Union J - The Story. Tina Campanella
was it – this was what it had come down to. The next few minutes would decide whether Triple J would go on to be mentored at the Judges’ Houses – or whether they would be going home. They just had to hope that whatever the GMD3 boys sang, it wasn’t as good as what they’d just offered up to the judges. But sadly, it was…
Singing ‘Bless the Broken Road’, the performance was almost faultless. They sounded much less nervous than Triple J, and the boys wished that they’d had the chance to go second. It had given Greg, Mickey and Dan time to compose themselves, with the result being a beautiful performance.
Triple J looked devastated but the judges hadn’t immediately made up their minds, and instead they whispered to each other, deep in concentration.
All the boys could do now was wait.
‘It’s very close, there’s not much between them,’ said Gary, knitting his brow in concentration.
‘This is tough, they both did so good,’ said former Pussycat Doll and fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger.
On stage, Triple J looked close to tears, desperately hoping for the wait to end. It was torture for all the boys, who had worked so hard to get to that stage. Finally, Gary spoke. It was time to put everyone out of their misery.
‘Okay, guys, you’ve been neck and neck throughout this competition and I’m sorry it’s come down to this,’ he said, ‘but we’ve got to pick one of you right now.’
He paused while both the bands made silent prayers.
‘The act taking the last place at the Judges’ Houses is… GMD3.’
It was all over for Triple J.
The boys were gutted.
JJ courageously said thank you to the judges, before throwing his arms around Mickey from GMD3.
Backstage, the boys wiped the tears from their eyes and once more embraced.
‘We’re not going to walk away downhearted,’ they said after composing themselves. ‘We’ve got this far, we’ve got to keep our heads high and carry on.’
Then they went home, where their families tried their best to console them.
Soon after, Louis’ bands were all set to fly to Las Vegas for the next stage of the competition – the Judges’ Houses. Rough Copy, MK1, GMD3, Mitsotu, Poisonous Twins and Duke all had their bags packed and were ready to go. But before they could leave, Rough Copy received some devastating news: one of the band members had a visa application being considered by the UK Border Agency and so he couldn’t leave the country in case he wasn’t allowed back in.
The producers were so excited about them as a band, but they found out about the potentially difficult situation just as they were organising flights for everyone. The judges had no choice but to axe Rough Copy from the competition. And that left space for one act to be recalled to The X Factor but who would it be?
Louis had a lot of thinking to do. There were two bands that he was considering taking to the next stage in their place – Times Red and Triple J. But there wasn’t enough time to decide between them so they were both invited along to the Judges’ Houses round.
Triple J couldn’t believe their ears when they heard the news. They had gone back to their old lives and old jobs, and were trying hard to move on, but now they were back in The X Factor! With one more chance to show they were worthy of the public’s adoration, they packed their suitcases in a hurry to leave.
But Louis had one more surprise up his sleeve: he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about another of the acts that the judges had axed. And he had an idea that wouldn’t go away.
He picked up the phone and dialled one more number…
George Shelley was at home in Bristol when the phone rang. As the caller started to speak he couldn’t believe who he was talking to. Louis Walsh. X Factor Judge. Boyband King.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ he mumbled. And then put the phone down. Had that conversation been real? Did Louis Walsh really just say what he thought he’d said?
George was back in The X Factor! He was going to join his new friends, Triple J, to make the band a fab foursome. And they would have a new name.
Union J was born.
DID YOU KNOW?
Josh’s nan spent over £800 on tickets to see him in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – she went every week!
Let’s take a look at who made it through Bootcamp…
MENTOR: NICOLE SCHERZINGER (BOYS)
JAHMENE DOUGLAS
Fact: Schoolfriends of the shy Swindon supermarket worker used to pay him in sweets to sing.
NATHAN FAGAN-GAYLE
Fact: Nathan had two top 40 singles before joining The X Factor – under the guise of ‘StarBoy Nathan’.
JAKE QUICKENDEN
Fact: A lifeguard from Scunthorpe, Jake hoped to win so that he could pay his mum back the cash he owed her.
ADAM BURRIDGE
Fact: An admin worker from Middlesex, Adam dreamt of playing at Glastonbury.
JAMES ARTHUR
Fact: James ran away from home when he was young and has always said music is his coping mechanism.
RYLAN CLARK
Fact: An Essex model, Rylan’s dream is to release a dance album.
MENTOR: TULISA CONTOSTAVLOS (GIRLS)
JADE ELLIS
Fact: A London bike mechanic, this single mum hoped to win to provide a good life for her daughter.
AMY MOTTRAM
Fact: Student Amy has been nicknamed the ‘Essex Adele’ because of her big voice.
LUCY SPRAGGAN
Fact: The Sheffield portrait-seller bravely performed her own song at the first audition.
LEANNE ROBINSON
Fact: A sales assistant in London, Leanne prided herself on having no gimmick about her – just a fab voice.
ELLA HENDERSON
Fact: Ella overwhelmed the judges, but couldn’t believe she’d got through Bootcamp.
JADE COLLINS
Fact: The Belfast student enlisted her mum’s help to make her stage outfits.
MENTOR: LOUIS WALSH (GROUPS)
MITSOTU (HOLLY COOPER, JAMES COLLINS AND JIMMY ESSEX)
Fact: The North London trio said they were shocked at how emotional it was on the show – and by the lack of sleep!
DUKE (MARKO PANDAZIS, EDWARD TRAVERS AND FLYNN STRONACH)
Fact: The beatboxers from Gloucestershire got a massive 2,000 new Twitter followers in the two hours after their first audition.
MK1 (CHARLIE, REAL NAME, LOTTE RUNDLE AND SIMEON DIXON)
Fact: The London dubstep group dropped their third member after the judges said he looked like an accountant!
POISONOUS TWINS (STEPHANIE MCMICHAEL AND SOPHIE HOUGHTON)
Fact: This was Liverpool born Steph’s second try at fame – after being first out of 2008’s Big Brother.
TIMES RED (STAZ NAIR, SCOTT RITCHIE, LUKE WHITE)
Fact: Geri Halliwell was particularly taken by the sexy Times Red trio.
DISTRICT 3 (DAN FERRARI-LANE,