The X Factor (Australian TV series)

The X Factor is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original British series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped The X Factor after the first season due to its poor ratings. In 2010, the Seven Network won the rights to the show, and a second season went into production. The X Factor was renewed after the highly successful Australian Idol was no longer broadcast on Network Ten. The X Factor was produced by FremantleMedia Australia, and was broadcast on the Seven Network in Australia and on TV3 in New Zealand. The program was cancelled after its eighth season in 2016.

The original judging panel line-up in 2005 consisted of Mark Holden, Kate Ceberano, and John Reid. When the show was revived in 2010, the judging panel was replaced by Natalie Imbruglia, Ronan Keating, Kyle Sandilands and Guy Sebastian. Imbruglia and Sandilands did not return for season three and were replaced by Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Mel B. Redfoo and Dannii Minogue joined the panel in season five as replacements for Sebastian and Mel B. Sebastian returned to the panel in season seven along with new judges James Blunt and Chris Isaak, as replacements for Keating, Bassingthwaighte and Redfoo. The judging panel will see changes once again for season eight as Minogue has announced her departure. On 12 June 2016, it was announced that Iggy Azalea would be a judge in season eight. It was then later announced that Adam Lambert would be joining the judging panel as well as Guy Sebastian and Mel B returning as the underdog judge.

During the televised audition phases of The X Factor, originally the contestants sang in an "audition room" in front of only the judges, however, from season two onwards all auditionees sing on stage in an arena, in front of the judges and a live audience. The successful acts then progress to the next stage of the competition, "bootcamp" and later "home visits", where the judges narrow their category down to three acts who continued to the live shows, where the public vote for their favourite act, following weekly performances by the contestants.

There have been eight winners: Random, Altiyan Childs, Reece Mastin, Samantha Jade, Dami Im, Marlisa Punzalan, Cyrus Villanueva and Isaiah Firebrace. Winners received a recording contract with record label Sony Music Australia. In season three, the winner also received a management contract, and in season four, a Nissan Dualis car. Each winning contestant's single has charted within the top-ten of the ARIA Singles Chart, only Mastin's, Jade's and Im's singles have reached number one. There have also been a number of hit singles released by other contestants who have appeared on The X Factor. The show has received numerous awards and nominations, including five Logie Award nominations, of which it has won one for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program.

History

The X Factor was created by Simon Cowell in the United Kingdom and is based on the original British series. Cowell then began to grow and expand The X Factor competition franchise and in 2005, the Australian version of the show was launched on Network Ten, the same channel as the highly successful Australian Idol. However, due to poor ratings Network Ten dropped The X Factor after one season.

In 2010, once the seventh and final season of Australian Idol was completed, it was announced that Seven Network went into a "bidding war" with Nine Network to obtain the rights of The X Factor, which they later won and a second season went into production. It was later confirmed that The X Factor will return in 2016. The season premiered on 3 October 2016. Towards the end of the eighth season, there was speculation that The X Factor would not return in 2017 due to poor ratings. A spokesman from Seven advised that the decision will be made in early 2017. Seven confirmed the program had been axed in January 2017. In season 3 onwards, the minimum age for the Boys and Girls categories was lowered to 14. In season 6, It was changed back to Over 25s for series 6, In Season 8, the Over 25s was changed to Over 22s, Boys and Girls has been defunct and making the 14-21s to come back, Bands are now able to audition, any can play instruments - they will be part of the Groups category.

Stages

There were five stages to the competition:

Stage 1: Open auditions: these auditions decided who would sing in front of the judges (season 2–8)
Stage 2: Judges' auditions
Stage 3: Masterclass (season 1), bootcamp (season 2–6) or seat challenge (season 7–8)
Stage 4: Judges' houses (season 1) or super home visits (season 2–7)
Stage 5: Live shows (finals)

For the first season, the judges' auditions, masterclass, the judges' houses and the live finals were the four stages to the competition. For the revived second season, the stages changed to open auditions, judges' auditions, bootcamp, super home visits and the live shows. This remained unchanged until season 8, when the stages changed to open auditions, judges' auditions, three seat challenge and the live shows.

