Throng

It may be a cliche but Cheryl Cole has gone from The X Factor to the sex factor after being placed in the top spot on FHM's annual Sexiest Women of the World list.

The Girls Aloud member and judge on The X Factor beat out stiff competition from other hotties including Megan Fox, Jessica Alba and Britney Spears.

Cheryl's number one placing will impress her fans who started an online campaign to ensure she was at least inside the Top 10.

New entries in the Top 10 were Anna Friel and Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto.

FHM magazine's 100 Sexiest Women in the World list 2009: 

1. Cheryl Cole
2. Megan Fox
3. Jessica Alba
4. Britney Spears
5. Keeley Hazell
6. Adriana Lima
7. Elisha Cuthbert
8. Kristin Kreuk
9. Anna Friel
10. Freida Pinto

This week on The X Factor, the show is delighted to have the singing legend Mariah Carey in the studio. Mariah will be performing her new hit I Stay in Love at the top of the main show, and in the Live Results Show, Mariah will be joined on stage by all 12 X Factor finalists as they perform her hit, and their new number 1 selling single, Hero.

The X Factor are delighted to confirm that Mariah Carey will be doing an exclusive performance of her new single, I Stay in Love live on the show this weekend (Sat 8th Nov ITV1 7.20pm).
In addition to Mariah's performance, this week's show theme is Mariah's Songbook, and all the finalists will be performing hits from Mariah's extensive back catalogue.

Despite rumours in today's press we can confirm that Rachel has not "dumped" her mentor Dannii Minogue, in fact the two have been working closely together all week. Being in the bottom two last week knocked Rachel's confidence and the pair have agreed that Rachel will have more ownership over her song choice and styling of the performance this weekend but she is still very much part of Team Minogue.

Rachel Hylton said today, "Dannii and I talked yesterday and I don't have anything against Dannii at all and she is still very much my mentor and I respect her opinions, all I want is a little more control over my performance and styling, which she is allowing me to have. But I am a fully fledged member of Team Minogue."

The X Factor finalists charity single release Hero is outselling the rest of the Top 10 singles combined according to early midweek sales reports.

The record, in aid of 'Help The Heroes' and the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal is also outselling the No.2 single by Girls Aloud by four to one, and is on course to become the fastest selling single of 2008.

Demand has been so great for the song that copies of the single are flying out of record stores with the single currently sitting at No.1 on Play.com's download chart and iTunes download Top 100. The single is also the No.1 selling single at HMV.

This week the contestants have all been having their radical transformations and all the acts have had their teeth whitened, hairs restyled and some have even had laser facials in preparation for the first live show.

All the acts are now living in an eight bedroom house together and in a house with 21 people some people’s antics are getting on their nerves….! Scott and Eoghan have been trying the others acts patience with their high jinx’s antics, including smearing Vaseline on door handles and hiding mattresses in peoples wardrobes!

And Austin seems to be just as bad in the house with his cleanliness habits being called into question, leaving his pants living around in bathrooms and drinking the “communal” milk from the carton. He also is a night owl, often not going to bed till the early hours, but continues to play his guitar even though the others are fast asleep…..

AGE: 25
LOCATION: SURREY - ASHSTEAD
JOB: PR CONSULTANT

Ruth was born in the South East of Spain and when she screamed loudly during the birth, the doctors said she would be a singer.

At the age of one, Ruth loved the film Anne and would sing along in English, even though she had no idea what the words meant. Her mother nurtured Ruth’s love of music by playing music and dancing with her. Ruth was six when she first heard Monserat Caballet, an opera singer in Spain and she started to sing opera when her mother bought her Monserat’s album. Ruth imitated her vocals until she was pith perfect to the iconic Spanish opera singer.

AGE: 26
LOCATION: LONDON
JOB: MOTHER

Rachel is the oldest of three children and since the age of 5 yrs old has always had the dream to be a singer. Her parents split up when she was 9 yrs old and after that she lost control and direction. At the age of 13 yrs old she had the first of 5 children and life spiralled out of control, problems with drugs led to a spell in prison and eventually 3 of her children were taken into care. After the birth of her 4th child she was determined to change her life for the better and now looks after her youngest two children.

Music has always been important to Rachel and from an early age she sang in her school choir or at Sunday school. At the age of 13 yrs old she won a ghetto blaster for coming first in a signing competition performing Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love Of All’.

AGE: 38
LOCATION: ESSEX/SPAIN
JOB: POOL CLEANER IN SPAIN

Daniel Evans, 38 yrs old from Essex has almost applied to be on The X Factor every year since it’s been on the TV screens but never actually gone through with it. This year he decided to take the plunge because he believes life is too short, especially after the tragic death of his wife last year just after the birth of their 15 month old baby girl, Ana Maria.

