List of The X Factor finalists (UK series 2)

The second UK series of The X Factor ran from 20 August 2005 to 17 December 2005 with the same judges from the first series: Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. The series attracted 75,000 people to auditions.^{[citation needed]} Shayne Ward, mentored by Walsh, was declared the winner.

Cowell's Syco label released three albums by Ward, in 2006, 2007, and 2010; Ward was dropped by the label in 2011.

16–24s

Walsh was in charge of the 16–24s for this series.

Nicholas Dorsett

Nicholas Dorsett (born 27 May 1987) is from Enfield, London. He began singing as a child, but did not take it seriously until his teenage years, and joined an R&B group called Fumin Man Dem. He had also won a singing contest organised by Choice FM. Upon completing his A-Levels, Dorsett auditioned for the X Factor and was an early favourite alongside eventual winner Shayne Ward. However, in Week Six, he was eliminated after judge Osbourne, who held the casting vote that week, backed The Conway Sisters.

Following his departure from the show, Dorsett, now known as Nick D, has performed as a singer at Butlins, and released EP No Help or Handouts which include the singles "T.R.U.S.T" and "It's Alright".^{[citation needed]}

Phillip Magee

Phillip Joseph Magee (born 22 April 1984) is a Northern Irish former student of Queen's University. The Larne native was one of two Irish acts in the series and survived two weeks before being voted off by judge Cowell, who described his performance of "Johnny B Goode" as "Shakin' Stevens at a wedding". During his tenure as a contestant, his mother was rushed to hospital following an asthma attack; the news was concealed from him until his departure.

Magee, who later dropped out of University to pursue a career in music, has since told an interviewer: "I got very down, drank a lot and let myself go." He was also in the news after his brothers Paul and David committed suicide in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

Philip's family were featured on Episode 5, Season 10 the TV Show 'Airline' (Airline UK) which catalogued their attempts to fly with EasyJet to England to see him appear in one of his three shows.

Shayne Ward

Main article: Shayne Ward

Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) was a Mancunian shop assistant who had previously reached the final thirty of Popstars: The Rivals.In 2005, he impressed the X Factor judges and became the bookmakers' favourite to win the show. After reaching the final, he defeated Journey South and Andy Abraham, and was named as the winner . He had not fallen into the bottom two throughout the entire competition, and won by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reported 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers.

Ward's first single "That's My Goal" became the Christmas single of 2005, and remains the only original winner's song to date. After his third album failed to reach the Top Ten, he was duly dropped by Syco Music.

Chenai Zinyuku

Chenai Zinyuku (born 1 June 1986) is of Zimbabwean and English descent and lives in Bradford. She had competed in the first series of X Factor where she was placed in Osbourne's 16-24 category, but was sent home during the bootcamp stage. She tried again the following year with more success but was eliminated in Week 4.

Zinyuku has since signed a record deal and recorded a single with dance act Lockout

Over 25s

Osbourne looking after the Over-25s

Andy Abraham

Main article: Andy Abraham

Andrew 'Andy' Abraham (born 16 July 1964, London) is a former refuse collector. Prior to this he worked as a bus driver for Arriva London. Abraham, who is of Grenadian descent, was narrowly beaten to the top spot on The X Factor by Shayne Ward by 1.2% of the national public vote.

Abraham has since released four albums, including his debut The Impossible Dream which reached #2 in the British album charts. In 2008, he represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest where he placed last out of twenty five countries.

Brenda Edwards

Main article: Brenda Edwards

Brenda Edwards is a former accounts manager and mother-of-two from Luton who quickly became popular with the audience due to her vocals and personality. Before competing in the X Factor, she had sung in pentecostal choirs and had unsuccessfully attempted to land a record deal.

Edwards is now a West End actress, and has starred in several productions including Carmen Jones, We Will Rock You, and most notably Chicago. In 2007, she was named Favourite Reality Star at the Screen Nation awards.

Maria Lawson

Main article: Maria Lawson (singer)

In 2004, Lawson auditioned for the first series of The X Factor, but she was rejected by judge Simon Cowell after reaching the "Bootcamp" rounds. In 2005 she auditioned for the second series of the show.

