The X Factor.com

Thanks for visiting The X Factor.com. Your unofficial one-stop blog, super fan-site and watch dog for everything about The X Factor television show starring The X Factor Judge and The X Factor series creator Simon Cowell.

TheXFactor.com is a fan driven commentary covering the latest gripes and predictions, The X Factor auditions, winners, news, video, The X Factor photos, judges and contestants.

The X Factor.com is not affiliated with ITV, FOX, Freemantle or Syco.

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About The X Factor TV Show

The X Factor is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Cowell and produced by SYCOtv. Its first airdate was in the United Kingdom in September 2004 on ITV. The first airdate in the US was September 21, 2011 on Fox television.

TheXFactor competition is for solo artists and groups and has no age limit. Each judge is assigned one of four categories—girls12 to 30 years old, boys 12 to 30 years old, individuals over 30 years old, or pop groups (some made up of rejected soloists after the audition process).

The judges become mentors to singers in the competition categories. Their role is to also help their artists to decide song choices, wardrobe styling, and judge artist’s performances. Judges also compete with their teams to ensure that their act wins the competition, which will make them the winning judge. The winning singer or group stands to receive a $5 million recording contract with Epic Records with Syco Music in association with Sony Music Entertainment. A press release on behalf of the show called the recording contract "the largest guaranteed prize in television history." In contrast, the UK version of the show, where a portion of the $1.6 million prize is used to pay for recording and marketing costs of the winning – these will be paid separately from the $5 million contract payment on the U.S. show, to be paid over five annual installments of $1 million.

The judges for the America version of TheXFactor are Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul, and Nicole Scherzinger. The host of the X Factor is Welsh male model turned television personality Steve Jones. Cheryl Cole was previously on contract to judge the US version of theXFactor but was subsequently dropped by Simon Cowell and the show runners at Fox because it was thought the American public could not understand her regional British accent. Apparently Steve Jones’s Welsh accent is easier to understand than Cheryl Cole’s accent hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. – go figure…

The X Factor AUDITIONS

The X factor is a reality TV show in the music niche, where contestants are chosen from hundreds of thousands whom audition in cities around the country. Winners are chosen through popular vote casted by telephone and Internet submissions and decided by producers and judges. Current judges for theXfactor UK are Simon Cowell, Cheryl Tweedy Cole, Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh. Past judges included Sharon Osbourne.

The X Factor show is open to solo artists and vocal groups aged 12 and older. The audition episodes television ratings have proven to be the most popular part of the show.

Successful contestants from the auditions are taken through a series of performances at "bootcamp", and then eliminated at the "judges' houses", until a small number progress to the live finals.

The judges choose 24 acts (six acts from each category) for the next round. The judges are each given a category to mentor.

The finals consist of a series of two live shows, the first featuring the contestants' performances and the second showing the public voting, resulting in one or more acts being kicked off the tv show. Celebrity performers also guest feature on each episode.

The winner of  competition is given a music-recording contract worth $5 million dollars, with Syco Music and Sony Music Entertainment. A press release from theXFactor TV show called the recording contract "the largest guaranteed prize in television history." In contrast, the winner of the UK version of the show has to use a portion of the $1.6 million prize money to pay for the costs of recording and marketing. Stay in touch with all things about The X Factor here!