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The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The second series ran from 20 August to 17 December 2005.[1] Shayne Ward became the winner and Louis Walsh emerged as the winning mentor. The second series was longer than the first, with seven acts in each of the three categories going to the judges' homes, and 12 acts in the finals instead of 9. Kate Thornton returned as presenter of the main show on ITV and Ben Shephard presented the spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, while Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Walsh returned as judges. 75,000 people auditioned for the series.
On the back of their performances and popularity in the competition, Ward (winner), Andy Abraham (runner-up), Journey South (third place) and Maria Lawson (8th place) landed recording contracts. Chico Slimani (5th place) also released a single which topped the UK Singles Chart.
Aired on 24 September 2005, the mentoring selection was made, with Cowell in charge of Groups, Osbourne with the 25 and overs and Walsh managing the 16–24s. The bootcamp stages were shown on 1 October 2005, and those who got through were taken to the "judges' homes".
Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh returned as judges, quashing rumours that Osbourne and Walsh might not return for financial reasons. Kate Thornton also returned as presenter of the main show on ITV and Ben Shephard returned as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Yvie Burnett joined the show as vocal coach.
The auditions episodes were broadcast on 20 August 27 August 3 September 10 September 17 and 24 September 2005. The first two episodes of Bootcamp aired on 1 October 2005 and the last two the following week on 8 October 2005.
16-24s:
Location: artsdepot
Task 1 Songs:
Task 2 Songs:The 21 remaining contestants in the 16-24s category were divided into three groups of 7 with one song in each of the groups. Each contestant then performed their chosen song solo in front of Louis and his team. The songs were.
Groups:
Location: An Manor House within the Oxfordshire countryside.
Task 1: Perform both an uptempo and a slow song to show versatility.
Task 2: Learn one song of their choice within an hour and then perform it to Simon and his team.
Over 25s:
Location: Café de Paris
Task 1: Perform a song of their choice to Sharon and the rest of the contestants.
Task 2: Choose a song from an list of five and learn it overnight to perform for a place in Judges Houses. The songs performed during this round were:
Over 25s:
Groups:
16-24s
| Judge | Category | Location | Acts Eliminated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowell | Groups | Marbella | 4th Base Eskimo Blonde The Brothers | |
| Osbourne | Over 25s | Beverly Hills | Richie Glynn Joanne Hindley Haifa Kayali | |
| Walsh | 16-24s | Dublin | James Bellamy Alexandra Burke Trevor Hodgson |
– Winner
– Runner-up
| Act | Age(s) | Hometown | Category (mentor) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shayne Ward | 21 | Manchester | 16-24s (Walsh) | Winner |
| 41 | North London | Over 25s (Osbourne) | Runner-up | |
| Journey South | 25 & 30 | Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire | Groups (Cowell) | 3rd place |
| Brenda Edwards | 36 | Over 25s (Osbourne) | 4th place | |
| Chico Slimani | 34 | Bridgend | 5th place | |
| 17-28 | County Sligo, Ireland | Groups (Cowell) | 6th place | |
| Nicholas Dorsett | 18 | London Borough of Enfield | 16-24s (Walsh) | 7th place |
| Maria Lawson | 26 | London | Over 25s (Osbourne) | 8th place |
| Chenai Zinyuku | 19 | Bradford | 16-24s (Walsh) | 9th place |
| Phillip Magee | 21 | Larne | 10th place | |
| 4Tune | 18-21 | Southampton | Groups (Cowell) | 11th place |
| Addictiv Ladies | 16-17 | London | 12th place |
The live shows began on 15 October 2005, and the final was broadcast live on 17 December 2005.
