The X Factor UK (Series 9)

The X Factor UK (Series 9)
Series	9
Broadcast from	18 August 2012 – 9 December 2012
Judges	Louis Walsh Tulisa Gary Barlow Nicole Scherzinger Leona Lewis (guest) Geri Halliwell (guest) Rita Ora (guest) Mel B (guest) Anastacia (guest)
Presenters	Dermot O'Leary Caroline Flack Olly Murs
Network	ITV ITV2
Number of finalists	13
Winner	James Arthur
Runner-up	Jahméne Douglas
Notable returnees	Joe Cox (8) Jade Richards (8) Melanie McCabe (5,8) Carolynne Poole (8)
Ratings	9.63 (millions)
Chronology
Previous	Series 8
Next	Series 10

Series 9 of The X Factor began airing on ITV on 18 August 2012 and ended on 9 December 2012.

This series was won by 24-year-old singer-songwriter James Arthur who was mentored by Nicole Scherzinger.  He made history as the first-ever winner of the original series to have previously been in the Bottom Two.

Fellow finalists Jahméne Douglas, Christopher Maloney, Union J, Ella Henderson and Lucy Spraggan also secured record deals with varying levels of success post-series while Rylan Clark moved into television presenting.

It was watched by a total of 9.63 million viewers - over 3 million viewers less than the previous series.

Production

On 17 April 2012, Gary Barlow was confirmed to be returning to the judging panel, and on 3 May it was announced that Louis Walsh would also return for his ninth year as a judge. Tulisa also confirmed her return but Kelly Rowland did not return with Nicole Scherzinger being confirmed as her replacement.

Dermot O'Leary returned to present for the sixth year in a row while Olly Murs and Caroline Flack returned to present spin-off show The Xtra Factor. However, Murs was absent during the audition stages due to touring commitments in the US with One Direction so Flack was assisted by Jedward, JLS and Westlife.

Judges

Louis Walsh	Tulisa	Gary Barlow	Nicole Scherzinger

Twists/Changes

Unconfirmed Permanent Judge Prior To The Start Of The Auditions: A fourth permanent judge was not confirmed before the auditions began. However, the fourth permanent judge was confirmed during the auditions.

Multiple Guest Judges During The Auditions: As the permanent judging panel had a vacancy at the start of the auditions, there were six guest judges during the first handful of auditions. The guest judges were Geri Halliwell (for the Liverpool auditions), Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, and Nicole Scherzinger (for the London auditions), Mel B (for the Manchester auditions), and Anastacia (for the Glasgow auditions). On 15 June 2012, Scherzinger was confirmed as the fourth permanent judge.

Auditions: This series, for the first time, applicants were able to audition online via Facebook. The show's producers also sent a "mobile audition van" to 18 locations throughout the UK and Ireland in order to audition singers who could not make the arena auditions.

There were several rule changes in relation to the auditions: acts with current management deals were allowed to audition for the first time, in a bid to "[broaden] the net and [open] it up so that everybody gets an opportunity." Also, singers could perform their own compositions and play instruments.

Bootcamp: Bootcamp was held outside London for the first time in the show's history, due to London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics. It took place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool over three days, starting on Thursday 19 July. Gary Barlow & Nicole Scherzinger also swapped seats.

The age ranges of the categories were changed for this series during bootcamp; the over 25s became the over 28s (as in Series 7), so the boys and girls categories contain contestants aged 16–27, rather than 16-24. It was reported that the reason for this was because the Series 8 finalists were considered too young, and contestants in their late 20s did not make it into the over 25s category because of "quirky older" contestants.

The judges learned which category they would mentor on the second day of bootcamp via a phone call from Simon Cowell.

Wildcards: At the end of judges' houses, it was announced that each judge could bring back one further act back as a wildcard as they had done in Series 7. However, the public were given the chance to vote for which of the four wildcards would become the thirteenth finalist.

Live Show Voting Line Rule Change: Unlike previous series where the public gets to vote for after all the contestants had performed, the voting lines in this series opened before the contestants had performed.

