The X Factor (British TV series) series 7

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The seventh series started on ITV on 21 August 2010 and ended on 12 December 2010. The series saw the creation of boyband One Direction, five boys who entered the competition as soloists. The winner of the series was Matt Cardle. He was mentored throughout the show by Dannii Minogue. After the victory, he released his debut single "When We Collide". A total of 15,448,019 votes were cast throughout the series. It was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Konnie Huq on ITV2, who took over from Holly Willoughby.
The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp, judges' houses and live shows. Auditions took place throughout June and July 2010, with Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole returning as judges. Minogue missed the auditions and bootcamp due to being on maternity leave, so Geri Halliwell, Natalie Imbruglia, Katy Perry, Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger were brought in as guest judges. Cole missed the auditions in Manchester and bootcamp because she had malaria. Following bootcamp, successful acts were split into four categories: Boys, Girls, Over 28s and Groups. Minogue and Cole returned for the judges' houses stage, and each judge mentored eight acts through judges' houses. The live shows started on 9 October 2010. Four acts initially eliminated at judges' houses were brought back as wildcards, making this series the first to have 16 acts perform in the live shows.
This was the first series of the show to be filmed in high definition, and was broadcast on ITV1 HD and STV HD. From October, The Xtra Factor was also shown in high definition, broadcast on the new channel ITV2 HD. It was sponsored by TalkTalk in the United Kingdom and Domino's Pizza in Ireland.
This series proved to be highly controversial, with many people complaining about the use of pitch correction software on the broadcast of contestants' auditions, the decision to form two groups out of rejected soloists at bootcamp, the rejection of popular contestant Gamu Nhengu at judges' houses, Cole abstaining to vote against one of her own acts she mentored in week 5 of the live shows and having a final showdown in the semi-final. Controversy also surrounded contestants Shirlena Johnson, who was axed over fears for her mental health, and Treyc Cohen, who was reported to already have a record deal when the live shows started. There were also accusations of fixing, which were denied by the show's producers. Despite the controversies, this series was the most watched series to date, with an average of 14.13 million viewers per episode. The final was watched by 17.71 million people, making it the highest rated television episode of 2010, and the entire decade, in the UK. The season tended to occupy a 7.30 PM timeslot.

Judges, presenters and other personnel

In February 2010, Dannii Minogue confirmed that she would not attend the auditions for series 7 due to being pregnant. It was confirmed that guest judges would take Minogue's place alongside Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole during the auditions. The guest judges were Geri Halliwell, Natalie Imbruglia, Katy Perry, Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger. On 11 June, Minogue was confirmed by ITV to return for the judges' houses stage. Cole missed the Manchester auditions and bootcamp due to having malaria, so Scherzinger returned as a guest judge for bootcamp. Cole then returned for the judges' houses stage.
Dermot O'Leary returned for his fourth series as presenter of the main show on ITV, but Holly Willoughby did not return for her third series as presenter on The Xtra Factor on ITV2 and was replaced by Konnie Huq. Brian Friedman returned as creative director, while Ali Tennant and Savan Kotecha were hired as vocal coaches. However, Tennant's contract was ended before the live shows and was replaced by Yvie Burnett, who worked as vocal coach from series 2–6. Richard "Biff" Stannard began working as show song producer for Minogue's contestant, and Grace Woodward began working on the show as fashion director.

Selection process

Applications and auditions

The first appeal for applicants for series 7 was broadcast during series 6 on 5 December 2009. Applicants for the seventh series were given the opportunity to apply by uploading a video audition to the Internet. Auditions began in June 2010 in six cities: Glasgow, Birmingham, London, Dublin, Cardiff, and Manchester. Dublin returned as an audition city for the first time since the third series in 2006.
Halliwell was the first guest judge, and attended the Glasgow auditions. Imbruglia was the second guest judge, appearing for the Birmingham auditions. The guest judge slot was axed for the London auditions, but continued with Perry judging in Dublin, Lott in Cardiff and Scherzinger at the auditions in Manchester. Cole was unable to attend the Manchester auditions because she had contracted malaria and was not replaced for them.
The first episode, broadcast on 21 August 2010, featured auditions from Glasgow and London, while episode two, on 28 August, showcased Dublin's auditions and more from London. More London auditions were shown on 4 September, along with those from Birmingham, and Cardiff was featured in 11 September broadcast along with the final set of London auditions. Finally, the Manchester auditions were shown in the 18 and 19 September episodes.

