The X Factor
Series 4
Broadcast from	18 August 2007 – 15 December 2007
Judges	Simon Cowell Sharon Osbourne Louis Walsh Dannii Minogue Brian Friedman (London auditions)
Presenter(s)	Dermot O'Leary (ITV1)
Co-presenter(s)	Fearne Cotton (ITV2)
Broadcaster	ITV ITV2 (The Xtra Factor)
Winner:
Leon Jackson
Jackson at the premiere of The Golden Compass
Origin	Whitburn, West Lothian, Scotland
Song	"When You Believe"
Genre(s)	Adult contemporary, pop, jazz
Runner-up
Rhydian Roberts
Chronology
◀ 2007 ►

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fourth series was broadcast on ITV from 18 August 2007 and was won by Leon Jackson on 15 December 2007, with Rhydian Roberts finishing as the runner-up and Dannii Minogue emerging as the winning mentor.^[1] Dermot O'Leary presented the main show on ITV, whilst Fearne Cotton presented spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne returned as judges, whilst two new judges, Brian Friedman and Minogue joined the panel. Friedman replaced original judge Louis Walsh, but Walsh was later reinstated after the London auditions.

This series saw a number of changes to the format, most notably the lowering of the minimum age for participants from 16 to 14 and the increase in the number of categories from three to four, resulting from the division of the 16-24s category into separate male and female categories. The series hit the headlines even before recording began. Some of the controversy centred upon whether 14 and 15-year-olds should be eligible to enter, and also on the high-profile dismissals of judge Louis Walsh and presenter Kate Thornton,^[2][3] who were replaced by choreographer and Grease Is the Word judge Brian Friedman and Big Brother's Little Brother host Dermot O'Leary respectively. Before hiring Freidman and Minogue, Cowell had apparently approached colleague and fellow American Idol judge Randy Jackson, and close friend and The X Factor mentor Sinitta. Friedman, however, was only a judge for the London auditions and Walsh was quickly reinstated, with Friedman becoming the show's choreographer. Jackson's prize as winner was a £1 million recording contract.^[4] His first single release was "When You Believe", arranged for the finalists by composer Stephen Schwartz and released to download on 16 December 2007, with the physical format following on 19 December. The single became that year's Christmas Number one in the UK Singles Chart. The series was Osbourne's final series as a judge: she was replaced in the following series by Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole.

Judges and presenters [edit]

In March 2007, it was reported that judge Louis Walsh, who had appeared in all three previous series, had been sacked. This, along with the additional category, created vacancies for two new judges to join the original panel of Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell.^[5] Walsh was replaced by American choreographer Brian Friedman, who was hired after impressing Cowell on his show Grease Is the Word. A fourth judge was also brought in: Australian singer, actress and Australia's Got Talent judge Dannii Minogue. Cowell hired Minogue after viewing tapes of her judging on Australia's Got Talent, and because of her 30 years experience as a singer and performer.^[6][7] Friedman appeared as a judge at early auditions, but on 22 June 2007 it was announced that he had stood down after discussing with Cowell that he was struggling in the role. Walsh was then reinstated and rejoined Cowell, Minogue and Osbourne at the Manchester auditions. Friedman remained on the show as a performance coach and choreographer, billed on screen as "Creative Director".^{[8][9][10][11]} Suggestions that Walsh's firing and rehiring was concocted to generate publicity were denied.^[12][13] In a clip of the show that aired at the ITV Autumn Launch, Osbourne said that she felt it was "her year to win", adding: "If I don't win I will fire myself – before someone else does!"^[14]

Commenting on Friedman's replacement by Walsh, Osbourne said that there was no "chemistry" within the original judging line-up, and that the atmosphere was "very uncomfortable". Cowell stated that the atmosphere was "very weird". For his part, Friedman said he felt "incredibly let down with the British talent".^[15]

