The X Factor UK (Series 6)

The X Factor UK (Series 6)
Series	6
Broadcast from	22 August 2009 – 13 December 2009
Judges	Simon Cowell Cheryl Cole Dannii Minogue Louis Walsh
Presenters	Dermot O'Leary Holly Willoughby
Network	ITV ITV2
Number of finalists	12
Winner	Joe McElderry
Runner-up	Olly Murs
Ratings	13.00 millions
Chronology
Previous	Series 5
Next	Series 7

Series 6 of The X Factor premiered on August 22, 2009 and ended on December 13, 2009 on ITV.

It was won by 18-year old pop singer Joe McElderry who was part of the Boys category mentored by Cheryl Cole, giving her second win in a row as a mentor. Until 2015, he was the youngest winner in the show's history.

This series was watched by an average of 13 million viewers - over 2.5 million more than the previous series.

Production

The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary for the third year running, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Holly Willoughby on ITV2. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole returned as judges.

Twists/Changes

Audtions: Auditions were held in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow. In a change to previous years, auditions were held in front of a live audience due to the success of a similar system on Britain's Got Talent. However, Glaswegian auditionees had already been judged using the old format, meaning that they had to apply again, as their initial audition was void.

Live Shows: There was a further change in the format of the live shows which saw the finalists performing every Saturday night with the results announced on Sundays. In previous series the results were announced later on the Saturday evening. The live final was also held over two nights for the first time.

Charity single: As with the previous year, all of the finalists released a cover version of Michael Jackson's 1995 single "You Are Not Alone" with all proceeds going to the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Finalists

Contestant		Category	Finish	Elimination
	Kandy Rain 22-25, various places	Groups	12th week one	Deadlock
	Rikki Loney 22, Glasgow	Boys	11th week two	Majority vote
	Miss Frank 22-25, various places	Groups	10th week three	Deadlock
	Rachel Adedeji 18, London	Girls	9th week four	Deadlock
X Factor 2010 Live Tour
	Lucie Jones 18, Pentyrch, Cardiff	Girls	8th week five	Deadlock
	Jamie Archer 34, Putney, London	Over 25s	7th week six	Deadlock
	John & Edward 18, Dublin, Ireland	Groups	6th week seven	Majority vote
	Lloyd Daniels 17, Treharris, Merthyr Tydfil	Boys	5th week eight	Fewest public votes
	Danyl Johnson 27, Arborfield, Berkshire	Over 25s	4th week nine	Fewest public votes
	Stacey Solomon 20, Dagenham, Essex	Girls	3rd week ten	Fewest public votes
	Olly Murs 25, Witham, Essex	Over 25s	Runner-up week ten	Fewest public votes
	Joe McElderry 18, South Shields, Tyne & Wear	Boys	Winner week ten	Most public votes

Selection process

Auditions

See: List of The X Factor auditionees (series 6)

In a change to previous years, auditions were moved from a room to an arena in front of an audience similar to the format used by Britain's Got Talent.

Previous contestants who returned to audition were eventual winner Joe McElderry who auditioned in Series 4 but opted to leave as he felt he was too young at the time. Finalists Rikki Loney and Rachel Adedeji also auditioned during Series 5 but both were rejected at bootcamp. Danyl Johnson auditioned during Series 3 but did not make it past the producers auditions.

Bootcamp

See: Bootcamp (series 6)

Judges' Houses

See: Judges' Houses (series 6)

Live Shows

Results Summary

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Ratings

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Controversies

On 2 August 2009, it was reported that some bootcamp contestants felt they had been poorly treated by the show's producers; one compared the experience with that of a concentration camp and another claimed that those competing were only allowed to use the toilet twice a day. However, a spokesperson for the programme refuted the claims, saying "Yes, it was long hours but they knew what they were signing up for. The hopefuls got breakfast at the hotel and decent food throughout the day".

The new audition format (whereby auditions are held in front of a studio audience) was criticised by fans, by Cole and by certain former contestants.

The show was criticised in September 2009 for "recycling" contestants, as three singers from the final 24 acts had already been in pop bands, two had auditioned for the show in previous years and one had appeared on Britain's Got Talent.

Controversy began after the first live show on 10 October, after Minogue commented on press reports regarding Danyl Johnson's sexuality, sparking an online backlash. Minogue's comments received some media coverage resulting in Minogue releasing a statement on the issue:

"I want to clear up exactly what happened on last night's X Factor show and post my sincere apologies to anyone who took offense [sic]. I made a comment about Danyl changing the lyrics of his song. It was meant to be a humorous moment about the fact he has an opportunity to have fun with his song. An openly bi-sexual singing a song that is lyrically a 'girl's song'. Danyl and I were joking about the very same thing in rehearsals on Friday, so it carried on to the show. I'd like to apologise to anyone that was offended by my comments, it was never my intention. I spoke to Danyl straight after the show last night and he wasn't offended or upset by my comments, and knew exactly what I was saying."

Minogue also apologised on the live results show on 11 October, saying Danyl was not upset by her comments. It has since been reported that Ofcom received around 4000 complaints from viewers over the comment.

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