The X Factor (U.S. season 3)

The X Factor
Season 3
Broadcast from	September 11 (2013-09-11) – December 19, 2013 (2013-12-19)
Judges	Simon Cowell Demi Lovato Kelly Rowland Paulina Rubio
Host(s)	Mario Lopez
Broadcaster	Fox
Winner
Alex & Sierra
Origin	Florida
Song	"Say Something"
Genre(s)	Indie pop, indie folk, folk pop, pop
Mentor	Simon Cowell
Runner-up
Jeff Gutt

The third and final season of the American music competition television show The X Factor premiered on Fox on September 11, 2013 and ended on December 19, 2013.^[1] This season was hosted by Mario Lopez. Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato returned to the judging panel, while Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio joined the panel as replacements for the departing judges.

Producer auditions began on March 6, 2013, in Los Angeles, and ended on May 4, 2013, in Denver. The judges auditions, which are televised, began on May 21, 2013, in Charleston, and ended on July 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. New for this season is the removal of the boot camp and judges' houses rounds of the competition which have been replaced with a new middle section, more reminiscent of the live shows.

On December 19, 2013, Alex & Sierra won the show, as mentored by Cowell. On February 7, 2014, Cowell announced his departure from the show which was followed by Fox announcing that it was not going to be renewing The X Factor for a fourth season.^[2]

Judges and hosts

On October 22, 2012, it was announced that The X Factor would be returning for a third season,^[3] with Simon Cowell confirmed to be returning.^[4] On December 14, 2012, L.A. Reid announced he would not return to the show for its third season, as he wished to refocus his work on his record company, Epic Records.^[5] Britney Spears stated her intentions on returning to the show for its third season,^[6] but it was confirmed on January 11, 2013, that she would not be returning, in order to focus on her music career.^[7]

Following the conclusion of season two, Demi Lovato questioned whether she would return for another season, or instead focus on her own career as a performer, stating, "I have no idea what’s gonna happen next season, and I don't think anybody does."^[8] On March 28, 2013, it was confirmed that Lovato would return. On April 22, it was confirmed by Fox that Mario Lopez would be returning to host season three, along with the news of Khloé Kardashian not returning as co-host.^[9] Cowell confirmed via his Twitter account that the full judging panel will be announced on May 20, 2013, with auditions beginning the next day.^[10] On that same day, Fox confirmed that Destiny's Child member and one-time The X Factor UK judge Kelly Rowland, and Mexican singer and former La Voz... México judge Paulina Rubio had been hired to replace Spears and Reid.^[11]

Selection process

Auditions

In addition to having online auditions, it was announced at the conclusion of season 2 that auditions for season 3 would be held throughout the country in Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Long Island, New York; Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. On the "Registration and Audition Rules" document^[12] on The X Factor's website about the auditions, it was announced where the auditions were going to be taking place.

Summary of auditions^[13]

City	Auditions dates		Venue
	Producers	Judges
Los Angeles, California	March 6, 2013	July 10–12, 2013	Galen Center
New Orleans, Louisiana	April 14, 2013	June 11–12, 2013	Lakefront Arena
Charleston, South Carolina	March 19, 2013	May 21–22, 2013	North Charleston Coliseum
Long Island, New York	April 25, 2013	June 19–21, 2013	Nassau Coliseum
Denver, Colorado	May 14, 2013	June 30 – July 2, 2013	Denver Coliseum

Four-chair challenge

For this season of The X Factor, Cowell confirmed that the boot camp and judges' houses sections of the competition, which traditionally followed the audition rounds, had been dropped and replaced with a brand new stage called "The Four-Chair challenge". Speaking on the change, he said "It [boot camp and Judges' houses] was the one element of the show I wasn't happy with, and it looked too similar to what everybody else is doing." He went on to describe the new "middle section" as "really dramatic, very tough on us and the contestants, and very high pressure", and compared the new round as similar to the live shows.^[14]

This season, the categories did not follow the age-based format from season two but rather the format from season one: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups. Rowland mentored Over 25s, Lovato the Girls, Rubio the Boys, and for the second season in a row, Cowell mentored the Groups.^[15]

The four-chair challenge episodes were broadcast on two 2-hour Wednesdays and two 1-hour Thursdays shows on October 2, 3, 9 and 10.

