The X Factor UK (Series 14)

The X Factor UK (Series 14)
Series	14
Broadcast from	2 September 2017 - 3 December 2017
Judges	Louis Walsh Sharon Osbourne Nicole Scherzinger Simon Cowell Alesha Dixon (guest judge)
Presenters	Dermot O'Leary Becca Dudley (Xtra Bites UK)
Network	ITV ITV Hub (Xtra Bites UK)
Number of finalists	16
Winner	Rak-Su
Runner-up	Grace Davies
Notable returnees	Tracy Leanne Jefford (3) Nicole Simpson (8)
Ratings	5.3 (millions)
Chronology
Previous	Series 13
Next	Series 15

Series 14 of The X Factor premiered on September 2, 2017 and concluded on December 3, 2017 on ITV. This is the first series to be sponsored by Just Eat after being sponsored by TalkTalk for nearly eight years.

It was won by R&B/Hip hop boy band Rak-Su, who became the second group after 2011 champions Little Mix and the first boy band to win the original series. Grace Davies finished as runner-up.  

Production

Prior to the Series 13 final, Louis Walsh revealed that he had signed on to be a judge for a further two years. It has also been reported that Sharon Osbourne will be returning. Nicole Scherzinger also hinted on her Instagram page that she may return to the judging panel although in March 2017 it was reported that she may not be returning in order to focus on her music career.  However, a month later it was reported that both she and Sharon Osbourne would be returning along with Simon Cowell meaning that the panel would be the same from the previous year for the third time, the first in 2004-06, and the second in 2008-10.

On January 19, 2017, it was announced that ITV had decided to scrap aftershow The Xtra Factor. Rylan Clark-Neal announced on Twitter that he would not be returning to do it for a second year, seemingly confirming that it had indeed been cancelled.

A week later, it was confirmed that Dermot O'Leary would be returning to host the show for its 14th year, marking his tenth year as a presenter.

In June 2017, it was revealed that the judging panel will remain the same as Series 13. On June 23, 2017 it was revealed that Nicole Scherzinger wouldn't be able to make the first day of Manchester auditions due to prior commitments and as such was replaced with Britain's Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon for the first day of the auditions, with Scherzinger returning for the rest of the auditions. Dixon also stood in for Osbourne at the Edinburgh auditions five days later due to the latter having a long-standing back injury.

The day before the first live show, it was reported that Simon Cowell had been taken to hospital after falling down the stairs at his home.  Due to this, he was absent from the first live show with the remaining judges going ahead as normal.  Guest judge Alesha Dixon, who had filled in for both Scherzinger and Osbourne during the auditions, joined the panel for the second live show in place of Simon, who once again wasn't able to be in attendance.

Judges

Louis Walsh	Sharon Osbourne	Nicole Scherzinger	Simon Cowell

Twists/Changes

Age limit: The minimum age limit was reduced to 14 years old.  This previously happened in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2014. Additionally the category age limit was raised from 25 to 27 which meant for soloists, aged 25-27 were transferred to the Boys and Girls categories.

Auditions: Simon confirmed during the filming of bootcamp that the auditionees would be allowed to perform original songs.  This previously happened during Series 9 and there were more audition episodes than previous series.

Six Chair Challenge: In a change to previous years where each judge critiqued each other's category together, the judges faced their category alone on the sidelines while the other judges sat at the judges' table offering their critique.

Live Shows: Acts were sent home on both Saturday and Sunday, as "tedious" Saturday nights received lower viewing figures than Sunday. Simon officially confirmed the reduction in live shows in late August 2017. The group performance was also abolished.

Theme Weeks: In August 2017, it was reported that the theme jukebox twist that was introduced in Series 13 had been scrapped.  The live shows saw the return of the theme weeks of previous years with updated song choices.  In a series first, many of the finalists were permitted to perform their own songs.

Wildcards: On October 18, the ITV Press Center confirmed that following this segment the public would get to vote for a wildcard for each category from the remaining contestants who did not make it to the live shows. This gave a total of 16 acts for the live shows.

