The X Factor
Series 5
Broadcast from	16 August 2008 – 13 December 2008
Judges	Simon Cowell Louis Walsh Dannii Minogue Cheryl Cole
Presenter(s)	Dermot O'Leary (ITV1) Holly Willoughby (ITV2)
Broadcaster	ITV
Winner: Alexandra Burke
Winner Alexandra Burke
Origin	Islington, London, England
Song	"Hallelujah"
Genre(s)	R&B, pop, soul
Runner-up
JLS
Chronology
◄ 2008 ►

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifth series was broadcast on ITV from 16 August 2008 until 13 December 2008. It was won by Alexandra Burke, with new judge Cheryl Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April/May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000^[1] people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Mariah Carey, Girls Aloud, Beyoncé Knowles, Take That, Il Divo, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and series 3 winner Leona Lewis performed during the live stages of the show.

Burke's prize, as winner, was a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music (a subsidiary of Sony BMG). Her debut single, "Hallelujah", written by Leonard Cohen, was released for digital download at 00:01 on 14 December 2008, with the physical format following on 17 December. It was later announced that her single had become the fastest selling song of all time.

Selection process[link]

Auditions[link]

A reported "record-breaking" 182,000 applied for series 5,^[1][2] with filming for auditions in front of judges taking place in June/July 2008. Auditions were held in the cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow.^[3]

Dannii Minogue was missing from some of the auditions due to visits to her native Australia in order to film auditions for Australia's Got Talent.

Bootcamp[link]

As in series 4, all four judges worked together at the bootcamp stage of the competition. This took place at indigO₂ at The O₂ in Greenwich, London on 4 August 2008, and was televised in two episodes on 27 and 28 September 2008.^[4][5] Contestants are said to have stayed in a nearby hotel in Blackheath.^[5]

During bootcamp, around 150 acts were whittled down to just 24 which advanced to the next round, six in each category.

After completion of bootcamp, the judges were told the category that they were to mentor. The category mentors were as follows:^[6]

• Simon Cowell: Boys
• Dannii Minogue: Over 25s
• Cheryl Cole: Girls
• Louis Walsh: Groups

Judges' houses[link]

This round was filmed in late August/early September and was broadcast over two shows on 4 October and 5 October. As in previous years, the judges welcomed the six acts from their selected category to their "homes".^[7] Each act had only one chance to impress their mentor who, along with a guest judge, had the task of selecting which three acts were to go through to the live shows and which three would be eliminated. For her guest judge, Minogue chose former Spice Girls member and successful solo artist Emma Bunton. Cole chose her fellow Girls Aloud member Kimberly Walsh, Cowell chose singer Sinitta and Walsh chose Shane Filan from Westlife.

The acts eliminated at the judges houses stage were:

• Boys: Alan Turner, Liam Payne, Mali-Michael McCalla
• Girls: Amy Connelly, Annastasia Baker, Hannah Bradbeer
• Over 25s: James Williams, Louise Heatly, Suzie Furlonger
• Groups: 4Instinct, Desire, Priority

Personnel[link]

Judges[link]

The judges for series 5 were Simon Cowell, Dannii Minogue, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole. On 6 June 2008 (six days before filming was due to begin at the London auditions) ITV announced that long-standing judge Sharon Osbourne had left the show.^[8][9] Media speculation over the reasons for Osbourne's departure alluded to rising tensions between her and fellow judge Dannii Minogue, as well as disputes over pay.^[9] When interviewed by Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1, Osbourne said that it was "the best four years of [her] life" but felt that it was "time to move on."^[10] She later revealed that fellow judge Dannii was "99.9%" of her reason for leaving, citing that the atmosphere was causing too much stress. Osbourne admitted that when she informed the producers of her decision to resign, she hoped to be kept on instead of Dannii.^[11]

Much media coverage and speculation surrounded the question of who would replace Osbourne. Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown revealed on 16 September 2008 in an interview for New! Magazine that she, among others, was approached by Cowell as a possible replacement.^[12] However, on 10 June 2008, four days after Osbourne's departure, ITV confirmed that Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole was the new judge for series 5 and the replacement for Sharon Osbourne. Minogue praised the new judge, saying: "She’s very knowledgeable about music and I think she’s going to bring a new side to the show."^[13] Cowell is reported by Minogue to feel that Cole's voiced opinions are something "which he loves".^[13]

Presenters[link]

Presenter Dermot O'Leary returned to host the main ITV1 show, choosing to leave other projects, including his ongoing role as the host of Big Brother's Little Brother, in order to concentrate on The X Factor.^[14] Xtra Factor presenter Fearne Cotton left after series 4, having presented for only one series, to be replaced by Holly Willoughby.^[15] Brian Friedman returned as choreographer and performance coach (billed as "Creative Director"), along with Yvie Burnett as vocal coach.

