The Risk

The eighth UK series of The X Factor was broadcast on ITV from 20 August 2011, with the live shows starting on 8 October 2011. Girl group Little Mix were the winners, and the runner-up was Marcus Collins. After The X Factor, several of the contestants went on to release singles, including Little Mix, Collins, Amelia Lily, Misha B, Frankie Cocozza, The Risk and 2 Shoes. On 25 July 2013, three contestants from series 8 - Little Mix, Amelia Lily and Misha B - were included in the (three-minute 41-second) X Factor Ultimate Mash-Up, a video trailer for series 10, a selection of 13 tracks and artists chosen to represent a decade of 'The X Factor' artists impact on the UK national chart.

The "Boys" category was mentored by Gary Barlow. Contestants in this category are males aged 16 to 24. The eight candidates were Frankie Cocozza, Marcus Collins, Craig Colton, Joe Cox, Luke Lucas, James Michael, Max Vickers and John Wilding. Barlow chose:

Frankie Cocozza (born 17 January 1993) is a singer of British and Italian descent, from Brighton. He auditioned for The X Factor singing "Valerie" and got a yes from each of the four judges and was put through to bootcamp. He then sang "Iris" at bootcamp and was put through to the judges' houses with Gary Barlow as his mentor. At judges' houses he sang "What's My Name?" and was put through to live shows. For the first live show, he sang "The A Team" and was safe. In week two he sang "The Scientist" but was in the bottom two with Nu Vibe and had to sing again for survival. For his survival song, Cocozza sang "Red" and was saved by Rowland, Walsh and his mentor who the following week admitted that he should have been sent home. In week three, Cocozza sang "Rocks", and was saved. It was later confirmed that Cocozza had sworn on live TV. In Halloween week, he sang "Should I Stay or Should I Go" and was safe. In week five, Cocozza sang "I Gotta Feeling" and was again safe. On 8 November 2011, Cocozza was axed from the show, for breaking the TV show's rules regarding drug use.

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