After a seemingly endless wait, the 15th season of The X-Factor UK has officially premiered!
The series launched with a 2-night season premiere airing on September 3. From the get-go, viewers knew this round would be different, with nearly every judge being replaced.
Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger have all been replaced with Robbie Williams, his wife Ayda Williams, and Louis Tomlinson of One Direction. In fact, the lord of the underworld himself (AKA Simon Cowell) is the only link to previous seasons.
On the second night of the premiere, we were introduced to Jaqueline Faye, a charming, 53-year-old farmer from South Wales.
Walking onstage in a conservative, black outfit, Jaqueline (or Jackie) tells the judges about her life in Oxfordshire.
“We live on a farm in Oxfordshire,” she says earnestly.
“We have chickens, ducks, horses, and Dave, my peacock.”
“And he’s got a friend called Chas. It’s Chas and Dave.”
The audience and judges seem to be humoring her, but Jackie doesn’t mind. They giggle mercilessly while she rambles— but luckily their judgment doesn’t affect her performance in the end.
For the audition, Jackie has chosen to sing a 1960s hit— ‘You’re My World’ by the English singer Cilla Black.
Although the audience had been laughing, when she’s finished her rendition, she’s the one who gets the last laugh.
“You’re my world, you’re every breath I take,” she sings.
Tomlinson raises his eyebrows at Jackie’s rich voice. At first, Simon seems skeptical, but when she hits the peak of the song, he grins like a childish schoolgirl.
Jackie’s audition is reminiscent of Susan Boyle’s first appearance on the Britain’s Got Talent stage.
When 47-year-old Boyle walked in, nobody took her seriously. The judges blatantly rolled their eyes and grimaced at the singer— only to feel remorse when she took the house down with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream”, ultimately going on to become the season’s runner-up.
Jackie had a similar type of experience, with many commenters chastising Simon for judging her before she had even begun to perform:
“This kind of reminded me of Susan Boyle’s audition on BGT… She’s got a nice voice.”
“Yeah… She reminded me of Susan Boyle as well… great voice.”
“Simon never learns. Two words: Susan Boyle. He judged her and look what she did.”
“As soon as she walked in, Simon made a face… Already judging the lady.”
When Jackie finishes the song, the judges can’t contain their awe.
Robbie Williams gushed: “You remind me of everything that’s great about my home. You transport me to safety and kindness. There’s something really special about you.”
Simon even admitted he’d been wrong to judge a book by its cover: “When you walked out I thought you’d walked out on to the wrong show by mistake.
“I’m thinking this isn’t going to be great, and then you were.”
“You’re a little tiger, aren’t you?”
“That’s why we will never put an age barrier on the show.”
See her prove them wrong in the incredible audition below!
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