<P> The original judging panel consisted of Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Cowell . In 2005, Paula Abdul joined the show as a guest judge whilst Osbourne was away then joined the panel in 2006 for three sets of auditions . Brian Friedman briefly replaced Walsh in the fourth series, which also saw Dannii Minogue join the panel . Friedman left during the auditions, and Walsh replaced Friedman . Cheryl Tweedy replaced Osbourne in the fifth series . Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa joined the panel in the eighth series as replacements for Cowell, Minogue and Cheryl . Rowland left before the ninth series and was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger . Osbourne returned to the panel in the tenth series, replacing Tulisa . Cowell and Tweedy (later Fernandez - Versini) returned to replace Barlow and Osbourne in eleventh series, while Mel B replaced Scherzinger . In the twelfth series, Mel B and Walsh were replaced by Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw . For the thirteenth and fourteenth series, Walsh, Osbourne and Scherzinger returned, replacing Grimshaw, Cheryl and Ora . Following the conclusion of the latter series, Walsh and Scherzinger quit after thirteen and four years respectively, as a judge, and Osbourne announced she would only return for the live shows, becoming the series' first - ever fifth judge . Louis Tomlinson, Ayda Field and Robbie Williams will join Cowell for the upcoming fifteenth series . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> There have been 14 winners of the show to date: Steve Brookstein, Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson, Alexandra Burke, Joe McElderry, Matt Cardle, Little Mix, James Arthur, Sam Bailey, Ben Haenow, Louisa Johnson, Matt Terry and Rak - Su . Winners receive a recording contract with record label Syco Music with a stated value of £ 1 million . This includes a cash payment to the winner, but the majority is allocated to marketing and recording costs . From 2004 to 2010, and again in 2013 and 2014, the winning contestant's single was released in time for the end - of - year chart battle for the UK's Christmas number one, (from 2004 to 2009 then again from 2010 to 2014, the winners single have reached number one). As of November 2016, 41 number - one singles have been achieved by artists who have appeared on the show, such as Lewis, Burke, JLS, Diana Vickers, Olly Murs, Cher Lloyd, One Direction, Little Mix, Arthur and Ella Henderson . </P> <P> The show is the originator of the international The X Factor franchise . A prominent show in British popular culture, The X Factor has proved hugely popular with the public . The sixth series attracted 200,000 auditionees and peaked at 19.7 million UK viewers (a 63.2% audience share). More than 10 million votes were cast in the sixth series final . </P>

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