The X Factor is a British reality television music competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. Created by Simon Cowell, the show began in 2004 and has since aired annually from August/September until December. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's Thames (previously Talkback Thames) and Cowell's production company Syco TV. It is broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom and simulcast on TV3 in Ireland. The "X Factor" refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality. The series consists of auditions, bootcamp, judges' houses, several weeks of live shows, semi-finals and the final. After the show's success, it then became an international franchise following a similar format. The series has a spin-off behind-the-scenes show called The Xtra Factor, which airs directly after the main show on ITV2.

The original judging panel consisted of Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Cowell. Brian Friedman replaced Walsh in series 4, which also saw Dannii Minogue join the panel. However, Friedman left during the auditions and Walsh returned. Cheryl Cole took the place of Osbourne in series 5. Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa joined the panel in series 8 as replacements for Cowell, Minogue, and Cole. However, Rowland left before series 9 and was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Osbourne returned to the panel in series 10, replacing Tulisa. Cowell and Cole (now Fernandez-Versini) returned to replace Barlow and Osbourne in series 11, while Mel B replaced Scherzinger. In series 12, Mel B and Walsh were replaced by Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw. In series 13, Walsh, Osbourne and Scherzinger returned, replacing Grimshaw, Fernandez-Versini and Ora. The first three series were presented by Kate Thornton, then from the fourth to eleventh series, the show was presented by Dermot O'Leary, he then returned from the thirteenth series. In series 12, the show was presented by Caroline Flack and Olly Murs. Also, in series 10, Flack served as a backstage presenter during the Saturday night live shows. Roman Kemp will begin serving as the digital presenter of the show in series 13. The show is split into different stages, following the contestants from auditions through to the final. In the original televised audition stage of the show, contestants sang in an audition room in front of just the judges, but from the sixth series onwards, auditionees sing on a stage in front of the judges and a live audience. In series 10 and 11, both auditions formats were used. In series 12, the room auditions were scrapped, leaving just the arena auditions. The room auditions were revived in series 13, and no arena auditions followed. Successful auditionees go through to "bootcamp" and then to "judges' houses", where judges narrow down the acts in their category down to three or four acts to mentor for the live shows, where the public vote for their favourite acts following weekly live performances by the contestants.
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