Key:

     – Contestant was immediately eliminated after performance without switch

     – Contestant was switched out later in the competition and eventually eliminated

     – Contestant was not switched out and made the final four of their own category

Contestants performances on the four-chair challenge

Episode	Category (mentor)	Act	Order	Song[16][17][18][19]	Mentor's decision	Switched with
Episode 7 (October 2)	Over 25s (Rowland)	Victoria Carriger	1	"Make You Feel My Love"	Put in chair 1	—
		Kristine Mirelle	2	"Oops!... I Did It Again"	Put in chair 2	—
		Jeff Gutt	3	"Amazing Grace"	Put in chair 3	—
		Rachel Potter	4	"Irreplaceable"	Put in chair 4	—
		Lorie Moore	5	"I'll Make Love to You"	Put in chair 2	Kristine Mirelle
		Allison Davis	6	"Tik Tok" / "Push It"	Eliminated	—
		Jeff Brinkman	7	"Without You"	Put in chair 1	Victoria Carriger
		Denny Smith	8	"In the Midnight Hour"	Eliminated	—
		James Kenney	9	"Lean on Me"	Put in chair 1	Jeff Brinkman
		Lillie McCloud	10	"A House Is Not a Home"	Put in chair 2	Lorie Moore
	Girls (Lovato)	Bree Randall	11	"Glad You Came"	Put in chair 1	—
		Khaya Cohen	12	"Locked Out of Heaven"	Put in chair 2	—
		Jamie Pineda	13	"Don't Speak"	Put in chair 3	—
		Ashly Williams	14	"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"	Put in chair 4	—
Episode 8 (October 3)		Simone Torres	15	"A Change Is Gonna Come"	Put in chair 1	Bree Randall
		Danie Geimer	16	"Georgia on My Mind"	Put in chair 1	Simone Torres
		Rylie Brown	17	"Angels"	Eliminated	—
		Primrose Martin	18	"Blame It on the Boogie"	Eliminated	—
		Rion Paige	19	"I Won't Let Go"	Put in chair 4	Ashly Williams
		Ellona Santiago	20	"Clarity"	Put in chair 3	Jamie Pineda
Episode 9 (October 9)	Boys (Rubio)	Al Calderon	21	"Call Me Maybe"	Put in chair 1	—
		Isaiah Alston	22	"The Greatest Love of All"	Eliminated	—
		Isaac Tauaefa	23	"Bubbly"	Eliminated	—
		Carlos Guevara	24	"Ain't No Sunshine"	Put in chair 2	—
		Stone Martin	25	"Torn"	Put in chair 3	—
		Chase Goehring	26	"Airplanes"	Put in chair 4	—
		Tim Olstad	27	"The Climb"	Put in chair 3	Stone Martin
		Carlito Olivero	28	"Dreaming of You"	Put in chair 4	Chase Goehring
		Timmy Thames	29	"The New Girl in Town"	Put in chair 3	Tim Olstad
		Tim Olstad	N/A	N/A (reinstated by mentor)1	Put in chair 1	Al Calderon
		Josh Levi	30	"I Can't Make You Love Me"	Put in chair 3	Timmy Thames
	Groups (Cowell)	Girls United	31	"Yeah 3x"	Put in chair 1	—
		Wild Thingz	32	"Party Rock Anthem"	Put in chair 2	—
		Glamour	33	"When I'm Gone"	Put in chair 3	—
		Restless Road	34	"Somebody Like You"	Put in chair 4	—
Episode 10 (October 10)		Sweet Suspense	35	"Wishing on a Star"	Put in chair 2	Wild Thingz
		Yellow House Canyon	36	"Hell on Heels"	Eliminated	—
		Forever in Your Mind	37	"Lovebug"	Put in chair 3	Glamour
		Good News	38	"Landslide"	Eliminated	—
		Alex & Sierra	39	"You're the One That I Want"	Put in chair 1	Girls United
		RoXxy Montana	40	"Man in the Mirror"	Put in chair 3	Forever in Your Mind

^1 Rubio initially switched out Tim Olstad for Timmy Thames, but after some consideration brought him back and instead switched out Al Calderon.

