Over 25s List of The X Factor finalists (UK series 10)

1 on 25s

1.1 sam bailey
1.2 lorna simpson
1.3 shelley smith

over 25s

the on 25s category mentored sharon osbourne. contestants in category soloists aged 25 , over. 6 candidates @ judges houses were: sam bailey, zoe devlin, andrea magee, lorna simpson, shelley smith, , joseph whelan. osbourne chose:

sam bailey

sam bailey (born 15 october 1977) former prison officer leicester. lives husband craig pearson , 2 children. report sun claimed bailey had misled public claiming have had no previous singing experience, when in fact had been performing on cruise ships, in clubs , @ music festivals several years. bailey defended herself in interview leicester mercury, stating: have been totally honest have sang 20 years never made it. s problem that?

bailey sang listen in room audition , s loving in arena. again sang s loving shelley smith , katie markham @ first stage of bootcamp , clown @ second stage. performed have nothing , without @ judges houses.

by week 3, bailey last on 25 left in competition, following eliminations of lorna simpson in week 1 , smith in week 2. on 8 december, made final—making first female on 25s contestant ever achieve feat—along nicholas mcdonald , luke friend. on 14 december, duetted x factor judge scherzinger , progressed second stage of final. following night, sang skyscraper demi lovato , later announced winner, having received 53.4% of overall vote. second on 25 win x factor , first since steve brookstein in 2004. when weekly voting statistics revealed after final, showed bailey , mcdonald had been 2 popular contestants every week; mcdonald won 3 weeks bailey second , bailey won other 7 mcdonald second.

after winning, skyscraper released bailey s debut single. on 22 december 2013, after selling 149,000 copies in first week, song debuted atop uk singles chart , became christmas number one, making bailey first x factor winner achieve christmas number 1 spot since matt cardle in 2010. bailey s debut album power of love released on 24 march 2014 , debuted @ number 1 on uk albums chart. marked first time in 5 years x factor winner had had number-one album.

lorna simpson

lorna simpson 26-year-old university student south norwood, london. brought parents charmaine , peter in croydon. in 2010, simpson took part in talent show in jamaica called tasty talent , won prize of £8,000. appeared naked in online gangster film hood loyalty. used married jamaican convicted cocaine dealer, errol gordon.

in room audition, simpson sang have nothing , barlow told afterwards, feels ve been singing 50 years . after performing moment @ arena audition, osbourne said feel time. @ bootcamp sang wanna dance (who loves me) , barlow said, surprise performance of night me, sensational. osbourne having chosen top six, simpson took place of sabrina ramikie. @ judges houses sang if boy , 1 moment in time .

simpson sang emotional in first live show , eliminated majority vote following night after going against fellow on 25s contestant shelley smith. scherzinger , walsh voted eliminate simpson, while barlow voted eliminate smith , osbourne abstained, simpson eliminated.

shelley smith

shelley smith (née lewis; born 19 october 1978) ex-van driver farringdon, devon. van driver 15 years. has daughter called madeline, born in 2006. smith split fiancé in 2012, , reformed image losing weight, changing hairstyle , ditching glasses. made bootcamp in 2008 , 2012.

smith performed (you make me feel like) natural woman in room audition , feeling arena audition. sang s loving shelley smith , katie markham @ first stage of bootcamp , respect @ second stage. @ judges houses sang girl on fire , alone .

smith lost first flash vote of series , ended in bottom two, saved judges after mentor osbourne couldn t decide between 2 of acts. eliminated following week, however, after landing in sing-off kingsland road , osbourne voting save her.

despite not winning x-factor, smith did achieve ambition of giving driving , becoming full-time professional singer.