The X Factor (UK series 1)

The X Factor
Series 1
Broadcast from	4 September 2004– 11 December 2004
Judges	Simon Cowell Sharon Osbourne Cameron Mackintosh
Presenter(s)	Kate Thornton (ITV1) Ben Shephard (ITV2)
Broadcaster	ITV
Winner: Steve Brookstein
Origin	Camberwell, London, England
Song	"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"
Genre(s)	Blue-eyed soul, jazz
Runner-up
G4
Chronology
2004 ►

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a £1 million recording contract with the Syco Music record label. The first series was broadcast from 4 September to 11 December 2004. The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp and live shows, with Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Cameron Mackintosh as judges. It was won by Steve Brookstein, who went on to have some chart success, with runners-up G4 achieving two platinum albums before splitting up in 2007. Cowell was the winning mentor. Brookstein and Cowell reportedly fell out over Cowell's insistence that he record cover versions, rather than self-penned material, leading to him being dropped from Sony BMG, and his name being little-mentioned in subsequent series of the show.

Selection process

Applications and auditions

Prior to the audtion phase, advertisements appeared on ITV, in newspapers, and trade magazines, promising that the new show would encourage groups, and while the emphasis was on singing, would welcome those who played instruments and wrote their own songs. Thus the show would differetiate itself from its predecessor, Pop Idol.

For the first episode of auditions, which aired 4 September 2004, the judges visited Leeds and London. For the second episode , which aired on 11 September 2004, the judges visited Newcastle. The third episode aired on 18 September 2004, the fourth on 25 September 2004 and the fifth on 2 October 2004.

Bootcamp and judges' homes

After the initial auditions, each judge was randomly allocated a category these were:

• Simon Cowell: solo over-25s
• Sharon Osbourne: solo 16–24s
• Louis Walsh: groups

The bootcamp episodes aired on 9 and 16 October 2004. Each judge then chose twelve acts from their category to go through to round two — boot camp. After boot camp, each judge selected five acts to progress to round three — "judges' homes". In this round, the 15 acts (five for each judge) went to the "homes" of their respective judges, where they were interviewed and performed again. Each judge then chose three acts to go through to the finals (making a total of nine finalists, unlike later series, which would feature twelve).

Finalists

The following artists made it to the live shows. Ages are as of the date of the show (2004).

Key:

     – Winner

     – Runner-up

     – Third Place

Category	Acts
16–24s (Sharon Osbourne)	Tabby Callaghan, (23)	Cassie Compton (17)	Roberta Howett, (23)
25 and overs (Simon Cowell)	Steve Brookstein (35)	Verity Keays (50)	Rowetta Satchell (38)
Groups (Louis Walsh)	2 To Go	G4	Voices With Soul

Notes:
2 To Go was made up of Peter Jones (24), Emma Paine (23),
G4 of Matthew Stiff (24), Jonathan Ansell (22), Michael Christie (23), Ben Thapa (22)),
Voices With Soul of Grace, Hildia, and Corene Campbell.

Live shows

Format

The finals consisted of two live shows each Saturday evening. For the first five weeks each act performed once in the first show, after which the public voted for the act that they wanted to remain in the show. In the later results show, the two acts with the fewest votes were revealed. These two acts then had to sing again before the three judges decided who was eliminated.

The format changed in the sixth week: each act performed twice in the first show (with the judges offering their opinions after the second songs), and reprised one of their songs in the results show. The act with the fewest public votes was eliminated at the end of the second show, with the judges no longer having a say in who left.

The live shows started on 23 October 2004 and ended on 11 December 2004.

Results table

Contestants' colour key:

– Simon Cowell's contestants (over 25s)

– Sharon Osbourne's contestants (16–24s)

– Cameron Mackintosh's contestants (groups)

		Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
	Steve Brookstein	3rd 13.5%	3rd 14.4%	1st 24.7%	2nd 20.2%	3rd 18.9%	3rd 23.5%	1st 39.3%	Winner 50.8%
	G4	1st 28.5%	1st 30.9%	4th 15.8%	5th 12.2%	1st 32.9%	1st 31.7%	2nd 32.2%	Runner-up 49.2%
	Tabby Callaghan	4th 10.3%	4th 12.4%	2nd 20.2%	1st 27.8%	4th 14.1%	2nd 28.0%	3rd 28.5%	Eliminated (Week 7)
	Rowetta Satchell	7th 6.8%	5th 9.3%	5th 11.7%	3rd 20.3%	2nd 23.9%	4th 16.8%	Eliminated (Week 6)
	Cassie Compton	2nd 16.2%	2nd 18.1%	3rd 17.4%	4th 14.6%	5th 10.2%	Eliminated (Week 5)
	Voices With Soul	9th 2.6%	6th 6.0%	7th 4.2%	6th 4.9%	Eliminated (Week 4)
	2 To Go	6th 8.9%	8th 3.2%	6th 6.0%	Eliminated (Week 3)
	Verity Keays	5th 9.2%	7th 5.7%	Eliminated (Week 2)
	Roberta Howett	8th 4.0%	Eliminated (Week 1)
Final Showdown		Roberta Howett , Voices With Soul	2 To Go, Verity Keays	2 To Go, Voices With Soul	G4, Voices With Soul	Cassie Compton, Tabby Callaghan	No final showdown/judges' vote; public votes alone decided who is eliminated.
	Cowell's vote to eliminate	Roberta Howett	2 To Go	N/A	G4	Cassie Compton
	Osbourne's vote to eliminate	Voices With Soul	Verity Keays	2 To Go	Voices With Soul	N/A
	Walsh's vote to eliminate	Roberta Howett	Verity Keays	2 To Go	Voices With Soul	Cassie Compton
Eliminated		Roberta Howett 2 of 3 Votes Majority	Verity Keays 2 of 3 Votes Majority	2 To Go 2 of 2 Votes	Voices With Soul 2 of 3 Votes Majority	Cassie Compton 2 of 2 Votes	Rowetta Satchell	Tabby Callaghan	G4 Runner-up
									Steve Brookstein Winner

