The X Factor (UK series 15)
| The X Factor | |
|---|---|
| Series 15 | |
| Broadcast from | 1 September 2018 – present |
| Judges | |
| Presenter(s) | Dermot O'Leary (ITV) |
| Co-presenter(s) |
|
| Broadcaster | |
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifteenth series began airing on ITV on 1 September 2018, presented by Dermot O'Leary. Simon Cowell returned alongside new judges Louis Tomlinson, Ayda Field (credited as Ayda Williams) and Robbie Williams who replace departing judges Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh respectively.
Judges and presenters
On 6 June 2018, it was announced that Sharon Osbourne would return to judge the fifteenth series, but only for the live shows, due to her ongoing work commitments in the United States. The next day, long-serving judge Louis Walsh announced that after 13 years on the show he would be leaving to focus on other projects.[1] Earlier in the year, it had been reported that Nicole Scherzinger would not be returning as a judge for the fifteenth series.[2] On 30 September 2018, Osbourne announced her decision to no longer appear as a judge during the live shows, stating that she's "seen the new judges finding their rhythm and are doing brilliantly.[3] This was clarified during an interview with Jane Moore for The Sun, where she confirmed that she was originally supposed to be a full time judge on the panel, sacked then rehired, and ultimately declined a reduced role on the show.[4]
Simon Cowell confirmed his return as head judge and Dermot O'Leary’s return as presenter. After much speculation, it was announced on 16 July 2018 that Ayda Field (credited as Ayda Williams), Louis Tomlinson and Robbie Williams would join Cowell on the series' judging panel.[5] This is the first series with three men and one woman on the judging panel.
On 30 July 2018 a promo for the series—featuring judges Cowell, Ayda Williams and Robbie Williams—aired during a Love Island ad break on ITV2.[6]
On 23 August 2018, it was announced that Just Eat's Xtra Bites would return after a successful first series, presented by Becca Dudley again, and joining her would be a co-host, Tinea Taylor.[7]
Selection process
Auditions
In April 2018 it was announced that the standard auditions would no longer take place, with the judges' auditions held in various different arenas. However, this turned out to be false and auditions took place only at London's SSE Arena, Wembley, on 18–20, 22–24 and 26–28 July 2018.
Deliberations
Instead of the traditional bootcamp stages, a deliberation stage (similar to that employed by Britain's Got Talent) was introduced to cut down the number of performers at the six-chair challenge. This took place on 30 July 2018 at the Tobacco Dock in London. It was broadcast on a single episode on 23 September 2018 after the final auditions show.
After the 'deliberation' and 'reveal' stages, but before the start of the six-chair challenge, the judges found out the categories they are mentoring: Cowell has the Girls, Ayda Williams has the Overs, Robbie with the Groups, and Tomlinson unites with the Boys this was also filmed at the Tobacco Dock in London.[8]
Six Chair Challenge
The Six Chair Challenge took place over the course of three days, from 1 to 3 August at the SSE Arena in Wembley. A new twist was added with the introduction of a golden button, similar to Britain's Got Talent's Golden Buzzer. When this was pressed, the act in question was guaranteed a 'Safe Seat', and would go straight through to Judges' Houses. The six chair challenge was aired over 3 episode starting on 29th September and finishing on 6th October.[9]
Judges' Houses
It was announced by O'Leary during an appearance on This Morning that the judges' houses would be filmed in late September, and that three of the judges' houses would be in Los Angeles (Cowell, Field and Williams); Tomlinson's houses would be hosted in Ibiza, Spain. The guest judges were announced to be: Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis in assisting Ayda, David Walliams with Robbie, and Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest, Diane Warren, Babyface, Lewis and Sinitta to assist Cowell, who hosted a house party consisting of various singers, songwriters and record producers for the Girls to perform in front of. Liam Payne and Nile Rodgers were announced to assist Tomlinson.[10] These will air in three episodes on 7, 13 & 14 October 2018. There will be 16 acts that will be going through to the live shows this year (four from each category).