Finalists

The final 16 finalists were confirmed as follows;

Key:

     – Winner

     – Runner-up

     – Third place

Category (mentor)	Acts
Boys (Rubio)	Carlos Guevara	Josh Levi	Carlito Olivero	Tim Olstad
Girls (Lovato)	Khaya Cohen	Danie Geimer	Rion Paige	Ellona Santiago
Over 25s (Rowland)	Jeff Gutt	James Kenney	Lillie McCloud	Rachel Potter
Groups (Cowell)	Alex & Sierra	Restless Road	RoXxy Montana	Sweet Suspense

Live shows

The first two-hour live show aired on a special Tuesday time slot on October 29; which followed the same format as the first season with each of the judges narrowing their number of acts down to three, without a public vote. The public vote then started with the following performance and results shows starting November 6, which aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively. As with previous seasons, each live show had a different theme. The live final took place in on December 18 and 19. Cowell had also said on Twitter that there may be a wildcard this season.^[20] The leaderboard that showed which act had received the most public votes did not return.

Musical guests

Each results show featured musical performances from at least two artists. There was no guest performer on the first result show. Selena Gomez was supposed to perform on the second result show, but was postponed to third result show night^[21] which featured a performance from season 2 finalist Fifth Harmony.^[22] One Direction performed on the third results show.^[23] Michael Bublé performed on the fifth performance show,^[24] then again on the fifth results show alongside judge Demi Lovato.^[25] Emblem3 and Little Mix performed on the sixth results show,^[26] while Enrique Iglesias performed during the seventh results show.^[27] Paulina Rubio,^[28] Mary J. Blige, Lea Michele,^[29] Leona Lewis, Pitbull and One Direction performed on the finale.^[30]

Results summary

Color key

–	Contestant did not face the public vote
–	Contestant was eliminated by their mentor (no public vote or final showdown)
–	Contestant was in the bottom three and had to sing again in the final showdown
–	Contestant was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated
–	Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown)
–	Contestant received the most public votes

Weekly results per contestant

Contestant	Week 1	Week 23	Week 3		Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
			Wednesday3	Thursday
Alex & Sierra	Saved	N/A	1st5	1st5	1st5	1st5	1st5	1st5	Winner
Jeff Gutt	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Runner-up
Carlito Olivero	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Bottom three	Safe	Bottom three	Safe	3rd
Restless Road	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	4th	Eliminated (week 7)
Rion Paige	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	6th	Bottom three	Eliminated (week 6)
Ellona Santiago	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	6th	Eliminated (week 6)
Josh Levi	Not saved2	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	7th	Eliminated (week 5)
Lillie McCloud	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Safe	8th	Eliminated (week 5)
Tim Olstad	Saved	N/A	Safe	Safe	Bottom three	Eliminated (week 4)
Khaya Cohen	Saved	N/A	Safe	Bottom three	10th	Eliminated (week 4)
Rachel Potter	Saved	N/A	Safe	Bottom three	Eliminated (week 3)
Sweet Suspense	Saved	N/A	Safe	12th	Eliminated (week 3)
Carlos Guevara	Saved	N/A	13th	Eliminated (week 3)
RoXxy Montana	Not saved	Eliminated (week 1)
James Kenney	Not saved	Eliminated (week 1)
Danie Geimer	Not saved	Eliminated (week 1)
Final showdown	None1	None3	None3	Cohen, Potter	Olivero, Olstad	Levi, Paige	Olivero, Paige	No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone
Judges voted to	Save			Eliminate
Rowland's vote	Potter, Gutt, McCloud			Cohen	Olstad	Paige	Paige
Lovato's vote	Santiago, Paige, Cohen			Potter	Olstad	Levi	Olivero
Rubio's vote	Olivero, Guevara, Olstad			Potter	Olstad	Paige	Paige
Cowell's vote	Restless Road, Alex & Sierra, Sweet Suspense			Potter	N/A4	Levi	Paige
Eliminated	Danie Geimer by Lovato		Carlos Guevara Public vote to save	Sweet Suspense Public vote to save	Khaya Cohen Public vote to save	Lillie McCloud Public vote to save	Ellona Santiago Public vote to save	Restless Road Public vote to save	Carlito Olivero Public vote to win
	Josh Levi by Rubio
	James Kenney by Rowland			Rachel Potter 3 of 4 votes Majority	Tim Olstad 3 of 3 votes Majority	Josh Levi 2 of 4 votes Deadlock	Rion Paige 3 of 4 votes Majority		Jeff Gutt Public vote to win
	RoXxy Montana by Cowell
Reference(s)	[31]	[32]	[33]	[34]	[35]	[36]	[37]	[38]	[39]

