The X Factor (American season 2)


Season two of the American television music competition show The X Factor premiered on Fox on September 12, 2012, and ended on December 20, 2012.
Based on the UK format, the competition consists of auditions, in front of producers and then the judges with a live audience; bootcamp; judges' houses and then the live finals. Auditions for the show began in May 2012 and concluded in July 2012. The show is hosted by reality star Khloé Kardashian and Extra host Mario Lopez, replacing Steve Jones from the previous year. Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid returned as judges, while Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger were replaced by Britney Spears and Demi Lovato.

Judges and hosts

On January 9, 2012, Fox announced that The X Factor would undergo some changes for its second season. On January 30, it was confirmed that host Steve Jones and judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul would not be returning for the second season. Following Scherzinger's departure, she was relocated to the UK show replacing Kelly Rowland on the UK judging panel for the 2012 UK series. On February 6, Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid were the only confirmed judges for season 2. Prior to her death, Whitney Houston was approached as a potential replacement judge. It was also reported that Cowell was in talks with Britney Spears for her to join the show, reportedly offering her $15 million. On May 9, reports surfaced that Spears officially signed on to judge the show. It was also rumored that Demi Lovato, and Miley Cyrus were in talks to be the second replacement judge. Lovato reportedly signed the deal on May 13, making her the youngest ever X Factor judge. The following day, it was officially confirmed that Spears and Lovato would join The X Factor as the two newest judges. When asked about the new judges, Cowell said:
On June 26, 2012, Cowell confirmed that in his search for a new host he had narrowed the possibilities to five candidates. On June 29, Cowell revealed that there will be one male and one female host, and neither of them will have hosted before. People considered for hosting slots included Stacy Keibler, Mario Lopez, Khloé Kardashian, Kelly Osbourne, Terrence J, Erin Andrews, and Mike Catherwood. It was also reported that Glee star Kevin McHale was in talks for the male hosting position. According to then-recent reports, Kardashian, McHale, and Nick Jonas were the front runners to host the show. On October 15, 2012, it was officially confirmed by E! News that Kardashian had officially signed on as co-host for the show, with Lopez close to signing a deal and was later confirmed as co-host the next day.
Irish music manager and The X Factor judge Louis Walsh filled in for Cowell at the Kansas City auditions while Cowell was recovering from bronchitis. On August 27, it was reported that Nick Jonas had signed a deal to help Lovato at judges' houses. It was later reported that Justin Bieber would be helping Reid, Marc Anthony helping Cowell, and will.i.am helping Spears.
This was the final season to feature L.A. Reid as a judge, after he announced that he was quitting the show in order to concentrate on other projects.

Selection process

Auditions

The producers' auditions began on March 14, 2012 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. More producers' auditions were held on March 22 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, April 20 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, May 1 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina and concluded on May 10 at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
The judges' auditions took place between May and July. The auditions went without a host as they had yet to hire new hosts by the time auditions started.

Bootcamp

Filming for bootcamp was held on July 25–27, 2012 in Miami. As with the auditions, there were no hosts at bootcamp.
120 contestants made it to the Bootcamp stage. At bootcamp the contestants had to perform two tasks. Task 1 involved the contestants had to sing solo, after which the judges eliminated half of the acts, bringing the total down to 60. In Task 2 the contestants were paired up to perform together. After Task 2 the judges narrowed down the acts to the 24 who progress on to the Judges's homes round.
The groups Fifth Harmony, Playback, and LYRIC 145 were formed from eliminated contestants from the Teens, Young Adults and Groups categories in bootcamp. Fifth Harmony was known as LYLAS at this stage; their name was changed after they made the top 16 when a group consisting of four of Bruno Mars' sisters, called "The Lylas", claimed the show stole their name. Their name changed again for the Top 13 performances, as their mentor Simon Cowell was not in favor of the name 1432 and felt that the show's viewers could make a better name for the group.

