The X Factor (British TV series) series 9
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The ninth series began airing on ITV on 18 August 2012 and ended on 9 December 2012. Dermot O'Leary returned as presenter of the main show on ITV, whilst Caroline Flack and Olly Murs returned to co-present The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Tulisa returned as judges. Nicole Scherzinger was confirmed as the fourth permanent judge after Geri Halliwell, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, Mel B, Anastacia and Scherzinger herself stood in as guest judges for the vacant position left by Kelly Rowland. After the show of 8 December, two of Scherzinger's acts, James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas, became the top two, meaning that Scherzinger was guaranteed to win. Arthur was announced as the winner on 9 December, and released a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible" as his winner's song. As of 2016, it is the most successful winner's single in the show's history.
Auditions for the series took place between 23 May and 25 June 2012, in Liverpool, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Cardiff. Bootcamp took place in Liverpool for three days, between 19 and 22 July. Barlow mentored the over 28s, Scherzinger had the boys, Tulisa mentored the girls and Walsh had the groups. They selected their final three acts during judges' houses, which took place in Boughton House in Northamptonshire, Dubai, Saint Lucia and Las Vegas. The 12 finalists were joined by a 13th wildcard, voted for by the public after each judge picked one of their rejected to return. The live shows started on 6 October. The final was held at Manchester Central.
The trailer for the series, entitled "Whose Time Is Now?", premiered on 30 July, featuring former contestants Lewis, Alexandra Burke, JLS, Murs, One Direction and Little Mix talking about their time on The X Factor and how it had changed their lives. It was criticised by series 2 winner Shayne Ward because he was not included. The series was beset by several controversial issues throughout its run. In the auditions, these included Zoe Alexander, who swore at judges, accusing them of forcing her to sing a Pink song; Alison Brunton, whose audition was believed to have "caused unnecessary distress or anxiety" to her children; and Lorna Bliss, who gave Walsh a lap dance. The live shows were controversial for the eliminations of Carolynne Poole and Ella Henderson, the fact that the voting lines opened before the contestants had performed, and also comments made by the judges—Tulisa using the term "MILF", Barlow insulting Tulisa's breath, and Scherzinger saying "effing". This series' launch was the lowest rated since 2006, and the show was often beaten in the ratings by other programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, Downton Abbey and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. The final received the lowest ratings of an X Factor final since 2005, until the following year's series final attracted worse ratings.
Within four-and-a-half months of the final, six of the series' finalists—Arthur, Douglas, Henderson, Christopher Maloney, Union J and Lucy Spraggan—had been signed to record labels.
Judges, Presenters and Other Personnel
On 17 April 2012, Gary Barlow was confirmed to be returning to the judging panel, and on 3 May it was announced that Louis Walsh would also return for his ninth year as a judge. Tulisa was also confirmed to be returning, but Kelly Rowland did not return due to other commitments. However, Rowland transferred to the USA show where she would become a judge to replace L.A. Reid for the 2013 USA season. Individuals rumoured to be permanently replacing Rowland included Alesha Dixon, and Rochelle Wiseman and Frankie Sandford. Former judges Sharon Osbourne, Dannii Minogue, and Cheryl Cole, as well as Katy Perry and Rihanna, were said to have declined the role. As a fourth permanent judge was not confirmed in time for the start of the auditions, guest judging roles were brought in. They were filled by Halliwell, series 3 winner Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, former judge and Over 30s runner-up mentor of The X Factor USA, Nicole Scherzinger, judge of The X Factor Australia, Mel B and Anastacia. Scherzinger was announced as the fourth permanent judge on 15 June 2012, filling the fourth chair from the Newcastle auditions onwards. During bootcamp, Scherzinger and Barlow swapped seats.Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV for his sixth series, while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs returned to co-present companion show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, but Murs was absent for the auditions, bootcamp and judges' houses as he was on tour with One Direction in America. In Murs' absence, Flack was joined by guest presenters such as Jedward, JLS and Westlife. Brian Burke returned as creative director, but Elizabeth Honan did not. Brian Friedman, who left as creative director on the show after series 7 in 2010, returned this year, but left after the third live show to work on the live shows of the 2012 season of the USA show. Also, Natalya Nair, head of make-up, did not have her contract renewed. Yvie Burnett and Annabel Williams gave vocal coaching during the live shows. This was the final series for Tulisa as a main judge; she left after this series, but reappeared in 2014 to assist Walsh in choosing his groups during judges' houses in series 11, then once more as a guest judge during the final.
