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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Rose Hill

X Factor fans speechless as Union J stars look 'unrecognisable' 10 years on from audition

X Factor fans were left speechless today as Union J returned to screens looking "completely different" 10 years after their audition on the ITV show.

The boyband announced their comeback at the weekend ahead of a special one-off concert and documentary.

George Shelley, Josh Cuthbert, JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hensley appeared on Loose Women today to speak about their reunion.

But many fans were distracted by how much they had changed changed in 10 years, with Josh and George - who joined when they were teenagers - now in their late 20s and JJ and Jaymi now in their 30s.

Fans took to Twitter to comment, with one writing: "They look SO different, I wouldn’t even recognise that these were the young lads from #UnionJ #loosewomen."

While another commented: "#Loosewomen I feel like I'm 32 again."

Union J have reunited 10 years after their audition (ITV)

A third wrote: "Nice looking bunch #Loosewomen."

"Lord have mercy, I have always and will always have a massive crush on George Shelley. What an absolutely beautiful man," another wrote.

Union J's upcoming comeback concert will take place on May 28, exactly one decade after their debut performance as a band on The X Factor.

Fans couldn't believe how different the band looked (Ken McKay/Thames/REX/Shutterstock)

The band originally started life as a trio, consisting of Josh, JJ and Jaymi, but became a four-piece after George was introduced to the group during the ninth series of the ITV talent show.

Union J managed to reach the semi-final of the now-axed singing competition and went on to release string of hit singles.

But shortly after the success of their 2014 album You Got It All, the boys were secretly dropped by their label Epic Records - with the dumping leading to their eventual disbandment.

The boy band was axed by their label in 2014 (Ken McKay/Thames/REX/Shutterstock)

Following being axed by their label, George went on to quit the group following a successful stint on on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2015.

Josh's departure in 2018 then left Union J down to two members, with the duo eventually winding things down.

"We never told anyone we were dropped by our label and we didn’t get an explanation," Jaymi explained to The Sun when discussing their upcoming reunion.

"We didn’t speak about it, we didn’t go out to new labels to try to get a new deal, so we just pretended we were still doing album No3. We were lying to ourselves."

*Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV

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