• ^1 There was no public vote in the first week and therefore no final showdown. Each judge was required to reduce their number of acts to three.^[40]
• ^2 Levi returned to the competition in week two because the judges felt that he "deserves a second shot".^[41]
• ^3 Owing to graphics error in which incorrect voting numbers were displayed on screen during the performance recap, there was no elimination in week two. All acts performed again on Thursday night in week two and a public re-vote was conducted. Carlos Guevara was eliminated on Wednesday night in week three after receiving the least amount of votes in week two.^[32]
• ^4 Cowell was not required to vote as there was already a majority.
• ^5 Cowell revealed in an interview that Alex & Sierra "won every single week" in the public vote.^[42]

Live show details

Week 1 (October 29)

Contestants performances on the first live show

Act	Order	Song[43]	Result[31]
Ellona Santiago	1	"Till the World Ends"	Safe
Danie Geimer	2	"Wrecking Ball"	Eliminated
Rion Paige	3	"Skyscraper"	Safe
Khaya Cohen	4	"Mercy"	Safe
Josh Levi	5	"Only Girl (in the World)"	Eliminated
Carlos Guevara	6	"Don't You Worry Child"	Safe
Carlito Olivero	7	"Maria Maria"	Safe
Tim Olstad	8	"Always"	Safe
Lillie McCloud	9	"When a Man Loves a Woman"	Safe
Jeff Gutt	10	"Try"	Safe
Rachel Potter	11	"I Hope You Dance"	Safe
James Kenney	12	"Red"	Eliminated
RoXxy Montana	13	"Royals"	Eliminated
Sweet Suspense	14	"I Love It"	Safe
Alex & Sierra	15	"Blurred Lines"	Safe
Restless Road	16	"Roar"	Safe

There was no public vote in the first week. Instead, each of the judges selected one of their own acts to eliminate.

Judges' decisions to eliminate^[31]

• Lovato: Danie Geimer – gave no reason
• Rubio: Josh Levi – gave no reason
• Rowland: James Kenney – based on the performances
• Cowell: RoXxy Montana – gave no reason

Week 2 (November 6/7)

November 6

• Theme: Motown songs (billed as "Motown Night")^[44]
• Group performance: "ABC" / "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" / "Reach Out I'll Be There" / "Dancing in the Street"^[45] (all top 13 finalists except Josh Levi)

One of the four acts that did not face the public vote in week 1 and was eliminated by their mentor was reinstated to the show as the judges felt that the act "deserves a second shot". The reinstated act was announced as Josh Levi.^[41]

Contestants performances on the second live show (Wednesday)

Act	Order	Song[41]
Josh Levi	1	"Who's Lovin' You"
Rachel Potter	2	"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)"
Carlos Guevara	3	"What's Going On"
Restless Road	4	"Easy"
Ellona Santiago	5	"Baby Love"
Jeff Gutt	6	"Say You, Say Me"
Alex & Sierra	7	"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
Khaya Cohen	8	"My Girl"
Carlito Olivero	9	"Stop! In the Name of Love"
Lillie McCloud	10	"All In Love Is Fair"
Sweet Suspense	11	"You Keep Me Hangin' On"
Rion Paige	12	"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
Tim Olstad	13	"I'll Be There"

November 7

• Theme: "Save Me" songs^[32]

Owing to graphics error in which incorrect voting numbers were displayed on screen during the performance recap, there was no elimination this week, instead all the acts performed their "Save Me" songs on Thursday night and a public re-vote was conducted after the show. The results were announced the following week, at the start of the live show on Wednesday night.^[32]

Selena Gomez was going to perform her single "Slow Down" but due to graphics issues, she performed on the second night in week 3.

