The X Factor (British TV series) series 4

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fourth series was broadcast on ITV from 18 August 2007 and was won by Leon Jackson on 15 December 2007, with Rhydian Roberts finishing as the runner-up and Dannii Minogue emerging as the winning mentor. Dermot O'Leary presented for the first time, replacing Kate Thornton, who had been presenting the show since series 1 in 2004. Fearne Cotton replaced Ben Shephard as presenter on the spin-off show The Xtra Factor. The original judging panel consisted of Simon Cowell, Minogue, Sharon Osbourne and Brian Friedman. Friedman left the panel halfway through the first audition episode and was replaced by former judge Louis Walsh.
This series saw a number of changes to the format, most notably the lowering of the minimum age for participants from 16 to 14 and the increase in the number of categories from three to four, resulting from the division of the 16-24s category into separate male and female categories.
Jackson's prize as winner was a £1 million recording contract. His first single release was "When You Believe", arranged for the finalists by composer Stephen Schwartz and released to download on 16 December 2007, with the physical format following on 19 December. The single became that year's Christmas number one on the UK Singles Chart and was also the fourth best selling single of 2007. This series was the first to be sponsored by The Carphone Warehouse after being sponsored by Nokia since the first series.

Judges, Presenters and Other Personnel

On 8 March 2007, it was announced that judge Louis Walsh, who had appeared in all three previous series would be stepping back from his judging role but would continue to manage the acts after the show. This, along with the additional category, created vacancies for two new judges to join the original panel of Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell. Walsh was replaced by American choreographer Brian Friedman, who was hired after impressing Cowell on his show Grease Is the Word. A fourth judge was also brought in: Australian singer, actress and Australia's Got Talent judge Dannii Minogue. Cowell hired Minogue after viewing tapes of her judging on Australia's Got Talent, and because of her 30 years experience as a singer and performer.
On 22 June, it was announced that Friedman had stepped down as a judge and would be replaced by Walsh. Friedman remained on the show as a performance coach and choreographer, billed on screen as "Creative Director". Suggestions that Walsh's firing and rehiring was concocted to generate publicity were denied. Commenting on Friedman's replacement by Walsh, Osbourne said that there was no "chemistry" within the original judging line-up, and that the atmosphere was "very uncomfortable". Cowell stated that the atmosphere was "very weird". For his part, Friedman said he felt "incredibly let down with the British talent".
Following the departure of series 1–3 presenter Kate Thornton, Dermot O'Leary took over as presenter for series 4. In an interview with ITV Head of Entertainment and Comedy, Paul Jackson, O'Leary said he was still getting used to handling the rejected at the auditions: "I'm still trying to work it out. It's an emotionally exhausting show to do." On 2 May 2007, it was announced that Ben Shephard had quit his role as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. An X Factor insider said: "Ben had a big chance of being the main presenter on X Factor until he did Soapstar Superstar last year on ITV1. He didn't impress some of the X Factor bosses on that live show and moved down the pecking order." Cowell said: "I wish Ben good luck. He has done a great job on The Xtra Factor." Shephard later signed up to front DanceX, a BBC One series hunting for a modern-day version of '70s dance outfit Hot Gossip. He was replaced by Top of the Pops presenter and BBC Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton. Osbourne left after this series and Cheryl Cole replaced her in series 5.

Selection process

Auditions

Initial auditions with producers took place in April and May 2007, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants reached an all-time high with 150,000 people auditioning in the cities of London, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Sheffield, Birmingham and Glasgow. Eight thousand people attended an open audition at Emirates Stadium, London, on 9 June 2007. Due to the record number of applications an additional open audition was held at Birmingham Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on 21 July 2007.
Auditionees needed a minimum of three "yes" votes from the judges to proceed to the next round. Walsh missed the London auditions due to being sacked at the time, but returned to the judging panel from the Manchester auditions onwards after Friedman stepped down. Osbourne was absent from some of the auditions in Birmingham due to filming commitments with America's Got Talent, so the auditions went ahead with just Cowell, Walsh and Minogue as judges.
The first episode aired on 18 August, and featured auditions from London, Manchester and Birmingham. 25 August episode featured auditions from Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff. The third episode premiered on 1 September, and featured auditions from Glasgow, Birmingham and Cardiff. The Belfast auditions, along with those from Birmingham and Manchester, were featured on 8 September. The fifth episode aired on 15 September, and featured auditions from Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester. The final audition episode aired on 22 September, and featured auditions from Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff.