Following the departure of series 1–3 presenter Kate Thornton, Dermot O'Leary took over as host for series 4.^[16] In an interview with ITV Head of Entertainment and Comedy, Paul Jackson, O'Leary said he was still getting used to handling the rejected at the auditions: "I'm still trying to work it out. It's an emotionally exhausting show to do."^{[citation needed]} On 2 May 2007, it was announced that Ben Shephard had quit his role as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Shephard was reportedly not happy that O'Leary was given the role as presenter of the main show instead of him.^[17] An X Factor insider said: "Ben had a big chance of being the main presenter on X Factor until he did Soapstar Superstar last year on ITV1. He didn't impress some of the X Factor bosses on that live show and moved down the pecking order." Cowell said: "I wish Ben good luck. He has done a great job on The Xtra Factor."^[18] Shephard later signed up to front DanceX, a BBC One series hunting for a modern day version of '70s dance outfit Hot Gossip.^[19] Shephard was replaced by Top of the Pops presenter and BBC Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton.^[20]

Selection process [edit]

Birmingham

Manchester

Sheffield

London

Belfast

Cardiff

Glasgow

Cities that auditions were held in.

Auditions [edit]

Initial auditions with producers took place in April and May 2007, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants reached an all-time high with 150,000 people auditioning^[21][22] in the cities of London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast. Eight thousand people attended an open audition at Emirates Stadium (home of Arsenal F.C.), London, on 9 June 2007.^[23] Due to the record number of applications an additional open audition was held at Birmingham Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on 21 July 2007.^[23]

Auditionees needed a minimum of three "yes" votes (previously two) from the judges to proceed to the next round.^[24]

Bootcamp [edit]

This series saw all four judges work together at the bootcamp, rather than disband to manage their own categories as happened in previous series. Bootcamp was broadcast over a two-part show on Saturday 29 September. Episode 7 showed the first round at the Heythrop Park Hotel in Oxfordshire, where the acts were whittled down to 12 in each category (48 acts in total). The next episode, showing the second round at the Apollo Theatre in London, was screened a few hours later. Here the acts were further reduced to six in each category – a total of 24 acts. After this, the judges were told which category they were to mentor. Cowell was given the Groups, Minogue was given the Boys, Osbourne was given the Girls and Walsh was given the Over 25s.

Judges' houses [edit]

In the "judges' houses" round, each judge chose three of their remaining six acts to go forward and represent them on the live shows.^[24] The locations for the round were confirmed during episode 8 on September 29; they were later revealed by Louis Walsh not to be the judges' real homes.^[25] Cowell took his six acts to Marbella; Osbourne to Los Angeles; Walsh to Dublin; and Minogue to Ibiza.^[26][27] As in previous series, the judges were joined by an assistant to help them make their decisions: Cowell was joined by former pop star Sinitta; Osbourne by The Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger; Walsh by Westlife singer Kian Egan; and Minogue by songwriter and producer Terry Ronald. The judges' houses stage was broadcast over a two-part weekend special. Episode 9 was shown on Saturday 6 October showed all 24 acts performing for a place in their mentor's top three and, subsequently, the live shows. The final twelve were revealed the day after on Sunday 7 October.

Categories and finalists [edit]

Twelve acts made it through to the live shows.^[28]

Key:

     – Winner

     – Runner-up

     – Third place

     – Withdrew

Live shows [edit]

The live shows commenced on 20 October 2007, a week later than in previous series. This was because of ITV's coverage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Series 4 saw the continuation of the themed live show format, in which the acts sing songs according to a different musical theme or genre each week. This format was introduced in series 3. Each week a celebrity guest connected to the theme performed in the results show, and some of the guests – Céline Dion, Boyz II Men, Girls Aloud and Michael Bublé – also coached the acts in rehearsal.^[29] Series 3 winner, Leona Lewis, appeared as a guest on the first live show on 20 October. During the results show she performed a premiere of her new single, "Bleeding Love", from her debut album, Spirit. Series 2 winner, Shayne Ward, also appeared as a guest on the fourth live show. He performed his latest single, "Breathless", from his second album of the same name during the results show on 10 November. Westlife appeared on the sixth live show on 24 November singing "I'm Already There" from their 2007 album Back Home. Duran Duran sang "Notorious" and "Nite-Runner" during the seventh live show results on 1 December.