Contestants performances on the second live show (Thursday)

Act	Order	Song[46]
Josh Levi	1	"Stay"
Rachel Potter	2	"Anyway"
Carlos Guevara	3	"Cannonball"
Restless Road	4	"Don't You Wanna Stay"
Ellona Santiago	5	"Titanium"
Jeff Gutt	6	"In the Air Tonight"
Alex & Sierra	7	"Give Me Love"
Khaya Cohen	8	"Distant Dreamer"
Carlito Olivero	9	"If You're Not the One"
Lillie McCloud	10	"Who Wants to Live Forever"
Sweet Suspense	11	"That Should Be Me"
Rion Paige	12	"Born This Way"
Tim Olstad	13	"I Believe I Can Fly"

Week 3 (November 13/14)

• Theme: Songs from the 1980s (billed as "80s Night")^[47]
• Group performance: "Perfect Day"^[34]
• Musical guests: Selena Gomez ("Slow Down")^[21] and Fifth Harmony ("Me & My Girls")^[22]

Carlos Guevara, the act that received the fewest votes from the public re-vote in week 2, was eliminated at the start of the November 13 episode.^[33] He would have performed "Mad World".^[33] Starting from week three, two acts will be eliminated from each results show until week five. The three acts with the fewest public votes will be announced and then the act with the fewest votes will be automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts will then perform in the final showdown and face the judges' votes.

Contestants performances on the third live show

Act	Order	Song[33]	Result[34]
Carlos Guevara	N/A	N/A (already eliminated)	Eliminated
Lillie McCloud	1	"Ain't Nobody"	Safe
Carlito Olivero	2	"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You"	Safe
Rion Paige	3	"We Belong"	Safe
Sweet Suspense	4	"Mickey"	Eliminated
Tim Olstad	5	"Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"	Safe
Khaya Cohen	6	"Borderline"	Bottom three
Restless Road	7	"Footloose"	Safe
Rachel Potter	8	"Alone"	Bottom three
Ellona Santiago	9	"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)"	Safe
Josh Levi	10	"Straight Up"	Safe
Jeff Gutt	11	"(I Just) Died in Your Arms"	Safe
Alex & Sierra	12	"Addicted to Love"	Safe
Final showdown details[34]
Khaya Cohen	1	"Don't Give Up on Me"	Safe
Rachel Potter	2	"From This Moment On"	Eliminated

Judges' votes to eliminate^[34]

• Rowland: Khaya Cohen – based on the final showdown performances, effectively backing her own act, Rachel Potter
• Rubio: Rachel Potter – gave no reason
• Lovato: Rachel Potter – gave no reason, though effectively backed her own act, Khaya Cohen
• Cowell: Rachel Potter – felt Cohen has more potential in the competition

Week 4 (November 20/21)

• Theme: Songs by British artists (billed as "British Invasion")^[48]
• Musical guest: One Direction ("Story of My Life")^[23]

Contestants performances on the fourth live show

Act	Order	Song[49]	Result[35]
Jeff Gutt	1	"Bohemian Rhapsody"	Safe
Tim Olstad	2	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"	Bottom three
Khaya Cohen	3	"Let It Be"	Eliminated
Josh Levi	4	"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"	Safe
Alex & Sierra	5	"Best Song Ever"	Safe
Rion Paige	6	"Your Song"	Safe
Carlito Olivero	7	"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"	Bottom three
Lillie McCloud	8	"This Woman's Work"	Safe
Ellona Santiago	9	"Burn"	Safe
Restless Road	10	"Fix You"	Safe
Final showdown details[35]
Tim Olstad	1	"You Raise Me Up"	Eliminated
Carlito Olivero	2	"Beneath Your Beautiful"	Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate^[50]

• Rowland: Tim Olstad – based on the final showdown performances
• Lovato: Tim Olstad – gave no reason
• Rubio: Tim Olstad – gave no reason
• Cowell was not required to vote since there was already a majority

Week 5 (November 27/28)

• Theme: Big band (billed as "Big Band Night")^[25]
• Guest mentor: Michael Bublé^[51]
• Group performances:
  • Wednesday: "Cry Me a River"^[52]
  • Thursday: "Somewhere Only We Know"^[36]
• Musical guests:
  • Wednesday: Michael Bublé ("You Make Me Feel So Young")^[24][25]
  • Thursday: Demi Lovato ("Neon Lights") and Michael Bublé ("It's a Beautiful Day")^[25]

Contestants performances on the fifth live show

Act	Order	Song[53]	Result[36]
Rion Paige	1	"Swingin'"	Bottom three
Restless Road	2	"Life Is a Highway"	Safe
Jeff Gutt	3	"Feeling Good"	Safe
Josh Levi	4	"Treasure"	Bottom three
Carlito Olivero	5	"La Copa de Vida" / "María"	Safe
Alex & Sierra	6	"I Knew You Were Trouble"	Safe
Lillie McCloud	7	"Summertime"	Eliminated
Ellona Santiago	8	"Mamma Knows Best"	Safe
Final showdown details[36]
Rion Paige	1	"Perfect"	Safe
Josh Levi	2	"When I Was Your Man"	Eliminated

