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| Network: | Seven Network |
The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original British version, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract.[1] The eighth season, branded as X Factor: Next Generation, premiered on Seven Network on 3 October 2016.[2] Jason Dundas replaced Luke Jacobz as host; with the judging panel consisting of Mel B, Guy Sebastian, Iggy Azalea and Adam Lambert. The winner was Isaiah Firebrace and his winner's single "It's Gotta Be You" was released after the final. He was mentored by Lambert, who won as mentor for the first and only time.
In February 2016, reports claimed that Seven Network was mulling over whether or not to delay the series' planned season 8 until 2017.[3] It was later confirmed that The X Factor would return in 2016.
Dannii Minogue reported that she would not be returning to the programme after three series on the judging panel.[1] On 12 June 2016, Iggy Azalea was announced as Chris Isaak's replacement, with Guy Sebastian. The following day, Adam Lambert was confirmed to be the third judge for season 8 replacing James Blunt.[4] On 11 October 2016, shortly before the three-seat challenge, former judge Mel B was announced as the "underdog judge" also to replace Minogue, after months of rumours, whereby three acts who failed to secure a seat in this challenge can be recruited by her for inclusion in the "underdogs" category.[5]
On 24 November 2015, Luke Jacobz announced on his Twitter account that he would not be returning as the host for the eighth season in 2016.[6] On 25 June 2016, Jason Dundas was announced as Jacobz's replacement.
Open auditions in front of the show's producers took place in 17 cities and ran from 18 April to 21 May 2016.
Open auditions began on 18 April in Geelong and concluded on 21 May 2016 in Melbourne.
| City | Dates | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Geelong | 18 April 2016 | Novotel Geelong |
| Ballarat | 19 April 2016 | Mercure Ballarat |
| Bendigo | 20 April 2016 | All Seasons Bendigo |
| Wagga Wagga | 21 April 2016 | Commercial Club |
| Orange | 22 April 2016 | Orange Ex-Services Club |
| Gosford | 26 April 2016 | The Youth Arts Warehouse, Regional Youth Support Services Inc |
| Port Macquarie | 27 April 2016 | Rydges Port Macquarie |
| Gold Coast | 30 April 2016 | Brisbane Sofitel |
| Toowoomba | 2 May 2016 | Burke & Wills Hotel |
| Bundaberg | 3 May 2016 | Brothers Sports Club |
| Sydney | 7 May 2016 | Sydney Olympic Park |
| Cairns | 11 May 2016 | Shangri-La Hotel |
| Darwin | 13 May 2016 | Oaks Elan Darwin |
| Perth | 15 May 2016 | Parmelia Hilton Perth |
| Bunbury | 17 May 2016 | Mercure Sanctuary Resort |
| Adelaide | 19 May 2016 | AAMI Stadium |
| Melbourne | 21 May 2016 | Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Center |
Judges' auditions took at Sydney Olympic Park from 29 June to 1 July and again from 5 to 6 July 2016.
| City | Dates | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 29 June to 1 July 2016 | Sydney Olympic Park |
| 5 to 6 July 2016 |
Bootcamp was briefly shown during the last audition episode, where the judges found out which category they would mentor. Once the judges found out their categories, they had each of their acts sing acapella for their judge and once everyone sang, the category judge narrowed their category down to 12 acts who would move on to the Three Chair Challenge.
The three seat challenge round of the competition was held at the Sydney Olympic Park between 28 and 29 July 2016. This will be a replacement as the super home visits used in previous seasons. Three acts who were not successful were recruited by underdog judge Mel B.