Live Show Judges Commenting Order Change: This series featured a change in the order in which the judges would comment on an act’s performance during the live shows. Previously, Louis Walsh (after the performances of acts not mentored by Walsh), or the judge seated left of Walsh (after the performances of acts mentored by Walsh) would comment first and Simon Cowell or Gary Barlow would be the penultimate (after the performances of acts not mentored by Cowell or Barlow) or ultimate (only after the performances of acts mentored by Cowell or Barlow) to comment on the acts’ performances. From this series onwards, the judge seated left of the act’s mentor would comment first, followed by that judge’s left, then that judge’s left, and finally the act’s mentor. The commenting order was conducted as follows:

• After the performances from acts mentored by Nicole Scherzinger, Walsh commented first, then Tulisa, followed by Barlow, with Scherzinger commenting last.
• After the performances from acts mentored by Barlow, Scherzinger commented first, then Walsh, followed by Tulisa, with Barlow commenting last.
• After the performances from acts mentored by Tulisa, Barlow commented first, then Scherzinger, followed by Walsh, with Tulisa commenting last.
• After the performances from acts mentored by Walsh, Tulisa commented first, then Barlow, followed by Scherzinger, with Walsh commenting last.

Winner's Single: In a change to previous years, the finalists did not release a charity single. Instead, proceeds from the winner's single were donated to UK charity Together for Short Lives.

Finalists

Act		Category	Finish	Elimination
	Carolynne Poole 32, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire	Over 28s	13th week one	2-2(Deadlock Vote)
	Melanie Masson 44, Cathcart, Glasgow	Over 28s	12th week two	2-2(Deadlock Vote)
	MK1 20-25, Hackney, London	Groups	11th week three	2-2(Deadlock Vote)
	Jade Ellis 25, Charlton, London	Girls	10th week four	3-1
	Lucy Spraggan 21, Buxton, Derbyshire	Girls	9th week five	Withdrew
	Kye Sones 30, Pinner, London	Over 28s	8th week five	2-2(Deadlock Vote)
X Factor 2013 Live Tour
	District3 18-19, various places	Groups	7th week six	2-1*
	Ella Henderson 16, Grimsby, Lincolnshire	Girls	6th week seven	2-2(Deadlock Vote)
	Rylan Clark 24, Corringham, Essex	Boys	5th quarter-final	3-1
	Union J 19-24, various places	Groups	4th semi-final	Fewest public votes
	Christopher Maloney 34, Liverpool, Merseyside	Over 28s	3rd final	Fewest public votes
	Jahméne Douglas 21, Swindon, Wiltshire	Boys	Runner-up final	Fewest public votes
	James Arthur 24, Saltburn, Teesside	Boys	Winner final	Most public votes

- Louis refused to vote in week six, because both of the bottom two were his acts.

Selection process

Auditions

See: List of The X Factor UK auditionees (series 9)

The judges' auditions, originally supposed to start in Cardiff on 15 May 2012 but postponed due to delays in signing up a new permanent fourth judge, began on 23 May in Liverpool and continued from 26–30 May in London. From 5–7 June, auditions moved to Manchester, and on 11 June, they took place in Glasgow. Further auditions took place on 18 June in Newcastle (Metro Radio Arena) and concluded on 25 June in Cardiff.

Returning auditionees included Joe Cox, Jade Richards, Melanie McCabe and Carolynne Poole, who all reached judges' houses the previous year.

Bootcamp

See: Bootcamp (UK series 9)

Held outside London for the first time ever due to the 2012 Olympics, 211 acts reached bootcamp. On the first day, judges reviewed the audition tapes and sent home 60 acts before they had a chance to sing. The remaining contestants were then put into groups and they took part in a sing-off. The number of acts was reduced to 70: 21 girls, 22 boys, 12 over-28s and 15 groups.

The following day, the remaining acts each performed one song for the judges in front of a live audience, and the day after, the judges decided which acts to put through to judges' houses. They could not decide between groups Union J and District3, so they had them each perform again before making a final decision. However, both ended up going through when Rough Copy were eliminated.

