The X Factor: Celebrity

The X Factor: Celebrity is a British celebrity special edition of The X Factor which premiered on 12 October 2019 on ITV.[1] It is a revamped version of the 2006 celebrity format The X Factor: Battle of the Stars. Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh judged this series, with Dermot O'Leary presenting the series and Vick Hope hosting Xtra Bites on YouTube.[2]

The X Factor: Celebrity
Hosted byDermot O'Leary (ITV)
Judges
WinnerMegan McKenna
Winning mentorLouis Walsh
Runner-upMax and Harvey
No. of episodes8
Release
Original network
Original release12 October (2019-10-12) –
30 November 2019 (2019-11-30)

The format for the series was announced in 2019, after The X Factor was contracted until 2020.[3] The celebrity lineup was announced on 30 September 2019. On 30 November, Megan McKenna won the series with 46.3% of the vote, with Max and Harvey finishing in second place and Jenny Ryan in third place.[4][5]

Background

The series' predecessor, The X Factor: Battle of the Stars aired in 2006 as a celebrity incarnation of The X Factor. It was reported on 26 August 2006 that Cowell had axed Battle of the Stars, describing it as "pointless" and adding "we are never going to do it again." However, Cowell later stated in an interview with The Sun on 30 November 2018 that he would consider reviving the show for a second series as a charity special.[6]

The series was first reported in early 2019, as the main series is being put on hiatus due to declining ratings.[7][8] On 7 July 2019, Walsh spoke about the return of the series, stating, "I go to Los Angeles on Tuesday, I go to Simon’s house in Malibu, it’s me, Simon and Nicole, we’re doing the celebrity one."[9] On 22 October 2019, it was revealed that Vick Hope would host Xtra Bites on YouTube, each episode will be aired after each live show.[10]

The format of the series differs heavily than Battle of the Stars to bring it more in line with the main series. Notable differences between this series and Battle of the Stars are instead of competing for charity, the acts are competing to win a record contract with Syco Music, and the live shows, instead of being aired daily, are aired every Saturday night, allowing more time inbetween shows for the acts to develop their artistry.

Acts

A teaser, released in September 2019, teased the potential contestants of the series, of which include: a film star, model, online influencers, professional dancer, social media stars and a soap star.[11] The full line-up was revealed on 30 September 2019.[12] Cowell mentored the Groups, Walsh mentored the Under 31s and Scherzinger mentored the Over 31s. During auditions, Cowell’s America’s Got Talent co-judge Howie Mandel and American Idol co-judge Randy Jackson appeared as guest judges.

Key:

  – Winner
  – Runner-up
  – Third place
  – Eliminated in the live shows
  – Eliminated in the auditions
Act Age(s) Hometown Category (Mentor) Known For Result
Megan McKenna 27 Barking, England Under 31s (Walsh) Television personality Winner
Max and Harvey 16 Sandhurst, England Groups (Cowell) YouTube personalities Runner-up
Jenny Ryan[lower-alpha 1] 37 Bolton, England Over 31s (Scherzinger) Quizzer & The Chase star 3rd place
V5[lower-alpha 2] 18–21 Colombia / Puerto Rico /
Brazil / Cuba / Mexico		 Groups (Cowell) Social media influencers 4th place
Try Star[lower-alpha 3] 21–34 Birmingham / Harare, Zimbabwe / Chester Groups (Cowell) Rugby union players 5th place
Vinnie Jones[lower-alpha 4] 54 Watford, England Over 31s (Scherzinger) Actor & former Premier League footballer 6th place
Kevin McHale 31 Plano, Texas, U.S. Under 31s (Walsh) Glee actor 7th place
No Love Lost[lower-alpha 5] 21–24 Essex / London / Staffordshire Groups (Cowell) Love Island stars 8th place
Martin Bashir 56 Wandsworth, England Over 31s (Scherzinger) Journalist & news anchor 9th place
Jonny Labey 26 Grouville, Jersey Under 31s (Walsh) Former EastEnders actor 10th place
Victoria Ekanoye 36 Bury, England Over 31s (Scherzinger) Former Coronation Street actress 11th place
Olivia Olson 27 Los Angeles, California, U.S. Under 31s (Walsh) Actress and Singer 12th place
Ricki Lake 51 Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S. Over 31s (Scherzinger) Hairspray actress & former talk show host 13th place
Hayley Hasselhoff 27 Los Angeles, California, U.S. Under 31s (Walsh) Actress & model Eliminated in the auditions
Cole and Edwards[lower-alpha 6] 43 & 48 Christchurch, New Zealand (Cole)
London, England (Edwards)		 Groups (Cowell) Former Strictly Come Dancing professional (Cole)
Former Hollyoaks actor (Edwards)		 Eliminated in the auditions