Key:
– Act was immediately eliminated after performance without given a seat
– Act was given a seat but swapped out later in the competition and eventually eliminated
– Act was given a seat and made the top three of their own category
– Act did not make the top three of their own category but was later saved by Mel B
| + Contestants performances on the three-seat challenge | Episode | Category (mentor) | Act | Order | Song | Mentor's decision | Swapped with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode 6 | 14-21s (Lambert) | Isaiah Firebrace | 1 | "If I Ain't Got You" | Put in seat 1 | — | |
| Episode 7 | Bailey Spalding | 2 | "Heroes" | Put in seat 2 | — | ||
| Maddison Milewski | 3 | "Who Wants to Live Forever" | Put in seat 3 | — | |||
| Benny Nelson | 4 | "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" | Eliminated | — | |||
| James Kernick | 5 | "If I Ain't Got You" < | -- linked above --> | Eliminated | — | ||
| Veronica Bravo | 6 | "Should've Been Us" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Vlado Saric | 7 | "Wildest Dreams" | Put in seat 3 | Maddison Milewski | |||
| Janae Rosa | 8 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Mi-kaisha Masella | 9 | "Sledgehammer" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Ivy Adara | 10 | "Remind Me" | Put in seat 3 | Vlado Saric | |||
| Amalia Foy | 11 | "Piece by Piece" | Put in seat 2 | Bailey Spalding | |||
| Natalie Ong | 12 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" < | -- linked above --> | Put in seat 3 | Ivy Adara | ||
| Episode 8 | Groups (Azalea) | Beatz | 13 | "Me Too" | Put in seat 1 | — | |
| Fifth Element | 14 | "FourFiveSeconds" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Brentwood | 15 | "Lush Life" | Put in seat 2 | — | |||
| IndiElla | 16 | "Don't Worry About Me" | Put in seat 3 | — | |||
| Aroza | 17 | "See You Again" | Eliminated | — | |||
| The Dennis Sisters | 18 | "Fire and the Flood" | Eliminated | — | |||
| FD3 | 19 | "Waiting for a Star to Fall" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Time & Place | 20 | "You Don't Know Love" | Put in seat 3 | IndiElla | |||
| Montage | 21 | "Break Free" | Put in seat 1 | Beatz | |||
| Episode 9 | Over 22s (Sebastian) | Ruby Mills | 22 | "When We Were Young" | Put in seat 1 | — | |
| Calvin Orosa | 23 | "Can't Stop the Feeling!" | Put in seat 2 | — | |||
| Davey Woder | 24 | "Stand by Me" | Put in seat 3 | — | |||
| Trojahn Tuna | 25 | "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Stevie-Leigh | 26 | "California Dreamin'" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Josh | 27 | "Human" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Omar Terzic | 28 | "To Love Somebody" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Naisa Lasalosi | 29 | "Love Me Harder" | Put in seat 2 | Calvin Orosa | |||
| Zebulen Howell | 30 | "Stole the Show" | Put in seat 1 | Ruby Mills | |||
| Miss Powers | 31 | "Fame" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Dave Stergo | 32 | "Running Up That Hill" | Eliminated | — | |||
| Chynna Taylor | 33 | "My Hero" | Put in seat 2 | Naisa Lasalosi | |||
| Timmy Knowles | 34 | "Love on the Brain" | Put in seat 1 | Zebulen Howell |
Key:
– Winner
– Runner-up
| Act | Age(s) | Hometown | Category (mentor) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Firebrace | 17 | Portland, Victoria | 14-21s (Lambert) | Winner |
| Davey Woder | 34 | Logan, Queensland | Over 22s (Sebastian) | Runner-up |
| Vlado | 17 | Sydney | Underdogs (Mel B) | 3rd place |
| Amalia Foy | 14 | Melbourne | 14-21s (Lambert) | 4th place |
| BEATZ | 19–22 | Sydney | Underdogs (Mel B) | 5th place |
| Chynna Taylor | 26 | Corpus Christi, Texas, United States/South Coast, New South Wales | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 6th place |
| Brentwood | 25 & 29 | New Zealand/Melbourne | Groups (Azalea) | 7th place |
| AYA | 16–18 | Sydney | 8th place | |
| Maddison Milewski | 16 | Gold Coast, Queensland | Underdogs (Mel B) | 9th–12th place |
| Timmy Knowles | 30 | Melbourne | Over 22s (Sebastian) | |
| Time and Place | 17–21 | Various | Groups (Azalea) | |
| Natalie Ong | 15 | Singapore/Melbourne | 14-21s (Lambert) |
The live shows began airing on 23 October 2016. Initially, ten live shows were planned, but they were cut down to five, apparently due to scheduling conflicts. Guy Sebastian mentored the Over 22s, Iggy Azalea mentored the Groups and Adam Lambert mentored the 14-21s. Mel B was announced as the mentor of the Underdogs category, where she chose three acts who were eliminated in the three-seat challenge, join her category; the contestants of this category were not revealed until the first live show.[7] The live shows concluded on 21 November 2016, where this would be the final episode of The X Factor to be aired, as the programme was cancelled in January 2017 due to declining ratings.
