Michael Louis Vincent Walsh is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also served as a judge on television talent competition shows, including Popstars (2001–2002), You're a Star (2003–2004), The X Factor, and Ireland's Got Talent (2018–2019). In 2024, Walsh was a contestant on the twenty-third series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
Abigail Marie Clancy is an English model and television personality. She was the runner-up of Britain's Next Top Model in 2006 and won series 11 of Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. She presented Britain's Next Top Model from 2015 till the show's cancellation in 2017.
The X Factor is a British reality television music competition, created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's British entertainment company, Thames, and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulcast on Virgin Media One in Ireland. The programme ran for around 445 episodes across fifteen series, each one primarily broadcast late in the year, until its final episode in December 2018. The majority of episodes were presented by Dermot O'Leary, with some exceptions: the first three series were hosted by Kate Thornton; while Caroline Flack and Olly Murs hosted the show for the twelfth series.
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed against each other for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and would go on to achieve twenty consecutive top ten hits, four number ones and six top ten albums, two of which reached number one and from that, group member Cheryl would achieve five number-one singles and two number one albums.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The sixth series started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back series. The show was presented by Dermot O'Leary, with spin-off show The Xtra Factor presented by Holly Willoughby on ITV2. McElderry's winner's single was a cover version of Miley Cyrus's "The Climb". Public auditions by aspiring singers began in June 2009 and were held in five cities across the UK. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cole returned as judges. This season was the first to be sponsored by TalkTalk after they took over the sponsorship from The Carphone Warehouse. For the first time, auditions were held in front of a live audience. Following initial auditions, the "bootcamp" stage took place in August 2009, where the number of contestants was narrowed down to 24. The 24 contestants were split into their categories, Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups, and given a judge to mentor them at the "judges' houses" stage and throughout the finals.
Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash is an English television personality and singer. She was a contestant on the sixth series of the ITV singing competition show The X Factor in 2009, which she finished in third place. The following year, Solomon appeared on the tenth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! which she won.
Katie Waissel is an English singer-songwriter who came into the public eye when she was the tenth contestant eliminated in the seventh series of The X Factor. She is also known for being a housemate in Celebrity Big Brother 18, where she finished in eighth place.
The first season of the American version of the music competition show The X Factor began airing on Fox on September 21, 2011.
Ellona Rano Santiago is a Filipino-born American singer from San Lorenzo, California. She was a contestant on American television show The X Factor. In season 1, she was a part of the ten-member group InTENsity mentored by Paula Abdul which were the first contestant eliminated. Santiago returned in season 3, where she was mentored by Demi Lovato and was the eighth contestant eliminated.
Ross Richard "Rylan" Clark is an English broadcaster and media personality. He was a contestant on the ninth series of the television talent show The X Factor in 2012, which he finished in fifth place. The following year, he appeared on the eleventh series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, which he won. Clark went on to present various television shows, including Big Brother's Bit on the Side (2013–2018),This Morning, The Xtra Factor (2016), Up Late with Rylan (2016), Supermarket Sweep (2019–2020), Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two (2019–2022), Ready Steady Cook (2020–2021), and You Are What You Wear (2020).
Union J are an English pop group, consisting of members JJ Hamblett, Jaymi Hensley, George Shelley and Josh Cuthbert. Shelley left the group in 2016 and was replaced by Casey Johnson, who left several months later, Cuthbert left the group in 2018 leaving the band as duo until they disbanded in 2019. The band formed in 2011, originally as a trio known as Triple J, consisting of Cuthbert, Hamblett and Hensley. They auditioned for the ninth series of the British television music competition The X Factor where they met Shelley who joined the band at the judges' request. They were the tenth contestant eliminated and were subsequently signed to Sony Music subsidiary RCA Records. Their debut single "Carry You" was released in June 2013. Their self-titled debut studio album followed in October 2013 and peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The eleventh series began airing on ITV on 30 August 2014 and finished on 14 December 2014. Dermot O'Leary presented his eighth series of the main show on ITV and Sarah-Jane Crawford presented spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, replacing Caroline Flack and Matt Richardson. Louis Walsh was the only judge from series 10 to return and was joined by former judges Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Simon Cowell, and new judge Mel B, who replaced Sharon Osbourne, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger. Former judge Tulisa returned as a guest judge for the final on 13 December due to Mel B being ill. The series also saw the lower age limit decreased from 16 to 14, as it was in series 4 and 5. This was Walsh's final series as a judge before returning in series 13. It was O'Leary's final series as presenter on the main show, as he announced on 27 March 2015 that he was leaving to pursue other projects, before returning in series 13. On 11 May, Crawford also confirmed via Twitter that she would leave her position as The Xtra Factor presenter.
The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract. The seventh season premiered on the Seven Network on 13 September 2015 and concluded on 24 November 2015. Luke Jacobz returned as the host of the show. Dannii Minogue was the only judge from the previous season who returned, while Redfoo, Ronan Keating and Natalie Bassingthwaighte were replaced by former judge Guy Sebastian, as well as new judges James Blunt and Chris Isaak. The winner was Cyrus Villanueva and his winner's single "Stone" was released after the final. He was mentored by Isaak, who won as mentor for the first time.
Andrea Faustini is an Italian singer. He is best known for his role as a contestant on the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014. In 2015, Faustini released his debut studio album, Kelly, which peaked at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart.
Lauren Nicole Platt is an English television presenter, singer and actress. After she was the thirteenth contestant eliminated in the eleventh series of The X Factor, she presented the CBBC talent series Got What It Takes? from 2016 to 2018.
Steven Andrew Ritchie is an English singer, reality television star and actor known for his appearances on The X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother.
Stereo Kicks were an English-Irish boy band who were formed and were the twelfth contestant eliminated on the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014. Stereo Kicks consisted of; James Graham, Jake Sims, Chris Leonard, Charlie Jones, Casey Johnson, Barclay Beales, Reece Bibby, and Tom Mann. Their debut single "Love Me So" was released on 21 June 2015 and charted at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart. Just a month later, however, having been together under a year, they announced they were disbanding due to their failure to land a record deal.
Celebrity Big Brother 16, also known as Celebrity Big Brother: UK vs USA, was the sixteenth series of the British reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, hosted by Emma Willis and narrated by Marcus Bentley. The series launched on 27 August 2015 on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and TV3 in Ireland, and ended after 29 days on 24 September 2015. It is the ninth celebrity series and the fourteenth series of Big Brother overall to air on Channel 5. It was the only celebrity series to credit Denis O'Connor as creative director.
Britain's Next Top Model, often abbreviated as BNTM, BINTM, or Top Model, is a British-Irish reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of Britain's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modelling industry. The first "cycle" premiered on 14 September 2005 on Sky Living.
Celebrity Big Brother 19, also known as Celebrity Big Brother: All-Stars vs. New Stars, was the nineteenth series of the British reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, hosted by Emma Willis and narrated by Marcus Bentley. The series launched on 3 January 2017 and concluded after 32 days on 3 February 2017, making it the joint longest celebrity series to date along with Celebrity Big Brother 17. The series was shown on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and 3e in Ireland. Rylan Clark-Neal continued to present the spin-off show Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side. It was the twelfth celebrity series and eighteenth series of Big Brother overall to air on Channel 5.
