Terry was placed in the "boys" category and reached the live shows, where he was mentored by Nicole Scherzinger. Following the eliminations of Freddy Parker in week 2 and Ryan Lawrie in week 7, Terry became Scherzinger's last act left in the competition.[5]
In the semi-final, he ended up in the bottom two and faced the sing-off against Emily Middlemas. Scherzinger, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne voted to send him through to the final.[6]
On 11 December 2016, he was crowned as the winner of The X Factor 2016, over Saara Aalto,[1] making him the second winner, after James Arthur, to be in the bottom two at any given stage of the competition. He immediately released his winner's single, "When Christmas Comes Around", an original song written by Ed Sheeran.[7] It is the second time that the winner has released an original winner's song, the first being the second series winner Shayne Ward, who released his debut single "That's My Goal".[8] Following his win, Terry signed with
RCA Records.[9]
Following that, he released the first single from his debut album, "Sucker For You". The single peaked at 51 on the UK Singles Chart. A second single, a ballad called "The Thing About Love" was released afterwards. He performed the single on The X Factor as a guest performer. After the performance, he confirmed that the album would be released on 24 November 2017. The single peaked at 51 on the UK Singles Chart. Upon release, Terry's album peaked at 29 on the UK Albums Chart. His album is the lowest charting debut album from any The X Factor winner.[10]
In June 2018, Terry was dropped by RCA Records.[11] The next month, he made his acting debut in the UK production of Madagascar – The Musical.[12] In 2019, he returned to the Madagascar musical, portraying the role of Alex the Lion.[13][14]
2023–present: Returning music
On 1 October 2023, Terry announced his first single in over 4 years titled "You Don't Know Nothing" available on 13 October 2023 on all platforms. On 9 February 2024, Terry released his new song "Ghost of me". His single, "His Car", was released on 22 March 2024. The single dealt with the singer opening up about being gay.[15][16]
