| The X Factor | |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | |
| Broadcast from | 4 September 2004–11 December 2004 |
| Judges | Simon Cowell Sharon Osbourne Louis Walsh |
| Presenter(s) | Kate Thornton (ITV1) Ben Shephard (ITV2) |
| Broadcaster | ITV |
| Winner: Steve Brookstein |
|
| Origin | Camberwell, London, England |
| Song | "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" |
| Genre(s) | Blue-eyed soul, jazz |
| Runner-up | |
| G4 | |
| Chronology | |
| 2004 ► | |
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a £1 million recording contract with the Syco Music record label. The first series was broadcast from 4 September to 11 December 2004. The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp and live shows, with Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh as judges. It was won by Steve Brookstein, who went on to have some chart success, with runners-up G4 achieving two platinum albums before splitting up in 2007. Cowell was the winning mentor. Although Brookstein won the series, Cowell later admitted that G4—mentored by Walsh—were the "real" winners of the show.[1] Brookstein and Cowell reportedly fell out over Cowell's insistence that he record cover versions, rather than self-penned material, leading to him being dropped from Sony BMG, and his name being little-mentioned in subsequent series of the show.
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Prior to the audtion phase, advertisements appeared on ITV, in newspapers, and trade magazines, promising that the new show would encourage groups, and while the emphasis was on singing, would welcome those who played instruments and wrote their own songs. Thus the show would differetiate itself from its predecessor, Pop Idol.
For the first episode of auditions, which aired 4 September 2004, the judges visited Leeds and London. For the second episode , which aired on 11 September 2004, the judges visited Newcastle. The third episode aired on 18 September 2004, the fourth on 25 September 2004 and the fifth on 2 October 2004.
After the initial auditions, each judge was randomly allocated a category these were:
The bootcamp episodes aired on 9 and 16 October 2004. Each judge then chose twelve acts from their category to go through to round two — boot camp. After boot camp, each judge selected five acts to progress to round three — "judges' homes". In this round, the 15 acts (five for each judge) went to the "homes" of their respective judges, where they were interviewed and performed again. Each judge then chose three acts to go through to the finals (making a total of nine finalists, unlike later series, which would feature twelve).
The following artists made it to the live shows. Ages are as of the date of the show (2004).
Key:
| Category | Acts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16–24s (Sharon Osbourne) |
Tabby Callaghan, (23) | Cassie Compton (17) | Roberta Howett, (23) | |
| 25 and overs (Simon Cowell) |
Steve Brookstein (35) | Verity Keays (50) | Rowetta Satchell (38) | |
| Groups (Louis Walsh) |
2 To Go | G4 | Voices With Soul | |
Notes:
2 To Go was made up of Peter Jones (24), Emma Paine (23),
G4 of Matthew Stiff (24), Jonathan Ansell (22), Michael Christie (23), Ben Thapa (22)),
Voices With Soul of Grace, Hildia, and Corene Campbell.
The finals consisted of two live shows each Saturday evening. For the first five weeks each act performed once in the first show, after which the public voted for the act that they wanted to remain in the show. In the later results show, the two acts with the fewest votes were revealed. These two acts then had to sing again before the three judges decided who was eliminated.
The format changed in the sixth week: each act performed twice in the first show (with the judges offering their opinions after the second songs), and reprised one of their songs in the results show. The act with the fewest public votes was eliminated at the end of the second show, with the judges no longer having a say in who left.
The live shows started on 23 October 2004 and ended on 11 December 2004.