Judges Houses

See: Judges' Houses (UK series 9)

Summary of judges' houses

Judge	Category	Location	Guest mentor(s)	Contestants eliminated	Wildcard
Barlow	Over 28s	Boughton House, Northamptonshire	Cheryl	Nicola Marie, Brad Shackleton	Christopher Maloney
Scherzinger	Boys	Dubai	Ne-Yo	Nathan Fagan-Gayle, Jake Quickenden	Adam Burridge
Contostavlos	Girls	Saint Lucia	Tinie Tempah	Jade Collins, Leanne Robinson	Amy Mottram
Walsh	Groups	Las Vegas	Sharon Osbourne	Duke, Mitsotu, Poisonous Twin	Times Red

Live Shows

Results Summary

Weekly results per act
Week		1	2	3	4	5		6	7	Quarter-Final	Semi-Final	Final
Eliminated
	James Arthur	6th 5.6%	6th 7.4%	6th 7.4%	3rd 12.0%	6th 7.7%		3rd 14.0%	5th 13.7%	1st 40.7%	1st 41.2%	1st 51.7%	Winner 53.7%*
	Jahméne Douglas	2nd 13.2%	2nd 11.4%	2nd 15.6%	2nd 15.4%	2nd 16.9%		2nd 14.9%	2nd 17.4%	3rd 18.1&	2nd 22.0%	2nd 31.5%	Runner-Up 38.9%*
	Christopher Maloney	1st 28.8%	1st 21.9%	1st 22.6%	1st 24.7%	1st 27.6%		1st 23.6%	1st 26.4%	2nd 21.0%	3rd 18.7%	3rd 16.8%	Eliminated (final)
	Union J	4th 7.3%	7th 7.1%	8th 5.9%	8th 6.3%	4th 10.4%		6th 11.7%	4th 14.7%	4th 11.8%	4th 18.1%	Eliminated (semi-final)
	Rylan Clark	12th 3.1%	3rd 10.2%	4th 8.8%	7th 7.2%	7th 7.2%		5th 12.4%	3rd 15.7%	5th 8.4%	Eliminated (quarter-final)
	Ella Henderson	3rd 13.1%	4th 9.5%	3rd 10.2%	6th 8.2%	5th 8.8%		4th 13.0%	6th 12.1%	Eliminated (week 7)
	District3	8th 4.0%	11th 4.7%	5th 8.4%	4th 10.0%	3rd 14.7%		7th 10.4%	Eliminated (week 6)
	Kye Sones	7th 4.1%	8th 5.3%	10th 4.9%	5th 10.0%	8th 6.7%		Eliminated (week 5)
	Lucy Spraggan	5th 7.3%	5th 7.6%	7th 6.5%	Bye Week	Withdrew (week 5)
	Jade Ellis	9th 4.0%	9th 5.2%	9th 5.1%	9th 6.2%	Eliminated (week 4)
	MK1	10th 3.4%	10th 5.1%	11th 4.6%	Eliminated (week 3)
	Melanie Masson	11th 3.2%	12th 4.6%	Eliminated (week 2)
	Carolynne Poole	13th 2.9%	Eliminated (week 1)
Bottom Two		Clark, Poole	District3, Masson	MK1, Sones	Ellis, Union J	Clark, Sones		District3, Union J	Arthur, Henderson	Clark, Union J	No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone
Walsh's vote to eliminate		Poole	Masson	Sones	Ellis	Clark		None (abstained)	Arthur	Clark
Tulisa's vote to eliminate		Clark	Masson	Sones	Union J	Sones		N/A*	Arthur	Clark
Barlow's vote to eliminate		Clark	District3	MK1	Ellis	Clark		District3	Henderson	Clark
Scherzinger's vote to eliminate		Poole	District3	MK1	Ellis	Sones		District3	Henderson	Union J
Eliminated		Carolynne Poole 2 of 4 votes Deadlock	Melanie Masson 2 of 4 votes Deadlock	MK1 2 of 4 votes Deadlock	Jade Ellis 3 of 4 votes Majority	Kye Sones 2 of 4 votes Deadlock		District3 2 of 2 votes Majority	Ella Henderson 2 of 4 votes Deadlock	Rylan Clark 3 of 4 votes Majority	Union J 18.1% to save	Christopher Maloney 16.8% to save	Jahméne Douglas 38.9% to win

• In Week 6, Tulisa did not need to vote as there was already a majority. However, she confirmed that she would have voted to eliminate Union J.
• Although Christopher Maloney finished in 3rd place and was already eliminated, he gained 7.4% of the total vote on the second night of the final.