Judges' houses

The judges' houses was filmed September 28 & 29, 2012. The judges received news of their categories from the producers by telephone, seen during the third bootcamp episode on October 10. Reid mentored the over 25s in Beverly Hills, California, assisted by Justin Bieber, accompanied by his manager Scooter Braun; Cowell took the groups to Miami Beach, Florida with Latin singer Marc Anthony, Spears had the teens in Malibu, California with The Black Eyed Peas member and The Voice UK coach will.i.am, and Lovato had the young adults in Los Angeles, with Jonas Brothers member Nick Jonas.
JudgeCategoryLocationAssistantContestants eliminated
CowellGroupsMiami Beach, FloridaMarc AnthonyDope Crisis
Playback
LovatoYoung AdultsLos AngelesNick JonasJillian Jensen
Nick Youngerman
ReidOver 25sBeverly Hills, CaliforniaJustin Bieber
Scooter Braun		Daryl Black
Tara Simon
SpearsTeensMalibu, Californiawill.i.amReed Deming
James Tanner

Finalists

The final 16 finalists were confirmed as follows;
Key:
ActAgeHometownCategory Result
Tate Stevens37Belton, MissouriOver 25s Winner
Carly Rose Sonenclar13Mamaroneck, New YorkTeens Runner-up
Fifth Harmony15-19VariousGroups 3rd place
Emblem316-20Sequim, WashingtonGroups 4th place
Diamond White13Los Angeles, CaliforniaTeens 5th place
CeCe Frey21Decatur, IllinoisYoung Adults 6th place
Vino Alan40Waynesville, MissouriOver 25s 7th place
Paige Thomas22San Antonio, TexasYoung Adults 8th place
Beatrice Miller13Maplewood, New JerseyTeens 9th place
Arin Ray17Cincinnati, OhioTeens 10th place
Jennel Garcia18Rochester, MassachusettsYoung Adults 11th place
LYRIC 14519-24Queens, New York/Flint, MichiganGroups 12th place
Jason Brock35San Francisco, CaliforniaOver 25s 13th place
Sister C18-21Harris County, TexasGroups 14th place
David Correy27Riva, MarylandOver 25s 15th place
Willie Jones18Shreveport, LouisianaYoung Adults 16th place

Live shows

The live shows began on October 31, 2012. This was the debut episode for Lopez and Kardashian as hosts on the show. Each week, the contestants performed on Wednesday, with the voting lines opening after the performances. As with previous season, each live show has a different theme. The live final took place on December 19 and 20. A recording of "Live and Let Die" by The X Factor series five winner Alexandra Burke featured on the second week of live shows.
Each results show featured musical performances from at least two artists. There was no guest performer on the first result show. The second results show featured two performances from The X Factor series seven second runner-up One Direction, while Taylor Swift performed on the third result show.The X Factor series seven third runner-up Cher Lloyd and Becky G performed on the fourth results show. Week five included the premiering of a music video by will.i.am featuring judge Spears and performances from season one runner-up Josh Krajcik and Alicia Keys. Season one winner Melanie Amaro and Kesha performed on the sixth week. The semi-final results show featured performances from Bruno Mars and Bridgit Mendler. One Direction performed again in the final, and Pitbull also performed. This was the only season to feature the leaderboard which reveals which act has the most votes.

Results summary

;Color key

Week 1 (October 31/November 1)

;Judges' decisions to eliminate
One of the four acts that did not face the public vote in week one and was eliminated by mentor was reinstated to the show as the judges felt that the act should not have been eliminated in the previous week. The reinstated act was announced as Diamond White at the start of the season's second live show. 1432 being known as Fifth Harmony started in week two.
;Judges' votes to eliminate
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Brock was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 3 (November 14/15)