Categories and finalists[link]

The final 12 were confirmed as follows.

Key:

     – Winner

     – Runner-up

     – Third Place

Live shows[link]

The live shows began on 11 October 2008, and continued through to the finale on 13 December 2008. Leon Jackson performed on the first live show, promoting his second single "Don't Call This Love". Girls Aloud performed their new single, "The Promise", on the second show on 18 October. This became the first single from their fifth album Out of Control, as announced by Cole at the X Factor launch in August. Will Young performed his new song "Grace" on 1 November. Mariah Carey appeared on 8 November and performed her new single "I Stay in Love", plus a special version of "Hero" with 11 of the finalists (Diana Vickers was ill with laryngitis so could not perform). Leona Lewis appeared the week after and performed her new single "Run" from the deluxe edition of her album Spirit. Take That performed on the 22 November show, as did series 4 third-place act Same Difference, who performed their debut single, and series 4 runner-up Rhydian Roberts, who sang a track from his debut album.^[16] On the 29 November show, Miley Cyrus performed her new song "7 Things" and Britney Spears performed her new single "Womanizer".

Boyzone, Westlife and Beyoncé Knowles were guests on the final show where they duetted with the finalists, with Knowles performing "Listen" with Alexandra Burke. Knowles also performed "If I Were a Boy" from her album I Am... Sasha Fierce.

An added twist for this series, confirmed on the first live show, was that acts in the bottom-two showdown sang a new song of their own choosing, rather than repeating the song they performed in the first part of the show (as was the case in previous series). As the series continued, some bloggers noticed a pattern emerging, that the acts performing early on are much more likely to feature in the "sing-off" to decide who will be eliminated.^[17]

Results summary[link]

Colour key

Notes

• ^1 Diana Vickers was issued a bye in week five after suffering from laryngitis.
• ^2 Minogue did not need to vote because Walsh, Cole and Cowell had already all voted against Daniel Evans.

Percentages:^[18]

Live show details[link]

Week 1 (11 October 2008)[link]

• Theme: UK or US number-one singles
• Celebrity guest: Leon Jackson ("Don't Call This Love")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Cowell: Bad Lashes – Described both acts as "shocking".
• Minogue: Girlband – Had no standout comment on either act.
• Cole: Girlband – Had no standout comment on either act.
• Walsh: Bad Lashes – Based on the fact that he couldn't pick between two of his own acts, he chose Bad Lashes to take it to a deadlock.

Notes

• As both acts received two votes from the judges, the result went to deadlock and was referred to the public vote. The act that received the fewest public votes was Bad Lashes who were duly eliminated from the show.

Week 2 (18 October 2008)[link]

• Theme: Michael Jackson songs
• Celebrity guest: Girls Aloud ("The Promise")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Walsh: Ruth Lorenzo – Backing his own act, Girlband.
• Cole: Girlband – Stating that Ruth had nailed her performance of Purple Rain.
• Minogue: Girlband – Backing her own act, Ruth Lorenzo.
• Cowell: Ruth Lorenzo – Taking it to deadlock as he wanted to give Girlband a second chance whereas he felt Ruth didn't "play to her strengths".

Notes

• The result again went to deadlock and Girlband were eliminated having received the fewest public votes. During the show, a mistake was made in one of the overlays and Ruth's number was briefly displayed incorrectly, meaning any calls to that number would not have registered a vote. After the show, viewers complained that they had dialled this incorrect number and could not get through to vote for Ruth, but ITV insisted the issue should not have made any difference to the overall result.^[19]

Week 3 (25 October 2008)[link]

• Theme: Big band
• Celebrity guest: The 2008 Finalists ("Hero")