The X Factor UK (Series 8)

The X Factor UK (Series 8)
Series	8
Broadcast from	20 August 2011 – 11 December 2011
Judges	Louis Walsh Tulisa Kelly Rowland Gary Barlow Alexandra Burke (guest)
Presenters	Dermot O'Leary Caroline Flack Olly Murs
Network	ITV ITV2
Number of finalists	16
Winner	Little Mix
Runner-up	Marcus Collins
Notable returnees	Charlie Healy (6) Marlon McKenzie (2,5,7) Melanie McCabe (5) Jade Thirwall (5, 7) John Wilding (7)
Ratings	12.04 (millions)
Chronology
Previous	Series 7
Next	Series 9

Series 8 of The X Factor premiered on August 20, 2011 and ended on December 11, 2011.

Girl group Little Mix, who were part of the Groups category mentored by Tulisa, became the first-ever group to win the original series. Fellow finalists Marcus Collins and Amelia Lily also secured record deals but Collins eventually moved into musical theater.

It was watched by 12.04 million viewers - over 2 millon less than the previous series.

Production

This series marked the departures of judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue with Louis Walsh the only original judge remaining. He was accompanied by Tulisa, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the show for the fifth year while spin-off show The Xtra Factor was presented by Olly Murs and Caroline Flack.

Judges

Louis Walsh	Tulisa	Kelly Rowland	Gary Barlow

Twists/Changes

Two Presenters Of The Xtra Factor UK: This is the first series to feature two presenters of The Xtra Factor. The two presenters of The Xtra Factor were Olly Murs and Caroline Flack.

Wildcards: The wildcard from the previous series was scrapped.

Acts Performing Alongside Their Mentors: This was the first series to feature the Top 3 acts performing with their mentors rather than a celebrity duet.

Mentor Elimination: In the first week of the live shows, there was no public vote and instead, each judge was required to eliminate one of their own acts.

Guest Judge During The Live Shows: This is the first series to feature a guest judge during the live shows. As Kelly Rowland was absent in the fourth week due to illness, former winner, Alexandra Burke was the guest judge for both night shows of the fourth week.

Act Ejection: This is the only series to have an act ejected from the competition rather than actually withdraw or eliminated on the Saturday performance or Sunday result show.

Return Vote: Due to Frankie Cocozza’s ejection in Week 6, one of the four acts who were eliminated by their mentors in Week 1 would to return to the competition to replace Cocozza through a return public vote in Week 6. Amelia Lily returned to the competition with 48.8% of the return public vote.

Finalists

Act		Category	Finish	Elimination
	Jonjo Kerr 27, Chorley, Lancashire	Over 25s	16th week one	By mentor
	James Michael 20, Widnes, Cheshire	Boys	15th week one	By mentor
	2 Shoes 21-23, Brentwood, Essex	Groups	14th week one	By mentor
	Nu Vibe 16-19, various places	Groups	13th week two	Majority vote
	Sami Brookes 31, Rhyl, Denbighshire	Over 25s	12th week three	Majority vote
	Sophie Habibis 20, Tufnel Park, London	Girls	11th week four	Majority vote
X Factor 2012 Live Tour
	The Risk 19-25, various places	Groups	10th week five	Fewest public votes
	Johnny Robinson 45, Harrow, London	Over 25s	9th week five	Majority vote
	Frankie Cocozza 18, Brighton	Boys	8th week six	Ejected (Also banned From The X Factor 2012 Live Tour)
	Kitty Brucknell 26, Cheltenham	Over 25s	7th week six	Majority vote
	Craig Colton 23, Kirkby	Boys	6th week seven	Deadlock
	Janet Devlin 17, Gortin, County Tyrone	Girls	5th quarter-final	Majority vote
	Misha B 19, Manchester	Girls	4th semi-final	Fewest public votes
	Amelia Lily 17, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough	Girls	3rd final	Fewest public votes
	Marcus Collins 23, Liverpool	Boys	Runner-up final	Fewest public votes
	Little Mix 18-20, various places	Groups	Winners final	Most public votes

Note: Even though Frankie Cocozza finished in the top 9, thus qualifying for the Live Tour, he was not given a spot due to his ejection from the show, which led to Amelia Lily's return and eventual placement on the tour.