Sing-Off: In a change to previous years, for the first four weeks there was no sing-off between the two acts who polled the lowest public votes.  Instead, the acts that polled the lowest amount of public votes were automatically eliminated and those who topped the public vote on both nights went head-to-head in a sing-off with the victor winning a prize. 

Winner's Single: During the final, it was announced that this year's winner's single would be the celebrity duet between the finalist and whoever they duetted with.

Finalists

Act		Category	Finish	Elimination
	Spencer Sutherland 25, Pickerington, Ohio, USA	Boys	16th week one	Fewest public votes
	Talia Dean 32, London	Over 27s	15th week one	Fewest public votes
	Leon Mallett 22, Norfolk	Boys	14th week two	Fewest public votes
	Tracyleanne Jefford 34,Sunbury-on-Thames,Surrey	Over 27s	13th week two	Fewest public votes
	Jack and Joel 22, Lincolnshire & London	Groups	12th week three	Fewest public votes
	Alisah Bonaobra 22, Manila, Philippines	Girls	11th week three	Fewest public votes
	Sam Black 27, Isle of Man	Boys	10th quarter-final	Fewest public votes
	Sean & Conor Price 15-17, Blessington, Ireland	Groups	9th quarter-final	Fewest public votes
	Rai-Elle Williams 16, London	Girls	8th quarter-final	Fewest public votes
	Holly Tandy 16, Barnsley	Girls	7th quarter-final	Fewest public votes
X Factor 2018 Live Tour
	Matt Linnen 28,Southend,Essex	Over 27s	6th semi-final	Fewest public votes
	The CutKelvins 20-24, Lanark, Scotland	Groups	5th semi-final	Fewest public votes
	Lloyd Macey 23, South Wales Valley, Wales	Boys	4th semi-final	Fewest public votes
	Kevin Davy White 29, Paris, France	Over 27s	3rd final	Fewest public votes
	Grace Davies 21, Blackburn	Girls	Runner up final	Fewest public votes
	Rak-Su 25-26, Watford, Hertfordshire	Groups	Winner final	Most public votes

Selection process

Auditions

See: List of The X Factor UK auditionees (series 14)

Although initially reported that returnees would be banned, Anthony Russell, who previously auditioned in 2007, returned to audition; he later withdrew from competing. Other returnees included Aidan Martin who first auditioned in 2007 and made it to Bootcamp, Tracy Leanne Jefford who first auditioned in 2006, making it to Bootcamp, and Nicole Simpson who reached bootcamp in 2011; she withdrew before the Six Chair Challenge took place. Leon Mallett, who auditioned as part of a duo with his brother Alex, previously auditioned for the show during in 2014 as part of the boyband Fifth Street, who were eliminated at Bootcamp.

Bootcamp

See: Bootcamp (UK series 14)

This took place from July 21 to 23 at the SSE Arena, Wembley in front of a live audience. After everyone had performed it was also revealed that Simon Cowell would be mentoring the Groups, Nicole Scherzinger would be mentoring the Overs and Louis Walsh would be mentoring the Boys.

Six Chair Challenge

See: Six Chair Challenge (UK series 14)

This took place from July 26 to 28 at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

Summary of six chair challenge

Judge	Category	Chairs
		1	2	3	4	5	6
Cowell	Groups	Jack & Joel	Rak-Su	The CutKelvins	Sean & Conor	Lemonade	New Girlband
Scherzinger	Over 27s	Matt Linnen	Tracyleanne Jefford	Talia Dean	Slavko	Kevin Davy White	Berget Lewis
Osbourne	Girls	Deanna Mussington	Grace Davies	Holly Tandy	Rai-Elle Williams	Georgina Panton	Alisah Bonaobra
Walsh	Boys	Lloyd Macey	Spencer Sutherland	Leon Mallett	Aidan Martin	Anthony Russell*	Jack Mason

• Although put through to Judges' Houses, it was confirmed that Anthony Russell had withdrawn due to "personal reasons". His replacement was announced as Sam Black, who was originally eliminated during Bootcamp

Judges' Houses

See: Judges' Houses (UK series 14)

Filming for judges' houses took place in late August and early/mid September. On October 18, the ITV Press Center confirmed that there would be a choice of four wildcards, selected from the three finalists from each category who did not originally make it to the live shows. It was also announced that the public would get to vote for each wildcard and that their first performance would be in the second week of the live shows.