City	Date	Venue	Judges
London	4-7 June 2007	Wembley Stadium	Brian Friedman Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell
Manchester	25–28 June 2007	Old Trafford	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell
Belfast	6 July 2007	-	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell
Cardiff	10–11 July 2007	Angel Hotel, Cardiff	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell
Sheffield	15 July 2007	Sheffield City Hall	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell
Birmingham	18–21 July 2007	The ICC	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Dannii Minogue Simon Cowell

Bootcamp

This series saw all four judges work together at the bootcamp, rather than disband to manage their own categories as happened in previous series. Bootcamp was broadcast over a two-part show on Saturday 29 September. Episode 7 showed the first round at the Heythrop Park Hotel in Oxfordshire, where the acts were whittled down to 12 in each category. Midway through the first round, Walsh persuaded the other judges to bring back some rejected soloists from the Boys and Girls categories to form new groups, despite Cowell's reluctance as it had never been done before on the show and he felt that it would not work. The judges then selected nine girls and eight boys to form new groups and re-audition for them the next day. The new groups formed were five-piece boyband Futureproof and six-piece girl group Hope. The next episode, showing the second round at the Apollo Theatre in London, was screened a few hours later. Here the acts were further reduced to six in each category – a total of 24 acts. After this, the judges were told which category they were to mentor. Cowell was given the Groups, Minogue was given the Boys, Osbourne was given the Girls and Walsh was given the Over 25s.
;Bootcamp Themes for the first task:

Boys: Perform a song that they would release as their first single
Girls: Perform a song that either reflects the happiest or saddest time in their lives.
Over 25s: Perform a song that relates to an younger audience
Groups: Perform a song by famous pop groups

;Second Task Songs per Category:
Boys:

"Let It Be"
"Home"
"If You're Not the One"
"Hero"
"I Can't Make You Love Me"
"When I Fall in Love"

Girls:

"Wishing on a Star"
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
"Beautiful"
"Don't Speak"
"Torn"
"I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"
"I Don't Want to Talk About It"
"One Moment in Time"

Groups:

"I Want You Back"
"I’ll Stand by You"
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
"You've Got a Friend"
"Could It Be Magic"

Over 25s

"Chasing Cars"
"You're Beautiful"
"Let There Be Love"
"Your Song"
"Father and Son"
Judges' houses

In the "judges' houses" round, each judge chose three of their remaining six acts to go forward and represent them on the live shows. The locations for the round were confirmed during episode 8 on 29 September; they were later revealed by Louis Walsh not to be the judges' real homes. Cowell took his six acts to Marbella; Osbourne to Los Angeles; Walsh to Dublin; and Minogue to Ibiza. As in previous series, the judges were joined by an assistant to help them make their decisions: Cowell was joined by former pop star Sinitta; Osbourne by The Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger; Walsh by Westlife singer Kian Egan; and Minogue by songwriter and producer Terry Ronald.
The judges' houses stage was broadcast over a two-part weekend special. Episode 9 was shown on Saturday 6 October where all 24 acts performed for a place in their mentor's top three and, subsequently, the live shows. The final twelve were revealed the day after on Sunday 7 October in a special Sunday episode. This is notable because at that time it was known as the first Sunday episode to be aired in X Factor history
;Judges Houses Performances:

Act in bold advanced

Boys:

Andy: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"
Dominic: "I'll Be There"
Leon: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
Charlie: "Patience"
Rhydian: "Somebody to Love"
Luke: "Mandy"