Auditions

In the first round, the first set of auditions were held in front of the show's producers, months before The X Factor was aired. The open auditions were not televised and anyone could attend. The successful auditionees chosen by the producers were invited back to the last set of the audition phase, which took place in front of the show's judging panel and a live audience. If there were three judges present during the auditions, the act needed at least two "yes" votes (three if there were four judges present) to gain the majority vote. (formerly lock down in season 1, and super bootcamp in seasons 4–6), each judge was assigned one of the four categories to mentor.

From seasons 1 to 7, the super home visits stage (formerly judges' houses in seasons 1–2, and home visits in seasons 3–6), saw the judges and their remaining six acts travel to four different places of the world. From season seven, all four judges and their remaining five acts traveled to the same location. Afterwards, each mentor and their guest judges narrowed down the acts to three for the live shows.

Live shows and winner's prize

The finals consisted of two live shows, the first featuring the contestants' performances and the second revealing the results of the public voting, culminating in one/two acts being eliminated each week. In season two, the live shows were broadcast on Sunday and Monday nights, but moved to Monday and Tuesday nights for seasons three and four. In season five, the live shows returned to Sunday and Monday nights. In season seven, the live shows were once again broadcast on Monday and Tuesday nights.

In the initial performance shows, each act performed one song (two songs each during the Semi-Final and three songs each during the Grand Final) in front of the judges and a studio audience. The acts usually sung over a pre-recorded backing track, and backup dancers were commonly featured as well as stage props. Acts occasionally accompanied themselves on guitar or piano. From the second season, each performance show had a different theme; each act's song was chosen according to the theme. The acts' mentors picked the song for them and critiqued their performance in order to get it perfect for the live shows. A celebrity guest connected to the theme was often invited onto The X Factor, and clips were shown of the guest conversing with the contestants at rehearsal. After each act had performed, the judges commented on their performance. Once all the acts had performed, the phone lines opened and the viewing public voted on which act they wanted to keep in the competition.

The results were announced during the live decider show the following day, in aid to give the Australian public time to vote. The two acts that received the lowest number of votes performed again in the "final showdown", and the judges voted on which of the two to send home. In the first season, there would never be an even number, therefore one act would always be eliminated by a majority. However, once a fourth judge was added to the panel, this was possible and "deadlock" was introduced in case of a tie vote. If the final showdown got to deadlock, the act with the lowest number of votes was eliminated from the competition. The winner of The X Factor was awarded a $1,000,000 recording contract with Sony Music Australia. In season three, the winner was also awarded a management contract, and in season four, a Nissan Dualis car.

Series overview

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none; text-align:center; font-size:100%; width:90%"

! style="width:4%;" rowspan="2"| Series

! style="width:6%;" rowspan="2"| Number| of episodes

! style="width:20%;" colspan="2"|Originally aired

! style="width:14%; background:gold;" align="center" rowspan="2"| Winner

! style="width:14%; background:silver;" align="center"rowspan="2"| Runner-up

! style="width:4%;" rowspan="2"| Winning mentor

! style="width:15%;| First aired

! style="width:15%;| Last aired

! scope="row"| 1

| 27

| 6 February 2005

| 15 May 2005

| Random Groups

| Russell Gooley Over 25s

| Mark Holden

! scope="row"| 2

| 28

| 30 August 2010

| 22 November 2010

| Altiyan Childs Over 25s

| Sally Chatfield Girls

| Ronan Keating

! scope="row"| 3

| 32

| 29 August 2011

| 22 November 2011

| Reece Mastin Boys

| Andrew Wishart Over 25s

| rowspan=2 | Guy Sebastian

! scope="row"| 4

| 33

| 20 August 2012

| 20 November 2012

| Samantha Jade Over 25s

| Jason Owen Boys

! scope="row"| 5

| 32

| 29 July 2013

| 28 October 2013

| Dami Im Over 24s

| Taylor Henderson Boys

| Dannii Minogue

! scope="row"| 6

| 34

| 13 July 2014

| 20 October 2014

| Marlisa Girls

| Dean Ray Boys

| Ronan Keating

! 7

| 28

| 13 September 2015

| 24 November 2015

| Cyrus Villanueva Boys

| Louise Adams Over 25s

| Chris Isaak

! scope="row"| 8

| 19

| 3 October 2016

| 21 November 2016

| Isaiah Firebrace 14-21s

| Davey Woder Over 22s

| Adam Lambert

Judges and hosts

Judges

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ Judges on The X Factor Australia