Act in Over 25s
Act in Groups
| - | Act was in the bottom two and had to sing again in the final showdown | |
| - | Act received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) | |
| - | Act received the most public votes |
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Quarter-Final | Semi-Final | Final | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Vote | Second Vote | ||||||||||||
| Shayne Ward | Safe | 1st | Safe | Safe | Safe | 2nd | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Winner | ||
| Andy Abraham | 1st | Safe | 1st | Safe | Safe | 1st | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Runner-Up | ||
| Journey South | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 2nd | 4th | Safe | Safe | Safe | 3rd | Eliminated (final) | ||
| Brenda Edwards | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 3rd | 5th | Safe | Safe | 4th | Eliminated (semi-final) | |||
| Chico Slimani | Bottom Two | Safe | Bottom Two | Safe | Safe | 3rd | Bottom Two | 5th | Eliminated (quarter-final) | ||||
| The Conway Sisters | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 8th | 7th | Bottom Two | Eliminated (week 7) | |||||
| Nicholas Dorsett | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom Two | 1st | 6th | Eliminated (week 6) | ||||||
| Maria Lawson | Safe | Safe | Safe | 1st | 7th | Eliminated (week 5) | |||||||
| Chenai Zinyuku | Safe | Bottom Two | Safe | Bottom Two | Eliminated (week 4) | ||||||||
| Phillip Magee | Safe | Safe | Bottom Two | Eliminated (week 3) | |||||||||
| 4Tune | Safe | Bottom Two | Eliminated (week 2) | ||||||||||
| Addictiv Ladies | Bottom Two | Eliminated (week 1) | |||||||||||
| Final Showdown | Addictiv Ladies, Slimani | 4Tune, Zinyuku | Magee, Slimani | Dorsett, Zinyuku | The Conway Sisters, Lawson | The Conway Sisters, Dorsett | The Conway Sisters, Slimani | No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone | |||||
| Walsh's vote to eliminate (16-24s) | Addictiv Ladies | 4Tune | Slimani | Zinyuku | Lawson | The Conway Sisters | |||||||
| Osbourne's vote to eliminate (Over 25s) | Addictiv Ladies | 4Tune | Magee | Dorsett | The Conway Sisters | Dorsett | The Conway Sisters | ||||||
| Cowell's vote to eliminate (Groups) | Slimani | Zinyuku | Magee | Zinyuku | Lawson | Dorsett | The Conway Sisters | ||||||
| Eliminated | Addictiv Ladies 2 of 3 votes Majority | 4Tune 2 of 3 Votes Majority | Phillip Magee 2 of 3 votes Majority | Chenai Zinyuku 2 of 3 votes Majority | Maria Lawson 2 of 3 votes Majority | Nicholas Dorsett 2 of 3 votes Majority | The Conway Sisters 2 of 2 votes Majority | Chico Slimani Public vote to save | Brenda Edwards Public vote to save | Journey South Public vote to save | Andy Abraham Public vote to win | ||
| Act | Order | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Addictiv Ladies | 1 | "Superstar" (Jamelia) | Eliminated | |
| Shayne Ward | 2 | "Right Here Waiting" (Richard Marx) | Safe | |
| Chico Slimani | 3 | "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (Rod Stewart) | Bottom Two | |
| Journey South | 4 | "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" (Elton John) | Safe | |
| Phillip Magee | 5 | "Amazed" (Lonestar) | ||
| Brenda Edwards | 6 | "Son of a Preacher Man" (Dusty Springfield) | ||
| The Conway Sisters | 7 | "SOS" (ABBA) | ||
| Nicholas Dorsett | 8 | "On the Wings of Love" (Jeffrey Osborne) | ||
| Maria Lawson | 9 | "Emotion" (Destiny’s Child) | ||
| 4Tune | 10 | "I Want It That Way" (Backstreet Boys) | ||
| Chenai Zinyuku | 11 | "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (Katie Melua) | ||
| Andy Abraham | 12 | "Greatest Love of All" (George Benson) | Safe (Highest Votes) |
| Act | Order | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Abraham | 1 | "You to Me Are Everything" (The Real Thing) | Safe | |
| Chenai Zinyuku | 2 | "Young Hearts Run Free" (Candi Staton) | Bottom Two | |
| 4Tune | 3 | "I'll Be There" (Jackson 5) | Eliminated | |
| Chico Slimani | 4 | "Play That Funky Music" (Wild Cherry) | Safe | |
| Nicholas Dorsett | 5 | "Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye) | ||
| The Conway Sisters | 6 | "You Raise Me Up" (Westlife) | ||
| Maria Lawson | 7 | "The Way You Make Me Feel" (Michael Jackson) | ||
| Phillip Magee | 8 | "Wind Beneath My Wings" (Roger Whittaker) | ||