Notes
  1. Ryan was originally eliminated in the Auditions, but on 21 October 2019, she was brought back into the competition.
  2. V5 consists of social media influencers Laura Buitrago, Alondra Martinez, Sofia Oliveira, Wendii Sarmiento, and Renata Vaca. Vaca replaced Natalie Valerin, who left before the live shows.
  3. Try Star consists of Levi Davis, Thom Evans and Ben Foden.
  4. Jones did not audition for the series due to the death of his wife, but Cowell invited him to join the live shows.
  5. No Love Lost (previously known as Love Islanders) consist of stars Eyal Booker, Zara McDermott, Samira Mighty and Wes Nelson.
  6. Cole and Edwards consists of Brendan Cole and Jeremy Edwards.

Auditions

The audition process took place in Los Angeles, California. The celebrity acts were all asked to meet with O'Leary in a location where they then spent two days with the production team working on vocal training and song choices. They then auditioned for Cowell, Walsh and Scherzinger at a house party in Malibu consisting of various singers, songwriters, record producers and talent judges for the acts to perform in front of.

Some of the guest judges that the celebrities got to perform in front of were as follows:[13]

Vinnie Jones, who was due to take part in the show, was unable to fly to Los Angeles for his audition due to the death of his wife Tanya Terry on 6 July 2019. Cowell personally called Jones two months later and offered him an unconditional place in the live shows.

Order Celebrity Category Song choice[14] Result
Week 1 (12 October 2019)
1 No Love Lost[lower-alpha 1] Groups "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" Advanced
2 Kevin McHale Under 31s "Never Be the Same" Advanced
3 Max and Harvey Groups "I Don't Care" Advanced
"Sucker"
4 Cole & Edwards Groups "Love at First Sight" Eliminated
5 Martin Bashir Over 31s "L-O-V-E" Advanced
6 Hayley Hasselhoff Under 31s "Someone You Loved" Eliminated
7 Jenny Ryan Over 31s "Somebody to Love" Advanced[lower-alpha 2]
8 Try Star Groups "No Diggity" Advanced
Week 2 (19 October 2019)
1 Olivia Olson Under 31s "Location" Advanced
"Come Together"
2 Jonny Labey Under 31s "Feel It Still" Advanced
"Feeling Good" with David Foster
3 Megan McKenna Under 31s "Everything but You" Advanced
4 Ricki Lake Over 31s "Us" Advanced
5 V5 Groups "Juice" Advanced
6 Victoria Ekanoye Over 31s "The House of the Rising Sun" Advanced

Notes
  1. Love Islanders changed their name to No Love Lost before live shows.
  2. Ryan was originally eliminated in the Auditions, but on 21 October 2019, she was brought back into the competition.

Live shows

Results summary
Colour key
  –Act was in the bottom two
  –Act was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated
  –Act received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no sing-off)
  –Act received the most public votes
  –Act was given a Safe Seat from the judges
Weekly results per act[15]
Act Auditions Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Quarter-final Semi-final Final
First vote Second vote
Megan McKenna Advanced 1st
26.7%		 1st
30.1%		 1st
25.7%		 1st
21.6%		 1st
28.6%		 1st
40.6%		 Winner
46.3%3
Max and Harvey Advanced 5th
10.6%		 3rd
12.2%		 Safe
Seat		 4th
14.0%		 3rd
16.9%		 2nd
27.5%		 Runner-up
27.1%3
Jenny Ryan Eliminated Safe
Seat		 5th
10.4%		 2nd
25.5%		 3rd
14.5%		 2nd
17.2%		 3rd
21.2%		 3rd
22.4%3
V5 Advanced 6th
8.7%		 4th
12.0%		 5th
11.0%		 5th
10.5%		 5th
11.1%		 4th
10.7%		 Eliminated (final)
Try Star Advanced Safe
Seat		 Safe
Seat		 3rd
17.5%		 2nd
20.8%		 4th
15.7%		 Eliminated (semi-final)
Vinnie Jones Advanced 2nd
16.5%		 2nd
14.0%		 Safe
Seat		 6th
10.1%		 6th
10.5%
Kevin McHale Advanced 7th
7.9%		 Safe
Seat		 Safe
Seat		 7th
8.5%		 Eliminated (quarter-final)
No Love Lost Advanced 3rd
11.2%		 Safe
Seat		 4th
13.7%		 Eliminated (week 3)
Martin Bashir Advanced 8th
3.7%		 6th
9.3%		 6th
6.6%
Jonny Labey Advanced Safe
Seat		 7th
6.6%		 Eliminated (week 2)
Victoria Ekanoye Advanced 4th
10.7%		 8th
5.4%
Olivia Olson Advanced 9th
2.9%		 Eliminated (week 1)
Ricki Lake Advanced 10th
1.1%
Hayley Hasselhoff Eliminated Eliminated (Auditions)
Cole & Edwards Eliminated
Final Showdown Judges' vote alone Bashir,
Olson		 Bashir,
Labey		 No Love Lost,
V5		 Jones,
McHale		 Try Star,
V5		 No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
Walsh's vote
to eliminate (Under 31s)		 Hasselhoff BashirBashirNo Love LostJonesN/A2
Scherzinger's vote
to eliminate (Over 31s)		 Ryan OlsonLabeyNo Love LostMcHaleTry Star
Cowell's vote
to eliminate (Groups)		 Cole & Edwards OlsonNone (abstained)N/A1McHaleTry Star
Eliminated Cole & Edwards
Cowell's