Starting from week three, two acts were eliminated from each results show until week six. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and face the judges' votes.
;Judges' votes to eliminate
;Judges' votes to eliminate
;Judges' votes to eliminate
For the first time this season, each contestant will perform two songs. The list of song choices for the Pepsi Challenge was released via Twitter on December 1, 2012.
ActSong choicesResult
Carly Rose Sonenclar"If I Were a Boy"Chosen
Carly Rose Sonenclar"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"Not chosen
Carly Rose Sonenclar"Your Song"Not chosen
CeCe Frey"Die Young"Not chosen
CeCe Frey"Part of Me"Chosen
CeCe Frey"So What"Not chosen
Diamond White"Diamonds"Chosen
Diamond White"Kiss from a Rose"Not chosen
Diamond White"Mercy"Not chosen
Emblem3"I Gotta Feeling"Not chosen
Emblem3"Forever Young"Chosen
Emblem3"Marry You"Not chosen
Fifth Harmony"What Makes You Beautiful"Not chosen
Fifth Harmony"Anything Could Happen"Not chosen
Fifth Harmony"Give Your Heart a Break"Chosen
Tate Stevens"The Dance"Not chosen
Tate Stevens"She's Country"Not chosen
Tate Stevens"If Tomorrow Never Comes"Chosen

;Judges' votes to eliminate
ActCategory OrderFirst songOrderSecond songResult
Tate StevensOver 25s 1"Bonfire"5"Fall"Safe
Carly Rose SonenclarTeens 2"Your Song"6"Imagine"Safe
Emblem3Groups 3"Baby, I Love Your Way"7"Hey Jude"Eliminated
Fifth HarmonyGroups 4"Anything Could Happen"8"Impossible"Safe

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown nor a leaderboard. Instead the act with the fewest public votes, Emblem3, were automatically eliminated.

Week 8: Final (December 19/20)

The final consisted of two two-hour episodes on December 19 and 20.
;December 19
ActCategory OrderFirst songOrderSecond song OrderThird song
Carly Rose SonenclarTeens 1"Feeling Good"4"How Do I Live" 7"Hallelujah"
Tate StevensOver 25s 2"Anything Goes"5"Pontoon" 8"Tomorrow"
Fifth HarmonyGroups 3"Anything Could Happen"6"Give Your Heart a Break" 9"Let It Be"

;December 20
ActCategory OrderSongResult
Tate StevensOver 25s 1"Please Come Home for Christmas"Winner
Fifth HarmonyGroups 2"Christmas "Third place
Carly Rose SonenclarTeens 3"All I Want for Christmas Is You"Runner-up

Contestants who Appeared on Other Seasons

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Notes

Controversy

Broadcast interruption of judges' houses

During the airing of the judges' houses episode on October 17, the show was stopped abruptly in the middle of Lovato's selection for the top 16 and cut immediately to a game of the National League Championship Series. This was due to the fact that the game was halted and rescheduled later in the day due to a rain delay, to be played concurrently with The X Factor. Between the two, Fox decided to air the game instead of the rest of the episode. Many viewers took to the internet and called Fox to complain about the interruption. Cowell even took to his Twitter to comment that: "It's what's known as a total f up." The show instead aired the following week in its entirety.

"Rejected" votes of Paige Thomas

During the fifth live show in November, many voters reported of having their votes "rejected" and their calls cut off when attempting to vote for Paige Thomas; Thomas was eliminated the following night. Fox and The X Factor affiliates have not confirmed or denied whether this had anything to do with Thomas' subsequent elimination the following night.

Don Philip audition

In the season two premiere, Don Philip, who once collaborated with Britney Spears, auditioned in front of the judges, and received a "no" from all judges. He then told Access Hollywood that ten minutes of footage from the interview was cut as he says he felt bullied into revealing he was gay. Spears reportedly replied "It is fine that you are gay," though that was edited out as well. Those at Fox then released a statement saying "The judges were not given any information at all about Mr Philip prior to his audition." Later that year, an insider revealed that he was contacted specifically by producers because of his association with Britney Spears, and that according to him "she already knew he was going to be there, of course, because this is a reality show".