
The X Factor is an American television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a $5 million recording contract. The second season began airing on Fox on September 12, 2012 and ended on December 20, 2012.
This season was won by 37-year-old country singer Tate Stevens.
This season was preceded by the first season in 2011 and succeeded by the final season in 2013.
Judges and hosts[]
Judges:
Hosts:
- Khloé Kardashian
- Mario Lopez
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 Complex|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.
Audition city | Date | Audition venue | Date aired |
---|---|---|---|
Austin, Texas | May 24 ~ 25, 2012 | Frank Erwin Center | September 12 & 19, 2012 |
Kansas City, Missouri | June 8 ~ 9, 2012 | Sprint Center | September 19, 2012 |
San Francisco, California | June 16 ~ 18, 2012 | Cow Palace | September 12, 13, 19, 26 & 27 2012 |
Providence, Rhode Island | June 27 ~ 29, 2012 | Dunkin' Donuts Center | September 12, 13 & 26, 2012 |
Greensboro, North Carolina | July 8 ~ 10, 2012 | Greensboro Coliseum | September 20, 26, & 27 2012 |
Bootcamp[]
Filming for bootcamp was held on July 25 ~ 27, 2012 in Miami, Florida. 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 onto 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.
Judges' houses[]
The judges' houses was filmed September 14 & 15, 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|Beverly Hills, assisted by Justin Bieber, accompanied by his manager Scooter Braun; Cowell took the groups to Miami Beach with Latin singer Marc Anthony, Spears had the teens in Malibu 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.
Judge | Category | Location | Assistant(s) | Contestants eliminated |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cowell | Groups | Miami, Florida | Marc Anthony | Dope Crisis, Playback |
Lovato | Young Adults | Los Angeles, California | Nick Jonas | Nick Youngerman, Jillian Jensen |
Reid | Over 25s | Beverly Hills, California | Justin Bieber & Scooter Braun | Daryl Black, Tara Simon |
Spears | Teens | Malibu, California | Will.I.Am | James Tanner, Reed Deming |
Finalists[]
The final 16 finalists were confirmed as follows;
Key:
- – Winner
- – Runner-up
- – Third place
Category (mentor) | Acts | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Over 25s (Reid) | Vino Alan | Jason Brock | David Correy | Tate Stevens |
Teens (Spears) | Beatrice Miller | Arin Ray | Carly Rose Sonenclar | Diamond White |
Young Adults (Lovato) | CeCe Frey | Jennel Garcia | Willie Jones | Paige Thomas |
Groups (Cowell) | Emblem 3 | Fifth Harmony | Lyric 145 | Sister C |
Results[]
- Color key
– | Act was chosen as the bottom two by their mentor and had to sing again (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 | Quarter-Final | Semi-Final | Final | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First Vote | Second Vote | ||||||||||
Tate Stevens | Saved | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | Winner | ||
Carly Rose Sonenclar | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | Runner-Up | |||
Fifth Harmony | Saved | 5th | 6th | 7th | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | Eliminated (Final) | ||
Emblem3 | Saved | 6th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | Eliminated (Semi-Final) | |||
Diamond White | Eliminated | 4th | 7th | 5th | 6th | 5th | Eliminated (Quarter-Final) | ||||
CeCe Frey | Saved | 12th | 5th | 9th | 5th | 6th | |||||
Vino Alan | Saved | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 7th | Eliminated (Week 5) | |||||
Paige Thomas | 8th | 11th | 6th | 8th | |||||||
Beatrice Miller | 10th | 8th | 8th | Eliminated (Week 4) | |||||||
Arin Ray | Saved | 11th | 9th | 10th | |||||||
Jennel Garcia | Saved | 7th | 10th | Eliminated (Week 3) | |||||||
LYRIC 145 | 9th | 12th | |||||||||
Jason Brock | Saved | 13th | Eliminated (Week 2) | ||||||||
Sister C | Eliminated | Eliminated (Week 1) | |||||||||
David Correy | |||||||||||
Willie Jones | |||||||||||
Final Showdown | Brock, Correy, Ray, White, Frey, Jones, Fifth Harmony, Sister C |
Brock, Frey |
Garcia, Thomas |
Frey, Miller |
Alan, White |
Fifth Harmony, White |
No final showdown or judges' votes; results were based on public votes alone | ||||
Reid's vote to eliminate | Correy | Frey | Garcia | Miller | White | White | |||||
Spears' vote to eliminate | White | Frey | Garcia | Frey | Alan | Fifth Harmony | |||||
Lovato's vote to eliminate | Jones | Brock | Thomas* | Miller | Alan | White | |||||
Cowell's vote to eliminate | Sister C | Brock | Garcia* | Miller | Alan | White | |||||
Eliminated | Willie Jones by Lovato |
Jason Brock 2 of 4 votes Deadlock |
LYRIC 145 Public vote to save |
Arin Ray Public vote to save |
Paige Thomas Public vote to save |
CeCe Frey Public vote to save |
Emblem3 Public vote to save |
Fifth Harmony Public vote to win |
Carly Rose Sonenclar Public vote to win | ||
David Correy by Reid | |||||||||||
Diamond White by Spears |
Jennel Garcia 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Beatrice Miller 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Vino Alan 3 of 4 votes Majority |
Diamond White 3 of 4 votes Majority | |||||||
Sister C by Cowell |
- In Week 3, after Reid and Spears voted against Garcia, Cowell was then asked to vote but he said he wanted Lovato to vote before him. Lopez unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Cowell to vote before Lovato but Cowell insisted on Lovato voting first and Lopez asked for Lovato’s vote. Before Lovato revealed who she was voting against, she pushed for Cowell to vote before Lovato. Cowell objected and Lopez stated that the show was pressed for time. Lovato voted against Thomas and then Cowell voted against Garcia.
Adapted from Wikipedia.org
Notable past contestants[]
- Will Champlin, who was cut in bootcamp, later tried out for season 5 of The Voice in 2013 with Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine as his mentor. He finished in 3rd place.
- Jillian Jensen, who was cut at Judges' Homes, later tried out for season 13 of American Idol and made the semi finals.
- Macy Kate, who auditioned but didn't make it past the audition phase, later tried out for and made the top 13 on the ABC singing show Rising Star.
Team Rankings[]
1.Teens

The Teens were mentored by Britney Spears
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---|---|---|---|
Carly Rose Sonenclar (13) - 2/16: Final | Diamond White (13) - 5/16: Quarter-Final | Beatrice Miller (13) - 9/16: Week 4 | Arin Ray (17) - 10/16: Week 4 |
2.Groups

The Groups were mentored by Simon Cowell
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---|---|---|---|
Fifth Harmony (15-19) - 3/16: Final | Emblem 3 (16-20) - 4/16: Semi-Final | Lyric 145 (19-24) - 12/16: Week 3 | Sister C (18-21) - 14/16: Week 1 |
3.Over 25s

The Over 25s were mentored by La Reid
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---|---|---|---|
Tate Stevens (37) - 1/16: Final | Vino Alan (40) - 7/16: Week 5 | Jason Brock (35) - 13/16: Week 2 | David Correy (27) - 15/16: Week 1 |
4.Young Adults

The Young Adults were mentored by Demi Lovato
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---|---|---|---|
CeCe Frey (21) - 6/16: Quarter-Final | Paige Thomas (22) - 8/16: Week 5 | Jennel Garcia (18) - 11/16: Week 3 | Willie Jones (18) - 16/16: Week 1 |