The X Factor (British TV series) series 10
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The tenth series began airing on ITV on 31 August, and finished on 15 December 2013. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV and Caroline Flack was back to present spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, along with comedian Matt Richardson, who replaced Olly Murs. Flack also presented backstage segments during the live shows. Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger returned as judges for their respective tenth, third and second series, with Sharon Osbourne returning to replace Tulisa after five series away. This was Barlow's final series as a judge. Osbourne and Scherzinger also departed the series, but reprised their roles as judges with Walsh again in series 13 and series 14.
Auditions for the series started in March 2013 with mobile auditions taking place in 23 towns and cities. After this, open auditions in front of producers took place in April and May in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow. Auditions in front of the judges occurred in June and July in the same five cities, with two types of audition: auditionees who were successful in a first audition in an audition room, used for the first time since series 5, went on to attend an audition in an arena, which replaced the rooms in series 6. After bootcamp and judges' houses, the live shows began on 12 October 2013, and ran until the final on 15 December 2013, which was won by over 25s contestant Sam Bailey. This marked the first time someone from the over 25s category had won the show since Steve Brookstein won series 1 in 2004. It also marked the first time that Osbourne had been the winning mentor. As the winner, Bailey received a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music, and also supported Beyoncé at one of her shows during the UK leg of her The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in 2014.
This was the final series of the three-year deal signed by Simon Cowell in 2010, before it was announced by ITV on 15 November that the show's contract was extended by a further three years, keeping it on air until 2016.
Judges, Presenters and Other Personnel
It was reported on 22 February 2013 that Tulisa would not return for series 10, after being a judge for two series. She initially denied this and said she wanted to return, However, Tulisa confirmed on 21 May after months of speculation that she would be departing the show. The following day, it was confirmed that original judge Sharon Osbourne, who had been on the panel from series 1 to series 4 would join the remaining three judges from series 9, Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger, ending rumours that Scherzinger may leave to focus on her second studio album and be replaced by series 9 guest judge Mel B, which happened in series 11.Osbourne stated in July that she was back for just one series, "to go out on a high", and during the first live show, Barlow revealed that this would be his last series on the show. Walsh, who had appeared on the show since its inception, announced he would be leaving the show after this series, although he later said he "might come back" if Simon Cowell returned, and later still he said he would most likely continue, claiming "I'm having so much fun this year, I might stay". Walsh eventually confirmed his return for series 11, following the returns of both Cowell and Cheryl Cole.
Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV for his seventh series, whilst Caroline Flack came back to present spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Olly Murs, Flack's co-presenter for series 8 and 9, wanted to focus on his music career and therefore did not come back. On 29 May, it was announced that comedian Matt Richardson would co-present The Xtra Factor with Flack, after reports that Nick Grimshaw, Dave Berry or Rylan Clark may replace Murs. Flack also presented backstage on the main X Factor programme, during the live shows on Saturdays. Yvie Burnett returned as vocal coach. Brian Burke left as creative director and was replaced by Jerry Reeve and Mark "Swany" Hart.