Ratings

Summary of episode ratings

Episode	Air date	Official ITV1 rating	Weekly rank	Share (%)	Official ITV1 HD rating	Official ITV1+1 rating	Total ITV1 viewers (millions)
Auditions 1	18 August	8.08	6	39.4	1.02	0.67	9.77
Auditions 2	25 August	8.57	1	36.1	1.05	0.51	10.13
Auditions 3	1 September	8.39	3	35.0	0.97	0.43	9.79
Auditions 4	8 September	8.03	4	33.9	0.95	0.52	9.50
Auditions 5	9 September	7.50	9	30.2	1.06	0.51	9.07
Auditions 6	15 September	8.70	4	39.5	1.03	0.58	10.31
Auditions 7	16 September	9.07	2	36.4	1.10	0.43	10.60
Bootcamp 1	22 September	9.52	3	34.9	0.94	0.44	10.90
Bootcamp 2	23 September	9.76	2	33.6	1.21	0.50	11.47
Judges' houses 1	29 September	8.44	6	35.9	1.28	0.49	10.21
Judges' houses 2	30 September	9.35	2	35.4	1.21	0.41	10.97
Live show 1	6 October	8.61	5	33.9	1.19	0.39	10.19
Live results 1	7 October	9.09	3	31.9	1.10	N/A	N/A
Live show 2	13 October	8.47	8	36.2	1.34	0.34	10.15
Live results 2	14 October	8.83	3	35.3	1.20	N/A	N/A
Live show 3	20 October	8.25	11	34.8	1.05	0.40	9.70
Live results 3	21 October	8.83	5	34.7	1.02	0.31	10.16
Live show 4	27 October	8.23	11	34.8	1.11	0.33	9.67
Live results 4	28 October	8.51	6	33.6	1.03	0.34	9.88
Live show 5	3 November	7.63	16	32.3	1.12	0.38	9.13
Live results 5	4 November	8.29	9	33.2	1.20	0.27	9.76
Live show 6	10 November	7.97	11	33.7	1.22	0.31	9.50
Live results 6	11 November	8.25	7	33.3	1.06	N/A	N/A
Live show 7	17 November	7.89	15	33.8	1.06	N/A	N/A
Live results 7	18 November	8.91	5	33.3	1.03	N/A	N/A
Live show 8	24 November	7.65	20	33.1	1.04	N/A	N/A
Live results 8	25 November	8.37	14	34.0	1.20	N/A	N/A
Live show 9	1 December	7.40	20	32.3	1.06	N/A	N/A
Live results 9	2 December	8.22	14	32.0	1.06	0.29	9.57
Live final	8 December	8.78	4	38.4	1.41	0.22	10.41
Live final results	9 December	10.04	3	39.1	1.46	N/A	N/A
Series average		8.51	N/A	N/A	1.19	0.41	10.00

Controversies

Trailer
On 30 July 2012, the trailer for the series premiered. Entitled "Whose Time Is Now?", it features six former contestants— winners Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke and Little Mix, and runners-up JLS, Olly Murs and One Direction — talking about their time on the show and how it changed their lives. Male winners Steve Brookstein, Shayne Ward, Leon Jackson, Joe McElderry and Matt Cardle were not included. Ward blasted this, calling the show "pathetic" for leaving him out and saying it was like he was "being erased slowly from their history." McElderry, who won in 2009, said "I'm just gonna keep doing my thing", which many fans believed to be prompted by the trailer. McElderry later admitted that he was not angry about not being included in the trailer. In an interview with the Daily Star Sunday, he said: "I'm not on Simon [Cowell]'s label so I wouldn't expect him to promote me. If they want to erase the fact I won [The] X Factor or try to hide it, I don't care. Personally I am proud I came from The X Factor. If [Cowell] doesn't feel the same then you'll have to ask him why."