The rules relating to judges' votes in the results show changed from previous series. In the past, the decision as to which act was sent home each week was made by the three judges (from which there would always be a majority). Now, with four judges, if there was a two-way tie (billed on the show as "deadlock") the act with the fewest votes from the public would be eliminated, otherwise the judges' decision would stand.

With the appointment of Brian Friedman as choreographer, finalists used dance routines more frequently during their live performances in comparison to previous series.

Three acts (previously two for series 1 and 3) competed in the final for the £1 million recording contract.^[26]

Contrary to reports about a change of venue, the live shows for this series continued to be broadcast from The Fountain Studios. Unlike past series there was no dramatic change in the set, only minor alterations and space created for a larger audience.

It was reported that the producers of the show hired a counsellor to help the contestants deal with the pressure of appearing in the live shows each week.^[30]

Results summary [edit]

Colour key

Live show details [edit]

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Week 1 (20 October) [edit]

• Theme: Number ones
• Musical guest: Leona Lewis ("Bleeding Love")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Osbourne refused to vote due to two of her acts being in the bottom two
• Cowell: Kimberley Southwick – stated that "it's a singing competition"
• Minogue: Alisha Bennett – gave no reason
• Walsh: Kimberley Southwick – stated that Bennett had the "talent factor" and had much more to give to the competition

Week 2 (27 October) [edit]

• Theme: Movie themes
• Musical guest: Celine Dion ("Taking Chances")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Walsh: Alisha Bennett – backed his own act, Daniel DeBourg
• Osbourne: Daniel DeBourg – backed her own act, Alisha Bennett
• Minogue: Daniel DeBourg – gave no reason
• Cowell: Daniel DeBourg – stated that Bennett had more potential to improve than DeBourg

Week 3 (3 November) [edit]

• Theme: Big band
• Musical guest: Boyz II Men ("It's The Same Old Song" / "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" / "End of the Road")

During week two, it was announced that Nakanda withdrew from the competition. She was not replaced and the elimination went ahead as normal.

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Walsh: Futureproof – stated that Hope's performance on the night was "slick and energetic" and Futureproof's was "sloppy"
• Osbourne: Futureproof – stated that she loved girl band Hope
• Minogue: Hope – stated that neither act had performed well this week, but that Futureproof had delivered better performances in the previous two weeks
• Cowell: Futureproof – stated that Hope had greater long-term potential

Week 4 (10 November) [edit]

• Theme: 21st century classics
• Musical guest: Shayne Ward ("Breathless")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Walsh: Andy Williams – backed his own act, Beverley Trotman
• Osbourne: Andy Williams – gave no reason
• Minogue: Beverley Trotman – backed her own act, Andy Williams
• Cowell: Andy Williams – stated that he believed the public would prefer to see Trotman saved

Week 5 (17 November) [edit]

• Theme: Disco
• Musical guest: Girls Aloud ("Call the Shots")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Cowell: Alisha Bennett – backed his own act, Hope
• Minogue: Alisha Bennett – gave no reason
• Osbourne: Hope – backed her own act, Alisha Bennett
• Walsh: Alisha Bennett – gave no reason but stated that neither act deserved to be in the bottom two

Week 6 (24 November) [edit]

• Theme: Love songs
• Musical guest: Westlife ("Home")

Judges' votes to eliminate

• Walsh: Hope – backed his own act, Beverley Trotman
• Cowell: Beverley Trotman – backed his own act, Hope
• Minogue: Hope – stated that Trotman was more consistent than Hope
• Osbourne: Beverley Trotman – stated "I'm doing this for a reason, and you'll realise the reason when I say it. I'm sending home Beverley", implying that she wanted to cause a deadlock

With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Trotman was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 7 (1 December) [edit]

• Theme: British classics
• Musical guest: Duran Duran ("Notorious")

This week did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Hope, were automatically eliminated.