– Act in the bottom two and had to perform 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 | Week 1[8] 1 | Week 2 | Quarter-final | Semi-final | Final | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday Vote | Monday Vote | ||||||||||||||
| Isaiah Firebrace | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Winner | |||||||||
| Davey Woder | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Runner-up | |||||||||
| Vlado Saric | Safe | Safe | Safe | Bottom Two | 3rd | Eliminated (Final) | |||||||||
| Amalia Foy | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | 4th | ||||||||||
| Beatz | Safe | 7th | 5th | Bottom Two | Eliminated (Semi-final) | ||||||||||
| Chynna Taylor | Safe | Safe | 6th | Eliminated (Quarter-final) | |||||||||||
| Brentwood | Safe | Safe | 7th | ||||||||||||
| AYA | Safe | 8th | Eliminated (Week 2) | ||||||||||||
| Maddison Milewski | Eliminated | Eliminated (Week 1) | |||||||||||||
| Timmy Knowles | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||
| Time and Place | Eliminated | ||||||||||||||
| Eliminated | |||||||||||||||
| Final Showdown | No final showdown; public eliminates one act from each category | Beatz, AYA | Chynna Taylor, Beatz | Beatz, Saric | No bottom two/judges' vote; public votes alone decide who wins | ||||||||||
| Judges voted to | Eliminate | Send Through | |||||||||||||
| Lambert's vote (14-21s) | Beatz | Beatz | Saric | ||||||||||||
| Azalea's vote (Groups) | Beatz | Taylor | Saric | ||||||||||||
| Sebastian's vote (Over 22s) | AYA | Beatz | Saric | ||||||||||||
| Mel B's vote (Underdogs) | AYA | Taylor | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Eliminated | Timmy Knowles Public Vote To Save | AYA 2 of 4 votes Deadlock | Brentwood Public Vote To Save | Beatz 0 of 3 votes Minority | Vlado Saric Public Vote To Save | Davey Woder Public Vote To Win | |||||||||
| Maddison Milewski Public Vote To Save | |||||||||||||||
| Natalie Ong Public Vote To Save | Chynna Taylor 2 of 4 votes Deadlock | Amalia Foy Public Vote to Save | |||||||||||||
| Time and Place Public Vote To Save | |||||||||||||||
One act from each category was eliminated from the competition after the first show, as voted by viewers[11]
| Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 1 | "Sax" | Safe |
| Timmy Knowles | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 2 | "Hands to Myself" | Eliminated |
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | 3 | "Angel" | Safe |
| Time and Place | Groups (Azalea) | 4 | "Ride" | Eliminated |
| Chynna Taylor | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 5 | "Open Arms" | Safe |
| Maddison Milewski | Underdogs (Mel B) | 6 | "Addicted to You" | Eliminated |
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 7 | "Lay It All on Me" | Safe |
| AYA | Groups (Azalea) | 8 | "Secret Love Song" | |
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 9 | "Closer" | |
| Brentwood | Groups (Azalea) | 10 | "Say It" | |
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 11 | "With a Little Help from My Friends" | |
| Natalie Ong | 14-21s (Lambert) | 12 | "When Love Takes Over" | Eliminated |
| Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AYA | Groups (Azalea) | 1 | "End of Time" | Bottom Two | |||||||||||
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 2 | "Into You" | Safe | |||||||||||
| Chynna Taylor | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 3 | "Pride (In the Name of Love)" | ||||||||||||
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | 4 | "Frozen" | ||||||||||||
| Brentwood | Groups (Azalea) | 5 | "Latch" | ||||||||||||
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 6 | "Small Bump" | ||||||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 7 | "If You Love Me"/"Whip My Hair" | Bottom Two | |||||||||||
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 8 | "Let It Be" | Safe | |||||||||||
| Final showdown details | |||||||||||||||
| Act | Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | |||||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 1 | "Bang Bang" | Safe | |||||||||||
| AYA | Groups (Azalea) | 2 | "Domino" | Eliminated | |||||||||||
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. AYA were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
The viewers were given the power to choose this week's songs.[14]
Dundas confirmed during Sunday's live show that this week would be a double elimination.[15]
| Category (mentor) | Song Choices[16] | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | "You've Got the Love" | Not Chosen |
| "Mamma Mia" | Chosen | ||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" | |
| "I Gotta Feeling" | Not Chosen | ||
| Brentwood | Groups (Azalea) | "September" | |
| "Go Your Own Way" | Chosen | ||
| Chynna Taylor | Over 22s (Sebastian) | "Mercy" | |
| "The Horses" | Not Chosen | ||
| Davey Woder | "Working Class Man" | Chosen | |
| "Better Man" | Not Chosen | ||
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | "No Woman, No Cry" | |
| "Happy" | Chosen | ||
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | "Love Yourself" | Not Chosen |
| "Thriller" | Chosen |
| Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chynna Taylor | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 1 | "Mercy" | Bottom Three | |||||||||||
| Brentwood | Groups (Azalea) | 2 | "Go Your Own Way" | Eliminated | |||||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 3 | "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" | Bottom Three | |||||||||||
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | 4 | "Mamma Mia" | Safe | |||||||||||
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 5 | "Working Class Man" | ||||||||||||
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 6 | "Happy" | ||||||||||||
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 7 | "Thriller" | ||||||||||||
| Final showdown details | |||||||||||||||
| Act | Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | |||||||||||
| Chynna Taylor | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 1 | "What's Up?" | Eliminated | |||||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 2 | "Fighter" | Safe | |||||||||||
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Chynna Taylor was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
For the first time this season, the contestants will sing two songs each.
