Jake Quickenden

In 2012, Quickenden auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor, where he sang "Use Somebody" and received four yesses from the judges. At bootcamp, along with fellow contestants Adam Burridge and Robbie Hance, he sang "How to Save a Life". The judges decided to put him through to judges' houses where he was in the Boys category along with Burridge, Nathan Fagan-Gayle, Rylan Clark, Jahméne Douglas, and the series' eventual winner James Arthur and their mentor was Nicole Scherzinger. Quickenden sang "Back for Good" in front of Scherzinger and her guest, Ne-Yo. The next day, Scherzinger decided not to put Quickenden through to the live shows, choosing Clark, Douglas, and Arthur instead.[9]

In 2014, Quickenden once again auditioned for the eleventh series of The X Factor, where he sang "All of Me", but was stopped and asked to perform his second song, "Say Something". Quickenden received positive comments from the judges for his second song and gave him four yeses to proceed to the next round. In the arena audition, he performed "Who You Are" by Jessie J. Quickenden received good comments from the judges. Head judge Simon Cowell commented that he was not a big fan of previous contestants returning since there was usually a reason for them being sent home, but said that he was not judging in the 2012 series and that Quickenden should not have been eliminated.[10] The judges decided to put Quickenden through to bootcamp. He was again in the "Boys" category with Mel B as his mentor. In the six-chair challenge of bootcamp, Quickenden sang "A Thousand Years" and his mentor gave him a chair and proceeded to the next round. At judges' houses, he sang "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and was put through to the live shows along with Andrea Faustini and Paul Akister.

On 27 October, Quickenden landed in the bottom two in week 3 against Only The Young and was eliminated, with only his mentor Mel B voting to save him.

Beginning on 20 November 2014, Quickenden took part in fourteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, entering the jungle on Day 5 of the competition with former politician Edwina Currie.[11] Jake finished the show as runner-up to Carl 'Foggy' Fogarty.[12]

Quickenden was a contestant in the tenth series of Dancing on Ice, where he was partnered with professional German figure skater Vanessa Bauer. On 11 March 2018, he and Bauer won the competition over Brooke Vincent and Max Evans.