8m 40.5% 11.0m 10.84m #1 [40]
Judges' houses 2 5 October 9.5m 42.7% 11.4m 10.11m #3 [41]
Live show 1 11 October 10.4m 44.1% 11.3m 11.09m #1 [42]
Results 1 8.0m 40.8% 9.2m 9.05m #7
Live show 2 18 October 9.3m 38.5% 10.9m 10.21m #3 [43]
Results 2 7.9m 39.7% 9.1m 9.13m #9
Live show 3 25 October 9.7m 39.7% 10.8m 10.37m #2 [44]
Results 3 7.7m 38.0% 8.7m 8.89m #10
Live show 4 1 November 10.9m 43.3% 12.1m 11.65m #1 [45]
Results 4 8.5m 37.6% 9.8m 9.72m #6
Live show 5 8 November 10.2m 42.6% 11.2m 10.72m #2 [46]
Results 5 8.3m 35.6% 10.0m 9.46m #7
Live show 6 15 November 10.6m 43.5% 11.8m 11.28m #1 [47]
Results 6 9.5m 42.9% 10.5m 10.62m #2
Live show 7 22 November 10.6m 43.2% 12.2m 11.77m #1 [48]
Results 7 9.2m 41.1% 10.0m 9.98m #6
Live show 8 29 November 11.9m 46.0% 12.8m 12.67m #1 [49]
Results 8 10.7m 50.0% 11.3m 11.41m #2
Semi-final 6 December 9.7m 39.1% 11.6m 10.30m #3

[50]

Semi-final results 9.8m 39.6% 11.2m 10.60m #2
Final performances 13 December 13.2m 50.3% 14.6m 13.77m #2 [51]
Final results 13.5m 54.4% 14.6m 14.06m #1
Series average 2008 9.7m 42.4% 11.0m 10.51m -

Heroes: Help for Heroes performance

The twelve finalists together recorded a cover version of Mariah Carey's 1993 hit "Hero" in support of the Help for Heroes charity.[52] The single was available for download from 25 October 2008, after the finalists performed the song live on that night's show. It was released in stores on 27 October, and Simon Cowell predicted it "will go straight to the top of the charts".[53] In the first week of its release it went straight to number 1 and sold 313,244 copies, more than the rest of the top ten combined.[54]

References

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  40. ^ 'X Factor' back ahead of 'Strictly' in ratings - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  41. ^ Huge audience for 'Potter' on Sunday - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  42. ^ 'Merlin' ratings rise despite live 'X Factor' - Merlin News - TV - Digital Spy
  43. ^ 'X Factor' tops Saturday ratings - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  44. ^ 'X Factor' maintains ratings lead - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  45. ^ X marks the spot for ITV1 | News | Broadcast
  46. ^ 'Strictly' hits series high with 9.6m - TV News - Digital Spy
  47. ^ 'X Factor' maintains ratings lead - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  48. ^ 'Strictly' hits new series high - Strictly Come Dancing News - TV - Digital Spy
  49. ^ 'X Factor' hits 12.8m ratings high - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  50. ^ 'X Factor' suffers 'Strictly' knock - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
  51. ^ 'X Factor' finale peaks with 14.6 million - X Factor News - TV - Digital Spy
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External links