! rowspan="2" style="width:20%;" scope="col"| Judge

! colspan="8" | Season

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 1

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 2

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 3

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 4

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 5

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 6

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 7

! style="width:6.67%;" scope="colspan"| 8

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Mark Holden

| colspan="1" style="background:#87ceeb"|

| colspan="7"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Kate Ceberano

| colspan="1" style="background:#ff8c75"|

| colspan="7"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | John Reid

| colspan="1" style="background:#ace1af"|

| colspan="7"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Guy Sebastian

| colspan="1"

| colspan="3" style="background:#fbceb1"|

| colspan="2"

| colspan="2" style="background:#fbceb1"|

| scope="row" style="text-align: center;" ! | Ronan Keating

| colspan="1"

| colspan="5" style="background:#c7c7c7"|

| colspan="2"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Natalie Imbruglia

| colspan="1"

| colspan="1" style="background:lightpink"|

| colspan="6"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Kyle Sandilands

| colspan="1"

| colspan="1" style="background:#81cce1"|

| colspan="6"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Natalie Bassingthwaighte

| colspan="2"

| colspan="4" style="background:#dda0dd"|

| colspan="2"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Mel B

| colspan="2”

| colspan="2" style="background-color:#ff69b4" |

| colspan="3"

| colspan="1" style="background-color:#ff69b4" |

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Dannii Minogue

| colspan="4"

| colspan="3" style="background-color:#ffc4b2" |

| colspan="1"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Redfoo

| colspan="4"

| colspan="2" style="background:#bdff2f"|

| colspan="2"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | James Blunt

| colspan="6"

| colspan="1" style="background:#afeeee"|

| colspan="1"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Chris Isaak

| colspan="6"

| colspan="1" style="background:#E9D380"|

| colspan="1"

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Iggy Azalea

| colspan="7"

| colspan="1" style="background:maroon"|

| ! scope="row" style="text-align: center;" | Adam Lambert

| colspan="7"

| colspan="1" style="background:#ffdb11"|

{| class="wikitable"

!Season

|<big>1</big>

|Mark Holden

|Kate Ceberano

|John Reid

|<big>2</big>

| rowspan="3" |Guy Sebastian

| Natalie Imbruglia

| rowspan="5" |Ronan Keating

|Kyle Sandilands

|<big>3</big>

| rowspan="4" |Natalie Bassingthwaighte

| rowspan="2" |Mel B

|<big>4</big>

|<big>5</big>

| rowspan="2" |Redfoo

| rowspan="3" |Dannii Minogue

|<big>6</big>

|<big>7</big>

| rowspan="2" |Guy Sebastian

|Chris Isaak

|James Blunt

|<big>8</big>

|Iggy Azalea

|Adam Lambert

|Mel B

The X Factor debuted in 2005 with Australian recording artist Kate Ceberano, record producer Mark Holden, and Scottish events manager John Reid as the judges. Ceberano's judging skills were compared to X Factor UK judge, Sharon Osbourne. When it was announced that The X Factor would return in 2010, British reality television star Peter Andre was linked to the role. However, he declined the offer as he did not want to be away from his children for so long. The judging line up was announced in May 2010 with Irish recording artist Ronan Keating, radio presenter Kyle Sandilands, and Australian recording artists Guy Sebastian and Natalie Imbruglia. On 16 March 2011, Sandilands announced that he would not be returning for season 3, stating that he left the show because "it's just too hectic, it's too much work". On 27 April 2011, the Seven Network confirmed that Mel B would be Sandilands' replacement, and Natalie Bassingthwaighte was confirmed as Imbruglia's replacement on 6 May 2011. Bassingthwaighte said she would focus on bringing an honest critique to the show and will guide "the artists through the competition", while Mel B said, "[The contestants] are either going to love me or hate me but it's going to be a fun ride. I'm really easy to get on with and I'm a hard worker. I'm firm but nice." Keating, Sebastian, Bassingthwaighte and Mel B returned for the fourth season in 2012.