Auditions
During the first auditions episode, broadcast on 18 August, one of the auditionees in Cardiff, Zoe Alexander, a Pink tribute singer, tried to "smash" equipment after arguing with the judges about her claim that she was told to sing a Pink song after she sang "So What". Barlow asked her to sing a second song, which was "Next to Me" by Emeli Sandé. After being criticised and given a "no", Alexander threw down her microphone as she left the stage. Her father brought her back to the stage where she swore at the judges. She then stormed backstage, hit a camera operator, continued swearing and, when the cameras were turned off, hit a female producer of the show. Alexander was later cautioned by the police. She later claimed that her voice had been Auto-Tuned for the broadcast. Executive producer Richard Holloway said that every auditionee had a choice of five songs, adding: "All the contestants that go in front of the judges, they're all spoken to by the production team as they have to get all the tracks to play so the conversation takes place between them and us about what they want to sing and they go through their choices and the final decision about what they are going to sing when they walk on the stage is theirs, 100% theirs." Alexander complained to Ofcom; her complaint was not upheld.

Ofcom received 35 complaints about Alison Brunton's audition, in which she performed "The Edge of Glory", from people concerned about the impact on her two children, aged 14 and 16, who were watching from backstage. The broadcasting code states that under-18s must not be "caused unnecessary distress or anxiety by their involvement in programmes". O'Leary asked the children if they would be teased at school, to which Brunton's son said, "I'm never going to hear the end of this," though smiling at the time. An ITV spokeswoman said: "The X Factor does not include child contestants but takes the welfare of any children featured in the show very seriously. It is a well-established format and contestants regularly bring along their family to support them, as Alison did. Footage of family members is only used when appropriate consent has been obtained." Ofcom also received 34 complaints about the audition of Lorna Bliss, a Britney Spears impersonator who wore a body stocking, saying the programme may have broken guidelines on taste and decency. Bliss gave Walsh a lapdance and chased Barlow through the venue audience during her audition. The spokeswoman stated: "Lorna's performance and its editing was carefully considered by the producers and ITV. We do not believe her routine exceeded generally accepted standards or the expectations of the vast majority of the audience."

Lucy Spraggan
In week 4, Lucy Spraggan, who had previously been one of the favourites to win, was given a bye through to the following week due to illness. Some viewers felt it was unfair that she had been given "special treatment", especially as she had been on a string of "boozy nights" with fellow contestant Rylan Clark. Additionally, Jade Ellis, who was sent home that week, sang for survival despite a sore throat. A show source insisted that Spraggan had been in a far worse condition that any of the other contestants. The following week, Spraggan withdrew from the show.

Christopher Maloney's absence
Maloney was allegedly excluded from the final group performance at the start of the live final results show on 9 December, due to being late for rehearsals, the fact that he "smelt of alcohol" and a fight that occurred between him and Carolynne Poole, during which he reportedly called her a "c***". A spokesperson for The X Factor said: "Chris decided he [no] longer wanted to be part of the X Factor Final and has gone back to Liverpool." Writing on Twitter, Poole hinted at the dismay backstage, saying The X Factor "can also create monsters". Maloney responded by saying Poole was "disgraceful" and would "do anything to get a headline". He later tweeted the show and Barlow, saying, "[I] can't believe all the bulls*** yet again! [T]his is a witch hunt for [definite]. [T]he show is over", and claimed: "I am being bullied! [B]ig time." Maloney claimed he missed the group performance due to illness.

Judges' comments
During the second live show on 13 October, O'Leary apologised after Tulisa used the term MILF, referring to Melanie Masson's performance to compliment Masson. The apology was criticised as Tulisa's comments came at the end of the episode at 10.30pm, 90 minutes after the 9pm watershed, and she had not actually sworn.

