Do You have The X Factor?? (The X Factor)

Member Name: the-crazii-one-x

Product:	The X Factor
Date:	20/10/08 (262 review reads)
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Everyone has watch/ed the X Factor, and if you haven't I'm sure you now what it's all about! Anyways, here's a very full review all about the X Factor!

- History -
The X Factor is music talent reality television program held in the UK. It is pretty much the same as Pop Idol which was very successful. The creator of the show is Simon Cowell who judges and mentors on the series. Although it started in the UK there are now versions of The X Factor worldwide.

The first series of The X Factor was aired in September 2004. Steve Brookstein was the winner of the show with band G4 as runners-up. However, Steve Brookstein had very little chart success after the show. The three judges were Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. There were three catagories, under 25s, over 25s and groups. The categories' mentors were picked by the producers.

Shayne Ward was the winner of series 2 and had a lot more success than Steve Brookstein, with two top two chart singles, No Promises and No U Hang Up, as well as some other successful songs. Again, the judges were Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.

Leona Lewis won series 3 in 2006. Leona was the most successful out of all the X Factor winners, with 3 number ones and numberous award nominations. She has been in the chart quite recently so has managed to keep her fame. Again Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh returned for the 3rd series, with Paula Abdul (American Idol judge) as a guest judge.

Last year's winner was Leon Jackson. Although he has only had one number one in the UK Singles Chart, he currently has a song that is third on the UK Singles Chart, Don't Call This Love.The judges were Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Dannii Minogue and Brian Friedman. There were rumours that Louis Walsh had been sacked, and they were confirmed when Brian Friedman appeared as a judge at the early auditions. However, Brian decided to quit, claiming he was struggling being a judge. During the auditions, Louis Walsh was reinstated and joined Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Dannii Minogue and Brian Friedman. This meant, unlike the other series's, there were four categories. the new catgories were Girls - under 25s, Boys - under 25s, Over 25s (boys and girls together) and groups.

Series 5 is currently being aired. Sharon Osbourne is no longer a judge and has been replaced with Girls Aloud singer, Cheryl Cole. This makes the judges Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole. The categories are the same as on series 4.

- Format of the Show -
In The X Factor, there are four stages. The first few shows show the open auditions that are held in certain cities in England. However, before the auditionees that are shown on the show with the judges actually have to go through an audition with the producers of the show. The auditions are open to anyone over 14 years of age. What annoys me about the show is that half the auditionees have a "sob story". I don't care, can you sing?!!

The second stage of the show is boot camp. The auditionees who have successully got through the open auditions then go through to boot camp where they must sing again. There are two rounds of boot camp. The acts are then narrowed down to just 24, six acts for each category.

The third stage is the visits to judges' houses. The mentors are picked for each category by the producers. The 24 acts go to their mentors house where the 24 acts are narrowed down to just 3 in each category (12 overall).

The last stage of the competition is the live shows. The finalists must perform live on saturday nights (usually at about 7:00 PM). Then the public must vote for who they want to stay. Later on in the night (usually at about 9:00 PM), the two acts with the lowest amount of votes must perform again. The judges must vote for who they want to send home. If the judges cannot agree, it goes to the public vote were the act with the lowest amount of votes must leave. On the final though, it is the act with the most amount of votes to win who wins, so the judgesdon't have any say in the winner of the show. However in series 4, there were speculations when many viewers complained they couldn't get through to vote when trying to vote for Rhydian Roberts, runner-up who was the bookmaker's favourite to win.

- Talent -
In my opinion, the standard of talent in this current series is a lot higher than it was in series one. I think the finalists this year are better than ever, making this my favourite series. I only watched series 2, 3 and 5, but I can see how much the talent has grown. I personally think Leona Lewis was the most talented out of all the series's, who has had the most record sales out of all the winners (and runners-up) with 2,000,000 sales.

- Battle Of The Stars -
There has been one spin off of the X Factor which was The X Factor: Battle Of The Stars. Although I didn't watch it, I do know that it was a celebrity special edition of The X Factor, that was aired in May of 2006. It was judged by Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. All procedes from the voting was donated to the contestants' chosen charities. Lucy Benjamin, an actress who was in Eastenders, won the show. The show was axed by Simon Cowell who was romoured to have said that the show was pointless and that there won't be another series of it.

- Verdict -
Opinions of The X Factor are mixed, some people love it whilst some people don't like it who think that the winners don't deserve to be in the chart because they're not good enough compared to other artists (my sisters words, not mine!!). Some people have simply got bored of it. However I enjoy the X Factor, and will continue to watch it!

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