The X Factor (U.S. season 1)

Judges and hosts

At the time of announcing the U.S. version of The X Factor, Cowell was the only confirmed judge. He later said that he was taking the choices of who to join him on the show very seriously, saying, "It's pointless hiring judges who don't know anything about the music business. I'll probably go and find someone who did what I did for a living. I was an A&R guy for 20 years." Eventually, Grammy Award-winning record executive, songwriter, and record producer L.A. Reid, former UK X Factor judge Cheryl Cole, and Cowell's former American Idol colleague Paula Abdul Numerous people were speculated to host the series, including High School Musical star Corbin Bleu and UK X Factor host Dermot O'Leary. On May 8, 2011, Nicole Scherzinger and Welsh presenter Steve Jones were announced as co-hosts of the show.

On May 26, 2011, it was reported that Cole had been removed from the show and was set to be replaced by Scherzinger. Reports varied over whether she was fired because American audiences had trouble understanding her accent, because of a lack of chemistry between her and Abdul, or that she had stepped down herself due to homesickness. Cole's departure was officially confirmed on June 6 in a statement from Fox, which also confirmed Scherzinger as her replacement. Jones would then serve as the sole presenter. On August 5, 2011, Cowell announced that the reason why Cole left was because he offered her the job in the UK version back and he felt that she would have been comfortable there. He said that if her departure had anything to do with her not getting along with Abdul then he would not be judging the show. Cole later revealed in a 2012 interview that she had decided to quit the show of her accord and rejected Cowell's offer to return to the UK version. Cole later patched things up with Cowell in 2014 and she would return as a judge on the UK version of The X Factor for its eleventh series.

Auditions

Auditions for producers began in Los Angeles, California, on March 27, 2011, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. They then took place in Miami, Florida, on April 7, 2011, at the BankUnited Center and continued in Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center on April 14, 2011. More auditions took place in Seattle, Washington's KeyArena on April 20, 2011, and Chicago, Illinois's Sears Centre on April 27, 2011, and finished in Dallas, Texas's American Airlines Center on May 26, 2011.

It was reported that The X Factor had broken the auditions record in Los Angeles, California on March 27. It was reported that over 20,000 people auditioned in Newark, New Jersey, and it was also reported that over 5,000 people auditioned in Seattle.

The MyStudio HD audition booths opened in Honolulu, Hawaii; Phoenix, Arizona; Nashville, Tennessee; Anchorage, Alaska; Kansas City, Kansas; and Denver, Colorado. Originally scheduled to end on April 30, 2011, the booths' opening ended up being extended until May 8, 2011. After it was announced that people auditioning through this method was in such high demand, auditions at the booths' ended up being extended until May 15, 2011.

On June 3, Cowell announced that applicants could upload a video of them singing onto YouTube and it was opened for one week only (June 9). Selected applicants would appear in front of the judges.

The last set of auditions took place during May and June, 2011. These auditions individually occur simultaneously before both the judges and a live studio audience; and with such audience in attendance able to applaud/cheer approval or disapproval and perhaps influencing the judges.

Auditions footage first aired on September 21, though they were not aired in the same order that they occurred.

Boot camp

Day one of boot camp started with dance training with choreographer Brian Friedman and then the acts were called to the stage in groups of 10 to sing in front of the judges. After all of them performed, the acts were brought in front of the judges as part of one of three groups. Two of these groups made it through and one was eliminated, leaving 100 acts still in the competition. The judges threw a party for the remaining acts that for many lasted late into the night.

Day two started with everyone getting woken up at 6:00am and heading to meet Reid. He informed them that they would be put into "ensembles" and groups, and would be working with stylists, choreographers, and vocal coaches. They were given five hours to learn the songs they were given. One third of the acts would be eliminated by the end of the second day. Several of the ensembles performances were aired. The first ensemble performed "Creep", the second ensemble performed "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", the third ensemble performed "Desperado", the fourth ensemble performed "Wishing on a Star", the fifth ensemble performed "Superman (It's Not Easy)", the sixth ensemble performed "Feeling Good", the seventh ensemble performed "I Have Nothing" and the eighth ensemble performed "Run".

Day two continued with more ensembles performing for the judges. The ninth ensemble performed "What's Going On". Next, they showed a couple of quick shots of some ensembles, presumably consisting of all people that would not make it through to the end. The tenth ensemble that was covered in detail performed "I Won't Let Go". The eleventh (and final) ensemble performed "Chasing Cars". Next, the judges deliberated, and decided on which a third of the acts would be eliminated. Once again, three groups were brought in. Group 1 was eliminated, meaning groups 2 and 3 made it through to the next round of boot camp.

