The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The fifth series was broadcast on ITV from 16 August 2008 until 13 December 2008. Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main show on ITV, while Fearne Cotton was replaced by Holly Willoughby as presenter of spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Dannii Minogue returned to the judging panel. Sharon Osbourne left after four series and was replaced by Cheryl Cole. The series was won by Alexandra Burke, with Cole emerging as the winning mentor. Auditions in front of producers were held in April and May, with callbacks in front of the judges in June. The number of applicants for series 5 reached an all-time high with a reported 182,000 people auditioning. A number of well-established music acts from around the world, such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Take That, Il Divo, and series 3 winner Leona Lewis, performed during the live stages of the show.

Burke's prize, as winner, was a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music (a subsidiary of Sony BMG). Her debut single, "Hallelujah", written by Leonard Cohen, was released for digital download on 14 December 2008, with the physical format following on 17 December. It was later announced that her single had become the fastest-selling X Factor single at that time.

It was during auditions for the fifth series of the show that viewers were introduced to two teenagers: 15-year-old Jade Thirlwall, who would form one quarter of the winning act of series eight, Little Mix, and 14-year-old Liam Payne, who would become a member of boy band One Direction, formed in the seventh series.

Judges, Presenters and Other Personnel

In February 2008, it was reported that Sharon Osbourne would not return as a judge for the fifth series. On 6 June, six days before filming was due to begin at the London auditions, ITV announced Osbourne's departure from the show. Media speculation over the reasons for Osbourne's departure alluded to rising tensions between her and fellow judge Dannii Minogue, as well as disputes over pay. When interviewed by Chris Moyles on BBC Radio 1, Osbourne said that it was "the best four years of [her] life" but felt that it was "time to move on."

On 10 June 2008, after Osbourne's departure, ITV confirmed that Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole was the new judge and Osbourne's replacement for series 5. Minogue praised the new judge, saying, "She's very knowledgeable about music and I think she's going to bring a new side to the show." Cowell is reported by Minogue to feel that Cole's voiced opinions are something "which he loves".

Dermot O'Leary returned to present the main ITV show, choosing to leave other projects, including his ongoing role as the host of Big Brother's Little Brother, to concentrate on The X Factor. The Xtra Factor presenter Fearne Cotton left after series 4, having presented for only one series, to be replaced by Holly Willoughby. Brian Friedman returned as choreographer and performance coach (billed as "Creative Director"), along with Yvie Burnett as vocal coach.

Selection process

Auditions

A reported "record-breaking" 182,000 applied for series 5, with filming for auditions in front of judges taking place in June/July 2008. Auditions were held in the cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow.

Due to her filming commitments with Australia's Got Talent, Minogue was absent from some of the auditions in Birmingham and Cardiff but was not replaced.

Bootcamp As in series 4, all four judges worked together at the bootcamp stage of the competition. This took place at indigO2 at The O2 in Greenwich, London on 4 August 2008, and was televised in two episodes on 27 and 28 September 2008. Contestants are said to have stayed in a nearby hotel in Blackheath.

During bootcamp, around 150 acts were whittled down to 24 who advanced to the next round, six in each category. After completion of bootcamp, the judges were told the category that they were to mentor. Cowell was given the Boys, Walsh the Groups, Minogue the Over 25s, and Cole the Girls.

Judges' houses This round was filmed in late August and early September and was broadcast over two shows on 4 and 5 October. As in previous years, the judges welcomed the six acts from their selected category to their "homes". Each act had one chance to impress their mentor who, along with a guest judge, had the task of selecting which three acts were to go through to the live shows and which three would be eliminated. For her guest judge, Minogue chose former Spice Girls member and Emma Bunton, Cole chose her fellow Girls Aloud member Kimberly Walsh, Cowell chose singer Sinitta, and Walsh chose Shane Filan from Westlife.

