How girls outshone the X Factor boys: Females topped vote each week but millions switch off

By Simon Neville

Last updated at 8:00 AM on 13th December 2011


This year’s X Factor series proved to be a case of Girl Power reigning supreme.

The programme has released the voting percentages for the entire series, which show that female contestants were consistently more popular than the boys.

Irish teenager Janet Devlin received the most votes in the early weeks with eventual winners Little Mix not surging through until the latter stages of the competition.

X-Factor winners Little Mix (l-r Jade, Jesy, Perrie, Leigh Ann) with judge Tulisa Contoslavos (in centre). Girls outshone the boys in this years program

In 2010, winner Matt Cardle topped the voting throughout the entire series.
But this year, three acts took turns to grab the public’s affections and lead the field.

Miss Devlin, 17, was the bookmakers’ early favourite to win the competition, topping the poll in the first four weeks.


This included securing nearly a quarter of the total votes cast in the first week of voting.

She came second in week six behind the reinstated Amelia Lily, 17, who replaced Frankie Cocozza, 18, after he was axed for boasting of drug-taking.

High performing girls: Janet Devlin, Misha Bryan and Amelia Lily stole the show at this year's X-Factor

But after a string of poor performances, including twice forgetting her words, Miss Devlin slipped back and her position was taken by Little Mix.

Miss Lily’s popularity was also confirmed in the figures, topping the poll twice and being runner-up once, as well as taking third place in the final. the overall runner-up Marcus Collins, 23, never topped the public vote.

His best performance came in week five, when he gained second place.

Misha Bryan, 19, widely thought to have the strongest voice on the show, and who finished fourth, had the most varied set of results.

In week three she came third, but a week later she was bottom of the poll.

In week seven she finished second, only to once again end up last in week eight.

The figures that really matter, however, are the ratings.

The final, which aired live from Wembley Arena in North London on Sunday evening, was down more than four million viewers on the previous year.

Outshone: Marcus Collins (left), 23 never topped the public vote while Franie Cocozza (right), 17, was booted from the show for boasting about drug taking

It had an average audience of 13.1million, according to overnight TV ratings figures. That compared unfavourably to the 17.2million who watched Matt Cardle triumph in the 2010 competition.

Indeed, it was the lowest average audience for the final of the series since 2007, when Leon Jackson won the show.

ITV could at least draw comfort from the series still being the third most successful in The X Factor’s history.

The final helped to boost the series average up to 11million viewers across the 17-week run. It was also the second most watched show on British TV this year, behind only the Royal Wedding in April.

ITV also pointed out that BBC1 rival Strictly Come Dancing had averaged 9.7million viewers this series.

However, Strictly’s finale does not take place until this weekend, which is likely to boost its overall viewing figures substantially.


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