On 4 July, it was reported that there would be major changes to the show this year. Auditions were taking place in
Thorpe Park, bootcamp would take place in front of an audience and there would be six weeks of live shows instead of the usual ten. Additionally, acts would be sent home on both Saturday and Sunday, as "tedious" Saturday nights received lower viewing figures than Sunday.
Auditions The minimum age to audition this year was 14 after being reduced down from 16 the previous year. Contestants needed a "yes" from at least three of the four judges to progress to Bootcamp.
Mobile auditions The mobile auditions began on 11 May 2017, in
Belfast and concluded on 23 May 2017, in
Yeovil.
Judges' auditions The auditions began on 20 June 2017, in
Liverpool and concluded on 10 July 2017, in
Surrey.
Bootcamp Bootcamp was filmed live at
The SSE Arena, Wembley in front of a studio audience. Following the filming of bootcamp and prior to the filming of the six-chair challenge, the judges' categories were revealed. Scherzinger was given the Over 28s, Cowell was given the Groups, Osbourne was given the Girls and Walsh was given the Boys. There are two different stages to Bootcamp: Wall of Songs, where a list of 35 songs appeared on a wall 4 times, and the four acts who pick the same song would perform it together, and the judges would decide instantly who would make to the 2nd stage of bootcamp: the bootcamp audition, in front of the judges and a live audience, where after an act performance the judges will instantly decide whether or not they will make it through to the six-chair Challenge. The categories were all revealed in Wembley Stadium, and revealed on TV on 7 October.
Six-chair challenge The six-chair challenge took place over the course of three days, from 26 to 28 July 2017, at The SSE Arena, Wembley. Unlike previous years, where all four judges sat together, each judge was secluded on their own while their respective category performed. The three remaining judges sat together and gave their own critiques of the performance, before allowing the category's judge to make the final decision. It was broadcast over three episodes; Osbourne choosing in the first, Cowell and Scherzinger choosing in the second, with later portions of her decisions shown, alongside Walsh's, in the third. During this stage, Cowell called back five rejected soloists from Osbourne's Girls category to form a new five-piece girl group; however, during their performance, he called back one member of a different girl group he had originally rejected and asked her to join the new group, resulting in the newly-six-piece girl group being sent through to judges' houses.
Judges' houses The judges' categories were announced in July 2017, Anthony Russell withdrew after the six-chair challenge and was replaced by Sam Black who was knocked out of the competition at the Bootcamp stage. Black was in Walsh's Boys category. In a statement, Walsh stated, "Anthony has been fantastic across the series, a great singer and performer who we are really sad to see go. I had to think for a long time who could take the place. Sam had a great reaction from the British public when his Audition aired. So I re-watched it and realised we missed a trick not putting him through at Boot Camp. He has that retro 60s style viewers will love. He's really likeable and talented and I can't wait to hear more." At the end of judges' houses, it was announced that the public could vote for a wildcard from each category bringing the total number of contestants for the live shows to 16. ==Acts ==