Anthony Russell was originally selected for Judges' Houses as part of the Boys category mentored by Louis Walsh, but dropped out due to "personal reasons". Soon after, his replacement was announced as Sam Black, who had originally been eliminated at Bootcamp.

Summary of judges' houses

Judge	Category	Location	Guest mentor(s)	Acts eliminated	Wildcard
Cowell	Groups	Nice, France	Cheryl	New Girl Group, Jack and Joel, Lemonade	Jack and Joel
Osbourne	Girls	San Francisco	Jack and Kelly Osbourne	Deanna Mussington, Georgina Panton, Alisah Bonaobra	Alisah Bonaobra
Scherzinger	Over 27s	Johannesburg, South Africa	Stormzy	Talia Dean, Slavko, Berget Lewis	Talia Dean
Walsh	Boys	Istanbul, Turkey	Mika	Jack Mason, Leon Mallett, Aiden Martin	Leon Mallett

Live Shows

Results Summary

Weekly results per act
Week		1		2		3		Quarter-Final				Semi-Final			Final
Eliminated
	Rak-Su	N/A	1st 22.2%	1st 32.3%	N/A	2nd 25.7%	N/A	1st 36.7%		N/A		1st 26.1%	1st 27.3%		1st 41.7%	Winner 51.7%*
	Grace Davies	1st 21.9%	N/A	N/A	2nd 18.5%	N/A	2nd 20.1%	N/A		1st 26.1%		4th 17.2%	2nd 26.0%		2nd 35.4%	Runner-Up 40.1%*
	Kevin Davy White	N/A	4th 11.1%		1st 21.9%	1st 25.8%	N/A			3rd 21.4%		2nd 19.5%	3rd 18.9%		3rd 22.9%	Eliminated (final)
	Lloyd Macey	3rd 15.0%	N/A	3rd 14.4%	N/A	N/A	1st 26.4%	2nd 22.8%		N/A		3rd 19.2%	4th 18.2%		Eliminated (semi-final)
	The Cutkelvins	N/A	2nd 17.3%	2nd 15.1%		4th 13.5%	N/A	3rd 18.9%				5th 10.1%	5th 9.6%
	Matt Linnen		3rd 11.9%	N/A	5th 13.6%	3rd 14.1%		N/A		2nd 22.5%		6th 7.9%	Eliminated (semi-final)
	Holly Tandy	2nd 15.9%	N/A		3rd 15.4%	N/A	3rd 19.7%			4th 16.1%		Eliminated (quarter-final)
	Rai-Elle Williams	5th 11.5%			4th 14.3%		4th 14.3%			5th 13.9%
	Sean & Conor Price	N/A	5th 10.6%	5th 10.6%	N/A	5th 11.2%	N/A	4th 15.4%		Eliminated (quarter-final)
	Sam Black	7th 8.5%	N/A	4th 12.5%		N/A	5th 11.2%	5th 6.2%
	Alisah Bonaobra	4th 11.8%		N/A	6th 9.5%		6th 6.3%	Eliminated (week 3)
	Jack & Joel	N/A	7th 9.2%	6th 6.2%	N/A	6th 9.7%	Eliminated (week 3)
	Tracyleanne Jefford		6th 10.3%	N/A	7th 6.8%	Eliminated (week 2)
	Leon Mallett	6th 9.3%	N/A	7th 6.5%	Eliminated (week 2)
	Talia Dean	N/A	8th 7.4%	Eliminated (week 1)
	Spencer Sutherland	8th 6.1%	Eliminated (week 1)
Prize Fight		Davies, Rak-Su		Rak-Su, White		Macey, White		Davies, Rak-Su				No Prize Fight
Winner		Davies		White		Macey		Rak-Su
Eliminated		Spencer Sutherland 6.1% to save	Talia Dean 7.4% to save	Leon Mallett 6.5% to save	Tracyleanne Jefford 6.8% to save	Jack and Joel 9.7% to save	Alisha Bonaobra 8.3% to save	Sam Black 6.2% to save	Sean and Conor Price 15.4% to save	Rai-Elle Williams 13.9% to save	Holly Tandy 16.1% to save	Matt Linnen 7.9% to save	The Cutkelvins 9.6% to save	Lloyd Macey 18.2% to save	Kevin Davy White 22.9% to save	Grace Davies 40.1% to win