Selection process
Applications and auditions
This series, for the first time, applicants were able to audition online via Facebook. The show's producers also sent a "mobile audition van" to 18 locations throughout the UK and Ireland to audition singers who could not make the arena auditions. The mobile auditions began in Plymouth and ended 18 days later in Brighton. The van visited a different location every day except when it spent two days in Dublin on 28 and 29 April. The other towns and cities it visited were Aberystwyth, Bangor, Blackpool, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Derby, Norwich, Colchester, Southend-on-Sea and Chatham. Producers also had researchers invite certain people to audition, who had not applied to audition. There were several rule changes in relation to the auditions: acts with current management deals were allowed to audition for the first time, in a bid to " the net and it up so that everybody gets an opportunity." Also, singers could perform their own compositions and play instruments.The judges' auditions—originally supposed to start in Cardiff on 15 May 2012 but postponed due to delays in signing up a new permanent fourth judge—began on 23 May in Liverpool and continued from 26 to 30 May in London. From 5–7 June, auditions moved to Manchester, and on 11 June, they took place in Glasgow. Further auditions took place on 18 June in Newcastle and concluded on 25 June in Cardiff.
Halliwell was the first guest judge, attending the Liverpool auditions. Guest judges in London were Lewis, Ora, and Scherzinger. Mel B filled the guest judging role in Manchester and Anastacia judged in Glasgow. On 13 June, Scherzinger was announced to be returning as a guest judge for the Newcastle auditions, before being announced as the new permanent fourth judge two days later.
The first episode of auditions was broadcast on 18 August 2012, and featured auditions from London, Cardiff and Manchester. The second episode featured auditions from London, Manchester and Newcastle. More Manchester auditions, along with those from Glasgow, were shown on 1 September, while The Xtra Factor additionally included auditions from Newcastle. The episode broadcast on 8 September included auditions from Liverpool and more from Manchester, with the corresponding episode of The Xtra Factor featured auditions from London. 9 September episode showcased auditions from London, and The Xtra Factor featured more auditions from London. On 15 September, auditions from London, Manchester and Glasgow were shown. The final episode of auditions was shown on 16 September, and included more of London, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
Notable auditionees included Lucy Spraggan, whose self-released single "Last Night", which she performed at her audition, entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 following the episode broadcast; Britt Love from the band Mini Viva; glamour model and television personality Bianca Gascoigne; TV presenter, stage actor and former Popstars and Pop Idol contestant Hayley Evetts; Big Brother 9 housemate Stephanie McMichael and singer and former Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack housemate Nathan Fagan-Gayle. Returning auditionees included Joe Cox, Jade Richards, Melanie McCabe and Carolynne Poole, who all reached judges' houses in series 8.
Bootcamp
Bootcamp was held outside London for the first time in the show's history, due to London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. It took place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool over three days, starting on Thursday 19 July, and was broadcast on 22 and 23 September. Simon Cowell promised that this bootcamp would be "the toughest yet". The age ranges of the categories were changed for this series during bootcamp; the over 25s became the over 28s, so the boys and girls categories contain contestants aged 16–27, rather than 16–24. It was reported that the reason for this was because the series 8 contestants were considered too young, and contestants in their late 20s did not make it into the over 25s category because of "quirky older" contestants.211 acts reached bootcamp. On the first day, judges reviewed the audition tapes and sent home 60 acts before they had a chance to sing. The remaining contestants were then put into groups and they took part in a sing-off. Contestants had a choice of the following songs to perform: "Stronger ", "Respect", "Moves like Jagger", "Are You Gonna Go My Way", "Crazy in Love", "Next to Me", "She Said", "Use Somebody" and "How to Save a Life". After each performance, the judges decided which acts to keep and which to eliminate. The number of acts was reduced to 70: 21 girls, 22 boys, 12 over 28s and 15 groups. The following day, the remaining acts each performed one song for the judges in front of a live audience, and the day after, the judges decided which acts to put through to judges' houses. They could not decide between groups Triple J and GMD3, so had them each perform again before making a final decision. GMD3 were eventually chosen as the final group through to judges' houses and Triple J were sent home.