Contestants' colour key:
| – Simon Cowell's contestants (over 25s) |
| – Sharon Osbourne's contestants (16–24s) |
| – Louis Walsh's contestants (groups) |
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Brookstein | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Winner (Week 8) |
|
| G4 | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom two |
Safe | Safe | Safe | Runner-up (Week 8) |
|
| Tabby Callaghan | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom Two |
Safe | 3rd | Eliminated (Week 7) |
|
| Rowetta Satchell | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 4th | Eliminated (Week 6) |
||
| Cassie Compton | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom two |
Eliminated (Week 5) |
|||
| Voices With Soul | Bottom two |
Safe | Bottom two |
Bottom two |
Eliminated (Week 4) |
||||
| 2 To Go | Safe | Bottom two |
Bottom two |
Eliminated (Week 3) |
|||||
| Verity Keays | Safe | Bottom two |
Eliminated (Week 2) |
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| Roberta Howett | Bottom two |
Eliminated (Week 1) |
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| Final Showdown | Roberta Howett , Voices With Soul |
2 To Go, Verity Keays |
2 To Go, Voices With Soul |
G4, Voices With Soul |
Cassie Compton, Tabby Callaghan |
No final showdown/judges' vote; public votes alone decided who is eliminated. | |||
| Cowell's vote to eliminate | Roberta Howett | 2 To Go | N/A1 | G4 | Cassie Compton | ||||
| Osbourne's vote to eliminate | Voices With Soul | Verity Keays | 2 To Go | Voices With Soul | N/A2 | ||||
| Walsh's vote to eliminate | Roberta Howett | Verity Keays | 2 To Go | Voices With Soul | Cassie Compton | ||||
| Eliminated | Roberta Howett 2 of 3 Votes Majority |
Verity Keays 2 of 3 Votes Majority |
2 To Go 2 of 2 Votes |
Voices With Soul 2 of 3 Votes Majority |
Cassie Compton 2 of 2 Votes |
Rowetta Satchell |
Tabby Callaghan |
G4 Runner-up |
|
| Steve Brookstein Winner |
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| Order | Artist | Song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Voices with Soul | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" | Bottom two |
| 2 | Verity Keays | "I Will Always Love You" | Safe |
| 3 | Roberta Howett | "Superstar" | Eliminated |
| 4 | 2 To Go | "Don't Know Much" | Safe |
| 5 | Steve Brookstein | "When a Man Loves a Woman" | Safe |
| 6 | Cassie Compton | "Alfie" | Safe |
| 7 | G4 | "Everybody Hurts" | Safe |
| 8 | Rowetta Satchell | "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" | Safe |
| 9 | Tabby Callaghan | "You Really Got Me" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | Song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rowetta Satchell | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | Safe |
| 2 | 2 To Go | "Always" | Bottom two |
| 3 | Cassie Compton | "Without You" | Safe |
| 4 | Verity Keays | "Wind Beneath My Wings" | Eliminated |
| 5 | G4 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | Safe |
| 6 | Tabby Callaghan | "My Oh My" | Safe |
| 7 | Steve Brookstein | "If You Don't Know Me By Now" | Safe |
| 8 | Voices with Soul | "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | Song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tabby Callaghan | "Addicted to Love" | Safe |
| 2 | Voices with Soul | "Bridge Over Troubled Water" | Bottom Two |
| 3 | Steve Brookstein | "Smile" | Safe |
| 4 | 2 To Go | "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Cassie Compton | "I Say a Little Prayer" | Safe |
| 6 | Rowetta Satchell | "Over the Rainbow" | Safe |
| 7 | G4 | "...Baby One More Time" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | Song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G4 | "Circle of Life" | Bottom Two |
| 2 | Rowetta Satchell | "MacArthur Park" | Safe |
| 3 | Tabby Callaghan | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Safe |
| 4 | Voices With Soul | "Lady Marmalade" | Eliminated |
| 5 | Cassie Compton | "Hero" | Safe |
| 6 | Steve Brookstein | "Help Me Make It Through The Night" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | Song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Brookstein | "Let's Stay Together" | Safe |
| 2 | Cassie Compton | "All by Myself" | Eliminated |
| 3 | G4 | "My Way" | Safe |
| 4 | Tabby Callaghan | "Sweet Child o' Mine" | Bottom Two |
| 5 | Rowetta Satchell | "Somewhere" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | First song | Second song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rowetta Satchell | "River Deep - Mountain High" | "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" | Eliminated |
| 2 | G4 | "You'll Never Walk Alone" | "Somebody to Love" | Safe |
| 3 | Steve Brookstein | "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" | "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" | Safe |
| 4 | Tabby Callaghan | "More Than Words" | "Livin' on a Prayer" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | First song | Second song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tabby Callaghan | "Pride (In the Name of Love)" | "Sailing" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Steve Brookstein | "Have I Told You Lately" | "Greatest Love of All" | Safe |
| 3 | G4 | "O Holy Night" | "Bohemian Rhapsody" | Safe |
| Order | Artist | First song | Second song | Third song | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Brookstein | "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" | "Smile" | "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" | Winner |
| 2 | G4 | "Nessun Dorma" | "Bohemian Rhapsody" | "Creep" | Runner up |
This series had the lowest ratings of all seven series to date, averaging 6.9 million viewers. The final achieved 8.1 million viewers for the performances and 9.7 million for the results.
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