Selection process

Auditions

See: List of The X Factor UK auditionees (series 8)

Notable returnees included Jade Thirwall previously auditioned during auditioned twice (during Series 5 and Series 7) but was eliminated at Bootcamp.

Bootcamp

See: Bootcamp (UK series 8)

Judges' Houses

See: Judges' Houses (UK series 8)

Summary of judges' houses

Judge	Category	Location	Guest mentor(s)	Contestants eliminated
Barlow	Boys	Los Angeles	Robbie Williams	Joe Cox, Luke Lucas, Max Vickers, John Wilding
Rowland	Girls	Miami	Jennifer Hudson	Melanie McCabe, Holly Repton, Jade Richards, Sarah Watson
Tulisa	Groups	Mykonos	Jessie J	Girl v Boy, The Estrelles, The Keys, The Lovettes
Walsh	Over 25s	Barcelona	Sinitta	Sami Brookes, Joseph Gilligan, Carolynne Poole, Terry Winstanley

Live Shows

Results Summary

Weekly results per act
Week		1			2	3	4	5		6		7	Quarter-Final	Semi-Final	Final
Eliminated
	Little Mix	Saved			4th 8.7%	6th 6.0%	2nd 13.7%	4th 11.9%		N/A	3rd 15.3%	1st 26.1%	2nd 22.4%	1st 34.4%	1st 39.0%	Winner 48.2%*
	Marcus Collins				7th 6.8%	4th 11.2%	6th 10.1%	2nd 16.0%			4th 12.9%	4th 14.4%	3rd 21.0%	2nd 24.0%	2nd 34.5%	Runner-Up 42.8%*
	Amelia Lily	Eliminated			Eliminated (week 1)					1st 48.8%	1st 27.4%	5th 11.3%	1st 23.8%	3rd 21.4%	3rd 26.5%	Eliminated (final)
	Misha B	Saved			5th 7.8%	3rd 11.8%	10th 5.1%	3rd 12.2%		N/A	7th 8.0%	2nd 22.5%	5th 14.5%	4th 20.2%	Eliminated (semi-final)
	Janet Devlin				1st 23.6%	1st 17.2%	1st 14.7%	1st 18.0%			2nd 17.4%	3rd 14.8%	4th 18.3%	Eliminated (quarter-final)
	Craig Colton				6th 6.9%	8th 6.0%	3rd 13.0%	5th 10.1%			5th 10.6%	6th 10.9%	Eliminated (week 7)
	Kitty Brucknell				10th 5.9%	11th 5.0%	4th 12.9%	8th 7.6%			6th 8.4%	Eliminated (week 6)
	Frankie Cocozza				11th 5.2%	7th 6.0%	8th 5.7%	6th 8.7%		Ejected (week 6)
	Johnny Robinson				8th 6.5%	2nd 17.1%	5th 12.2%	7th 8.3%		Eliminated (week 5)
	The Risk				2nd 10.9%	5th 8.3%	7th 7.2%	9th 7.2%
	Sophie Habibis				3rd 8.9%	9th 5.8%	9th 5.4%	Eliminated (week 4)
	Sami Brookes				9th 6.2%	10th 5.6%	Eliminated (week 3)
	Nu Vibe				12th 2.6%	Eliminated (week 2)
	2 Shoes	Eliminated			Eliminated (week 1)					4th 11.3%	Not Returned (week 6)
	James Michael									2nd 26.7%
	Jonjo Kerr									3rd 13.2%
Bottom Two		None			Cocozza, Nu Vibe	Brookes, Brucknell	Habibis, Misha B	Brucknell, Robinson		No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone	Brucknell, Misha B	Colton, Lily	Devlin, Misha B	No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone
Walsh's vote to eliminate		Kerr			Nu Vibe	Brookes	Habibis	Robinson			Misha B	Colton	Devlin
Tulisa's vote to eliminate		2 Shoes			Cocozza	Brucknell	Habibis	Robinson			Brucknell	Lily	Devlin
Rowland's vote to eliminate		Lily			Nu Vibe	Brookes	Habibis	Robinson			Brucknell	Colton	None (abstained)
Barlow's vote to eliminate		Michael			Nu Vibe	Brookes	N/A*	N/A*			Brucknell	Lily	N/A*
Eliminated		Jonjo Kerr James Michael 2 Shoes Amelia Lily			Nu Vibe 3 of 4 Votes Majority Vote	Sami Brookes 3 of 4 Votes Majority Vote	Sophie Habibis 3 of 3 Votes Majority Vote	The Risk 7.2% to save	Johnny Robinson 3 of 3 Votes Majority Vote	Frankie Cocozza Ejected	Kitty Brucknell 3 of 4 Votes Majority Vote	Craig Colton 2 of 4 Votes Deadlock	Janet Devlin 2 of 2 Votes Majority Vote	Misha B 20.2% To Save	Amelia Lily 26.5% To Save	Marcus Collins 42.8% To Win

