Season One of The X Factor debuted on Fox on September 21, 2011 and ended on December 22, 2011. The show was hosted by Welsh television personality Steve Jones with Simon Cowell, LA Reid, Paula Abdul, and Nicole Scherzinger making up the judging panel. British singer Cheryl Cole was originally a part of the panel but was dropped and replaced by Scherzinger. The show was followed by two more seasons in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
The winner of the show would win a $5 million contract with Epic Records as well as star in their own Pepsi commercial, which would air during Super Bowl XLVI on NBC on February 5, 2012.
This season was won by Florida nursing student Melanie Amaro.
After this season concluded, Jones, Abdul, and Scherzinger were all let go. Scherzinger later became a judge on the 2012 UK series of the show.
Finalists
The final 17 finalists were confirmed as follows;
Category (mentor) | Acts | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boys (Reid) | Astro | Marcus Canty | Phillip Lomax | Chris Rene | |
Over 30s (Scherzinger) | LeRoy Bell | Stacy Francis | Dexter Haygood | Josh Krajcik | |
Groups (Abdul) | InTENsity | Lakoda Rayne | The Brewer Boys | The Stereo Hogzz | |
Girls (Cowell) | Melanie Amaro | Simone Battle | Rachel Crow | Drew | Tiah Tolliver |
Results
- Color key
– | Act was eliminated by their mentor (no public vote) |
– | Act was in the bottom two/three and had to sing again in the final showdown |
– | Act was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated |
– | Act received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) |
– | Act received the most public votes |
Act | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Quarter-Final | Semi-Final | Final | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First Vote | Second Vote | ||||||||||
Melanie Amaro | Saved | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | Winner | |
Josh Krajcik | 3rd | 6th | 3rd | 1st | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | Runner-Up | ||
Chris Rene | 7th | 7th | 4th | 5th | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | Eliminated (Final) | ||
Marcus Canty | 5th | 9th | 8th | 7th | 6th | 4th | 4th | Eliminated (Semi-Final) | |||
Rachel Crow | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 5th | Eliminated (Quarter-Final) | ||||
Drew | 1st | 3rd | 5th | 4th | 5th | Eliminated (Week 6) | |||||
Astro | 10th | 4th | 10th | 6th | 7th | ||||||
LeRoy Bell | 8th | 5th | 6th | 8th | Eliminated (Week 5) | ||||||
Lakoda Rayne | 9th | 10th | 6th | 9th | |||||||
Stacy Francis | 6th | 8th | 9th | Eliminated (Week 4) | |||||||
The Stereo Hogzz | 12th | 11th | Eliminated (Week 3) | ||||||||
InTENsity | 11th | Eliminated (Week 2) | |||||||||
Simone Battle | Eliminated | Eliminated (Week 1) | |||||||||
Tiah Tolliver | |||||||||||
Dexter Haygood | |||||||||||
The Brewer Boys | |||||||||||
Phillip Lomax | |||||||||||
Final Showdown | N/A | InTENsity, The Stereo Hogzz |
Lakoda Rayne, The Stereo Hogzz |
Astro, Francis |
Bell, Canty |
Canty, Drew |
Canty, Crow |
No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone | |||
Reid's vote to eliminate | Lomax | InTENsity | The Stereo Hogzz | Francis | Bell | Drew | Crow | ||||
Scherzinger's vote to eliminate | Haygood | InTENsity | The Stereo Hogzz | Astro | Canty | Drew | Crow | ||||
Abdul's vote to eliminate | The Brewer Boys | InTENsity | Lakoda Rayne | Francis | Canty | Drew | Canty | ||||
Cowell's vote to eliminate | Battle Tolliver |
The Stereo Hogzz | Lakoda Rayne | Francis | Bell | Canty | Canty | ||||
Eliminated | Phillip Lomax by Reid |
InTENsity 3 of 4 votes Majority |
The Stereo Hogzz 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Stacy Francis 3 of 4 votes to save |
Lakoda Rayne Public vote to save |
Astro Public vote to save |
Rachel Crow 2 of 4 votes Deadlock |
Marcus Canty Public vote to save |
Chris Rene Public vote to win |
Josh Krajcik Public vote to win | |
The Brewer Boys by Abdul | |||||||||||
Dexter Haygood by Scherzinger |
LeRoy Bell 2 of 4 votes Deadlock |
Drew 3 of 4 votes Majority | |||||||||
Simone Battle by Cowell | |||||||||||
Tiah Tolliver by Cowell |
Controversy
Cheryl Cole firing
British pop star Cheryl Cole, who had been a judge on the UK show for 3 years, was originally a part of the judging panel during the Los Angeles and Chicago auditions. However, for reasons unknown at the time, she was fired. Reports ranged from complaints about her thick Geordie accent being too hard for Americans to understand (many have disputed this) to a lack of rapport with fellow judge Paula Abdul. However, according to Cole in her 2012 memoir, the reason she was let go was because she caught Nicole Scherzinger, who had originally been hired to co-host the show, talking with Simon Cowell about taking Cole's place on the panel. Additionally a 2011 documentary about Cole explained that Cole was dropped from the judging panel was due to Cole being unknown to American audiences.
Rachel Crow elimination
In the quarter-final, Nicole Scherzinger who was the swing vote, voted to eliminate 13-year-old contestant Rachel Crow over Marcus Canty, sending the result to deadlock. Crow ended up eliminated as a result of this, causing a massive outrage. It caused many critics to declare that the show's minimum audition age limit of 12 should be raised. Scherzinger even received death threats from viewers, many of whom held her responsible for Crow's elimination.
Notable past contestants
- Emily Piriz, who auditioned as part of the duo AusEm with former InTENsity member Austin Percario, finished in 12th place on season 13 of American Idol.
- Josh Kaufman, who had auditioned but didn't make it past the audition phase, later won season 6 of the NBC singing show The Voice in 2014, where he was mentored by R&B superstar Usher.
Team Rankings
1.Boys
Chris Rene (29) - 3/17: Final | Marcus Canty (20) - 4/17: Semi-Final | Astro (15) - 7/17: Week 6 | Phillip Lomax (22) - 17/17: Week 1 |
2.Girls
Melanie Amaro (19) - 1/17: Final | Rachel Crow (13) - 5/17: Quarter-Final | Drew Ryniewicz (14) - 6/17: Week 6 | Simone Battle (22) - 13/17: Week 1 | Tiah Tolliver (20) - 14/17: Week 1 |
3.Over 30s
Josh Krajcik (30) - 2/17: Final | LeRoy Bell (60) - 8/17: Week 5 | Stacy Francis (42) - 10/17: Week 4 | Dexter Haygood (49) - 15/17: Week 1 |
4.Groups
Lakoda Rayne (17-23) - 9/17: Week 5 | The Stereo Hogzz (24-25) - 11/17: Week 3 | InTENsity (12-17) - 12/17: Week 2 | The Brewer Boys (15-18) - 16/17: Week 1 |