After Maloney's performance during the fourth live show on 27 October, Barlow insulted Tulisa. Before his insult, she criticised and asked Barlow, Maloney's mentor by saying, "Gary, I have to ask you, how many of these [1980s] eighties classics [classic songs] are you going to let him keep destroying honestly?" Without Barlow responding at that moment, Tulisa further explained her frustration, "Every week he's [he is] getting the same critique of all of the [impartial judges after Maloney's performances which are Scherzinger, Walsh, and Tulisa] judges. It's [it is] always an issue. Why not change it up for him?". Again without Barlow answering, Tulisa continued, "I feel bad having to say the same thing to you each week. I don't think it's fair. You [Barlow] do the same thing over and over again with him, it's not working.". After Tulisa made her statement, Barlow replied, "Tulisa, I don't know what's offended me more—what you've said or the fag ash breath." Tulisa retaliated to his insult by saying, "Just a note for Gary, seriously. Just a note for Gary, lay off the red wine because I can really smell that as well." Barlow later apologised for his comment, and agreed that he had previous enjoyed the smell of cigarettes as he is a former smoker.

The seventh results show on 18 November attracted controversy when Scherzinger introduced Arthur by saying "This is James effing Arthur!". As "effing" is an alternative way of saying the explicit word "fucking" and the show was broadcast before the watershed, Scherzinger later apologised on the following episode of The Xtra Factor: "I'm so sorry. You spend every day with these people, you spend so much time with them. Ella was the last female in the competition. I was passionate about her as well as James Arthur, who is one of the greatest human talents ever. I'm so sorry for my effing."

Voting
In the first live show, the voting lines opened before the contestants had performed, the first time this had happened in the history of the show. This was branded "money grabbing" by some viewers, and it was reported that the change to the rules could have affected the voting results, as the acts who performed first would get a "head start" in the votes. The two acts in the bottom two, Clark and Poole, had performed 9th and 12th respectively out of 13 acts. The acts performing 11th and 13th, Ella Henderson and Jahméne Douglas, were already among the favourites to win. ITV defended the change, stating it would allow viewers "to interact immediately with their favourite acts".

On 7 October, the first results show sparked major controversy when Poole was eliminated over Clark in the final showdown. With Scherzinger having voted against Poole and Barlow and Tulisa having voted against Clark, Walsh had the casting vote. Walsh’s decision would either mean if he sent home Clark, Clark would be eliminated or if he voted against Poole, the result would go to deadlock where the public vote would decide the result. Walsh appeared to change his mind while deliberating. When O'Leary asked him who he wanted to send home, Walsh deliberated for some time, before stating that he wanted to "keep Carolynne". O'Leary then asked if that meant he was sending home Clark, to which Walsh said he wanted to save both Clark and Poole. O'Leary then reiterated that he needed Walsh to say who he was sending home, and then Walsh finally made his decision by saying, “I want to take it to deadlock!”. O'Leary then revealed that Poole had received the fewest public votes and she was eliminated; after hearing this, Barlow, Poole's mentor, slammed his pen on the desk, angrily got up from his chair, walked off stage and out of the studio into his dressing room, saying "this is a joke". During Poole's final showdown performance, members of the public were also outraged when Richard Holloway was seen approaching Walsh and speaking to him. This sparked rumours that Holloway told Walsh not to send Clark home, and that Walsh may have been conflicted as to whether to go with his own feelings or follow Holloway's instructions. On the episode of The Xtra Factor that followed, Barlow stated that he thought it was "disgusting" that a talented singer had been eliminated over a "joke act" who had "little talent". Several celebrities also vented their fury about the result on Twitter: Barlow's Take That bandmate Howard Donald said: "Joke decision on xfactor tonight kids. Based on the singing the wrong person was dropped from a great height. That's xfactor for you!", whilst Coleen Nolan stated: "I'm horrified!! What a joke and a total fix!!" Ofcom and ITV received more than 2,500 complaints over the events, and Ofcom said they may launch an inquiry. Holloway said in a statement: "We regularly chat to the judges during the show, they don't wear earpieces like Dermot so we have to speak to them on anything from timings to running order changes. On Sunday I was telling Louis the order the judges would vote in. We don't tell [the] judges how to vote."