Maria Laroco was not able to secure the correct visa in time to travel to Malibu with the remaining Girls for this stage of the competition. Unlike similar instances where the affected contestants withdrew from the competition, Laroco sang to Cowell via video link from a London studio.
| Judge | Category | Location | Assistants | Contestants eliminated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Girls | Malibu | Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest, Diane Warren, Babyface, Michelle Visage, Adam Lambert, Leona Lewis, Sinitta, Paul Anka, Tricky Stewart and Dallas Austin | Georgia Burgess, Maria Laroco |
| Field | Overs | Beverly Hills | Adam Lambert and Leona Lewis | Ricky John, Louise Setara |
| Tomlinson | Boys | Ibiza | Liam Payne and Nile Rodgers | J-Sol, Thomas Pound |
| Williams | Groups | Beverly Hills | David Walliams | Panda and Burgandy, Sweet Sense |
Finalists
- – Eliminated
| Category (Mentor) | Acts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys (Tomlinson) | Dalton Harris | Armstrong Martins | Brendan Murray | Anthony Russell |
| Girls (Cowell) | Shan | Scarlett Lee | Bella Penfold | Molly Scott |
| Overs (Field-Williams) | Janice Robinson | Giovanni Spano | Danny Tetley | Olatunji Yearwood |
| Groups (Williams) | A Star | LMA Choir | Misunderstood | Vibe 5 |
Live shows
The finalists were announced after each category performed at Judges' Houses. There will be 16 finalists (4 from each category) this year. The Live Shows will be broadcast from 20 October to 2 December. (7 weeks) This year the live shows reverts back to the 2016 format of all performances on the Saturday night and the results show on the Sunday night. [11]
Results summary
- Colour key
| – | Contestant was in the bottom two/three and had to perform again in the sing-off |
| – | Contestant was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated |
| – | Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no sing-off) |
| – | Contestant received the most public votes |
| Contestant | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Sunday | |||||||
| A Star | ||||||||
| Dalton Harris | ||||||||
| Scarlett Lee | ||||||||
| LMA Choir | ||||||||
| Armstrong Martins | ||||||||
| Misunderstood | ||||||||
| Brendan Murray | ||||||||
| Bella Penfold | ||||||||
| Janice Robinson | ||||||||
| Anthony Russell | ||||||||
| Molly Scott | ||||||||
| Shan | ||||||||
| Giovanni Spano | ||||||||
| Danny Tetley | ||||||||
| Vibe 5 | ||||||||
| Olatunji Yearwood | ||||||||
| Sing-off | No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone | |||||||
| Williams' vote to eliminate |
||||||||
| Field's vote to eliminate |
||||||||
| Tomlinson's vote to eliminate |
||||||||
| Cowell's vote to eliminate |
||||||||
| Eliminated | ||||||||
| Reference(s) | ||||||||
Reception
Ratings
As of August 2018, all official ratings include those who watched on demand via the ITV Hub.
| Episode | Air date | Official rating (millions)[12],1 |
Official rating (millions inc. HD)[12],2 |
Official rating (millions inc. HD & +1)[12],3 |
Weekly rank[12],4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auditions 1 | 1 September | 4.36 | 6.87 | 7.37 | 4 |
| Auditions 2 | 2 September | 3.39 | 5.75 | 6.27 | 11 |
| Auditions 3 | 8 September | 3.54 | 6.03 | 6.40 | 14 |
| Auditions 4 | 9 September | 3.30 | 5.93 | 6.23 | 17 |
| Auditions 5 | 15 September | 3.81 | 6.64 | 6.93 | 8 |
| Auditions 6 | 16 September | 3.12 | 5.58 | 5.89 | 19 |
| Auditions 7 | 22 September | 6.40 | |||
| Auditions 8 | 23 September | 6.22 | |||
| Six-chair challenge 1 | 29 September | 6.11 | |||
| Six-chair challenge 2 | 30 September | 6.24 | |||
| Six-chair challenge 3 | 6 October | ||||
| Judges Houses 1 | 7 October | ||||
| Judges Houses 2 | 13 October | ||||
| Judges Houses 3 | 14 October | ||||
| Live show 1 | 20 October |
- ^1 The ratings over a 28-day period, including the broadcasts on ITV and streaming through ITV Hub.