Judges Houses Performances Act in bold advanced Boys: Eoghan: "Father and Son" Liam: "A Million Love Songs" Mali: "All in Love Is Fair" Austin: "She's Out of My Life" Scott: "I Can't Make You Love Me" Alan: "All or Nothing"

Over 25s: Daniel: "Against All Odds" Ruth: "True Colors" Louise: "I Say a Little Prayer" James: "Mr. Bojangles" Suzie: "One Day I'll Fly Away" Rachel: "Beautiful"

Groups: 4Instinct: "Rockin' Robin" Girlband: "Valerie" JLS: "No Air" Priority: "Umbrella" Bad Lashes: "Wonderwall" Desire: "Shine"

Girls: Diana: "Nothing Compares 2 U" Amy: "Sweet About Me" Hannah: "Piece of My Heart" Laura: "Cry Me a River" Annastasia: "Oh Baby I..." Alexandra: "Listen"

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |+Summary of judges' houses |- ! Judge ! Category ! Location ! Assistant ! Acts Eliminated |- !scope="row"| Cole | Girls | Cannes | Kimberley Walsh | Annastasia Baker, Hannah Bradbeer, Amy Connelly |- !scope="row"| Cowell | Boys | Barbados | Sinitta | Mali-Michael McCalla, Liam Payne, Alan Turner |- !scope="row"| Minogue | Over 25s | Saint-Tropez | Emma Bunton | Suzie Furlonger, Louise Heatley, James Williams |- !scope="row"| Walsh | Groups | Castle Leslie, Ireland | Shane Filan | 4Instinct, Desire, Priority

Acts

Key: – Winner – Runner-Up

ActAge(s)HometownCategory (mentor)ResultAlexandra Burke20LondonGirls (Cole)WinnerJLS20–23London and PeterboroughGroups (Walsh)Runner-upEoghan Quigg16Dungiven, Northern IrelandBoys (Cowell)3rd placeDiana Vickers17AccringtonGirls (Cole)4th placeRuth Lorenzo26Murcia, SpainOver 25s (Minogue)5th placeRachel Hylton27London6th placeDaniel Evans39Leyton7th placeLaura White21Atherton, Greater ManchesterGirls (Cole)8th placeAustin Drage22Grays, EssexBoys (Cowell)9th placeScott Bruton19Manchester10th placeGirlband18–22VariousGroups (Walsh)11th placeBad Lashes19–2412th place

Live shows The live shows began on 11 October 2008 and continued through to the finale on 13 December 2008. An added twist for this series, confirmed on the first live show, was that acts in the bottom-two showdown sang a new song of their own choosing, rather than repeating the song they performed in the first part of the show.

Musical guests Leon Jackson performed on the first live show, promoting his second single "Don't Call This Love". Girls Aloud performed their new single "The Promise" on the second show on 18 October. Will Young performed his new song "Grace" on 1 November. Mariah Carey appeared on 8 November and performed her new single "I Stay in Love", plus a special version of "Hero" with 11 of the finalists (Diana Vickers was ill with laryngitis so could not perform). Leona Lewis appeared the week after and performed her new single "Run". Take That performed on 22 November show, as did series 4 contestant Same Difference, who performed their debut single, and series 4 runner-up Rhydian Roberts, who sang a track from his debut album. On 29 November show, in the main programme Miley Cyrus performed her single "7 Things", whereas Britney Spears performed her new single "Womanizer" during the result show. On 6 December show, Il Divo sung their latest single "Amazing Grace" from their new album.

Boyzone, Westlife, and Beyoncé were guests on the final show where they duetted with the finalists, with Knowles performing "Listen" with Alexandra Burke. Beyoncé also performed "If I Were a Boy" in the final result show.

Results summary Colour key Act in Boys

Act in Girls

Act in Over 25s

Act in Groups  –Act was in the bottom two and had to sing again in the final showdown –Act received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) –Act received the most public votes –Act was given a bye and automatically advanced to the following week

