The X-Factor - Where Are They Now? (Part 2)

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN BY MY BROTHER, JASON WRIGHT

BY JASON WRIGHT

The X Factor, widely regarded as Britain’s biggest and best talent TV competition, returns for its seventh series on Saturday.  Since its launch back in 2004, it has become a national phenomenon and is always a Saturday night (and from last year, also a Sunday night) ratings banker for ITV1. Last year’s series attracted a record series average of over 15 million viewers, including a peak of 20 million for the finale.

As the new series draws closer, I will be taking a trip down memory lane to look at how previous contestants have fared since making their appearance on the show.  This second of two blogs looks at the six acts who won over the respect of the voting public the most, and become the winner of the The X Factor.

Steve Brookstein (Series 1 Winner, 2004)

The 36-year old from South London does have the dubious honour of being the first ever winner of show.  His debut single, a cover version of Phil Collins’ ‘Against All Odds’ entered the charts at number 2, beaten to Christmas Number 1 by ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ by Band Aid 20.  His debut album did go to number one but was then dropped after his second album was planned to be full of cover material instead of new songs, something of which he didn’t agree to.  After this, he was never mentioned again.

Shayne Ward (Series 2 Winner, 2005)

From his first introduction, it was clear music was meant to be in Shayne's life.  He duly became the one to beat in series 2 and won.  The 21-year old from Manchester became the first talent television winner to claim Christmas Number 1 with That’s My Goal, the only original X Factor winning song to date.  Three more top ten singles, including Next to Me (the theme music for E4's Hollyoaks In The City) and a platinum selling album soon followed.   Although he has disappeared off the music radar in recent times, Ward still achieved considerable success.

Leona Lewis (Series 3 Winner, 2006)

Few people who are successful on the show don’t quite have ‘The X Factor’, there is usually something missing.  But in this case, there isn’t.  Leona's debut single, ‘A Moment Like This’, originally sung by the first American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson broke several chart records on its way to the Christmas Number 1.  She was quickly offered a US recording contract and her debut album hit top spot in no fewer than 10 countries, making Leona a household name across the world.  Although other winners can enjoy good fortune, it is going very difficult for this feat to be repeated.

Leon Jackson (Series 4 Winner, 2007)

Much of Britain was left in shock when the young Scot beat red hot favourite Rhydian Roberts in the series 4 final.  Though his take on the Mariah Carey song, When You Believe, seemed dreary and senseless, it was still effectively guaranteed the Christmas Number 1.  However, in terms of success, that as far as it goes.  His second single only charted in the top 40 for three weeks and he was the first winner not to see their debut album take top spot.  Unsurprisingly, he was dropped by Simon Cowell and like Brookstein, he hasn’t been seen in public since.

Alexandra Burke (Series 5 Winner, 2008)

The 20-year old from North London had previously entered in 2005 but failed to get past the judges houses round as despite her talent, her then mentor, Louis Walsh thought she was “too young”.  Fast forward three years and not only did new mentor Cheryl Cole put her through to the live finals; she went on to win, being the only contestant not to have a bad performance throughout.  Hallelujah, her debut single, continued the show's domination of the Christmas chart and would eventually shift over one million copies.  A second number 1 single and a platinum selling album have also come Alexandra's way but she has been a little less successful than the runners-up of the 2008 show, JLS.  Nevertheless, she should still be on the music scene for quite some time to come.

Joe McElderry (Series 6 Winner, 2009)

This Tyneside lad was just a handful of contestants in the running to win series 6 as it was for much of it, a close run competition.  Towards the final run-in though, he took his performances up to a new level that no-one else could compete with and duly emerged as the victor.  The 18-year old may have won the battle to win the show but lost the war to take top spot in the Christmas chart.  A Facebook campaign was online by then, in full swing to get Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing (In The Name Of)’ to top the charts.  The campaign was of course targeted at Simon Cowell and his decision to send fellow favourite Lucie Jones home so early in the live shows resulted in a surge of support for the campaign.  RATM, as they were known for short, were successful and both Cowell and McElderry played fair sport by being gracious in defeat.  Since then, work has begun on his debut album, due for release in the Autumn and only just last month, Joe stunned nearly everyone by confessing he was gay.  However instead of deserting him like so many others have seen when confessing their sexuality, he has still of all his friends, family, fans and both Cowell and his series mentor Cheryl Cole on his side, which will no doubt increase his morale.  Now the wait begins to find out whether he’ll succeed like Ward, Lewis and Burke or flop like Brookstein and Jackson.

One thing from these winners proves that even if you win The X Factor, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you success in the future.

This Year...What Is Happening?

So the stage is set for this year’s show to begin, which promises to be bigger and better than ever. There are a load of changes this year, the most notable being the absence of Dannii Minogue from the auditions and bootcamp due to her pregnancy.  Her space is filled for the early stages by a series of guest judges.  Geri Halliwell, Natalie Imbruglia, Katy Perry, Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger all filled in and Scherzinger, better known as being the high-profile girlfriend of F1 ace Lewis Hamilton also deputised at bootcamp.  We will see how regular judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh cope with the loss of Minogue and also of Cheryl Cole for both the final leg of auditions and bootcamp following her “near-fatal” battle with malaria.

Over on ITV2, Holly Willoughby has stepped down as host of spin-off show The Xtra Factor to concentrate completely on co-presenting This Morning and Dancing on Ice with Phillip Schofield.  In a surprise choice, despite strong rumours of either Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh or Caroline Flack taking over, the role has instead gone to ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.

Meanwhile, the over 25s category has strangely become the over 28s this year and eight acts from each category go forward to judges’ houses instead of six.  These are changes of what have been confirmed so far; whether any more will be implemented by the time we get the live shows remains to be seen.

It all kicks off at 7:30pm on Saturday 21st August on ITV1 and for the first time ever, it’s available in high definition on ITV1 HD.

ENJOY WATCHING!