Saturday 29th September at 6.05pm and 8.30pm on ITV1 followed by The Xtra Factor on ITV2 at 9.30pm

This week, the lucky contestants who made it through the audition rounds are welcomed to Bootcamp. The 14-24 Boys, 14-24 Girls, The Groups and The Over 25’s are brought together for the first time ever to eat, sing and sleep under the same roof. In another first, The X Factor Judges Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue will work together to whittle down the contestants to just 48.

In the past, each category has had a separate Bootcamp. But that’s not the only change as this year Bootcamp is held in two stages. The first is held at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire where the contestants will fight it out for only 12 places per category. The final 12 are then taken to London for stage two where the pressure is on to perform on stage at The Apollo theatre where those sought after places are halved to just six.

Only after the judges have jointly chosen the finalists who go through to ‘Judges Houses’ will the panel find out which category they will be mentoring. The competition between the judges is as fierce as ever and at first, they feel the best talent lies in the 14-24 Boys. But when Louis drops a bombshell that could rock the competition, everything changes. Let battle commence!