Once she came face to face with the judges at her audition for the second series, Cowell immediately remembered her from the previous series and told her he had made a mistake in not putting her through to the live shows. Her rendition of "Stop" was good enough for her to be put through to the next stage with Sharon Osbourne as her mentor. After successful performances at Bootcamp and at the Osbourne household in Los Angeles, Lawson was given a chance to sing in the live stages of the show as part of Osbourne's final four. At the beginning of the live shows Lawson was hotly tipped to take the title, and performances of "Piece of My Heart" and "You're Beautiful" made her one of the solid favourites to win. In fact, she was the bookmakers' favourite from the start of the live stages until she was eliminated from the show.^{[citation needed]}

Chico

Main article: Chico Slimani

Yousseph "Chico" Slimani (born 2 April 1971) is a Welsh singer of Moroccan descent who had previously worked as a goat herder and stripper. His X Factor audition is notable as judge Cowell walked out in disgust after fellow judges Walsh and Osbourne voted him through to the second round. Slimani quickly became one of the competition's most controversial contestants due top his questionable vocal ability, but managed to remain in the contest until the quarter finals when he was voted out. To date he remains the only contestant to perform an original song - "It's Chico Time". He planned to release it as a single for Christmas; this was postponed for contractual reasons until February 2006 when it entered the UK Singles Chart at #1.

Slimani is still in the music business, and in 2008 he appeared in the reality TV show CelebAir in which he placed third. He also participated in the seventh series of Dancing on Ice in 2011.

Groups

Cowell was in charge of groups.

4Tune

4Tune, Eliminated Week 2, X-Factor 2005

Songs:

I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys (Week One) "I’ll Be There" by The Jackson Five (Week Two)

Addictiv Ladies

Addictiv Ladies were the first act to be eliminated from the competition, and consisted of A Level students and childhood friends Fleur East, Nicola Owusu-Arontoh, Stephanie Yamson and Vivienne Umeh. Before competing in The X Factor, the London-based quartet had taken part in other talent shows including "London Battle of the Boroughs" in which they placed third Following their departure from the show, Addictiv Ladies complained that Walsh, who held the casting vote that week, had voted against them in order to spite Cowell.

The group have since disbanded. East is currently pursuing a modelling career while Yamson is an actress.

The Conway Sisters

Main article: The Conway Sisters

The Conway Sisters consisted of Irish siblings Laura, Marie, Sharon and Sinead, who were all born and raised in Sligo. Prior to auditioning for the X Factor they had released a number of singles in Ireland with limited success. Despite lead singer Marie's impressive vocals, The Conways failed to make an impression with viewers. In week 5 of The X Factor knockout stages, they found themselves in the bottom-two with crowd favourite Maria Lawson. The latter was voted off by Louis Walsh who held the casting vote that week, prompting booing from the studio audience and fellow judge Sharon Osbourne to claim that "he voted with his passport" - referring to the fact that both Walsh and the Conway Sisters were Irish. The decision provoked controversy in the UK media, especially when it was revealed that Walsh had known the Conways personally prior to the competition.

Following their nomination for expulsion and the generally negative comments of their mentor, Simon Cowell, The Conways worked for the next episode of the show without the guidance of Cowell, who persisted with negative comments for the rest of their tenure. They were eliminated in week 7 after Cowell voted against them – the first and so far only time that an X Factor mentor had voted off their own act, when not forced to do so (both acts in the bottom two are from the same mentor/category.) Upon their dismissal from the competition, the group claimed that Walsh had been their true mentor.

The Conway Sisters have since broken up, with Laura attempting to pursue a solo career.

Journey South

Main article: Journey South

Journey South are an English singing duo, consisting of brothers Andy and Carl Pemberton. They are originally from Middlesbrough, Teesside, and performed in pubs and clubs throughout the United Kingdom for over eight years, prior to auditioning for The X Factor. The duo ended the competition in third place. They have stated that Bon Jovi, U2 and Mary J. Blige have been influences for their work.^{[citation needed]}