In March 2013, Keating confirmed in an interview with News Limited that Sebastian and Mel B had left the show, but stated that he wanted them to return. Dannii Minogue was announced as Mel B's replacement on 12 April 2013, and Redfoo was announced as Sebastian's replacement on 21 April 2013. Minogue, Redfoo, Bassingthwaigte and Keating returned for season 6 in 2014. In April 2015, Keating and Bassingthwaighte announced that they would not be returning for the season 7 in 2015. Redfoo also announced his departure the following month. On 3 May 2015, it was announced that Sebastian would be returning to the panel along with two new judges James Blunt and Chris Isaak. Minogue was the only judge from the previous season who returned. On 12 June 2016, Iggy Azalea was announced as a new judge for the series. On 20 June 2016, Guy Sebastian was confirmed to be returning as a judge. The following day, Adam Lambert was announced as the third judge for season 8. In October 2016, it was confirmed that former judge Mel B would be joining the show as the fourth and final judge for season 8, as "The Underdog Judge".

File:Kate Ceberano at the 2011 Logie Awards.jpg|Kate Ceberano (2005)

File:Natalie Imbruglia Cannes.jpg|Natalie Imbruglia (2010)

File:Ronan Keating - 2016330211548 2016-11-25 Night of the Proms - Sven - 1D X II - 0567 - AK8I4903 mod.jpg|Ronan Keating (2010–2014)

File:Kyle Sandilands 2014.jpg|Kyle Sandilands (2010)

File:Guy Sebastian ESC2015 Eurovision Village Vienna 08crop2.jpg|Guy Sebastian (2010–2012, 2015–2016)

File:Natalie Bassingthwaighte 4, 2012.jpg|Natalie Bassingthwaighte (2011–2014)

File:Mel_B_(32151327546)_(cropped1).jpg|Mel B (2011–2012, 2016)

File:Dannii Minogue arrives at the 58th Annual Logie Awards at Crown Palladium (26904220225) cropped.jpg|Dannii Minogue (2013–2015)

File:Redfoo Sydney 2014.jpg|Redfoo (2013–2014)

File:James-Blunt2.jpg|James Blunt (2015)

File:Chris-isaak.jpg|Chris Isaak (2015)

File:Iggy Azalea August 2015.jpg|Iggy Azalea (2016)

File:Queen + Adam Lambert 4 (15659934964).jpg|Adam Lambert (2016)

</gallery>

Hosts and other personnel

When The X Factor began in 2005, Daniel MacPherson was the main host of the show and Chloe Maxwell was the host of the spin-off show, The Xtra Factor. Following the announcement that The X Factor was returning in 2010, the Herald Sun reported that MacPherson was favourite to fill the hosting role but was unable to commit because of his duties on Dancing with the Stars. On 30 May 2010, actor Matthew Newton was announced as the host. However, on 22 August 2010, it was revealed that Newton had to withdraw after an altercation in Rome with his now ex-girlfriend Rachael Taylor. Newton flew from Rome to Dublin, where he was to film segments for The X Factor with Keating. However, he was escorted back to Australia by a producer of the show after they decided he was in no state to film. He was then checked into Wentworthville's Northside West Clinic.

On 23 August 2010, it was announced that actor Luke Jacobz would take over as host and all original audition footage with Newton was removed with footage of Jacobz being shot instead. On 28 August 2010, it was announced that radio presenter Natalie Garonzi would host The Xtra Factor on 7Two. Season three finalist Johnny Ruffo joined the fourth season live shows as the host of the online live streaming show, The X Stream. On 25 June 2016, Jason Dundas was announced as Jacobz's replacement.

File:Daniel MacPherson.jpg|Daniel MacPherson (2005)

File:Luke Jacobz X Factor.jpg|Luke Jacobz (2010–2015)

File:Jason Dundas 2015 (cropped).jpg|Jason Dundas (2016)

</gallery>

Judges' categories and their contestants

In each season, each judge is allocated a category to mentor and chooses a small number of acts (three acts) to progress to the live finals. This table shows, for each season, which category each judge was allocated and which acts he or she put through to the live finals.

