Popstars: The Rivals aired on ITV1 on Saturday nights from 7 September 2002, beginning with three pre-recorded episodes of preliminary audition rounds before switching to live broadcasts of studio performances.

During the rounds of the live show, viewers voted for their favourite performers by telephone and the Red Button on digital television remote controls.

The series was hosted by Davina McCall, with the performances judged by Pete Waterman, Louis Walsh and Geri Halliwell.

[1] The judges for Popstars: The Rivals were announced as record producer and songwriter Pete Waterman, who worked with Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Steps amongst others as part of 1980–90s production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, Geri Halliwell, who rose to fame as part of the Spice Girls and later had a career as a solo popstar;[1][3][4] and Chris Evans, who had presented breakfast shows on BBC Radio 1 and Virgin Radio, and The Big Breakfast and TFI Friday on Channel 4.

[12] Popstars resulted in the formation of one winning pop group, Hear’Say,[13][14] who was selected solely by the judges,[11] but Pop Idol made extensive use of viewer interactivity with the home audience voting for their favourite act to win the competition either via the show's official website or by calling premium-rate telephone numbers.

[12] In the months since Popstars finished, the five runners-up of the show had formed their own group, Liberty X, and were enjoying more commercial success than Hear’Say.

The Popstars producers drew upon this rivalry for Popstars: The Rivals to create two winning pop groups, a boy band and a girl group, in a "battle of the sexes",[3] to vie for the Christmas number one spot in the UK Singles Chart, a traditionally competitive time in the British music market.

To further the rivalry, members of the public were to select who would remain in the show by voting for their favourite acts using premium-rate telephone numbers, text messaging, via the Popstars website, and with the Red Button on digital television remote controls.

Each week, the singer with the fewest public votes would be eliminated from the competition until five men and five women remained, who would then form the two rival groups.

Pete Waterman mentored the boys, Louis Walsh oversaw the girls and Geri Halliwell acted as an intermediary between the two groups.

The three judges were assigned contestants to visit separately in their respective homes and deliver the good or bad news of whether they had reached the live finals.

[27] Category performing: Boys *Note: Two of the male contestants were due to be eliminated via the public vote in this show.

[32] Results: Keith Semple was announced as the first member of the band, followed by Matt Johnson, Daniel Pearce and Anton Gordon, leaving Chris Park and Jamie Shaw as the bottom two.

[33] Results: Cheryl Tweedy was announced as the first member of the band, followed by Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh, leaving Javine Hylton and Sarah Harding as the bottom two.

On 14 December, a pre-recorded episode was aired, going behind the scenes of both band's first official few weeks together, filming their music videos and undergoing a nationwide tour of TV and radio stations to promote their singles.

In August 2020, Roberts performed The Captive's Hymn at a VJ Day concert at Horse Guards Parade, London.

Harding also modelled for Ultimo lingerie and presented Sky Living reality TV show 'Dating in the Dark' for a time.

Meanwhile, Walsh co-hosted Viva's Suck My Pop and presented coverage of the 63rd British Academy Film Awards for MTV.

In 2012 Walsh made her West End theatre debut, playing Princess Fiona in the London production of Shrek the Musical.

Sarah Harding was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in August 2020, and revealed in March 2021 that her prognosis was terminal and that she would not see another Christmas.

In July 2022, the rest of the band came back together to participate in a 5km Race for Life event in her memory at Hyde Park in London.

He has since gone onto to tour as a backing vocalist with Dizzee Rascal, performing with him at festivals and TV shows including Top of the Pops and Later... with Jools Holland, and in 2014, he also provided (uncredited) guest vocals on "Nobody to Love", which was a UK number one hit for the British dance production outfit Sigma, who he has also toured and performed with.

He auditioned for the ninth season of American Idol, but lost his "golden ticket" place due to his legal status and residency considerations.

Years later, Semple auditioned for the ninth season of The Voice, and landed a spot on Adam Levine's team, making it to the live shows.

A number of the contestants who failed to make it into One True Voice or Girls Aloud have managed to achieve some level of success outside of the show.

Javine Hylton decided to pursue a career as a solo artist, with a debut single Real Things reaching the top 10 in the United Kingdom.

They charted one place behind One True Voice in the 2002 Christmas countdown with "The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)" and released an album entitled PartyTime.

She was the first to be evicted, and later released a single called "Camera Shy", and went on to audition for the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012 as part of the duo "Poisonous Twin".

As well as contestants being forced out for being over and under the age limit, ITV was met with controversy amid claims that the voting had been rigged in the girls final.

Martin Strowde, the sponsorship director at Granada Television said "We're delighted that McDonald's has teamed up with us for what promises to be the most exciting hit this autumn".