X Factor contestants - where are they now?

Listen, we all know what has happened to 1D or JLS. Little Mix are very much still in the charts and in our media. Heck, we even know what Rylan Clark is doing (not singing anymore, thank goodness). But what about all the other contestants that seemed to have disappeared? Where are they now? 

Your sleepless nights have come to an end, dearest reader, because we’ve dug around to find out exactly where ex X Factor contestants ended up. Of course, we’ve only managed to include the ones we could vaguely remember. So sorry to all those we’ve forgotten entirely. 

Leon Jackson 

Winner of the show back in 2007. Released a song that was actually quite nice, Don’t Call This Love. Was signed to Sony BMG label but then dropped. Sad times. Now he writes songs and things. In May 2010, Jackson was announced as the 2nd biggest reality TV flop, winning 76% of the 1,300 people polled, losing out only to Steve Brookstein. That’s got to hurt. 

Steve Brookstein

Remember him? Sort of? Well Steve Brookstein was the the first ever winner of the show back in 2004. Yes, it really has been going on for that long. After winning he released Against All Odds and was signed to Sony BMG, but he was also dropped by the label in 2005 and since then he’s done the odd musical but nothing much else. He even released a book "Getting over the X", that describes his journey from winning The X Factor to having the press and industry turn their backs on him. Not bitter then. 

Matt Cardle

Matt won the 7th series and was signed to Syco Music and then Columbia Records. Best known for his tune When We Collide. Since then he’s released 3 albums.  We don’t remember any of these though. He’s currently the lead role in Memphis: The Musical until end of October. Quite impressive. 

Joseph McElderry

This baby face star won the 6th series back in 2009. He was also crowned the winner of the second series of Popstar to Operastar back in 2011. He has released four top 20 albums – two of them reaching the UK top three. Not bad. He was also the first X Factor contestant to release a fourth album. As of 2014, McElderry has sold over 2 million records worldwide. He is currently doing pantomimes and working on his 5th studio album. Okay that is pretty impressive actually.

Andy Abraham

Andy who? Yeah...we were the same. He was the runner up back in 2005, losing out to Shayne Ward. He actually represented the UK in 2008 Eurovision song contest. We didn’t win, as per usual. In fact with his song ‘Even If’, he finished joint last. He’s been in the musical Godspell this year, but other than that, not much else has happened. 

Kitty Brucknell 

Oh Gawd. Kitty. She starred in the 8th series. She’s basically marmite. Launched her debut album in 2014 along with her tour but no-one cared too much. She attempted to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Yearning" but that never happened. Apparently she’s releasing a Broadway album this year. 

Frankie Cocozza

Remember him...we try forget him. Left the show mid way through in 2011, very dramatically we might add. Released his song She’s Got a Motorcycle back in 2012 but it flopped. It reached slot 89 in the charts. Yap. Apparently he’s now the lead singer of band The Telescreen but we’ve never heard of them. 

Luke Friend

Starred in the 10th series during 2013. signed to RCA Records after the show and released debut single Hole in My Heart earlier this year. He’s also toured the UK, a sold-out tour we might add. He’s currently almost ready to release his debut album.

Amelia Lily 

Starred in the 8th series. After the show she was signed to Sony subsidiary Xenomania. Debut single You Bring Me Joy in 2012 reached 2nd place in the charts. Her debut album was meant to be released in 2013 but was postponed to 2014 and then removed altogether. This year she’s been in musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.