Bootcamp was held in London in August and judges' houses around Nice, Los Angeles, Bermuda and Cancún in September.

[7] Louis Walsh, who had also been on the show from its first series, announced his intention to quit as well, although he later backtracked and said that he "might come back" if Simon Cowell returned.

[12] On 10 March, former judge Cheryl Cole announced on her Instagram that she will be returning for the eleventh series to replace Osbourne, posting an image of herself and Cowell, accompanied by the caption: "GUESS WHAT!!..

[4] This was also originally the last series to feature Louis Walsh as a judge after 11 years, as he quit in May 2015 to return to full-time management.

They were replaced by BBC Radio 1 presenter Nick Grimshaw and The Voice UK coach, Rita Ora.

Two advertisements subsequently began to air on ITV featuring Cole and Cowell separately, to encourage potential contestants to audition.

[24] Previous contestants Olly Murs, Shayne Ward, One Direction, Jahméne Douglas and Little Mix also appeared in videos encouraging potential applicants to audition.

[25] Rumored judges for the series included Ellie Goulding, Paloma Faith, Rita Ora, Kesha, and Murs.

[26] On 12 June, during ITV's coverage of the opening match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a teaser trailer with the caption "Things Are About to Get Loud" first aired.

The full trailer, featuring all four of the judges, was unveiled on ITV's YouTube channel on 1 August, and received its first TV airing the following evening.

[27] On 11 March 2014, Cowell confirmed at a press conference in London that closed room auditions would return for series 11, as well as the six-seat challenge at bootcamp.

Auditions began to open on 24 March, and visited Cork, Belfast, Newquay, Exeter, Bournemouth, Southampton, Bristol, Newport, Barry, Swansea, Romford, Leicester, Brighton, Norwich, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, South Shields, Durham, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Ayr, Solihull, Dudley, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Warrington, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bolton and Widnes by 28 April.

[38] The six-seat challenge involves successful contestants being offered one of "six seats", representing places at the judges' houses stage of the competition.

Mel B's commitments to America's Got Talent delayed her re-entry to the UK until the end of the boot camp stage, after Cowell, Fernandez-Versini and Walsh had finished deliberating on the remaining contestants earlier that day.

[45] Girls: Boys: Groups: Over 26s Overload Generation were originally eliminated during Boot Camp after being switched out in the six chair challenge.

Mark Brittain, Global Head of Commercial at Syco Entertainment, announced, "We are constantly looking to innovate around the show.

[59] Take That, Meghan Trainor and Ed Sheeran performed on the live final on Saturday 13 December 2014, while Olly Murs featuring Demi Lovato, One Direction featuring Ronnie Wood and Sam Smith performed on the live final results show on Sunday 14 December 2014.

[67] Musical guests: Nicole Scherzinger ("Run") and Olly Murs ("Wrapped Up")[55] The world premiere play and official video of the Band Aid 30 track "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

She apparently fluffed her arena audition by forgetting her words and bursting into tears, but none of this was shown on television.

Instead, viewers saw Jasmine sail through to bootcamp after wowing the judges on a different night and singing the song "Why Don't You Do Right", tricking them into thinking that that had been her only audition.

"[135] During The Xtra Factor after the second results show, in which Stereo Kicks took part in the sing-off, Crawford asked Walsh, their mentor, about them.

[citation needed] Stereo Kicks member Reece Bibby joined a new band, New Hope Club, that November.

This caused a massive uproar backstage after the live show had ended, especially between Mel B and Cowell, East's mentor.

[143] During the fourth live show, Fernandez-Versini said that her act, Lola Saunders, kept to the theme of Halloween by having dancers dressed in straitjackets behind her, while performing the Gnarls Barkley song "Crazy".

After the performance had finished Cowell and Walsh gave the duo a standing ovation while Mel B and Fernandez-Versini remained seated without applauding.

Many viewers or the show and fans of the artists critiqued the judges as being "disrespectful" of the guests and ignoring common decency.

[145] The day after, Fernandez-Versini issued a statement saying that her and Mel B were too focused on their acts being in the bottom two to applaud and her dress made it difficult to stand.

[146] During The Xtra Factor after the semi-final results show, Mel B scolded Walsh for accidentally grabbing her bum during an interview.

The video caused a debate among users with some defending Walsh based on his alleged homosexuality and the justification that he was unaware of what he was doing.

[147][148] Walsh stated on 21 July that he grabbed Mel B's bottom as a joke, but conceded that the gesture was no longer politically correct due to social media reaction.