Daniel, who has two older brothers is currently a pool cleaner living in Spain but does whatever he can to make money for his little girl and himself.

He’s had a love of music from an early age and in his early teens experimented with a variety of different musical instruments until he settled on the organ (which he never thought was cool though!)

AGE: 20
LOCATION: NORTH LONDON
JOB: SINGER

Alexandra has four brothers and a sister and lives with her mum (ex Soul to Soul singer) in North London.

Alexandra started singing at the age of 5 yrs old and when she was 9 yrs old she was passed the microphone at one of her mother’s gigs. Everyone loved her and from that moment onwards she was hooked on performing. At the age of 12 years Alexandra entered Star for a Night. She was the youngest person in the competition and was beaten to first place by Joss Stone.

Alexandra used to be in the school choir and when she left school, she tried to pursue a career in music. In 2005, Alexandra’s auditioned for The X Factor and got through to the Judges Homes stage. However, Louis Walsh decided she was too young and her X Factor journey ended.

AGE: 17
LOCATION: LANCASHIRE
JOB: STUDENT

Diana Vickers was born in Lancashire and has been singing since the age of 11. She has had singing lessons and has always taken part in local competitions but she has never gigged and she has never done anything professionally. Diana is currently studying Theatre Studies, Classics and Psychology and her plan is to go to Drama School to study Musical Theatre.

Fame doesn’t bother her Diana, she just wants to be up there doing something that she loves and have people watch her perform. She feels like if she doesn’t do it now she will let her studies take over and she will go to university and never go for it.
Diana has a real passion for music and believes she has a quirky, different voice that she’s hoping the Judges and The X Factor viewers will like.

MENTORED BY: CHERYL COLE

AGE: 17
LOCATION: MANCHESTER
JOB: STUDENT

Born in Manchester, Laura has been singing and playing the piano since she was a little girl. She has never had a professional lesson but at the age of 15 yrs old, she started singing in Jazz Bars. Her dad acts as her agent and she has been doing this for the past six years. At 17 yrs old, Laura won a radio competition where she got the chance to sing in front of an audience of 15,000 people when Peter Kay switched on the Bolton Christmas lights.

A year ago, Laura started writing her own music and singing her own songs and after receiving good feedback on her MySpace site, Laura decided to enter The X Factor.

AGE: 19
LOCATION: MANCHESTER
JOB: BLUECOAT, PONTINS (UNTIL X FACTOR)

Scott was born in Manchester and lives with his parents, two brothers and one sister. Scott used to want to be an actor but music soon became his passion when he got on stage at 11 yrs old and sang karaoke for the first time. Karaoke soon became an obsession and Scott entered numerous talent shows and singing competitions at school – winning them all. Scott started performing on the pubs and clubs circuit from the age 14 yrs old but after dropping out of drama college due to lack of funds, Scott started a job at Pontins.

Scott had been working as a Bluecoat since January this year but even though he enjoyed it, when Scott got to the Bootcamp stage of The X Factor, Scott packed it in to pursue his life-long ambition.

AGE: 16
LOCATION: DERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND
JOB: STUDENT (STUDYING FOR GCSE’S)

Eoghan grew up in Derry, Northern Ireland and is currently studying for his GCSE’s. He lives at home with his two younger brothers and his parents who are really supportive of his dream and believe he has got The X Factor.

Singing since the age of two along to Disney cartoons, Eoghan would love to be the male equivalent of Irish Leona Lewis. He found his voice whilst singing with the school choir and from then on, sang all the lead roles in the school musicals. Justin Timberlake is Eoghan’s idol and he got to the finals of Irish School Stars in their Eyes two years ago.

Eoghan enjoys school but constantly thinks about music and is determined to put the small town where he lives on the map!

MENTORED BY: SIMON COWELL

AGE: 21
LOCATION: ESSEX
JOB: SINGER

Essex born, Austin first starting singing when he was very young and at school, he enjoyed taking part in musical theatre and amateur dramatics. After leaving school, Austin found an agent and has had appearances in Snatch, The Bill, Casualty and other TV programmes.

At 17 yrs old, Austin was part of a boyband called Five Boys . During this time, they supported Lemar, Westlife, Shola Ama, Girls Aloud and the Blazing Squad. The band unfortunately didn’t get anywhere so they split and when Austin auditioned for Mc Fly, he was upset to be told he was too ugly. After another failed attempt with another band, Austin took part in Boys will be Girls E4 TV show. They released one song which was released on the E4 website.

Most recently, Austin has been a member of a glam rock band called The Revamps who have been performing locally and taking part in charity events.