On 6 November, it emerged that Maloney had been voting for himself throughout the live shows, something which he openly admitted. This raised anger with fellow Over 28s contestant Kye Sones, who was eliminated the week before. Sones called Maloney "very tactical" and said "he must have an expensive phone bill". Maloney stated: "I have voted for myself a few times. So has everyone else—I doubt my calls have made much of a difference... If I had more credit on my phone I'd vote more." A member of production crew stated he had seen Maloney "dialling and redialling his own number over and over again." A member of production said, "You can't outlaw this sort of behaviour but it leaves a very sour taste. It's against the spirit of the show." During the VT before Maloney's performance in the live show following the reports, Maloney denied that he had been voting for himself.

The seventh results show on 18 November attracted controversy when Henderson and Arthur received fewer votes from the public than any other act, especially Clark and Maloney, because both Henderson and Arthur had been favourites to reach the final. The judges scalded the decision made by the public when it came to deciding that night's elimination, in which Henderson was eliminated when the result went to deadlock. Cowell expressed his shock over the result on Twitter, whilst bookmakers Ladbrokes announced that odds for both Maloney to win outright and for the show to be axed by ITV were slashed.

Performances
Part of Clark's performance during the second live show was cut from repeats on ITV1+1 and recaps on ITV2, and the entire performance was removed from itv.com and YouTube for legal reasons, believed to be because he renamed the song "Gangnam Style" to "Rylan Style". An edited version of the performance was later put back on itv.com and YouTube.

After his performance of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" on the third live show on 20 October, Arthur was accused of plagiarism. His rendition was very similar to that of YouTube star only1Noah, which was uploaded on 9 May 2012 and has since gathered over 19 million views. However, Arthur later tweeted: "Btw doesn't everyone know I was putting a spin on Noah's version? It had 13 something million hits! Was I supposed to state the obvious?"

Excessive promotion
In January 2013, Ofcom ruled that The X Factor had breached broadcasting rules by excessively promoting the hotel where the finalists stayed, saying it was mentioned in eight out of the 13 pre-recorded introduction videos for the finalists, including shots of them arriving featuring close-up shots of the hotel's sign. Ofcom found "the overall number of references to be excessive" and "therefore judged that there was insufficient editorial justification for the repeated references to the hotel during the programme." They concluded that "the cumulative effect of these references resulted in the programme as a whole giving undue prominence to the hotel."

Team Rankings

1. Boys (mentored by Nicole Scherzinger)

2. Groups (mentored by Louis Walsh)

3. Girls (mentored by Tulisa)

4. Over 28s (mentored by Gary Barlow)

Trivia

• This was the third series where the winning mentor had an act as the winner and runner-up. This previously happened in 2006 and again in 2007.
• This was the second series where the act who performed first on the first live show was not in the final showdown in the first week.
• This was the first series where a judge had all their acts advance to the quarter-final.
• This is the first series in which the winner had survived the final showdown.
• This is the first series in history where the eliminated act in every week finished last in the public vote.
• This is the only series in which every judge had the last vote in the final showdown at least once with every judge sending the result to deadlock at least once.
  • In addition, in the first three times where Nicole Scherzinger had an act in the bottom two, all three of her fellow judges sent the result to deadlock by voting to save her acts. This was when Louis Walsh voted to send Rylan Clark through to Week 2, Tulisa voted to send Rylan Clark through to Week 6, and Gary Barlow voted to send James Arthur through to the quarter-final.
• This is the second series after the sixth series and before the eleventh series that featured the result going to deadlock five times.
• This is the first series where Barlow lost all his acts.
  • He is the second judge to have all of his acts eliminated by the public vote, with his original three acts eliminated via deadlock, and his highest-placing act finishing in third place. This was after the sixth series and before the twelfth series.
• The final had the lowest ratings since 2005 when Shayne Ward won and Andy Abraham finished as runner-up.
• This was the only series where a wildcard was chosen by the public. Future series would introduce the wildcard twist but with the judges selecting them instead.
• This is the first series where only two male acts won the public vote throughout the live shows.
• This is the second series to have a category age limit change in which soloists between the ages of 16-27 were part of either the Boys or Girls category while soloists older than 27 were in the Over 28s category.
• As with Series 1 and Series 7, the winning act and runner-up performed different potential winner's singles.
• This was the only series to have an all-male final five.
• This was the final series to feature Tulisa on The X Factor UK.