History YMMV / TheXFactor

** Series 13: The jukebox, in which a theme for each week would be selected via a wheel with some fans feeling it was too GameShow like.

* HarsherInHindsight: Ariel Burdett's audition in 2008 was seen as one of the most hilariously awful ones in the shoe's history. Burdett was found dead with a stab wound 11 years later, reportedly suicide. It has also been said that her audition has "haunted her for years".

* HarsherainHindsight: Ariel Burdett's audition in 2008 was seen as one of the most hilariously awful ones in the shoe's history. Burdett was found dead with a stab wound 11 years later, reportedly suicide. It has also been said that her audition has "haunted her for years".

* HypocriticalFandom: What's that? The online campaign to get ''Killing In The Name'' by Music/RageAgainstTheMachine to Christmas No. 1 is unfair? Compared to what? ''The several month long advertising campaign to get the latest winner of a singing contest to Christmas No. 1''?

* MagnificentBastard: Simon Cowell.
** Louis Walsh may qualify as one as well, based on the success that Jedward have experienced since appearing on the show.
** Cheryl Cole too, in more recent times, when she's with Cher Lloyd and Katie Waissel.

** In the 2019 celebrity series, ''The Chase'''s Jenny Ryan became a fan favourite due to her rendition of Music/{{Queen}}'s "Somebody to Love" but did not make it to the live shows, leaving fans disappointed as a result. Ultimately subverted when the judges made a U-turn and she was ultimately reinstated to the live shows, expanding the number of finalists from 12 to 13.

** In the 2019 celebrity series, ''The Chase'''s Jenny Ryan became a fan favourite due to her rendition of Music/{{Queen}}'s "Somebody to Love" but did not make it to the live shows, leaving fans disappointed as a result.

** In the 2018 series, Shan Ako was seen as one of the favourites to go through the final, but non-one ever expected her to be eliminated via deadlock following a sing off with Acacia & Aaliyah after Ayda Field couldn't decide over which act deserved to stay in the competition. Many fans were very furious and [[EveryoneHasStandards even Shan's mentor Simon was unhappy with the results]], thus he ultimately decided to change the original plan for the 2019 tour to allow the top 8 instead of the top 6 performing.

** Out of the winners, Steve Brookstein definitely counts as this as Sharon criticised during the first season and not only that, his [[TookALevelInJerkass attitude]] after the show such as making digs towards Cowell in addition to making fun of his late mother shortly after her passing in 2015 certainly hasn't repaired his reputation.

* MemeticMutation: "That's why you use autotube and I don't!"

* CounterpartComparison: The resemblance between Matt Terry from the 2016 season and Louis Tomlinson from OneDirection is pretty much undeniable, to the point that it was referenced (albeit inverted) during Saara Aalto's Motown Night package, in which she, while touring around London, goes to the Madame Tussauds wax museum and points out to the Louis statue that he looks like Matt.
** And now, even Matt himself has acknowledged it, by taking a selfie with Louis during the Pride of Britain Awards ceremony.

* BaseBreaker: In season 2, [=CeCe=] Frey.
* CreatorsPet: Marcus Canty was less liked than each of the three contestants he faced off against and won all three times.

** From the beginning of X-Factor through every single season, there was the constant "boy bands are irrelevant, their time has passed". And while boy bands did ''not'' return, the most successful act out of any version of the X-Factor ''was'' a boy band.

** Subverted with Goldie from the 2011 auditions. She had no ability to sing and largely depended on her stage antics and was surprisingly passed through to Judge's Houses. Louis became her mentor and put her through to the live shows but in a rare case of GenreSavvy, she withdrew from the competition as she suspected she was the token "novelty" act if she continued; she was then replaced by a more competent contestant.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: A lot of GenreSavvy viewers during the 2016 series were sure the producers would find a way to have [[OfficialCouple Ryan Lawrie and Emily Middlemas]] in the sing-off together during the later stages of the competition for RuleOfDrama. While Ryan ''did'' get eliminated in Week 7, it wasn't against Emily like so many were expecting, but rather against Honey G.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Shawn Armenta, the contestant that said "that why you use autotune and I don't".

* HilariousInHindsight: LA Reid didn't know the DemiLovato song "Skyscraper" when Drew sang it. Now that Demi has joined him on the judging panel, this becomes funny.

* TheWoobie: Wagner has been getting this, despite being tone deaf and missing notes he has proven to be quite popular, even he is aware of his problems as he apologises to the judges for it. However several scathing comments from fellow contestants and judges have made him more sympathetic to the audience.

* TooSexyForThisTimeslot (Khandi Rain from 2009, who were former strippers who wore {{Stripperiffic}} outfits. Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue criticised them for doing that. While it's certainly true it wasn't helping them move on, getting criticised for {{Fanservice}} by someone who posed nude for ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' is a bit rich)

* MorePopularSpinoff: One Direction.
* {{Narm}}: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CTReuSw08 Rylan Clark hysterical crying.]] There's even some {{corpsing}} from Dermot.

* HilariousInHindsight: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhZlP49d5g In the series 7 Judge's Houses, Simon and Sinitta are talking about the groups they want to send to the finals.]] The eight candidates were Belle Amie, Diva Fever, F.Y.D., Husstle, One Direction, Princes & Rogues, The Reason, and Twem. When Sinitta mentions the superstar potential of one of the groups, Simon says "Not in a million, billion years!" and comments that "no one is going to put them on their bedroom wall." Fast forward two years, and millions of teenage girls in America, let alone the U.K., do have [[Music/OneDirection one of these groups]] on their walls.

** Janet Devlin was considered to be the runaway favourite during the early stages of the 2011 series. However, her performances started to get worse as the series went on, eventually resulting in her falling apart spectacularly in the third-last week, and being voted off the show.

* TooSexyForThisTimeslot (Khandi Rain from 2009, who were former strippers who wore {{Stripperiffic}} outfits. Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue criticised them for doing that. While it's certainly true it wasn't helping them move on, getting criticised for {{Fanservice}} by someone who posed nude for ''{{Playboy}}'' is a bit rich)