The X Factor UK 2014 Weekly Voting Totals Revealed

A winner has been declared for The X Factor UK 2014. Last night, Ben Haenow defeated Fleur East to win the 11th series of the reality competition. But just how close was Fleur to winning?

At the end of each series, the weekly voting results are revealed, and it ends up being one of the more noteworthy news items coming out of the finale each year. These percentages reveal who landed where each week, and whether the act with the fewest votes was actually sent home on a week where the judges came to a unanimous decision. (For example, the voting percentages from Series 6 revealed that eventual runner-up Olly Murs would have gone home after landing in the bottom 2 with John and Edward, had the judges sent it to deadlock).

So what were the results? Check out the full list below:

Credit: ITV

WEEKLY VOTING RESULTS PERCENTAGES

Vote 1
Andrea Faustini - 19.2%
Lauren Platt - 10.4%
Paul Akister - 10.0%
Ben Haenow - 8.7%
Fleur East - 6.0%
Lola Saunders - 5.7%
Jay James - 5.5%
Jake Quickenden - 5.1%
Jack Walton - 5.0%
Stevi Ritchie - 4.9%
Stereo Kicks - 4.6%
Chloe Jasmine - 4.3%
Only the Young - 4.0%
Stephanie Nala - 2.9%
Overload Generation - 2.7%
Blonde Electra - 1.0%

Vote 2
Andrea Faustini - 14.5%
Lauren Platt - 12.7%
Paul Akister - 9.9%
Ben Haenow - 9.1%
Jay James - 7.6%
Lola Saunders - 7.6%
Fleur East - 6.0%
Stevi Ritchie - 5.9%
Only the Young - 5.6%
Jack Walton - 5.3%
Jake Quickenden - 4.8%
Stereo Kicks - 4.4%
Chloe Jasmine - 4.0%
Stephanie Nala - 2.6%

Vote 3
Andrea Faustini - 14.4%
Lauren Platt - 11.8%
Ben Haenow - 10.1%
Paul Akister - 9.4%
Fleur East - 9.3%
Stereo Kicks - 8.9%
Stevi Ritchie - 7.4%
Jay James - 7.1%
Lola Saunders - 6.9%
Jack Walton - 5.3%
Only the Young - 5.2%
Jake Quickenden - 4.2%

Vote 4
Ben Haenow - 12.2%
Andrea Faustini - 11.9%
Stevi Ritchie - 11.5%
Lauren Platt - 11.0%
Paul Akister - 9.5%
Fleur East - 9.4%
Only the Young - 9.0%
Jay James - 8.3%
Stereo Kicks - 8.3%
Lola Saunders - 6.3%
Jack Walton - 2.6%

Vote 5
Ben Haenow - 14.8%
Andrea Faustini - 14.0%
Lauren Platt - 13.1%
Stereo Kicks - 12.4%
Fleur East - 10.8%
Stevi Ritchie - 10.3%
Only the Young - 8.4%
Jay James - 8.1%
Paul Akister - 8.1%

Vote 6
Ben Haenow - 16.4%
Fleur East - 14.0%
Lauren Platt - 13.2%
Andrea Faustini - 12.7%
Stereo Kicks - 12.2%
Only the Young - 12.2%
Stevi Ritchie - 10.8%
Jay James - 8.5%

Vote 7
Ben Haenow - 19.4%
Fleur East - 16.1%
Lauren Platt - 16.0%
Stereo Kicks - 15.3%
Stevi Ritchie - 14.7%
Andrea Faustini - 13.2%
Only the Young - 5.3%

Vote 8
Ben Haenow - 26.4%
Andrea Faustini - 21.0%
Fleur East - 17.9%
Lauren Platt - 17.8%
Stereo Kicks - 16.9%

Vote 9
Ben Haenow - 36.5%
Fleur East - 24.3%
Lauren Platt - 20.1%
Andrea Faustini - 19.1%

Vote 10 at Freeze
Ben Haenow - 45.1%
Fleur East - 32.7%
Andrea Faustini - 22.2%

Vote 10 Final
Ben Haenow - 57.2%
Fleur East - 34.3%
Andrea Faustini - 8.5%

ANALYSIS

So Andrea topped the vote for the first three weeks of the competition, after which Ben Haenow topped the vote for every single week. Turns out the finals weren't even close. This will inevitably draw comparisons to Matt Cardle, who absolutely dominated every single week in the voting from Week 2 onward back in Series 7. But beyond Ben's dominant performance, there are several other interesting tidbits that come out of this.

On Week 5, the deadlock between Jay James and Paul Akister was apparently a statistical tie, which begs the question of how they decided whom to send home once it went to deadlock. I'm guessing they either went down to the raw votes, or adjusted down to one-hundredths of a decimal point (maybe Jay had 8.14 of the votes and Paul had 8.11? I suck at math, so I probably shouldn't be trying to explain this anyway). I'm sure if they sent Paul home once it went to deadlock, then they were confident enough in their data that Paul had fewer votes than Jay that week.

From there, some of the results get a bit surprising. As it turns out, Andrea Faustini would have been eliminated BOTH times he was in the Bottom 2, had the judges sent it to deadlock. In Week 7, he actually had fewer votes than Stevi Ritchie, meaning Stevi would have actually gotten his wish of "just one more week" in the competition if he'd been able to sway just one more judge. But even though Andrea was safe the week after his Bottom 2 appearance, his semifinal sing-off with Lauren Platt would have ended a lot differently if, once again, the judges had sent it to deadlock. Although it only amount to one percentage point's difference, Lauren actually did have more votes than Andrea that week, and would have gotten into the finals. It's a bit of an eye-opener to see just how poorly Andrea ended up doing in the finale, considering how popular he was for most of the season (even these results bear out that popularity, as he spent a sizable portion of the competition near the top of the vote).

Anyway, I just love the full disclosure of The X Factor UK voting process, because it really causes the season to be cast in a new light. This wasn't the tale of Ben stepping up midway through the competition, and wresting away the win from Fleur or Andrea or Lauren. Rather, the was practically his from the start. It's one of the most dominant performances in the weekly vote that the show has ever had, and honestly, it's not all that surprising, considering the level at which Ben frequently delivered onstage.