Notes

• ^1 Cowell did not need to vote as Osbourne and Walsh already voted to send home 2 To Go,
• ^2 Osbourne did not need to vote as Cowell and Walsh already voted to send home Cassie

Live show details

Week 1 (23 October)

Order	Artist	Song	Results
1	Voices with Soul	"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"	Bottom two
2	Verity Keays	"I Will Always Love You"	Safe
3	Roberta Howett	"Superstar"	Eliminated
4	2 To Go	"Don't Know Much"	Safe
5	Steve Brookstein	"When a Man Loves a Woman"	Safe
6	Cassie Compton	"Alfie"	Safe
7	G4	"Everybody Hurts"	Safe
8	Rowetta Satchell	"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"	Safe
9	Tabby Callaghan	"You Really Got Me"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Sharon Osbourne: Voices with Soul
• Louis Walsh: Roberta Howett
• Simon Cowell: Roberta Howett

Week 2 (30 October)

Order	Artist	Song	Results
1	Rowetta Satchell	"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"	Safe
2	2 To Go	"Always"	Bottom two
3	Cassie Compton	"Without You"	Safe
4	Verity Keays	"Wind Beneath My Wings"	Eliminated
5	G4	"Don't Look Back in Anger"	Safe
6	Tabby Callaghan	"My Oh My"	Safe
7	Steve Brookstein	"If You Don't Know Me By Now"	Safe
8	Voices with Soul	"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Louis Walsh: Verity Keays
• Simon Cowell: 2 to Go
• Sharon Osbourne: Verity Keays

Week 3 (6 November)

Order	Artist	Song	Results
1	Tabby Callaghan	"Addicted to Love"	Safe
2	Voices with Soul	"Bridge Over Troubled Water"	Bottom two
3	Steve Brookstein	"Smile"	Safe
4	2 To Go	"(I've Had) The Time of My Life"	Eliminated
5	Cassie Compton	"I Say a Little Prayer"	Safe
6	Rowetta Satchell	"Over the Rainbow"	Safe
7	G4	"...Baby One More Time"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Louis Walsh: 2 to Go
• Sharon Osbourne: 2 to Go
• Simon Cowell: Did not vote as there was already a majority

Week 4 (13 November)

Order	Artist	Song	Results
1	G4	"Circle of Life"	Bottom two
2	Rowetta Satchell	"MacArthur Park"	Safe
3	Tabby Callaghan	"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"	Safe
4	Voices With Soul	"Lady Marmalade"	Eliminated
5	Cassie Compton	"Hero"	Safe
6	Steve Brookstein	"Help Me Make It Through The Night"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Simon Cowell: G4
• Sharon Osbourne: Voices with Soul
• Louis Walsh: Voices with Soul

Week 5 (20 November)

Order	Artist	Song	Results
1	Steve Brookstein	"Let's Stay Together"	Safe
2	Cassie Compton	"All by Myself"	Eliminated
3	G4	"My Way"	Safe
4	Tabby Callaghan	"Sweet Child o' Mine"	Bottom two
5	Rowetta Satchell	"Somewhere"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Sharon Osbourne: Refused to vote as she had two of her acts in the bottom two
• Louis Walsh: Cassie Compton
• Simon Cowell: Cassie Compton

Week 6 (27 November)

Order	Artist	First song	Second song	Results
1	Rowetta Satchell	"River Deep - Mountain High"	"When You Tell Me That You Love Me"	Eliminated
2	G4	"You'll Never Walk Alone"	"Somebody to Love"	Safe
3	Steve Brookstein	"I Get the Sweetest Feeling"	"If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time"	Safe
4	Tabby Callaghan	"More Than Words"	"Livin' on a Prayer"	Safe

• This week, there was no final showdown; the act that received the fewest public votes was automatically eliminated. Each act also performed twice, with voting open after all acts performed once.

Week 7 (4 December)

Order	Artist	First song	Second song	Results
1	Tabby Callaghan	"Pride (In the Name of Love)"	"Sailing"	Eliminated
2	Steve Brookstein	"Have I Told You Lately"	"Greatest Love of All"	Safe
3	G4	"O Holy Night"	"Bohemian Rhapsody"	Safe

Week 8 (Final, 11 December)

Order	Artist	First song	Second song	Third song	Results
1	Steve Brookstein	"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher"	"Smile"	"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"	Winner
2	G4	"Nessun Dorma"	"Bohemian Rhapsody"	"Creep"	Runner up

Ratings

This series had the lowest ratings of all seven series to date, averaging 6.9 million viewers. The final achieved 8.1 million viewers for the performances and 9.7 million for the results.^{[citation needed]}