The X Factor: Battle of the Stars is a UK celebrity special edition of The X Factor, which screened on ITV, started on 29 May 2006 and lasting for eight consecutive nights. Pop Idol was meant to air in its place as Celebrity Pop Idol but was stopped shortly before transmission, when ITV picked The X Factor over it.
Nine celebrity acts participated, singing live in front of the nation and facing the judges of the previous The X Factor series, Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Voting revenues were donated to the celebrities' chosen charities.
Cowell originally axed the format after its first airing, describing as "pointless", however, a revamped variation of the format aired in 2019, titled The X Factor: Celebrity with Cowell and Walsh reprising their roles as judges and Nicole Scherzinger replacing Osbourne on the panel as well as Dermot O'Leary taking over from Kate Thornton as host.
Contestants Key: – Winner – Runner-up
Act(s) Age(s) Category (mentor) Known For Result Lucy Benjamin 35 Over 25s (Walsh) Former EastEnders actressWinner Matt Stevens 23 16-24s (Osbourne) Rugby union playerRunner-up Chris Moyles 32 Over 25s (Walsh) Television & radio presenter 3rd place The Chefs 37–50 Groups (Cowell) Celebrity chefs 4th place Nikki Sanderson 22 16-24s (Osbourne) Former Coronation Street actress 5th place James & Rebecca 48 & 28 Groups (Cowell) Former British Army cavalry officer (Hewitt)Media personality & glamour model (Loos) 6th place Michelle Marsh 23 16-24s (Osbourne) Page 3 girl & glamour model 7th place Gillian McKeith 46 Over 25s (Walsh) Nutritionist, author & television presenter 8th place Paul† & Debbie 68 & 47 Groups (Cowell) Magician & television presenter (Daniels)Magician's assistant (McGee) 9th place
Live shows
Results summary Colour key –Contestant was in the bottom two and had to sing again in the final showdown –Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown)
Act Show 1 Show 2 Show 3 Show 4 Show 5 Quarter-Final Semi-Final Final Lucy Benjamin Safe Safe Bottom Two Safe Safe Safe Safe Winner (day 8) Matt Stevens Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Runner-up (day 8) Chris Moyles Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe 3rd Eliminated(day 7) The Chefs Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom Two 4th Eliminated(day 6) Nikki Sanderson Safe Safe Safe Bottom Two Bottom Two Eliminated(day 5) James & Rebecca Safe Safe Safe Bottom Two Eliminated(day 4) Michelle Marsh Safe Bottom Two Bottom Two Eliminated(day 3) Gillian McKeith Bottom Two Bottom Two Eliminated(day 2) Paul & Debbie Bottom Two Eliminated(day 1) Final showdown McKeith,Paul & Debbie McKeith, Marsh Benjamin,Marsh James & Rebecca,Sanderson The Chefs,Sanderson No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone Walsh's vote to eliminate (Over 25s) Paul & Debbie Marsh Marsh James & Rebecca Sanderson Osbourne's vote to eliminate (16-24s) Paul & Debbie McKeith Benjamin James & Rebecca The Chefs Cowell's vote to eliminate (Groups) McKeith McKeith Marsh Sanderson Sanderson Eliminated Paul & Debbie2 of 3 votesMajority Gillian McKeith2 of 3 votesMajority Michelle Marsh2 of 3 votesMajority James & Rebecca2 of 3 votesMajority Nikki Sanderson2 of 3 votesMajority The ChefsPublic voteto save Chris MoylesPublic voteto save Matt StevensPublic voteto win
Live show details
Show 1 (29 May 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the first live showActOrderSongResult Paul & Debbie 1 "Let Me Entertain You" Eliminated Nikki Sanderson 2 "I've Got the Music in Me" Safe Gillian McKeith 3 "I Just Want to Make Love to You" Bottom two The Chefs 4 "Uptown Girl" Safe Matt Stevens 5 "Mack the Knife" Safe Lucy Benjamin 6 "Put Your Records On" Safe James & Rebecca 7 "Addicted to Love" Safe Michelle Marsh 8 "River Deep – Mountain High" Safe Chris Moyles 9 "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Cowell: Gillian McKeith - backed his own act, Paul & Debbie. Walsh: Paul & Debbie - backed his own act, Gillian McKeith. Osbourne: Paul & Debbie - based on the final showdown performance.