Week 8: Semi-final (8 December) [edit]

• Themes: Mentor's choice; contestant's choice
• Musical guest: Michael Bublé ("Lost")

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Niki Evans, was automatically eliminated.

Week 9: Final (15 December) [edit]

• Themes: Christmas songs; celebrity duets; favourite performance ("song of the series"); winner's single
• Group performance: "One Moment in Time" (auditionees)
• Musical guest: Kylie Minogue ("Wow")

Controversy [edit]

Osbourne's walkout [edit]

During the results of the first live show on 20 October, Osbourne walked away from the panel after it was revealed that both the bottom two acts came from her category. This left the three remaining judges, Cowell, Minogue and Walsh, to decide which of the bottom two would be sent home. When O'Leary asked Osbourne for her vote, she claimed to have left the show, saying, "I'm out—gone".^[31][32] It later emerged that Osbourne was dissatisfied with the last-minute rescheduling of the programme from 17:45 to 17:30, claiming that fewer people saw the performance of her act, Kimberley Southwick, as she was first on stage. After a considerable amount of media coverage, including Paul O'Grady apparently convincing Osbourne live on his chat show to return to The X Factor, Osbourne's spokesman confirmed on 23 October that she would return to the show.^[33][34] A newspaper source explained that leaving prematurely would have been breach of contract and the legal repercussions would have made it in Osbourne's interests to return to the panel.^[35]

Alleged feuds and alliances [edit]

During the filming of The X Factor, there was much media speculation about rumoured feuds between the judges, most notably between Osbourne and Minogue. One report emerged of a backstage argument just 15 minutes before they were due to go live on television.^[36] On one show, Minogue criticised contestant Niki Evans's tuning, which prompted Niki's mentor, Louis Walsh, to suggest live on television that Minogue herself could not sing.^[36] Minogue then reportedly missed part of the results show as she was crying.^[36] In an interview published on 2 December 2007, Minogue stated "As for Sharon, you don't click with everybody. But it's her choice not to be friends. Apparently she's envious because I'm younger and prettier.",^[37] and in another that she felt "younger and prettier" compared with the other judges.^[38] During Osbourne's appearance on The Graham Norton Show, she stated, in reference to Minogue, "She knows she's there because of her looks, not because of her contribution to the music industry."^[36] In a press conference held on 12 December 2007, when asked why she had been publicly talking about Minogue, Osbourne said "It's an even playing field, Dannii speaks about me, I speak about her."^[36] Minogue said in turn "I've looked up to Sharon and Louis for years and I wanted to be part of that gang. But when they're slating you, you think: 'Please don't, I really like you.'"^[36] Cowell admitted that Osbourne did not feel comfortable about having a new judge and that Osbourne and Minogue would never be "the best of buddies," adding that if Osbourne wanted to leave the show, he would let her (in fact, Osbourne left after series 4).^[39] The Daily Mail reported that Cowell was forced to sit the judges down, asking them to maintain a civil relationship with each other behind the scenes.^[36] The apparent flirting between Cowell and Minogue also generated comment in the popular media.^[40][41]

Impartiality [edit]

Series 4 presented a change in the panelists' judging style. Simon Cowell said at the ITV Autumn Launch: "We tried to be bit more impartial as judges, and that, you'll see a lot more of on X Factor. There's still competition within the judges but our job essentially is to find a star."^[42] This ethic was put into practice with the judges working together at the bootcamp. At the live stages, the acts were no longer introduced with their mentors at the start of the show. Only the judges were introduced, after which the individual performances began.