Vote

 Ricki Lake
1.1%
to save		 Victoria Ekanoye
5.4%
to save		 Martin Bashir
6.6%
to save		 Kevin McHale
2 of 3 votes
Majority		 Vinnie Jones
10.5%
to save		 V5
10.7%
to save		 Jenny Ryan
22.4%
to win
Hayley Hasselhoff
Walsh's

Vote

 Olivia Olson
2 of 3 votes
Majority		 Jonny Labey
1 of 2 votes
Deadlock		 No Love Lost
2 of 2 votes
Majority		 Try Star
2 of 2 votes
Majority		 Max and Harvey
27.1%
to win
  • ^1 Cowell was not required to vote as there was already a majority.
  • ^2 Walsh was not required to vote as there was already a majority.
  • ^3 The voting percentages in the final's second vote do not add up to 100%, owing to the freezing of votes. V5 received 4.2% of the final vote.[15]

Week 1 (26 October)
  • Theme: Express Yourself
Contestants' performances on the first live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song (original artist)[16] Result
Kevin McHale Under 31s (Walsh) 1 "Good as Hell" (Lizzo) Safe
Ricki Lake Over 31s (Scherzinger) 2 "Landslide" (Fleetwood Mac) Eliminated (public vote)
No Love Lost Groups (Cowell) 3 "All or Nothing" (original song) Safe
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 4 "Rise Like a Phoenix" (Conchita Wurst) Saved by Scherzinger
Jonny Labey Under 31s (Walsh) 5 "Show Me Love" (Robin S.) Saved by Walsh
V5 Groups (Cowell) 6 "Bad Guy"/"Taki Taki" (Billie Eilish) / (DJ Snake) Safe
Martin Bashir Over 31s (Scherzinger) 7 "Danke Schoen" (Wayne Newton) Bottom three
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 8 "When Will I Be Famous?" (Bros) Safe
Olivia Olson Under 31s (Walsh) 9 "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (Dionne Warwick) Eliminated (judges' vote)
Vinnie Jones Over 31s (Scherzinger) 10 "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (Solomon Burke) Safe
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 11 "This" (original song) Safe (Highest Votes)
Victoria Ekanoye Over 31s (Scherzinger) 12 "Never Tear Us Apart" (INXS) Safe
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 13 "Pony"/"Old Town Road" (Ginuwine) / (Lil Nas X) Saved by Cowell
Judges' votes to eliminate
  • Walsh: Martin Bashir - backed his own act, Olivia Olson.
  • Scherzinger: Olivia Olson - backed her own act, Martin Bashir.
  • Cowell: Olivia Olson - concluded that the public would like to see Bashir through to next week more.

