The X Factor
The X Factor | |
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Creator | piperjr |
Genre | Reality Competition |
Presented by | Eileen Davidson LL Cool J |
Judges/Mentors | Julianne Hough Ricky Martin Colbie Caillat Jeff Timmons Ludacris Kandi Burruss Benji Madden Scooter Braun Debbie Gibson John Legend Aubrey O'Day Vanessa Hudgens |
No. of Seasons | 8 |
No. of Episodes | 250 |
For the current season, see The X Factor 8
The X Factor is an American reality television music competition created by piperjr. Based on the original UK show, the show originally used the biggest talent in the business to compete however, after season 1, the series found new singing talent (solo artists and groups ages 15 and over), drawn from public auditions, and they competed against each other for votes. The winner was determined by the show's viewers via telephone, the Internet, and SMS text voting, and was awarded a recording contract with Piperjr Records record label, worth $5 million.
The show began airing on September 2000, and aired annually from September through December. The series employed a panel of judges who critiqued the contestants' performances. Each contestant was assigned to one of four categories (however, season one had five). The group acts were one category and the others were based on age or gender. Each judge was assigned to one of the categories, and acted as mentor to the contestants in his or her category, helping to decide song choices, styling, and staging, while also judging contestants from the other categories after each of the live performances. They competed with each other to try to get one of the contestants in their category to win the competition, thus making them the winning judge.
The original judging panel consisted of Colbie Caillat, Jeff Timmons, Julianne Hough, Ricky Martin, and Ludacris, with Eileen Davidson as host. Kandi Burruss and Benji Madden joined the panel in the second season, replacing Caillat, Ludacris, and Timmons, while LL Cool J joined Davidson as host. In Season 6, Martin, Burruss, and Madden departed from the series, leaving Hough as the only original judge. Scooter Braun, Debbie Gibson, and John Legend replaced them. In Season 7, Hough departed with Aubrey O'Day taking her place, while Gibson left before Season 8, where Vanessa Hudgens replaced her.
Series overview[edit | edit source]
To date, five series have been broadcast, as summarized below.
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Boys" category
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Girls" category
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Teens" category
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Young Adults" or category
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Over 25s" or "Over 40s" category
Contestant in (or mentor of) "Groups" category
- ^1 : Lenny Kravitz served as a guest judge for the Toledo and New York auditions in place of Kandi Burruss who was ill.
- ^2 : Jamal Sims served as a guest judge for the Los Angeles and Portland auditions following the departure of Benji Madden, but was later reassigned the role of creative director and Madden was reinstated. He was originally recruited to be a permanent judge.
- ^3 : After Julianne Hough's departure, Sara Bareilles (Salt Lake City), Jewel (Milwaukee), Idina Menzel (Miami Beach), Trisha Yearwood (Oklahoma City), Ciara (Charlotte) and Aubrey O'Day (Buffalo) all filled in as guest judges during the auditions until O'Day joined the judging panel as the fourth permanent judge for bootcamp.
- ^4 : Brian McKnight served as a guest judge for the bootcamp portion of the auditions in place of John Legend who had prior engagements out of town and, furthermore, was unable to travel back from Ohio as he had a throat infection.