So with the announcement that The XFacfor is changing it’s line up again, it made me go back to the old clips of the previous series. Then I stumbled onto what I believe the golden year of X Factor 2009, okay you have your One Direction, JLS, Shayne Ward series and of course the recent years but the auditions, the judges and the contestants I believe were the best in 2009. Let’s do a recap:

This was the first series in which the audience were there in the “first” auditions, they were there to be the 5th judge and boy did they judge – they booed, cheered, sang along and told people to get off! Their opinion was very valid as we are the buying public and no matter how big Simon Cowell’s shoes are the public are who he works for, if we don’t like the artist no matter how hard he tries we won’t like them.

After having a search on youtube I noticed that there were 4 auditions which absolutely stood out for me, the main one being Jamie Archer, singing Sex on Fire. This audition showed the producers that the audience are key to gaining a reaction, if you haven’t seen it watch it. He gets the judges singing along, the audience and it just did not feel like an audition at all.

Unfortunately Jamie did not make it to the final, I believe that the song choices for him were not strong enough which unfortunately let him down in the end.

We haven’t heard much from Jamie since leaving the show but I am sure that he is still rocking out.

Other auditions that I love is of course Mr Olly Murs – imagine if back in he did not attend the auditon he would not be where he is now. I can’t imagine not hearing an Olly Murs track now or seeing what cheeky things he’s up to on Instagram.

Here he is performing “Fool in Love”. He oozed personality, his quirky dance moves, how he flirted with the judges and was just a star. Olly had the big productions through the live shows, remember watch out for the bulge 😉 haha! As well as that his performances were memorable, they were cheeky just like him! He is now one of the biggest stars to come out of the X Factor. He even went on to present it (but we won’t go there). Go Olly!

Another that I remember is Danyl Johnson – full of charisma, tricks, his voice is just wow and he is gorgeous to look at as well. He was a total surprise, the audience loved him and of course the judges did too, with Simon saying that it was his favourite first ever audition.

I personally loved him all throughout the show, his performances were just amazing especially his man in the mirror, but unfortunately he became piggy in the middle between the judges bickering and the media and the public turned against him. Watch his amazing audition which trended back then.

Stacey Soloman, talk about shock factor. A proper Essex girl with the accent, the style and everyone thought that this was a closed book – a kinda Susan Boyle/Paul Potts case but by god did she shock everyone. She went onto the final to perform with Michael Buble in one of the best duets and is now fully loved by the general public.

The judges I believe were the best line up, of course you have the mastermind of the job Simon Cowell with his wittyness, power and his lego hair – Cheryl Cole always beautiful went onto be the first judge to win 2 years in a row with *spoiler alert* Joe McElderry winning series 6 (still think Olly should have won) and she’s one of the only few who can argue with Simon. Danni Minogue is one of the my favourite judges – honest, beautiful, funny and caring and finally Louis Walsh… always there haha.

There was no catiness, no egos… well compared to now.

The show this year felt more like a family show, the contestants were all “mainly” liked. The Xtra Factor allowed for fans to learn more about the contestants to go into their homes, to interact with them online more than they do now I believe.

I am not too sure whether it was because they contestants were not fame hungry like you see now, or were more down to earth people, more likeable than other years but it seemed that these were the cream of the crop. And let’s not forget… 2009 brought us……… JEDWARD.

The terrible cheeky twosome made everyone talk about this show, from Ghostbusters to Ice Ice Baby their performances were big, funny and entertaining and the show would not be the show without them.

Take a look at their rendition of Britney Spears’ song “Oops I did it again”.

They went on to represent Ireland twice in the Eurovisionsong contest!! If you are interested in Jedward and what antics they have been up to since Xfactor have a little read of Essentially Pop’s Jedward post.

Other contestants:

Finally the other contestants that I remember were:

• Miss Frank
• Lucie Jones – (who went on to represent the UK at Eurovision)
• Lloyd Daniels
• Kandy Rain
• Rikki Loney

And finally – 2009 would not be complete with Peter Dickson’s favourite ever announcing name:

RACHEL ADEDEJI!!

Haha listen to Peter Dickson’s famous Rachel entrances.

I hope that you look at these videos and remember 2009, what was your favourite year of the X Factor, are there any hidden gems that you remember?