<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> ◀ </Li> <Li> 2009 </Li> <Li> ▶ </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> ◀ </Li> <Li> 2009 </Li> <Li> ▶ </Li> </Ul> <P> 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, 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 . </P> <P> During "judges' houses", the 24 acts were reduced to twelve, who went on to the live finals, with one act being eliminated each week by a combination of public vote and judges' decision until a winner was found . The live shows started on 10 October 2009 . The acts performed every Saturday night with the results announced on Sundays . This was change of format from previous series in which the results were announced later on the Saturday evening . </P>

Who won the x factor 2009 in england