Judges' votes to eliminate^[54]

• Lovato: Josh Levi – gave no reason, though effectively backed her own act, Rion Paige
• Rubio: Rion Paige – backed her own act, Josh Levi
• Rowland: Rion Paige – gave no reason
• Cowell: Josh Levi – wanted to let the public decide and therefore sent it to deadlock

With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Levi was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.^[54]

Week 6 (December 4/5)

• Themes: Divas; unplugged songs (billed as "stripped down songs")^[26]
• Musical guests: Emblem3 ("Just for One Day")^[55] and Little Mix ("Move")^[26][56]

For the first time this season, each act performed two songs.

Contestants' performances on the sixth live show

Act	Order	First song[57]	Order	Second song[57]	Result[37]
Restless Road	1	"Red"	7	"Wake Me Up"	Safe
Rion Paige	2	"See You Again"	8	"Glass"	Bottom three
Jeff Gutt	3	"Without You"	9	"Daniel"	Safe
Ellona Santiago	4	"Applause"	10	"If I Were a Boy"	Eliminated
Alex & Sierra	5	"Say My Name"	11	"Say Something"	Safe
Carlito Olivero	6	"Let's Get Loud"	12	"Stand by Me"	Bottom three
Final showdown details[37]
Rion Paige	1	"The House That Built Me"			Eliminated
Carlito Olivero	2	"You Make Me Wanna..."			Safe

Judges' votes to eliminate^[58]

• Lovato: Carlito Olivero – backed her own act, Rion Paige
• Rubio: Rion Paige – backed her own act, Carlito Olivero
• Rowland: Rion Paige – based on the final showdown performances though stated both acts did not give their best
• Cowell: Rion Paige – wanted to give Olivero the opportunity to stay in the competition as he felt it was "probably his last chance"

Week 7: Semi-final (December 11/12)

• Themes: Viewers' choice;^[59] "songs to get you to the final" (no theme)
• Group performances:
  • Wednesday: "Falling Slowly" (performed by Alex & Sierra and Carlito Olivero) and "Every Breath You Take" (performed by Jeff Gutt and Restless Road)
  • Thursday: "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"^[38]
• Musical guest: Enrique Iglesias ("Heart Attack")^[27][60]

On December 4, the song choices for the public were revealed.^[59]

Choices for viewers' choice week

Act	Song choices[59]	Result[61]
Alex & Sierra	"Hold On, We're Going Home"	Not chosen
	"Little Talks"	Chosen
	"Troublemaker"	Not chosen
Carlito Olivero	"Boyfriend"	Chosen
	"Hasta Ayer"	Not chosen
	"Promise"	Not chosen
Ellona Santiago	"Love Me Again"	N/A (already eliminated)
	"Who You Are"	N/A (already eliminated)
	"You Got the Love"	N/A (already eliminated)
Jeff Gutt	"Creep"	Not chosen
	"Hallelujah"	Chosen
	"Wonderwall"	Not chosen
Restless Road	"Hey Brother"	Not chosen
	"It Goes Like This"	Not chosen
	"That's My Kind of Night"	Chosen
Rion Paige	"Girl on Fire"	N/A (already eliminated)
	"So Small"	N/A (already eliminated)
	"Umbrella"	N/A (already eliminated)

Contestants' performances on the seventh live show

Act	Order	First song[62]	Order	Second song[62]	Result[38]
Carlito Olivero	1	"Boyfriend"	5	"I Need to Know"	Safe
Restless Road	2	"That's My Kind of Night"	6	"Wanted"	Eliminated
Alex & Sierra	3	"Little Talks"	7	"Gravity"	Safe
Jeff Gutt	4	"Hallelujah"	8	"Demons"	Safe

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Restless Road, was automatically eliminated.^[38] The top three acts each then performed a victory song of their choice after they were announced safe, with Olivero performing "Suavemente", Alex & Sierra performing "Let Her Go", and Gutt performing "Open Arms".^[38]

Week 8: Final (December 18/19)

The final consisted of two two-hour episodes on December 18 and 19.