Day three had all 64 acts perform for the judges. They were given a list of 35 songs at the end of the day two and were told to choose one that best represented them. At the end of this final boot camp round, 32 acts would go through to judges' houses. This final performance was done in front of a crowd of 3,000 people. After each of the performances, the judges gave no feedback.

The first boot camp episode aired on October 5, 2011 and covered the first two days of boot camp. The second bootcamp episode aired on October 6 and covered the rest of day two and the remainder of bootcamp. By the end of bootcamp, 162 acts were cut to 32, 8 acts in each category. The judges later found out which category they would mentor and their acts joined them at their house.

Judges' houses

Enrique Iglesias helped Scherzinger to pick her finalists in Malibu, California and Pharrell Williams acted as a guest judge helping Abdul to pick her finalists in Santa Barbara, California. Rihanna helped Reid choose his finalists in The Hamptons, New York. Mariah Carey was contracted to aid Cowell in France, but was unable to attend due to Hurricane Irene grounding her flight to Paris, so Cowell was instead assisted by three vocal coaches.

In the United States, footage from judges' houses was originally scheduled to air on October 12, 13 and 18. However, due to weather delaying the start of the 2011 American League Championship Series, the footage from judges' houses 1 was moved to October 13, with footage from judges' houses 2 seen instead on October 16. The footage from judges' houses 3 aired on October 18 as scheduled and featured footage of the judges revealing their four finalists (or five in the case of Cowell) in each category to take through to the live shows. In Canada, the judges' houses 1 episode was broadcast as originally scheduled on October 12. No episode was shown in Canada on October 13, with CTV and CTV Two opting to follow Fox's scheduling changes to take advantage of simultaneous substitution rules.

Melanie Amaro was initially eliminated from the Girls' category, but was invited back to the competition after Cowell decided he had made a mistake in not including her, bringing the total number of finalists to 17.

Finalists

The final 17 finalists were confirmed as follows;

Key:

     – Winner      – Runner-up      – Third place

Live shows

The first two-and-a-half hour live show aired on a special Tuesday time slot on October 25; which followed the same format as the latest series of the UK show with each of the judges narrowing their number of acts down to three, without a public vote. The public vote started with the following performance and results shows starting November 2, which aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively (except for the live shows on November 22 and 23, that aired on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively during Thanksgiving). The two-part finale was held on December 21 and 22. Leona Lewis, the winner of series 3 of the UK X Factor, confirmed during an interview with The Sun that she had been invited to perform on one of the live shows.

There was no guest performance during the first week. The second live result show featured a performance from Outasight. Jessie J and Willow Smith performed on the third live results show, while the fourth live results show featured a performance from Rihanna. Kelly Clarkson and Bruno Mars performed on the fifth live result show while Tinie Tempah performed on the sixth live result show. Mary J. Blige and Lenny Kravitz performed on the seventh live results show while Florence + The Machine and X Factor USA judge Nicole Scherzinger performed on the semi-final results show. The final featured performances from Justin Bieber, Leona Lewis, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, Pitbull and Ne-Yo.

Results summary

Color key

^1 There was no public vote in the first week. Each mentor selected two finalists from their own category as the bottom two. The bottom two acts performed another song of their choice in the sing-off and their mentor was required to eliminate one of them based on the performance.

Week 1 (October 25)

There was no public vote in the first week. Instead, each of the judges selected one (or two for Cowell) of their own acts to eliminate.

Judges' decisions to eliminate

Reid: Phillip Lomax – gave no reason

Abdul: The Brewer Boys – gave no reason

Scherzinger: Dexter Haygood – gave no reason

Cowell: Simone Battle and Tiah Tolliver – the decision came down to Simone Battle, Melanie Amaro and Tiah Tolliver; and Cowell believed that Amaro has the potential to win the competition

Week 2 (November 2/3)

Theme: American anthems

Group performance: "Without You"

Musical guest: Outasight ("Tonight Is the Night")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Cowell: The Stereo Hogzz – based on the final showdown performance

Abdul: InTENsity – based her decision on her experience working with both groups

Scherzinger: InTENsity – believed that The Stereo Hogzz were more prepared

Reid: InTENsity – gave no reason

Week 3 (November 9/10)

Theme: Songs from movies

Group performance: "Save the World"

Musical guests: Willow Smith ("Fireball") and Jessie J ("Domino")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Reid: The Stereo Hogzz – said he didn't like their song choices through the competition

Scherzinger: The Stereo Hogzz – based on her belief of "feminine empowerment", even though she liked both groups

Abdul: Lakoda Rayne – originally wished to abstain from voting, but then realized that doing so would have eliminated The Stereo Hogzz as Reid and Scherzinger had already voted to save Lakoda Rayne

Cowell: The Stereo Hogzz – based on who he thought had a greater potential to win the competition

Week 4 (November 16/17)

Theme: Rock

Group performance: "We Will Rock You"

Musical guest: Rihanna ("We Found Love")

Judges' votes to eliminate

Reid: Stacy Francis – backed his own act, Astro, but said he was disappointed in the attitudes of both finalists.