• In the Sunday Final, Kevin Davy White received 8.2% of the public vote despite being eliminated already.

Ratings

Episode	Air date	Duration	Official rating (millions)	Official rating (millions incl. HD)	Official rating (millions incl. HD +1)	Weekly rank
Auditions 1	2 September	90	5.76	7.38	7.92	5
Auditions 2	3 September	60	5.73	7.46	8.04	4
Auditions 3	9 September	75	5.15	6.60	7.23	10
Auditions 4	10 September	60	5.52	7.10	7.57	4
Auditions 5	16 September	75	5.66	7.38	7.68	7
Auditions 6	17 September	60	5.28	7.60	7.33	10
Auditions 7	23 September	75	4.42	5.83	6.31	17
Auditions 8	24 September	60	5.32	6.95	7.24	9
Bootcamp 1	30 September	90	4.82	6.24	6.66	15
Bootcamp 2	1 October	90	4.58	5.98	6.20	16
Bootcamp 3	7 October	120	4.80	5.75	6.09	16
Six-Chair Challenge 1	8 October	90	5.70	6.83	7.20	9
Six-Chair Challenge 2	14 October	120	5.01	6.56	6.95	14
Six-Chair Challenge 3	15 October	120	4.43	6.12	6.52	17
Judges' Houses 1	21 October	120	5.14	6.79	7.09	13
Judges' Houses 2	22 October	120	4.28	5.71	6.09	16
Live Shows 1	28 October	120	4.64	6.30	6.48	14
Live Shows 2	29 October	120	3.70	5.14	5.50	15
Live Shows 3	4 November	105
Live Shows 4	5 November	115
Live Shows 5	11 November	90
Live Shows 6	12 November	90
Live Shows 7	18 November
Live Shows 8	19 November
Semi Final 1	25 November
Semi Final 2	26 November
Final 1	2 December
Final 2	3 December

Team Rankings

1. Groups (mentored by Simon Cowell)

2. Girls (mentored by Sharon Osbourne)

3. Over 28s (mentored by Nicole Scherzinger)

4. Boys (mentored by Louis Walsh)

Trivia

• This is the second time in its run that the show has premiered in September rather than August as its first series premiered in September 2004.
• This series has the best average finishing placement for Groups category acts.
• This is also the only series where an act from the Boys category doesn't make the top 3.
• This is also the first series since Series 4 that doesn't feature an act from the Boys category in the Final. (Lloyd Macey did make the Semi-Final.)
• This is the third series to feature an original song as the winner's single, following Series 2 and Series 13.
• The finale was watched by just over 5.2 million viewers, making it the least-watched finale in the original series' history.
• This was the final series to feature Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor UK. She was the first original judge to not appear in any future series.
• This was the only series that there was no final showdowns or judges votes with the bottom 2. Instead the act with the lowest number of votes in each live show was eliminated.
• This is only the second series in which each of the four categories had their top act in the Semi-Final.
• Walsh was the only judge that year to be present in every part of every stage, as Scherzinger, Cowell, and Osbourne all had to be replaced by Alesha Dixon at some point in the competition (because the former weren’t able to attend it).