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Months of auditions, weeks of bootcamps and days of deliberation.

Finally, 100,000 wannabes have been whittled down to just 12 acts who will be battling it out in the tense, live shows.

The X Factor finalists are -

16-24s (mentor - Simon Cowell)
Ashley
Leonna
Nikitta
Ray


The Groups (mentor - Louis Walsh)
4Sure
Eton Road
The MacDonald Brothers
The Unconventionals

Over 25s (mentor - Sharon Osbourne)
Ben
Dionne
Kerry
Robert

Tune into for the first in the live shows - Saturday 14th October
ITV

X FACTOR: Bootcamp stars ‘already signed’
2 MORE RINGERS ON

TELLY talent show X Factor was plunged into further chaos last night after TWO more of its contestants were accused of having management deals.

Boyband Eton Road and singer Ray Quinn were in danger of being kicked out after a link with a Liverpool agent was discovered.

If they are already under contract both acts—who made the final 12 yesterday—are in serious breach of show rules.

The shocking news comes just hours after five-piece band Avenue were AXED for the same reason.

NewsoftheWorld

8 October 2006
FINALS JOY FOR 12 ACTS
By Daniel Thomas

THESE are the 12 acts that have won their way through to The X Factor final, it was revealed last night.

People

8 October 2006
I'LL NIK IT FOR MUM
ALL THE X FACTOR EXCLUSIVES Nikitta TV triumph has fulfilled her mum's wish on deathbed
By Louise Ford

BRAVE Nikitta Angus fulfilled her mother's dying wish last night by making it into the X Factor finals.

Nikitta, 17, is now determined to win the hit TV show in memory of her mum Linda, who lost her battle with breast cancer last year.

SundayMirror

HOT OFF THE PRESS! Lionel Richie On The X Factor

entertainmentwise

COWELL 'SNUBS HIS X FACTOR ACTS'


SIMON Cowell has neglected his X Factor acts since picking them three weeks ago for the show's final, the young stars claimed yesterday.

The four contestants he is meant to be mentoring have little time until they sing live in a public vote for the first time on Saturday.

But they said he has not given any advice since putting them through at his Miami home last month.



Leona Lewis, 21, said: "The last time we saw Simon was in Miami, we haven't seen him for three weeks."

Ashley McKenzie, 20, added: "I've seen him in the paper. He's a very busy man."

Cowell has stayed in the US since the final audition of his under-25s.

At the same time, Cowell's fellow judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne have showered their acts with presents and posh dinners.

All contestants have been living in a house in North London under strict rules and curfews.

With no contact from their mentor, Cowell's group had to watch in envy as Sharon's over-25 contestants were driven off to be wined and dined at her Buckinghamshire home.

Rocker Ben Mills, 26, said: "I think they were jealous. It came at a stage we all really wanted to get out."

Louis is mentoring the groups and has been in constant text message contact since picking his four.

He has been discussing what songs his acts want to sing and has been helping to ease their nerves.

He even sent Liz Ewing, from band The Unconventionals, to Harrods with cash to buy her four-year old daughter Jasmin a present.

Liz, 37, said yesterday: "Louis has been very encouraging."

Meanwhile, wheelchair-bound contestant Kerry McGregor, 31, has told of her agony at being separated from her 17-month-old son Joshua.

The single mum said: "It's absolutely heart-wrenching.

"I've left him with my mum and I'm desperately missing him, I want to see him so much.

"But I can't give up this dream - it's as much for him as for me."

Mirror

EXCLUSIVE X-FACTOR SENSATION: I'M A COKE ADDICT


X FACTOR finalist Ben Mills admitted last night: "I'm a coke addict".

Ben Mills

But the long-haired rocker revealed he has been clean for seven months after receiving counselling.

The bombshell revelation comes as Mills, who is favourite to win, also confessed to taking cannabis, speed, ecstasy and acid.

He told the Mirror: "Rock and roll and the drugs that came with it are my past - but singing is my big passion in life and X Factor is my future."

Mills, 26, had struggled with cocaine addiction for the last 18 months while touring with his funk band Benzego. He would snort the Class A drug up to three times a week before his habit became too much.

In desperation, he sought help with a private drugs counsellor near his home town of Whitstable, Kent.

At the end of March, he began his weekly sessions and has not touched drugs since then.

He had his last session in September before moving into the X Factor house in North London.

A show insider revealed: "He has taken cannabis, speed, ecstasy and acid - but that was years ago. It was coke that had become a problem.

"He went to a counsellor voluntarily to try and wean himself off. She taught him techniques on how to avoid drugs and he hasn't taken anything since.

"Ben is a rocker. He has toured with his Doors tribute act and his own band and he has experienced all the things that come with that.

"The X Factor producers were aware of his past - he's been totally honest from the start."

His mentor Sharon Osbourne was yesterday informed about his drug past.

The source said: "To be honest, it didn't surprise her. Ben is a grown man and has lived a bit.

"She will support him. Her children Jack and Kelly have both been in rehab with drug problems so she understands what he has been through."

Mills, director of a marquee company, was still using drugs as recently as February this year - and confessed to his habit on website myspace.com.

In a blog entry for March 17th, he was asked if he had "been on drugs in the past month". He said: "Yes".

Yesterday close pals of Mills revealed how he loved to party until dawn at the beach near his Kent home.

One pal said: "He would bring his guitar and we'd all end up singing. Everyone was off their heads.

"Ben's business keeps him busy during the week but he just liked to burn the candle at both ends."

Bookies William Hill have put Mills as favourite to win at odds of 5/1 followed by Ray Quinn and Ashley McKenzie at 6/1.