Week 2 (2 November)
Contestants' performances on the second live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song Result
Jonny Labey Under 31s (Walsh) 1 "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" Eliminated (Deadlock)
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 2 "This Is My Life" Safe
No Love Lost Groups (Cowell) 3 "Would I Lie to You?" (semi-original song) Saved by Cowell
Victoria Ekanoye Over 31s (Scherzinger) 4 "Why Don't You Love Me" Eliminated (public vote)
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 5 "Cool" Safe
Kevin McHale Under 31s (Walsh) 6 "Dance Monkey" Saved by Walsh
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 7 "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" Saved by Scherzinger
Martin Bashir Over 31s (Scherzinger) 8 "Easy" Bottom three
V5 Groups (Cowell) 9 "Despacito"/"Mi Gente" Safe
Vinnie Jones Over 31s (Scherzinger) 10 "Lip Up Fatty" Safe
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 11 "Stronger" (original song) Safe (Highest Votes)
Judges' votes to eliminate
  • Walsh: Martin Bashir - backed his own act, Jonny Labey.
  • Scherzinger: Jonny Labey - backed her own act, Martin Bashir.
  • Cowell abstained from voting as he wanted to hear the public's opinion so chose to take it to deadlock.

With the acts in the bottom two receiving one vote each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Jonny Labey was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 3 (9 November)
Contestants' performances on the third live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song Result
Kevin McHale Under 31s (Walsh) 1 "Don't Start Now" Saved by Walsh
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 2 "Can't Hold Us" Saved by Cowell
Vinnie Jones Over 31s (Scherzinger) 3 "It Must Be Love"/"House of Fun"/"One Step Beyond" Saved by Scherzinger
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 4 "No Diggity" Safe
V5 Groups (Cowell) 5 "Motivation"/"I Like It" Bottom three
Martin Bashir Over 31s (Scherzinger) 6 "That’s Life" Eliminated
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 7 "Half of My Heart" (original song) Safe (Highest Votes)
No Love Lost Groups (Cowell) 8 "Money Where Your Mouth Is" (original song) Bottom three
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 9 "The Edge of Glory" Safe
Sing-off details
V5 Groups (Cowell) 1 "Juice" Saved
No Love Lost Groups (Cowell) 2 "Sorry" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate
  • Walsh: No Love Lost - based his decision on whom he thought would sell more records.
  • Scherzinger: No Love Lost - said that she liked V5 more consistently throughout the competition.
  • Cowell was not required to vote as there was already a majority and did not say how he would have voted as both were his own acts. However, in response to No Love Lost's elimination, he said that he would organise a public vote to bring back one of the eliminated acts for the final.

Week 4: Quarter-final (16 November)

At the beginning of the show, Cowell stated that the Safe Seats would no longer be used due to negative viewer reception, therefore all acts would face the public vote.

This is also the only live show with one contestant going home.

Contestants' performances on the fourth live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song Result
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 1 "High Hopes" Safe
Kevin McHale Under 31s (Walsh) 2 "I Feel Love" Bottom two
V5 Groups (Cowell) 3 "Bang Bang" Safe
Vinnie Jones Over 31s (Scherzinger) 4 "I Fought the Law"/"Should I Stay or Should I Go" Bottom two
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 5 "When I'm Crying" (original song) Safe (Highest Votes)
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 6 "Euphoria" Safe
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 7 "Boom" Safe
Sing-off details
Vinnie Jones Over 31s (Scherzinger) 1 "The Galway Shawl" Saved
Kevin McHale Under 31s (Walsh) 2 "Something's Got to Give" Eliminated

Shortly before the judges voted, Jones announced that he did not wish to obstruct McHale's progress and requested to withdraw.

Judges' votes to eliminate
  • Scherzinger: Kevin McHale - backed her own act, Vinnie Jones.
  • Walsh: Vinnie Jones - backed his own act, Kevin McHale.
  • Cowell: Kevin McHale - Disregarded Jones’ request to withdraw and said he was going with his heart, believing that Jones still had a chance of winning the competition.

Week 5: Semi-final (23 November)

At the start of the show, O'Leary announced that Cowell's request for a wildcard vote had been declined, and that the four finalists would be found amongst the remaining six acts.

Contestants' performances on the fifth live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song Movie Result
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 1 "The Greatest Show" The Greatest Showman Bottom three
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 2 "Skyfall" Skyfall Safe
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 3 "Kiss You" One Direction: This Is Us Safe
Vinnie Jones Overs (Scherzinger) 4 "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" Dirty Dancing Eliminated
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 5 "It Must Have Been Love" Pretty Woman Safe (Highest Votes)
V5 Groups (Cowell) 6 "September" Trolls Bottom three
Sing-off details
Try Star Groups (Cowell) 1 "Hold Me While You Wait" Eliminated
V5 Groups (Cowell) 2 "Con Calma"/"End of Time" Saved
Judges' votes to eliminate
  • Scherzinger: Try Star - opted to save V5 as she was “all about girl power”.
  • Cowell: Try Star - commended Try Star on their overall progress in the competition as they had not been singers before, but ultimately felt that V5 had a better chance of being successful outside the show.
  • Walsh was not required to vote as there was already a majority and did not say how he would have voted.

