Well its official, X Factor 2005 begins this Saturday the 20th of August at 6.50pm on ITV 1. The first few weeks will follow the same format as last years X Factor with Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell listening to thousands of hopefuls in regional auditions, that took place earlier this summer.

The internet rumour mill is already working overtime on the topic of this years X factor and some of the theories are:

1) All contestants will be split into 3 groups, under 25s, over 25s and groups. This years the judges are thought to have been shuffled a bit so that Sharon has the over 25s, Louis has the under 25s and Simon has the groups.

2) Michelle Bass from Big Brother 2004 auditions and makes it to the final 50…lets assume she didn’t sing ‘Pie Jesus’ then!

3) Some of last years finalists will be helping the judges out in the later stages of the competition. Maybe Steve Brookstein could offer advice on how NOT to launch a pop career!

4) This series will be longer than the last one with more live shows.

5) This year each judge will get to pick four final acts instead of three.

6) The show will be presented By Kate Thornton, with Ben Shephard taking the ITV2 Xtra factor show, just like last year.

Time will tell whether some or all of these rumours are true, all we can do is tune in this Saturday!