+Weekly results per actAct Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Quarter-Final Semi-Final Final First Vote Second Vote Alexandra Burke6th7.20%7th7.15%6th8.83%6th8.82% 2nd18.35%4th13.31%4th14.97% 1st24.53%2nd31.04% 1st44.02% Winner58.34% JLS 7th5.03% 3rd 9.21%4th10.81% 2nd 17.00% 4th13.26% 5th9.91% 5th11.75% 2nd24.34% 1st35.03% 2nd30.65%Runner-Up41.66% Eoghan Quigg 1st21.19%1st26.77% 1st20.73% 1st19.81% 1st27.39% 2nd19.56% 1st31.79% 3rd19.58% 3rd21.14% 3rd25.33% Eliminated(final) Diana Vickers 4th7.35% 2nd16.24% 2nd15.13% 3rd15.24%Bye Week 1st31.30% 2nd18.94% 4th16.32% 4th12.79% Eliminated(semi-final) Ruth Lorenzo 10th3.47% 10th2.95% 5th8.93% 5th10.25% 7th 6.94%3rd13.91% 3rd16.07% 5th15.23% Eliminated(quarter-final) Rachel Hylton 8th4.77% 8th5.01% 3rd12.21% 9th 3.81% 5th10.39% 7th4.48% 6th6.48% Eliminated(week 7) Daniel Evans 5th7.21% 6th8.23% 9th5.94% 4th10.83% 3rd13.77% 6th7.53% Eliminated(week 6) Laura White3rd16.99% 4th8.99% 7th7.53% 7th7.38% 6th9.90% Eliminated(week 5) Austin Drage 9th3.63% 5th8.98% 8th6.22% 8th6.86% Eliminated(week 4) Scott Bruton2nd19.48%9th4.17% 10th3.67% Eliminated(week 3) Girlband 11th2.17% 11th2.30% Eliminated(week 2) Bad Lashes 12th 1.51% Eliminated(week 1) Final Showdown Bad Lashes,Girlband Girlband,Lorenzo Bruton,Evans Drage,Hylton Lorenzo,White Evans,Hylton Hylton,JLS No final showdown or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone Walsh's vote to eliminate (Groups) Bad Lashes Lorenzo Bruton Drage White Evans Hylton Minogue's vote to eliminate (Over 25s) Girlband Girlband Bruton Drage White N/A JLS Cole's vote to eliminate (Girls) Girlband Girlband Bruton Drage Lorenzo Evans Hylton Cowell's vote to eliminate (Boys) Bad Lashes Lorenzo Evans Hylton White Evans Hylton Eliminated Bad Lashes2 of 4 votes Deadlock Girlband2 of 4 votes Deadlock Scott Bruton3 of 4 votes Majority Austin Drage3 of 4 votes Majority Laura White3 of 4 votesMajority Daniel Evans3 of 3 votesMajority Rachel Hylton3 of 4 votesMajority Ruth Lorenzo15.23%to save Diana Vickers12.79%to save Eoghan Quigg25.33%to save JLS41.66%to win

The total number of votes cast for the entire series was 16,469,064.

Due to illness, Diana Vickers did not perform during week 5 and automatically advanced to week 6. Minogue was not required to vote as there was already a majority.

Live show details

Week 1 (11 October) Theme: UK or USA number-one singles Musical guest: Leon Jackson ("Don't Call This Love") Best bits song: "Never Had a Dream Come True"

+ Acts' performances on the first live show Act Category (mentor) Order Song Country Result Girlband Groups (Walsh) 1 "Venus" Bottom Two Austin Drage Boys (Cowell) 2 "Every Breath You Take" Safe Daniel Evans Over 25s (Minogue) 3 "I Want to Know What Love Is" Alexandra Burke Girls (Cole) 4 "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" JLS Groups (Walsh) 5 "I'll Make Love to You" Scott Bruton Boys (Cowell) 6 "Yeh Yeh" Rachel Hylton Over 25s (Minogue) 7 "With Every Heartbeat" Diana Vickers Girls (Cole) 8 "With or Without You" Bad Lashes Groups (Walsh) 9 "It Must Have Been Love" Bottom Two Eoghan Quigg Boys (Cowell) 10 "Imagine" Safe (Highest Votes) Ruth Lorenzo Over 25s (Minogue) 11 "Take My Breath Away" Safe Laura White Girls (Cole) 12 "Fallin'" Final showdown details Girlband Groups (Walsh) 1 "That's What Friends Are For" Saved Bad Lashes Groups (Walsh) 2 "Wonderwall" Eliminated Judges' votes to eliminate