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The X Factor is a British music show on TV that looks for new singing talent. Aspiring singers are picked from public auditions to compete. The show was made by Simon Cowell and debuted in September 2004. Since then, it has been on every year from August/September to December. FremantleMedia's Thames and Cowell's production company, SYCOtv, are in charge of making the show. It is shown on ITV in the UK and TV3 in Ireland. The Xtra Factor, a show about what goes on behind the scenes, is shown on ITV2. It was the first country to have a version of The X Factor. The X Factor was made to replace the very popular Pop Idol, which was cancelled after its second season. This was mostly because Simon Cowell, who was a judge on Pop Idol, wanted to start a show for which he owned the TV rights. Later, there was a legal battle over how similar the two shows were thought to be. The "X Factor" in the title refers to that "something" that can't be put into words but makes a star. Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, and Louis Walsh were the original judges. In the fourth season, Dannii Minogue joined the panel, and after Ozzy Osbourne left in the fifth season, Cheryl Cole took her place. After the seventh season, Cowell and Cole left to be judges on the American version of the show, and Minogue left because she had to work on Australia's Got Talent. For the eighth season, Kelly Rowland, Tulisa Contostavlos, and Gary Barlow joined Walsh on the judging panel. However, Rowland said she wouldn't be back for the ninth season, so Nicole Scherzinger took her place. Later, in 2013, Osbourne came back and replaced Contostavlos. Kate Thornton used to host the show, but Dermot O'Leary has been in charge since 2007. The show is broken up into different parts that follow the contestants from the auditions to the big finale. During the show's first televised audition phase, contestants sang in a room with only the judges. Starting with the sixth season, people who want to be on the show sing on a stage in front of the judges and a live audience. Successful auditionees move on to "bootcamp" and then to "judges' houses." At "judges' houses," the judges narrow down the acts in their category to three or four acts to mentor for the live shows, where the public votes for their favorite acts.