Selection process
Auditions
Mobile auditions
Between 25 March and 1 April 2013, mobile auditions took place in Inverness, Great Yarmouth, Warrington, Aberdeen, Colchester, Hull, Dumfries, Grimsby, Romford, Belfast, Newport on the Isle of Wight, Sunderland, Wakefield, Bangor, Middlesbrough, Yeovil, Aberystwyth, Blackburn, Dublin, Blackpool, Cork, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport in Wales. It was reported that around 20 people attended Colchester auditions on 26 March and producers tried to convince passers-by to audition.Open auditions
For the first time since series 6, auditions took place in five cities instead of six. Open auditions in front of the show's producers began in London on 6 April and continued in Birmingham on 13 April, Cardiff on 20 April, and Manchester on 27 April, before concluding in Glasgow on 1 May. Auditions were not held in Liverpool this year, after it was one of the locations in the past two series. Producers said that they were "mixing it up", although reports claim that they were unimpressed with talent in Liverpool, despite four finalists— Ray Quinn, Rebecca Ferguson, Marcus Collins and Christopher Maloney —coming from Liverpool. Additionally, auditions returned to Birmingham after being replaced by Newcastle in series 9. Producers previously held auditions in Newcastle instead of Birmingham because they thought that Birmingham provided "no memorable talent", but reportedly decided to return there after "disappointing" results in Newcastle. Almost 8,000 auditionees attended in London, whilst Cardiff attracted at least 3,000, Birmingham produced around 5,000, over 4,000 auditioned in Manchester and over 2,000 in Glasgow.Judges' auditions
This series saw the return of the original auditions format last used in series 5, where auditionees performed in a room in front of the judges. Those who were successful in the room auditions then faced a second audition in an arena—the format used since series 6—to prove they can impress an audience. If they were successful in this audition, they entered the bootcamp stage of the competition. Cowell hoped the "intimate" room auditions would increase ratings. The room auditions in front of the judges began in Glasgow on 4 June at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel and continued in Birmingham on 10 June at the International Convention Centre. Manchester auditions took place over three days from 13 to 15 June at Old Trafford, followed by London auditions which also took place over three days, from 19 to 21 June at ExCeL London. Due to a lack of successful groups, extra auditions specifically for groups took place on 1 July at Price Studios in Battersea, London. Auditions then concluded in Cardiff on 3 July at the Motorpoint Arena. The arena auditions took place at a single venue, Wembley Arena, over four days, from 15 to 18 July. The broadcast of auditions started on 31 August 2013, with room auditions being shown on Saturday nights and arena auditions on Sundays.The first room audition episode aired on 31 August, and featured auditions from Cardiff, Manchester, London and Birmingham. The second room audition episode featured auditions from Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow. The third room audition episode showcased auditions from London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Numerous contestants from previous series returned to audition again for this series, including: Amy Mottram, who was Tulisa's wildcard contestant in series 9 and failed to be chosen ahead of Maloney as the 13th contestant; Terry Winstanley, who made it to judges' houses in series 8; Johnny Rocco, whose audition in series 4 ended with him "cursing" Walsh after getting a "no" from all four judges; John Adams, who reached bootcamp in series 8; Curtis Golden, Joseph Whelan and Gathan Cheema, all of whom got to bootcamp in series 9; Stephanie Woods, who got to judges' houses in series 4; Jade Richards, who got to judges' houses in series 8 and bootcamp in series 9; and Melanie McCabe, who got to bootcamp in series 5 and 9 and to judges' houses in series 8. Also auditioning again were groups Rough Copy, who were initially to through to judges' houses in series 9 but had to back out due to visa problems, The Dolly Rockers, who made it to judges' houses in series 3 and James Bellamy and Duane Lamonte from Brick City who both made it to judges' houses in series 2 and series 6 respectively. Another notable group to audition were 1990s pop rock band Next of Kin, who were once labelled "the British Hanson".
Bootcamp/Six Chair Challenge
On 17 April 2013, it was reported that this series' bootcamp could be changed and be conducted abroad like judges' houses, however, it was later confirmed that bootcamp would take place at Wembley Arena over four days, across three sessions between 9 and 12 August. It was reported that Cowell was planning to give advice on which acts should progress through this stage, meeting with the judges on his yacht to give opinions on the acts, but further reports claimed that due to a pregnancy scandal, Cowell would instead speak to the judges by telephone, as he did in series 9. However, this did not happen.In a change to the usual format, the judges were allocated their categories before bootcamp, via a phonecall from executive producer Richard Holloway. Walsh has the Boys, Scherzinger had the Girls, Osbourne has the Over 25s and Barlow has the Groups. For the first stage of bootcamp, soloists were put into groups of three within their category, and groups were put into pairs. They had to perform within that pair or group, and the category judge would then decide who would continue. After the first stage of bootcamp had concluded, Barlow called back two rejected soloists from Scherzinger's Girls category and a female member of a mixed group he had originally turned down, and asked them to form a new three-piece girl group, Miss Dynamix.
The second stage of bootcamp was reworked into a new format called the Six Chair Challenge, that saw the judges choose the acts to advance to judges' houses immediately after their performance, instead of waiting until everyone had performed. Each judge had six places to their judges house, and they granted a 'seat' to the performers they wanted to advance in their category. However, if a judge already chose six acts for their category, they could replace them if they preferred a later performer, therefore causing the Six Chair Challenge to be branded the "ultimate game of musical chairs". Bootcamp was broadcast over two episodes, each of 90 minutes, on 28 and 29 September.