Rak-Su: Boy band beat Grace Davies to win X Factor 2017 - BBC News
Grace Davies faced boy band Rak-Su in the Sunday night final of the ITV singing contest.
Rak-Su have been named the winners of the X Factor 2017.

The Watford-based group beat Grace Davies in the final of the ITV singing competition - the first boy band to win since the show started in 2004.

Rak-Su thanked viewers for voting for them, while their mentor Simon Cowell hailed them as "stars".

Proceeds from Rak-Su's winners' single Dimelo will go to children's hospice charities Together For Short Lives and Shooting Star Chase.

The track, a duet with Wyclef Jean and Naughty Boy, was first performed during Saturday's show.

X Factor judge Cowell also praised runner-up Grace Davies, describing her as "really an outstanding, outstanding artist".

Simon Cowell described runner up Davies as "outstanding"

The finalists performed several original songs during their appearances on X Factor, marking a change in the show's approach this year.

In the ratings battle, however, the first part of the X Factor final - which was shown on Saturday night - lost out to Strictly Come Dancing.

The BBC dance contest's quarter final had an average audience of 9.7 million, while the first night of the X Factor final averaged 4.4 million viewers. The two shows overlapped for just over an hour on Saturday.

It was a similar story on Sunday night, when they overlapped for 40 minutes, with an average audience of 5.2 million for the second part of the X Factor final and 10.3 million for Strictly.

Both Rak-Su and Davies previously had songs played by BBC Introducing before auditioning for the X Factor.

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