| Journey South | 9 | "Desperado" (Eagles) | ||
| Brenda Edwards | 10 | "Rescue Me" (Fontella Bass) | ||
| Shayne Ward | 11 | "If You're Not the One" (Daniel Bedingfield) | Safe (Highest Votes) |
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brenda Edwards | 1 | "Somebody Else's Guy" (Jocelyn Brown) | Safe |
| Nicholas Dorsett | 2 | "I Want You Back" (Jackson 5) | Bottom Two |
| Andy Abraham | 3 | "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (Andy Williams) | Safe |
| Chenai Zinyuku | 4 | "Always on My Mind" (Elvis Presley) | Eliminated |
| Chico Slimani | 5 | "Kiss" (Prince) | Safe |
| Journey South | 6 | "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Roberta Flack) | |
| Maria Lawson | 7 | "You're Beautiful" (James Blunt) | Safe (Highest Votes) |
| Shayne Ward | 8 | "You Make Me Feel Brand New" (Simply Red) | Safe |
| The Conway Sisters | 9 | "One Voice" (Barry Manilow) |
| Act | Order | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shayne Ward | 1 | "Cry Me a River" (Justin Timberlake) | Safe | |
| Maria Lawson | 2 | "Brown Sugar" (The Rolling Stones) | Eliminated | |
| The Conway Sisters | 3 | "Hold On" (Wilson Phillips) | Bottom Two | |
| Andy Abraham | 4 | "I'll Make Love to You" (Boyz II Men) | Safe | |
| Journey South | 5 | "Livin' on a Prayer" (Bon Jovi) | ||
| Chico Slimani | 6 | "Hero" (Enrique Iglesias) | ||
| Nicholas Dorsett | 7 | "I Believe I Can Fly" (R.Kelly) | Safe (Highest Votes) | |
| Brenda Edwards | 8 | "Heartbreaker" (Dionne Warwick) | Safe |
Walsh's decision to eliminate Lawson caused controversy when Osbourne accused Walsh of being part of the "Irish Mafia", since both he and The Conway Sisters are Irish. Cowell, though backed his own act to eliminate Lawson, said that if he had to go with his heart, he would have sent his own act home. He felt they would not have a chance to win, and that Lawson had more talent and her elimination would be the first one that the public would disagree with.
However, voting statistics revealed that Lawson received more votes than The Conway Sisters which meant that if the result went to deadlock, The Conway Sisters would have been eliminated.
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Conway Sisters | 1 | "One Moment in Time" (Whitney Houston) | Bottom Two |
| Andy Abraham | 2 | "Me and Mrs. Jones" (Billy Paul) | Safe |
| Nicholas Dorsett | 3 | "If I Ever Fall in Love" (East 17) | Eliminated |
| Journey South | 4 | "Angels" (Robbie Williams) | Safe |
| Brenda Edwards | 5 | "Last Dance" (Donna Summer) | |
| Shayne Ward | 6 | "A Million Love Songs" (Take That) | |
| Chico Slimani | 7 | "It's Chico Time" (original song) |
However, voting statistics revealed that Dorsett received more votes than The Conway Sisters which meant that if the result went to deadlock, The Conway Sisters would have been eliminated.
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chico Slimani | 1 | "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson) | Bottom Two |
| The Conway Sisters | 2 | "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (Starship) | Eliminated |
| Andy Abraham | 3 | "I Have Nothing" (Whitney Houston) | Safe (Highest Votes) |
| Shayne Ward | 4 | "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (The Darkness) | Safe |
| Brenda Edwards | 5 | "I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston) | |
| Journey South | 6 | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (U2) |
| Act | Order | First song | Order | Second song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Journey South | 1 | "Bad Day" (Daniel Powter) | 6 | "Candle in the Wind" (Elton John) | Safe |
| Chico Slimani | 2 | "I Got You (I Feel Good)" (James Brown) | 7 | "Time Warp" (from The Rocky Horror Show) | Eliminated |
| Brenda Edwards | 3 | "I'm Outta Love" (Anastacia) | 8 | "I'll Never Love This Way Again" (Dionne Warwick) | Safe |
| Shayne Ward | 4 | "Take Your Mama" (Scissor Sisters) | 9 | "Careless Whisper" (George Michael) | |
| Andy Abraham | 5 | "Easy Lover" (Phil Collins) | 10 | "When I Fall in Love" (Nat King Cole) |
The quarter-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Chico Slimani, was automatically eliminated. After his elimination, Slimani reprised his performance of "Time Warp" as his exit song.