Mirror

The X Factor - "boot camp" rounds

radiotimes

X FACTOR
TOUGH-TALKING Sharon Osbourne keeps X Factor wannabes at arm's length - because she hates to see them lose, son Jack told LBC 97.3's Showbiz Central. Mirror

X Ratings



MOVE over Pete Doherty, or just loll the other way, there’s a new cocaine crackpot tearing up the British music scene.

It’s not Justin Hawkins, The Darkness’ frontman, who tells the Sun that he’s spent £150,000 in three years on cocaine. “I became secretive, volatile and verbally abusive, a really unpleasant person to be around.” And at 31-years of age, Justin is no teenager.

No, the new rock ‘n’ roller is Ben Mills. You know Ben? Course you do. Tall-ish. White teeth. Ten fingers. Possibly ten toes.

If you don’t know Ben, you haven’t been watching the X Factor TV show, the event that gives the Mirror a headline each and every day.

Today, the Mirror’s front page is: “I AM COCAINE ADDICT. X FACTOR BEN’S DRUG SHOCKER.”

It is indeed a shock to read of Ben on the front page. But there it is. And inside the paper, we hear Ben (“I WAS ON COCAINE..BUT I’VE CRACKED IT NOW”) admit to having taken ecstasy, cannabis, speed and acid. He also used to snort cocaine up to three times a week.

But not any more. Says Ben: “Rock and roll and the drugs that came with it are my past – but singing is my big passion in life and X Factor is my future.”

Ben, company Director of a marquee company (claim to fame: “putting a marquee up for Jools Holland”), should note that X Factor runs for something less than four score years and ten, and unless he plans to exit early in true rock ‘n’ roll style, his life could be a disappointment.

But, in any case, the X Factor is more than just drugs. As the Sun reports, wannabe star Jermaine Sanderson’s dad has served jail time for manslaughter.

“X FACTOR STAR’S DAD WAS KILLER,” says the headline. It’s “Jermaine’s manslaughter heartache.”

And so it is that a contest that began as a karaoke sing-off is now an insight into so much more. Do we vote for the good boy of a bad man or the reformed druggie?

Or is the winner the performer who gets the most headlines? anorak

FAVE BEN'S FAMILY HE WON'T SEE
THE BIG XCLUSIVES..
By Louise Ford

X FACTOR favourite Ben Mills has a secret family he has never met.

His dad walked out on his UK family when Ben was just 11 to make a new life for himself in Vietnam. Salesman Barrington Collett-Mills... known as Barrie - has a Vietnamese wife Phan Thi Yen Dung and a daughter, Tran Yen Linh, 23.

Linh, Ben's half-sister, was privately educated in the UK and is now studying at Cambridge University.

Ben, who was left behind with mum Barbara and siblings Darren and Gemma Mae in Ashford, Kent, last night said he plays no part in his dad's life.

He said: "I'm not a big fan of my dad - I don't have a good relationship with him. I think he remarried but I don't want to speak to him."

Ben, 26, says he doesn't know where his dad lives, saying: "I'm just not interested." sundaymirror

TRAGEDIES SPURRING ROBERT ON
THE BIG XCLUSIVES..
By Lara Gould Tv Reporter

X FACTOR singing sensation Robert Allen has thrown himself into the competition - despite still grieving for the loss of two close relatives.

The 27-year-old hospital worker from Essex, who is in Sharon Osborne's over-25s category - was devastated when his sister Natalia Muir collapsed and died from a heart attack aged just 32 in 2003. She left behind an 11-year-old daughter.

The family faced further heartbreak 18 months later when Robert's stepfather Colin Holder died from cancer at the age of 50.

Robert said: "The past few years have been very difficult for the family. We have all pulled together and it has made us stronger. Now I want to win the X Factor to bring a bit of happiness to everyone."

sundaymirror

X-Factor beats TV's Robin Hood
The BBC's new Saturday night series Robin Hood shed 1.5 million viewers by its second episode. Only 6.7 million viewers tuned in at the weekend – compared with 8.2 million for its debut.
It was beaten by ITV1's The X Factor, which had an audience of 7.3 million.
Robin Hood is the centrepiece of BBC1's autumn schedule and bosses had hoped it would match the success of Saturday night hit Doctor Who.
The show stars newcomer Jonas Armstrong as Robin and Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The 13-part series cost £8m to make and gives the story a modern twist.
Critics were positive about the show but viewers posting their reviews on the BBC's own website have been less impressed. One wrote that the new series "made Kevin Costner's film version look like a work of genius".
yorkshiretoday

Poor show for Nikitta

BIRTHDAY girl Nikitta Angus is desperate for her family to be in Saturday's X Factor audience - but they can't afford it.

Nikitta, who is 18 today, would love nothing more than to be cheered on by aunts Katie and Karen, sisters to her late mum, cousin Penny and gran Pearl, 77, as she faces the public vote for the second time this weekend.

Eveningtimes

Brothers and Dionne face boot


Scottish singing duo The McDonald Brothers and London diva Dionne are set to go head-to-head in an eviction face-off tomorrow night, according to the bookies.

The McDonald brothers are 7/4 favourites to get booted off the X Factor, while Dionne, who narrowly beat the Unconventionals last week to stay in the show has odds of 2/1, reports Ladbrokes.

Meanwhile long-haired wonder Ben Mills remains firm favourite to win the show with odds of 2/1, with Leona second at 3/1 and Nikitta third at 7/1.

Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg said: "We saw some interest in Leona to go earlier in the week. But apart from that punters have lumped on the two eviction favourites.

"We'd definitely like to see the back of Dionne, sooner rather than later."

Marquee company director Ben, 26, has made a huge impact with the judges and has a growing celebrity fan-base that includes the Sugababes. orange