: – Winning judge/category. Winners are in bold, eliminated contestants in small font.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! style="width:5%;" scope="col" | Season

! style="width:17%;" scope="col" | John Reid

! style="width:17%;" scope="col" | Kate Ceberano

! style="width:17%;" scope="col" | Mark Holden

! rowspan="2"

! scope="row" | 1

| Over 25s Russell Gooley Roslynn Mahe Janie Shrapnel

| 16-24s Vincent Harder Jacob Butler Gemma Purdy

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" |Groups Random Kaya The Brothership

! rowspan=2 scope="row" | 2

! scope="col" | Ronan Keating

! scope="col" | Natalie Imbruglia

! scope="col" | Guy Sebastian

! scope="col" style="width:17%;" | Kyle Sandilands

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" |Over 25s Altiyan Childs Amanda Grafanakis James McNally

| Girls Sally Chatfield Hayley Teal India-Rose Madderom

| Groups Mahogany Luke and Joel Kharizma

| Boys Andrew Lawson Mitchell Smith Chris Doe

! rowspan=2 scope="row" | 3

! scope="col" |Ronan Keating

! scope="col" |

! scope="col" |Guy Sebastian

! scope="col" |Mel B

| Groups Three Wishez Young Men Society Audio Vixen

| Over 25s Andrew Wishart Mitchell Callaway Cleo Howman

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" |Boys Reece Mastin Johnny Ruffo Declan Sykes

| Girls Christina Parie Jacqui Newland Tyla Bertolli

! scope="row" | 4

| Groups The Collective Fourtunate What About Tonight

| Girls Bella Ferraro Shiane Hawke Angel Tupai

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" |Over 25s Samantha Jade Nathaniel Willemse Justin Standley

| Boys Jason Owen Carmelo Munzone Josh Brookes Adil Memon

! rowspan=2 scope="row" | 5

! scope="col" |Ronan Keating

! scope="col" |Natalie Bassingthwaighte

! scope="col" |Dannii Minogue

! scope="col" |Redfoo

| Boys Taylor Henderson Jai Waetford Omar Dean

| Groups Third Degree JTR Adira-Belle

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" |Over 24s Dami Im Barry Southgate Cat Vas

| Girls Jiordan Tolli Joelle Hadjia Ellie Lovegrove

! scope="row" | 6

| style="background:#BFFFC0;"|Girls Marlisa Punzalan Caitlyn Shadbolt Sydnee Carter

| Boys Dean Ray Tee Adrien Nookadu

| Groups Brothers3 XOX Younger Than Yesterday Trill

| Over 25s Reigan Derry Jason Heerah Rochelle Pitt

! rowspan=2 scope="row" | 7

! scope="col" | Guy Sebastian

! scope="col" | James Blunt

! scope="col" | Dannii Minogue

! scope="col" | Chris Isaak

| Groups Jess & Matt In Stereo The Fisher Boys

| Over 25s Louise Adams Natalie Conway Dan Hamill

| Girls Mahalia Simpson Michaela Baranov Georgia Denton

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" | Boys Cyrus Villanueva Big T Jimmy Davis

! rowspan=2 scope="row" | 8

! scope="col" | Adam Lambert

! scope="col" | Iggy Azalea

! scope="col" | Guy Sebastian

! scope="col" | Mel B

| style="background:#BFFFC0;" | 14-21s Isaiah Firebrace Amalia Foy Natalie Ong

| Groups Brentwood AYA Time and Place

| Over 22s Davey Woder Chynna Taylor Timmy Knowles

| Underdogs Vlado Beatz Maddison Milewski

Reception

Viewership

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2" style="width:3%;"| Season

! rowspan="2" style="width:3%;"| Episodes

! colspan="3" | Premiere

! colspan="5" | Finale

! rowspan="2" style="width:4%;"| Average viewers (in millions)

! style="width:7%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Date

! style="width:4%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Premiere Viewers (in millions)

! style="width:3%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Rank

! style="width:7%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Date

! style="width:4%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Live Decider Viewers (in millions)

! style="width:3%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Rank

! style="width:4%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Winner Announced Viewers (in millions)

! style="width:3%; font-size:smaller; line-height:100%;" span | Rank

! One

| 27

| 6 February 2005

| 1.453

| colspan="1"

| 15 May 2005

| colspan="6"

! Two

| 28

| 30 August 2010

| 1.186

| style="background:#F0F8FF"| #5

| style="background:#F0F8FF"| #3

| style="background:#F0F8FF"| #1