The X Factor’s reaching its final knockout stage, where the singers compete in a series of weekly shows filmed at a TV studio in London. If you’re a fan of the show, and watching from the sofa’s not good enough, from this week you can grab tickets to be in the audience watching the finalists battle it out live…
There’s only a limited number of tickets for each show – normally 500ish – and the first lot have just been released (for the first show on Sat 31 Oct). To be in with a chance of getting some, you’ll first need to register online at Applause Store – the only official distributor of tickets for The X Factor live shows at Wembley Fountain Studios.
Important: The X Factor audience tickets are always completely free. Don’t buy tickets (eg, eBay) as these may be fake and even if legit, chances are they originally came from Applause Store for free. Applause Store says tickets will only be valid if the person who originally requested them is present – so it’s best to bring some ID.
How do I get tickets?
1. Go online to Applause Store and register, or sign in if you’ve created an account before. You’ll be asked to give your name and date of birth (you need to be aged 16+) as well as an email address, phone number and postcode.
2. As soon as tickets become available for a show, you’ll see a ‘booking now’ message beside its details on the website. You should also receive an email notification, but do check your ‘spam’ or ‘junk’ folder in case it goes in there.
3. You then simply choose either one or two tickets (no more allowed per person), and hit the ‘request tickets’ button. You’ll need to agree to Applause Store’s T&Cs.
4. Tickets will be allocated at random to make it fair. If you’ve been successful, you’ll be emailed a unique eTicket link at least 48 hours before the date of the show. You can usually request tickets right up until the day of the show, but of course, they might all be snapped up by then.
5. If you don’t hear anything, you haven’t been successful – but check the site regularly as new tickets will be available for the live shows every week.
Am I guaranteed to get in?
Even with a ticket, you are not guaranteed entry to The X Factor studio. The number of seats available changes each week due to stage size, performances, set and various guest lists. There are normally between 450-500 seats per show, but extra tickets are given out to account for no-shows and prevent empty seats.
This means it’s important to arrive well ahead of the ‘arrive by’ time that’s written on your ticket. These shows are extremely popular, so even arriving early may not guarantee a seat. Our best advice is to get there a couple of hours early, and be prepared to stand outside in a queue.
Applause Store’s told us that if you’re turned away, there’ll be an ‘audience manager’ on hand who “will do their very best to look after any ‘turn-aways’ with guaranteed entrance to another one of our shows”. If you’re travelling a long way, have a ‘Plan B’ to do something else if you do miss out.
TalkTalk customer?
If you’ve got TalkTalk broadband, TV or landline, until Sun 15 Nov, there’s a weekly prize draw you can enter to win free guaranteed entry to the X Factor Live Final shows on Sat 12 Dec and Sun 13 Dec. This is completely separate from the Applause Store method, and only applies to the series grand finale – not the other live shows as above.
You have to be a TalkTalk customer (aged 18+) and can enter each week’s draw via your online account or the TalkTalk app. See the TalkTalk website for more info.
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