| Act | Order | First song | Order | Second song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Abraham | 1 | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" (Bryan Adams) | 5 | "Lately" (Stevie Wonder) | Safe | |
| Journey South | 2 | "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)" (Rod Stewart) | 6 | "Let It Be" (The Beatles) | ||
| Brenda Edwards | 3 | "Respect" (Aretha Franklin) | 7 | "Without You" (Mariah Carey) | Eliminated | |
| Shayne Ward | 4 | "If Tomorrow Never Comes" (Ronan Keating) | 8 | "Unchained Melody" (Todd Duncan) | Safe |
The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Brenda Edwards, was automatically eliminated. After her elimination, Edwards reprised her performance of "Without You" as her exit song.
| Act | Order | First song | Order | Second song | Order | Third song | Order | Fourth song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Journey South | 1 | "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (Elton John) | 4 | "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (John Lennon) | 7 | "Let It Be" (live show 9) | N/A | N/A (already eliminated) | Eliminated | |
| Andy Abraham | 2 | "When a Man Loves a Woman" (Percy Sledge) | 5 | "O Holy Night" (Traditional) | 8 | "Me and Mrs. Jones" (live show 6) | 10 | "That's My Goal" | Runner-Up | |
| Shayne Ward | 3 | "If You're Not the One" (live show 2) | 6 | "When a Child Is Born" (Johnny Mathis) | 9 | "Over the Rainbow" (Judy Garland) | 11 | "That's My Goal" | Winner |
| Episode | Air date | Official ITV1 rating[2] | Weekly rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auditions 1 | 20 August | 6.72 | 20 |
| Auditions 2 | 27 August | 7.48 | 14 |
| Auditions 3 | 3 September | 7.75 | 13 |
| Auditions 4 | 10 September | 7.29 | 19 |
| Auditions 5 | 17 September | 9.79 | 7 |
| Auditions 6 | 24 September | 10.04 | 10 |
| Bootcamp 1 | 1 October | 8.93 | 13 |
| Bootcamp 2 | 8.96 | 12 | |
| Judges' houses 1 | 8 October | 9.09 | 14 |
| Judges' houses 2 | 9.96 | 10 | |
| Live show 1 | 15 October | 7.87 | 19 |
| Live results 1 | 8.96 | 15 | |
| Live show 2 | 22 October | 8.47 | 16 |
| Live results 2 | 9.02 | 12 | |
| Live show 3 | 29 October | 8.60 | 13 |
| Live results 3 | 9.52 | 10 | |
| Live show 4 | 5 November | 7.76 | 18 |
| Live results 4 | 7.51 | 19 | |
| Live show 5 | 12 November | 9.09 | 15 |
| Live results 5 | 8.99 | 17 | |
| Live show 6 | 19 November | 8.95 | 19 |
| Live results 6 | 8.76 | 20 | |
| Live show 7 | 26 November | 8.45 | 25 |
| Live results 7 | 9.13 | 18 | |
| Live show 8 | 3 December | 10.00 | 12 |
| Live results 8 | 8.95 | 22 | |
| Live show 9 | 10 December | 7.80 | 22 |
| Live results 9 | 8.48 | 20 | |
| Live final | 17 December | 9.65 | 13 |
| Live final results | 9.90 | 11 | |
| Series average | 2005 | 8.73 | |
After the final showdown in week 5, controversy was created around the judges' voting process when Walsh cast the deciding vote to keep The Conway Sisters, who are Irish, in the show at the expense of Maria Lawson. Osbourne later claimed that Lawson was the victim of the "Irish Mafia" after Walsh chose to keep The Conway Sisters in. When the voting statistics were revealed at the end of the series, Lawson was revealed to have received twice as many public votes as The Conway Sisters.[3] Osbourne's "Irish Mafia" remark resulted in an investigation by media regulator Ofcom over Osbourne's "Irish Mafia" remark, however on 9 January 2006, Ofcom cleared Osbourne of any wrongdoing.[4]
Rumours later circulated that Walsh had quit the show after being humiliated and "bullied" by Osbourne and Cowell. In addition to the media outrage at his choice to eliminate Lawson, there were verbal assaults. Furthermore, on 19 November, during the sixth live show of the series, Osbourne threw water over Walsh live on air after he asked her, "Are you on drugs? Are you taking Ozzy's drugs?" at the start of her (positive) critique of Journey South's performance of Robbie Williams' 1997 hit single "Angels".[5] Cowell apparently "begged" Walsh to come back and, in the event, Walsh did turn up for the next show; it was stated that he had indeed quit midweek but had been persuaded to return. He explained how he had felt he could not take the pressure any more, and denied that the episode was a publicity stunt.[6]