The X Factor (British TV series) series 12

Judges, Presenters and Other Personnel

Simon Cowell returned as a judge for his ninth series, confirmed in March 2015. Louis Walsh stated in April that he wanted to leave the show and return to management, and later confirmed his exit on 14 May after 11 series, saying he was not sacked but not hired. Rumours circulated that Cowell sought fresher faces, with Carly Rae Jepsen mentioned as a possibility; she responded that she would be tempted to judge a singing show if she lived in London.

Former contestants Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik were reportedly approached for full-time judging roles; Tomlinson later served as a guest mentor during Judges' Houses. On 16 June, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini was confirmed to return for her fifth series, alongside new judges Rita Ora (a former guest judge and The Voice UK coach) and Nick Grimshaw, replacing Mel B and Walsh. Dermot O'Leary announced his departure on 27 March after eight series; on 16 April, ITV confirmed Olly Murs and Caroline Flack as the new presenting duo, the first to co-host the show.

Rochelle Humes and Melvin Odoom were confirmed on 18 June as the new hosts of The Xtra Factor. Announcer Peter Dickson left on 28 July and was replaced by Redd Pepper for Judges' Houses, but Dickson returned for the live shows on 30 October.

Selection process

The minimum age for contestants was raised back to 16, after being lowered to 14 the previous series. Judges' auditions were held only in Manchester (EventCity) and London (The SSE Arena, Wembley), rather than nationwide. Originally scheduled to start in Manchester on 6 July, the auditions were postponed by two days following the death of Cowell's mother on 5 July, resuming on 8 July. A new day of auditions on 9 July was added, but Rita Ora and Caroline Flack were absent due to prior commitments, leaving only three judges and Olly Murs hosting solo.

London auditions scheduled for 14 July were cancelled due to the same bereavement. Flack missed filming on 15 July for the Love Island final; Nick Grimshaw left evening sessions early on several dates due to contract rest requirements. Filming was delayed on 20 July after Cheryl Fernandez-Versini burned her foot on hair tongs. Cowell was absent from the first session on 17 July due to illness, and Ora missed filming on 22 July for a gig in Italy.

Live shows

The live shows were reduced to seven weeks instead of the usual ten, due to ITV's contractual obligation to broadcast Rugby World Cup games in October. Bootcamp aired during the World Cup, and the live shows began on 31 October, running every Saturday and Sunday until 13 December. The first four live shows featured double eliminations because of the omission of three live shows and the introduction of a wildcard act. The Xtra Factor moved its Saturday episode to Thursdays starting 29 October, with the Sunday episode unchanged; the Saturday edition returned for the final.

Performance shows aired on Saturday, with results on Sunday. Guest performers included Ben Haenow on 31 October; Little Mix and Ellie Goulding on 1 November; Fleur East and CeeLo Green on 8 November; Jess Glynne and One Direction on 15 November; Rudimental featuring Ed Sheeran on the fourth live show; Nathan Sykes and Olly Murs on 22 November; Carrie Underwood, Sigma and Rita Ora on 29 November; Jason Derulo and Sia on 6 December; duets from Leona Lewis and Ben Haenow, and Little Mix and Fleur East, plus Rod Stewart on 12 December; and One Direction, Coldplay and Adele on 13 December.

Voting percentages in the final do not sum to 100% due to vote freezing; Ché Chesterman received 7.2% of the final vote.

Controversies

Before bootcamp, some contestants who had received three or four 'yes' votes from the judges were emailed by producers that they would not attend bootcamp due to limited places. One contestant said the show was 'playing with people's lives'; a spokesperson said the approach was 'kinder and fairer' than an immediate cull. During the six-seat challenge, contestant Noise complained that his audition was only shown for 47 seconds while others got up to 10 minutes.

Simon Cowell responded, 'You should feel lucky to be on this show. Why don't you shut up?' and called Noise an 'arsehole'. Noise was booed and walked off, later telling the Daily Mirror that Cowell 'lost control' and that something needed to change. On 12 October, Tom Bleasby withdrew from the show, leaving a spare place at judges' houses.

On 15 October, Nick Grimshaw announced that Noise would replace Bleasby. A show source said bosses were aware of the criticism and that the pair were expected to inject fun but had not yet done so. A spokesperson defended them, saying they had been 'great additions' and that the show was happy with them.