Fearne Cotton became the new host of The Xtra Factor on ITV2, following Ben Shephard's resignation. Shephard reportedly quit because he was not given the job of lead X Factor host on ITV.^[43][44][45]

Standard of talent [edit]

At ITV's Autumn launch on 12 July 2007, Simon Cowell discussed the upcoming series. He said that in previous years the programme had been more like a "popularity contest" than a talent show. When asked about the standard of talent, Cowell said: "It's in a different league this year... we're going to have the best 12 [finalists] we've ever seen". This came with comments that the series 4 auditions had gone "brilliantly".^{[42][46][47][48][49]}

Series 4 also saw more emphasis placed on the international standing of The X Factor, with Cowell calling it "the biggest show in Europe"^[15] with around 150,000 auditioning for the series.^[21][22] Referring to the impact that the international success of series 3 winner Leona Lewis had had on the show, Dannii Minogue said at the Sheffield auditions: "I think that Leona has completely upped the ante now on this show, and there's no turning back. We're looking for an international standard of acts that can sell millions of albums".^[50] In response to the expectation of a raised standard of talent on the show, producers tried with series 4 to assemble what Dermot O'Leary called an "international panel of judges";^[15] this was particularly the case with the original judging lineup that included Brian Friedman. There were also more international contestants in series 4, with two acts from the United States,^[51][52] numerous acts from Japan^[53][54] and a Brazilian act^[55] auditioning.

Nevertheless, Cowell said before the first live show that "I think we could be heading for a train wreck," referring to the fact that the public did not believe any of the final 12 this year were as good as Lewis, But he added, "But if you take Leona out of the equation, they weren't that good last year. As a whole, we've probably got the most talented 12 we've had. We just haven't had the chance to showcase them properly yet."^[56]

Alleged voting irregularities [edit]

It was reported that Ofcom received at least 1,100 complaints from would-be voters for Rhydian Roberts, the runner-up of the series, saying that despite calling numerous times they were unable to get through to vote for Roberts. The programme said the high number of calls meant some people were greeted by engaged tones.

ITV denied the allegations, commenting that "As all numbers go through to the same lines and vote platform it is impossible for there to be any bias in favour or against a particular contestant."^[57] ITV confirmed that Leon performed strongly throughout the series and won on the night of the final by around 10% of the popular vote.^[58] A subsequent Ofcom investigation found that Roberts had not been unfairly disadvantaged.^[59]

Reception [edit]

Ratings [edit]

The fourth series proved yet again to be a ratings winner. The first episode peaked at 10.7 million viewers, with an average of 9.5 million viewers (45% share), according to unofficial overnight ratings. This was 2.5 million viewers higher than last year's launch, and higher than the series finale of both series 1 and series 2.^[60] Moreover, 60% of 16- to 34-year-olds tuned in that night. The Xtra Factor on ITV2 also performed well on its launch night, with an overnight figure of 1.2 million viewers watching the episode — 500,000 more than for the 2006 launch.^[61][62]

The second episode was another ratings success and attracted more viewers than all of the other terrestrial channels combined. The show peaked at 10 million viewers with an average of 8.5 million, beating its rival DanceX (the finale) on BBC One which attracted 3.6 million.^[63]

The third episode attracted 8.7 million viewers, which was considerably more than BBC One's Eurovision Dance Contest which achieved an audience of 3.8 million viewers.^[64] Viewing figures remained strong in the fourth episode, averaging 8.2 million viewers.^[65] The fifth episode featuring auditions generated 7 million viewers and a 43% share of audience.^[66] The sixth and final episode featuring auditions attracted another strong audience which peaked at 9.2 million and averaged with 8 million and an audience share of 45%.^[67]

The seventh and eighth episodes in the series featured the successful candidates auditioning at boot-camp. Despite competition from BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, The X Factor received the highest viewing figures, beating Strictly Come Dancing by 2.1 million viewers and receiving 6.8 million in total. The second part of the show attracted 7.2 million viewers.^[68] The ninth instalment won 7.5 million viewers, narrowly beating the live launch of Strictly Come Dancing, which had 7.2 million.^[69]

The final of The X Factor on 15 December scored highly in the ratings with a peak audience of 12.1 million. The first part of the show attracted an average of 11.4 million viewers, whilst the second half averaged with 11.7 million viewers.^[70] This was the highest rating, in terms of total viewership, for all four series of the show.

References [edit]