City	Date	Venue	Guest Judge	Permanent Judges
Glasgow	9 June 2010	SEC Centre	Geri Halliwell	Louis Walsh Cheryl Cole Simon Cowell
Birmingham	13–14 June 2010	LG Arena	Natalie Imbruglia	Louis Walsh Cheryl Cole Simon Cowell
London	21–24 June 2010	ExCeL London	-	Louis Walsh Cheryl Cole Simon Cowell
Dublin	28 June 2010	Convention Centre Dublin	Katy Perry	Louis Walsh Cheryl Cole Simon Cowell
Cardiff	2 July 2010	International Arena	Pixie Lott	Louis Walsh Cheryl Cole Simon Cowell
Manchester	9–11 July 2010	Manchester Central	Nicole Scherzinger	Louis Walsh Simon Cowell

Bootcamp

The bootcamp stage of the competition began on 22 July 2010 at Wembley Arena, London and was broadcast on 25–26 September. Minogue continued her maternity leave and Cole did not attend because she was still in recovery. As Cole and Minogue were absent, producers of the show decided to axe bootcamp's live audience. The bootcamp stage was broadcast in two episodes on 25 and 26 September. The first day of bootcamp saw Cowell and Walsh split the 211 acts into their four categories: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups. They received vocal coaching and each category later performed one song: the Boys sang "Man in the Mirror", the Girls sang "If I Were a Boy", the Over 25s sang "Poker Face" and the Groups sang "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". At the end of the day, the number of acts was cut to 108. On the second day, acts were given dance lessons by creative director Brian Friedman but they were not judged on their performances.
Scherzinger then returned as a guest judge on the third day, where each act performed one song from a list of 40. On the fifth day, Scherzinger suggested that the Over 25s category be changed to the Over 28s, as the quality of older singers was high. The Boys and Girls categories then comprised singers aged 16 to 27, rather than 16 to 24. As the Groups category was the weakest, five rejected soloists from the Boys category and four from the Girls category were made into two groups, One Direction and Belle Amie respectively. After bootcamp, each judge was assigned a category: Cowell was given the Groups, Walsh had the Over 28s, Minogue was asked to look after the Boys and Cole was assigned the Girls.

Judges' houses and wildcards

Minogue and Cole returned to the judging panel for the judges' houses stage of the competition, where each judge mentored eight acts, increased from six in previous series. Each judge had help from a guest judge to choose their final acts. Original judge Sharon Osbourne returned to assist Walsh at Adare Manor in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland, Cole was assisted by will.i.am in Coworth Park, Ascot, Berkshire, England, Cowell by Sinitta in Marbella, Spain, and 2010 season of The X Factor Australia judge Natalie Imbruglia returned to assist Minogue in Melbourne, Australia. Contestants spent a week at judges' houses and performed two songs for their respective judge. Each judge and their guest eliminated five acts, leaving twelve remaining. The judges' houses stage was broadcast in two episodes on 2 and 3 October 2010.

Judges' houses performances

Acts in bold advanced

Boys:

Nicolo: "New York"
Tom: "Feel"
Paije: "True Colors"
John: "Back for Good"
Karl: "She Said"
Marlon: "Empire State of Mind"
Matt: "If I Were a Boy"
Aiden: "Cannonball"

Over 28s:

Stephen: "Get the Party Started"
Yuli: "Bonkers"
Justin: "Telephone"
Wagner: "You Got the Love"
Mary: "Fix You"
John: "Billionaire"
Elesha: "If I Ain't Got You"*
Storm: "Without You"
Elesha Moses was originally sent home, but after the judges could not decide on an eighth act to send through, she was later bought back.

Groups:

Twem: "When Love Takes Over"
Belle Amie: "Faith"
Princes and Rouges: "Video Killed the Radio Star"
Hustle: "Tainted Love"
The Reason: "If You're Not The One"
F.Y.D: "Beggin'"
Diva Fever: "Love Machine"
One Direction: "Torn"

Girls:

Rebecca: "Fireflies"
Gamu: "Cry Me Out"
Annastasia: "How Could an Angel Break My Heart"
Raquel: "Ordinary People"
Keri: "Wake Me Up When September Ends"
Katie: "Smile"
Treyc: "Ave Maria"
Cher: "Cooler Than Me"

Judge	Category	Location	Assistant	Acts Eliminated	Wildcards
Cole	Girls	Coworth Park, Berkshire	will.i.am	Keri Arrindell, Annastasia Baker, Gamu Nhengu, Raquel Thomas	Treyc Cohen
Cowell	Groups	Marbella	Sinitta	Husstle, Princes and Rogues, The Reason, Twem	Diva Fever
Minogue	Boys	Melbourne	Natalie Imbruglia	Karl Brown, Marlon McKenzie, Tom Richards, John Wilding	Paije Richardson
Walsh	Over 28s	Adare Manor, County Limerick	Sharon Osbourne	Stephen Hunter, Yuli Minguel, Elesha Moses, Justin Vanderhyde	Wagner

In the first live show on 9 October, Paije Richardson, Treyc Cohen, Wagner and Diva Fever were reinstated as wildcards.