• In Weeks 4 and 5, as well as the Quarter-Final, Barlow did not need to vote as there was already a majority. However, he confirmed that he would have voted to eliminate Sophie Habibis (in Week 4), Johnny Robinson (in Week 5), and Janet Devlin (in the Quarter-Final).
• In the Sunday Final, Amelia Lily received 8.9% of the public vote, despite being eliminated already.

Ratings

Template:UK8ratings

Controversies

Allegation of bullying

Misha B was involved in a controversy during the third live show when Tulisa accused her of making "mean comments" and Walsh accused her of being a "bully" backstage. Both later apologised. The other two judges, Barlow and Rowland, and several contestants defended Misha B during and after the show. Barlow later said he believed the wrongful allegations had ended her chances of winning the competition."

Frankie Cocozza's ejection

On 8 November, Frankie Cocozza was ejected from the competition. He released a statement saying "I'd like to apologise to Gary, my fellow contestants and everyone who has voted for me, but, as of today, I will no longer be in The X Factor. My life during the show has gone out of control and my behaviour off stage has overstepped the rules of the competition."

The Sun newspaper claimed Cocozza had been overheard boasting about using cocaine. The rules of the series strictly prohibit drug use during the show. Cocozza's mentor, Barlow, said that he was "hugely disappointed" by Cocozza's behaviour, but wished him luck with his future.

Cocozza's behaviour earlier in the series has led to two Ofcom investigations – he swore during a live show and was also shown drinking heavily with some friends of his.

Team Rankings

1. Girls (mentored by Kelly Rowland)

2. Boys (mentored by Gary Barlow)

3. Groups (mentored by Tulisa)

4. Over 25s (mentored by Louis Walsh)

Trivia

• As with Series 2 to Series 6, the winning act and runner-up performed the same potential winner's single.
• This was the only UK series to feature Kelly Rowland on The X Factor UK.
• This was the first UK series to have the first permanent judge from the USA.
• This is the only series to have only female acts win the public vote throughout the live shows.
• This is the first series where a group won the show.
• This is the only series to have a single returning judge.
• This is the only series to feature an act who was permanently ejected from the show and banned from taking part in The X Factor 2011 charity single along with its live performance in the quarter-final and CD, the final 16 group performance and reappearance on the Sunday Final, and The X Factor Live Tour 2012.
• Unlike the previous series, the category age limit was lowered from 28 to 25, therefore any solo contestant older than the age of or aged 25 was placed in the Over 25s category.
• This series features the most number of weeks when a judge had two of their own acts in the final showdown. Louis Walsh had two of his acts in the final showdown in the third and fifth weeks, and Rowland had two of her acts in the final showdown in the fifth week and quarter-final.
• Most of the judges decisions during the majority of the final showdowns this year were unamious e.g. Habibis’s, Robinson’s and Devlin’s departure. During these three occasions, Barlow didn’t need to vote, but would have voted the same way as the unanimous decisions on tall these occasions.
  • This year had five weeks where the act who lost the final showdown received more public votes than the act who survived the final showdown.
  • This is the second consecutive series and fourth series overall where only one judge sent the result to deadlock.
  • This is the second series where the result went to deadlock only once.
  • In this series, the second to perform in each final showdown always advanced to the following week.
• This is also arguably Walsh's worst year as a mentor since his last survivng act this year placed 7th, the lowest rank of any of his final acts as well as being the first judge for the third consecutive year to lose all his acts.
• This is the first series where a female judge mentored the Groups.