Scherzinger: Astro – backed her own act, Stacy Francis

Abdul: Stacy Francis – gave no reason

Cowell: Stacy Francis – told Astro that he didn't like his attitude and that he was showing disrespect, but believed Astro had a better chance of winning the competition

Week 5 (November 22/23)

Theme: Giving Thanks

Group performance: "Raise Your Glass" / "So What"

Musical guests: Kelly Clarkson ("Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)") and Bruno Mars ("It Will Rain")

The Pepsi Choice Group performance was chosen by the audience and included circus outfits along with a rotating stage and laser special effects in a hip-hop dance style.

Two acts were eliminated during the results show. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced, and the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and faced the judges' votes.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Reid: LeRoy Bell – backed his own act, Marcus Canty, and said Canty had been the most consistent of the two

Scherzinger: Marcus Canty – backed her own act, LeRoy Bell

Abdul: Marcus Canty – based on the final showdown performance

Cowell: LeRoy Bell – believed Canty had done better overall in the competition, but thought Bell sang better in the final showdown, so he put the decision up to the public.

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

Week 6 (November 30/December 1)

Theme: Songs by Michael Jackson

Group performance: "Man in the Mirror"

Musical guest: Tinie Tempah ("Pass Out")

Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine; his three children Prince, Paris, and Blanket; and his brothers Marlon, Tito, and Jackie were present in the audience during the performance show.

As in the previous week, two acts were eliminated during the results show. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced, and the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and faced the judges' votes.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Reid: Drew – backed his own act, Marcus Canty

Cowell: Marcus Canty – backed his own act, Drew, while also taking responsibility for her being in the final showdown

Scherzinger: Drew – felt that Canty gave a more emotional final showdown performance

Abdul: Drew – said that Canty's final showdown song moved her more

Week 7 (December 7/8)

Themes: Dance music hits; contestant's choice

Musical guests: Mary J. Blige ("Need Someone") and Lenny Kravitz ("Push" and "Are You Gonna Go My Way")

Nervo served as the house DJs for the first song of the night. Originally, the second song was going to be chosen by the public as part of the Pepsi Challenge, however, due to technical problems that happened with the Pepsi Challenge the night before the performance show, that feature was delayed to week eight and executive producers told that the contestants had only 24 hours to choose another song.

Judges' votes to eliminate

Reid: Rachel Crow – backed his own act, Marcus Canty

Cowell: Marcus Canty – gave no reason, but effectively backed his own act, Rachel Crow

Abdul: Marcus Canty – said that Crow's final showdown performance blew her away

Scherzinger: Rachel Crow – couldn't make the decision on her own so put the decision to deadlock

With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Crow was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes. Scherzinger was booed by the audience after Crow's elimination.

Week 8: Semi-final (December 14/15)

Themes: Pepsi Challenge songs, "songs to get you to the final" (no theme)

Group performance: "No Diggity" / "Shout"

Musical guests: Nicole Scherzinger ("Pretty") and Florence and the Machine ("Spectrum (Say My Name)")

Each contestant performed two songs.

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown and instead the act with the fewest public votes, Canty, was automatically eliminated.

Week 9: Final (December 21/22)

The final lasted for 1.5 hours on Wednesday, December 21 and 2 hours on Thursday, December 22.

December 21

Themes: Celebrity duets; winner's song (billed as "$5 million song")

Group performance: "They Don't Care About Us" (with Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour)

December 22

Theme: Christmas songs

Group performances: "The Edge of Glory" (all top 12 finalists) and "Heroes" (performed by Melanie Amaro and Josh Krajcik)

Musical guests: Justin Bieber with Stevie Wonder and Drew ("The Christmas Song" / "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"), Leona Lewis ("Run"), 50 Cent with Astro ("Wait Until Tonight" / "In da Club") and Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo with Marcus Canty ("International Love" / "Give Me Everything")

Controversy

In week seven, Scherzinger was clearly upset with the bottom two acts, and thus voted to eliminate contestant Rachel Crow from the show over Marcus Canty; this took the results to deadlock. Following this, Crow was eliminated and Scherzinger was booed off the stage and her future on the show was put in jeopardy. She subsequently received death threats from some viewers. Scherzinger was let go at the end of the season and later relocated London to replace Kelly Rowland as a judge on the original UK version of the show.