December 18

• Themes: Winner's song (billed as "song to win"); celebrity duets (billed as "musical hero duets"); favorite performance (billed as "song of the season")
• Group performance: "We Will Rock You"^[63]
• Musical guest: Paulina Rubio ("Boys Will Be Boys")^[28]

Contestants' performances on the eighth live show

Act	Order	First song[63]	Order	Second song (duet)[63][64]	Order	Third song[63]
Carlito Olivero	1	"Impossible"	4	"Stand by Me" (with Prince Royce)	7	"Maria Maria"
Alex & Sierra	2	"Give Me Love"	5	"Bleeding Love" (with Leona Lewis)	8	"Say Something"
Jeff Gutt	3	"Dream On"	6	"Iris" (with John Rzeznik)	9	"Creep"

December 19

• Theme: Christmas songs^[65]
• Group performances: "One" (all top 13 finalists) and "Love Me Again" (performed by Alex & Sierra and Jeff Gutt)^[65]
• Musical guests: Mary J. Blige ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"), Lea Michele ("Cannonball"), Leona Lewis ("One More Sleep"), Pitbull ("Timber") and One Direction ("Midnight Memories")^[30]

Contestants' performances on the final live show

Act	Order	Song[65]	Result[39]
Carlito Olivero	1	"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"	Third place
Jeff Gutt	2	"O Holy Night"	Runner-up
Alex & Sierra	3	"All I Want for Christmas Is You"	Winner

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Ep. #	Episode	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	Rating/share (18–49)	Rank (timeslot)	Rank (night)	Source
1	Auditions 1	September 11	6.45	2.2/7	2	3	[66]
2	Auditions 2	September 12	6.87	2.2/7	2	2	[67]
3	Auditions 3	September 18	6.62	2.2/7	2	4	[68]
4	Auditions 4	September 19	6.43	2.0/7	2	4	[69]
5	Auditions 5	September 25	7.73	2.5/7	2	7	[70]
6	Auditions 6	September 26	6.47	2.1/6	2	8	[71]
7	Four-Chair challenge 1	October 2	7.80	2.4/7	3	7	[72]
8	Four-Chair challenge 2	October 3	7.13	2.0/6	2	8	[73]
9	Four-Chair challenge 3	October 9	7.25	2.2/6	3	6	[74]
10	Four-Chair challenge 4	October 10	6.49	2.0/6	2	3	[75]
11	Finalists chosen (Top 12)	October 29note 1	4.90	1.5/4	3	5	[76]
12	Meet the Top 12	October 31	3.25	0.8/3	5	8	[77]
13	Top 13 perform	November 6	4.54	1.5/4	2 (Tie)	4 (Tie)	[78]
14	Top 13 Acts Get Another Chance	November 7	3.67	1.2/4	4	9	[79]
15	Top 12 perform	November 13	5.78	1.7/5	2	4	[80]
16	Live results 1	November 14	5.18	1.3/4	2 (Tie)	3 (Tie)	[81]
17	Top 10 perform	November 20	5.51	1.7/5	3	4 (Tie)	[82]
18	Live results 2	November 21	5.88	1.6/5	2	2	[83]
19	Top 8 perform	November 27	4.85	1.2/4	2		[84]
20	Live results 3	November 28	3.75	1.0/3	3		[85]
21	Top 6 perform	December 4	5.41	1.4/4	4		[86]
22	Live results 4	December 5	4.93	1.4/4	3		[87]
23	Top 4 perform	December 11	4.97	1.4/4
24	Live results 5	December 12	4.90	1.2/4
25	Top 3 perform	December 18	5.04	1.3/4			[88]
26	Winner announced	December 19	6.22	1.7/5

Notes

^1 Due to the 2013 MLB World Series running past October 28, the first live show of the season aired on October 29 to make room for Wednesday's potential deciding game.^[89]

Controversy

Voting numbers graphic error

Due to graphic errors made in the top 13 round of the live shows regarding voting, all voting results posted in that episode were invalidated, and the contestants sang once more in the November 7 show, with the results revealed on November 13.^[90]

Demi Lovato's tribute video

On December 19, 2013, during the finale a segment featuring judge Lovato had aired. The segment showed Lovato drinking a green-colored beverage called "Annoying Juice" throughout the duration of the season, poking fun at Lovato's "annoying" relationship with show creator Cowell.

The next day, Lovato expressed her frustration with The X Factor producers for mocking her drinking addiction that she openly struggled with.^[91]

References

External links

• Official website