- ^2 The ratings over a 28-day period, including the broadcasts on ITV, ITV HD and streaming through ITV Hub.
- ^3 The ratings over a 28-day period, including the broadcasts on ITV, ITV HD, ITV+1 and streaming through ITV Hub.
- ^4 The rank for the combined ITV, ITV HD and ITV+1 broadcasts, compared with all channels for that week, from Monday to Sunday.
Controversies
Felix Shepherd
During the audition stage, 20-year-old trans man Felix Shepherd impressed the judges with his rendition of “All I Want” by Kodaline, and received a standing ovation from the crowd. Before singing, Williams asked him about his background; Shepherd said he was there to prove to people that he was “more than just a transgender guy.” Williams responded by asking him: “So when you were born, what was your name?”, thus dead-naming him. Although many fans of the show were supportive of the representation, many were outraged at Williams' actions, though Shepherd stated that he wasn't offended by Williams.[13][14]
Sharon Osbourne
On 5 September 2018, whilst on Howard Stern's radio show, Osbourne accused Cowell of underpaying her for the new series. She used some offensive language to criticize Cowell and the show's auditionees, so this led to backlash from fans who suggested that Osbourne should be replaced.[15] Osbourne subsequently announced her decision to not participate during the live shows.[3] Various sources reported that Osbourne had been fired over the interview and Stern stated that he believed she had been tipped off to keep quiet. Osbourne later refuted Stern’s allegations and stated that her comments were only made in jest and were not to be taken literally, but that they were misappropriated by other people including The X Factor’s production company due to Stern wanting to give Cowell a bad reputation by using his radio show. She added that although the company wanted to fire her, Cowell was not upset with the comments and wanted her to remain on the show, but that it was ultimately her decision to step down out of fear of awkwardness between her and fellow judges Williams and Field, with whom she is close friends with, though she did not rule out a return to the show in the future.
References
- ↑ Lee, Ben (7 June 2018). "Louis Walsh quits The X Factor, after 13 years". Digital Spy. United Kingdom. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
- ↑ Daly, Helen (2018-06-07). "X Factor 2018 judges: Sharon Osbourne lands new deal". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
- 1 2 Lenniger, Shea (2 October 2018). "Sharon Osbourne Says Goodbye to UK X Factor". Billboard. United States: Eldridge Industries. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
- ↑ https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7421363/sharon-osbourne-x-factor-sacking-drama/
- ↑ "New X Factor judges (finally) confirmed". BBC News. United Kingdom. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ "X Factor 2018: Judges star in new Love Island themed teaser". Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ↑ "The Just Eat Xtra Bites is back for series 2 with a new host; Tinea Taylor joins Becca Dudley!!!". www.itv.com. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
- ↑ "X Factor 2018 judges' categories REVEALED - spoilers!". TellyMix. 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
- ↑ "X Factor introduces brand new twist to the six chair challenge". TellyMix. 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
- ↑ Capital. "Guest Judges Confirmed". Metro Newspaper UK. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
- ↑ Radio Times
- 1 2 3 4 "Weekly Viewing Summary (see relevant week under)". BARB. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
- ↑ "Robbie Williams slammed by X Factor fans for asking trans contestant his 'birth name'". PinkNews. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
- ↑ "Robbie Williams draws criticism after asking transgender X Factor contestant about their birth name". Gay Times. 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
- ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (2018-09-05). "Sharon Osbourne accuses Simon Cowell of underpaying her for X Factor". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-09.