Week 6: Final (30 November)
Contestants' performances on the final live show
Act Category (Mentor) Order Song Order Song Result
V5 Groups (Cowell) 1 "All I Want for Christmas Is You" N/A N/A (already eliminated) Fourth place
Jenny Ryan Over 31s (Scherzinger) 2 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" 6 "The Edge of Glory" Third place
Max and Harvey Groups (Cowell) 3 "Last Christmas" 7 "Kiss You" Runner-up
Megan McKenna Under 31s (Walsh) 4 "One More Sleep" 5 "This" (original song) Winner

Following the announcement that McKenna had won, she performed her winner's single, "It Must Have Been Love".

Reception

Ratings
Episode Air date Official rating
(millions)[20],1		 Weekly
rank[20],2
Auditions 1 12 October 2019 6.26 7
Auditions 2 19 October 2019 5.08 11
Live show 1 26 October 2019 N/A Outside top 15
Live show 2 2 November 2019
Live show 3 9 November 2019
Live show 4 16 November 2019
Live show 5 23 November 2019
Live final 30 November 2019

Notes
  • ^1 The ratings over a 7-day period, including the broadcasts on ITV and streaming through ITV Hub using BARB's four-screen dashboard system (includes viewers watching on tablets/smartphones).
  • ^2 The ITV rank for the programme compared to other ITV broadcasts in the week.

References
  1. Warner, Sam (2 October 2019). "The X Factor: Celebrity series finally gets an official air date". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  2. "X Factor: Celebrity - Brendan Cole, Ricki Lake and Ben Foden among stars revealed for full-line up". Sky News. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  3. Rose Clarke, Annaleigh (13 November 2018). "X Factor and Britain's Got Talent 'to stay on ITV until 2022' says Simon Cowell". Telly Mix. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  4. Griffin, Louise. "X Factor: Celebrity crowns Megan McKenna winner after epic final show". Metro. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  5. "The X Factor: Celebrity voting results revealed!". ITV. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  6. "Simon Cowell wants to revive Celebrity X Factor and mentor David Walliams". Metro. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  7. Harp, Justin (14 February 2019). "Simon Cowell's X Factor and BGT each getting TWO series in 2019". Digital Spy.
  8. "Celebrity X Factor: Which Stars Are On The Line-Up And Who Are The Judges?".
  9. Darvill, Josh (7 July 2019). "Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger 'to return to The X Factor'". TellyMix.
  10. Meechan, Simon (22 October 2019). "Vick Hope joins X Factor Celebrity presenting team". nechronicle. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  11. Seddon, Dan (21 September 2019). "The X Factor: Celebrity's star-studded line-up is teased in new video". Digital Spy. United Kingdom: Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  12. West, Amy (30 September 2019). "Love Island stars and more sign up for Celebrity X Factor". Digital Spy. United Kingdom. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  13. "The X Factor: Celebrity on Instagram: "You saw them at Simon's house, now get the scoop behind these industry legends who our nervous celebs performed for! #XFactorCelebrity…"". Instagram. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  14. Darvill, Josh (12 October 2019). "The X Factor: Celebrity spoilers - first contestants and song choices!". TellyMix. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  15. "The X Factor: Celebrity voting results revealed!". The X Factor: Celebrity. itv.com. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  16. @TheXFactor (26 October 2019). "XCLUSIVE: Tonight's #XFactorCelebrity song lists! 😍 Don't say we don't get you anything nice. Which song are you looking forward to seeing in action tonight? #XFactor" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 October 2019 – via Twitter.
  17. "Excited to say I'll be making a return to @TheXFactor on Saturday night to perform 'Quite Miss Home'. Tune in at 8.30 on @ITV". Twitter. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  18. "'Good As Hell'? We can't think of anything better! The incredible @Lizzo will be performing her hit song live on #XFactorCelebrity this Saturday! 🙌 👌 💁 #XFactor". Twitter. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  19. Kreps, Daniel (1 December 2019). "Watch Pussycat Dolls Reunite for First Performance in Nearly 10 Years". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  20. "Four screen dashboard (see relevant week under – select 7 day data)". BARB. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
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