Show 2 (30 May 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the second live showActOrderSongResult Chris Moyles 1 "You Really Got Me" Safe Michelle Marsh 2 "Eternal Flame" Bottom two The Chefs 3 "Volare" Safe Lucy Benjamin 4 "Walking on Sunshine" Safe Gillian McKeith 5 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" Eliminated James & Rebecca 6 "Baby, It's Cold Outside" Safe Nikki Sanderson 7 "Emotion" Safe Matt Stevens 8 "Smooth" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Walsh: Michelle Marsh - backed his own act, Gillian McKeith. Osbourne: Gillian McKeith - backed her own act, Michelle Marsh. Cowell: Gillian McKeith - based on the final showdown performance.
Show 3 (31 May 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the third live showActOrderSongResult Lucy Benjamin 1 "Get the Party Started" Bottom two Nikki Sanderson 2 "The Voice Within" Safe Chris Moyles 3 "What a Wonderful World" Safe Michelle Marsh 4 "Ironic" Eliminated The Chefs 5 "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" Safe Matt Stevens 6 "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Safe James & Rebecca 7 "Rock DJ" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Osbourne: Lucy Benjamin - backed her own act, Michelle Marsh. Walsh: Michelle Marsh - backed his own act, Lucy Benjamin. Cowell: Michelle Marsh - based on the final showdown performance.
Show 4 (1 June 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the fourth live showActOrderSongResult Nikki Sanderson 1 "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" Bottom two Chris Moyles 2 "Beautiful Day" Safe James & Rebecca 3 "The Way You Make Me Feel" Eliminated Matt Stevens 4 "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" Safe Lucy Benjamin 5 "See the Day" (Girls Aloud) Safe The Chefs 6 "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Cowell: Nikki Sanderson - backed his own act, James & Rebecca. Osbourne: James & Rebecca - backed her own act, Nikki Sanderson Walsh: James & Rebecca - based on the final showdown performance.
Show 5 (2 June 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the fifth live showActOrderFirst SongOrderSecond songResult The Chefs 1 "Get Back" 6 "That's Amore" Bottom two Nikki Sanderson 2 "Run to You" 7 "Shackles (Praise You)" Eliminated Chris Moyles 3 "Achilles Heel" 8 "Avenues and Alleyways" Safe Lucy Benjamin 4 "Call Me" 9 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Safe Matt Stevens 5 "Nobody Knows" 10 "Piano Man" Safe Judges' votes to eliminate Osbourne: The Chefs - backed her own act, Nikki Sanderson. Cowell: Nikki Sanderson - backed his own act, The Chefs. Walsh: Nikki Sanderson - based on the final showdown performance.
Show 6: Quarter-final (3 June 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the sixth live showActOrderFirst SongOrderSecond songResult Matt Stevens 1 "Moondance" 5 "Desperado" Safe The Chefs 2 "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" 6 "Livin' la Vida Loca" Eliminated Chris Moyles 3 "That's My Goal" 7 "Burning Love" Safe Lucy Benjamin 4 "If I Ain't Got You" 8 "Maybe" Safe
For the first time in the series, there was no bottom two. The act with the fewest votes was eliminated.
Show 7: Semi-final (4 June 2006)
+ Contestants' performances on the seventh live showActOrderFirst SongOrderSecond songResult Chris Moyles 1 "Hard To Handle" 4 "Wonderwall" Eliminated Lucy Benjamin 2 "That Ole Devil Called Love" 5 "Torn" Safe Matt Stevens 3 "I Got A Woman" 6 "She's The One" Safe
For the second time in the series, there was no bottom two. The act with the fewest votes was eliminated.
Show 8: Final (5 June 2006)
All the contestants appeared to perform "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" and Shayne Ward performed "Stand by Me". ActOrderFirst songOrderSecond songResultMatt Stevens1"Theme from New York, New York"3"Mack The Knife"Runner-UpLucy Benjamin2"Last Dance"4"See The Day"Winner
Reception Ratings All ratings are taken from the UK Programme Ratings website, BARB.BARB Official Site
Episode Air date Official rating (millions) Weekly rank for all UK TV channels Live show 1 5.79 24 Live show 2 4.42 40 Live show 3 6.07 21 Live show 4 5.89 23 Live show 5 5.57 28 Live quarter-final 5.35 31 Live semi-final 6.31 19 Live final 6.62 14 Series average 2006 5.75
Axing and revival
It was reported on 26 August 2006 that Cowell had axed the show, describing it as "pointless" and adding "we are never going to do it again." However, Cowell later stated in an interview with The Sun on 30 November 2018 that he would consider reviving the show for a second series as a charity special.
The show's format was reported to return in 2019, along with a separate series for former contestants with a similar format, as the regular series is being put on hiatus due to declining ratings. On 7 July 2019, Walsh spoke about the return of the series, stating, "I go to Los Angeles on Tuesday, I go to Simon's house in Malibu, it's me Simon and Nicole [Scherzinger] and we're doing the celebrity one."
References