One Direction

Each of the five members applied as solo contestants, but failed to qualify for the Boys category. After a suggestion by guest judge Nicole Scherzinger, the five teens were put into a band, thus qualifying for the Groups category. The group was formed with Liam Payne (born 29 August 1993 in Wolverhampton), a music technology student at City of Wolverhampton College; Louis Tomlinson (born 24 December 1991 in Doncaster), a student at Hall Cross School; Niall Horan (born 13 September 1993[citation needed] in Mullingar, Westmeath, Ireland), a student at Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar; Harry Styles (born 1 February 1994 from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire), a student at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School; and Zayn Malik (born 12 January 1993),birth name : Zain) from West Lane Baildon, Bradford, a student at Tong High School.

Payne had auditioned in 2008 to The X Factor's fifth series when he was 14 and reached judges' houses, but Cowell thought he was not ready for the competition and asked him to come back in two years.[139] This time Cowell chose him to be part of One Direction[citation needed]. Styles was the lead singer for the band White Eskimo with band members lead guitarist Haydn Morris, bass guitarist Nick Clough and drummer Will Sweeny.[142] Malik was noted for becoming nervous in bootcamp, and when he was told he had to dance, he decided to remain backstage, effectively running the risk of elimination. Cowell noticed Malik missing from the dance routine and went backstage and convinced him to return.[8]

For their qualifying song, and their first as a group, at the judges houses, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn".[9] In week 1 of the live shows, they performed "Viva la Vida" and were safe for the week. Week 2 was "Musical Heroes", and One Direction sang "My Life Would Suck Without You", which received positive comments from the judges; Minogue called them "five heartthrobs"[citation needed] and praised their performance, Cole called them "cute"[citation needed] and Cowell said "You are the most exciting pop band in the country right now."[citation needed] They sang "Nobody Knows" in week 3, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in week 4. In week 4, girl band Belle Amie were eliminated, leaving One Direction as Cowell's last remaining act. They sang "Kids in America" in week 5, "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" in week 6 and "All You Need Is Love" in week 7. They were safe each week, never once being in the bottom two. For weeks 8 and 9, they performed two songs: "Summer of 69" and "You Are So Beautiful" in week 8 and "Only Girl (In the World)" and "Chasing Cars "in week 9. They were safe both times, making it to the final live show, being the first ever manufactured group to do so. In week 10, the boyband performed "Your Song". After performing "Torn" in the final, One Direction finished in third place behind runner up, Rebecca Ferguson and winner, Matt Cardle.

Following The X Factor, the group signed a £2 million record contract with Syco.[147] The first One Direction licensed book, titled Forever Young was released on 17 February 2011, a modified version of the book that would have been released had they won[citation needed]. On 1 July 2011 it was announced One Direction's next licensed book, Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction, will be released 15 Sept 2011.[148]

One Direction made an appearance on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on April 4, 2011 and confirmed their debut single will be released in June 2011. The single has now been pushed back to being released in September in order to coincide with the launch of series 8 of The X Factor.[149] While on the show, they also confirmed they are the new ambassadors for Pokémon.[150] On 29 July 2011 One Direction made an appearance on Channel 4 TV show Alan Carr: Chatty Man.[151]