| Category (mentor) | Order | Killer Track Song | Order | Curveball Song | Result | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 1 | "Fortunate Son" | 6 | "Billie Jean" | Safe | |||||||||
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | 2 | "Brave" | 9 | "Faded" | ||||||||||
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 7 | "Perfect Strangers" | 3 | "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" | Bottom Two | |||||||||
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 8 | "A Change Is Gonna Come" | 4 | "FourFiveSeconds" | Safe | |||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 5 | "Move" | 10 | "Walk This Way" | Bottom Two | |||||||||
| Final showdown details | |||||||||||||||
| Act | Category (mentor) | Order | Song | Result | |||||||||||
| Beatz | Underdogs (Mel B) | 1 | "Survivor" | Eliminated | |||||||||||
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 2 | "Cold Water" | Safe | |||||||||||
| Category (mentor) | Order | Showstopper Song | Order | Duet Song | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amalia Foy | 14-21s (Lambert) | 1 | "Set Fire to the Rain" | 5 | "Boom Clap" (with Charli XCX) | Eliminated in Round 1 |
| Vlado | Underdogs (Mel B) | 6 | "Closer" | 2 | "Say You Won't Let Go" (with James Arthur) | Eliminated in Round 2 |
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 3 | "7 Years" | 7 | "Angels" (with Robbie Williams) | Safe |
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 8 | "Halo" | 4 | "Wake Me Up" (with Jessica Mauboy) | |
| Act | Category (mentor) | Order | Winner's Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Firebrace | 14-21s (Lambert) | 1 | "It's Gotta Be You" | Winner |
| Davey Woder | Over 22s (Sebastian) | 2 | "Coming Home" | Runner-up |
Ratings data is from OzTAM and represents the average viewership from the 5 largest Australian metropolitan centres (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide).
| Week | Episode | Air date | Source | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewers | Rank | Rank | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | "Auditions 1" | 3 October 2016 | 904,000 |
| 60,000 | 964,000 |
| [19] [20] |
| 2 | "Auditions 2" | 4 October 2016 | 895,000 |
| 45,000 | 940,000 |
| [21] [22] | |
| 3 | "Auditions 3" | 5 October 2016 | 809,000 |
| 34,000 | 843,000 |
| [23] [24] | |
| 2 | 4 | "Auditions 4" | 9 October 2016 | 914,000 |
| 28,000 | 941,000 |
| [25] [26] |
| 5 | "Auditions 5" | 10 October 2016 | 833,000 |
| 39,000 | 872,000 |
| [27] [28] | |
| 6 | "Auditions 6" | 11 October 2016 | 838,000 |
| 43,000 | 881,000 |
| [29] [30] | |
| 3 | 7 | "Three seat challenge 1" | 16 October 2016 | 815,000 |
| 30,000 | 845,000 |
| [31] [32] |
| 8 | "Three seat challenge 2" | 17 October 2016 | 798,000 |
| 43,000 | 841,000 |
| [33] [34] | |
| 9 | "Three seat challenge 3" | 806,000 |
| 41,000 | 847,000 |
| [35] [36] | ||
| 4 | 10 | "Live show 1" | 752,000 |
| 30,000 | 782,000 |
| [37] [38] | |
| 11 | 756,000 |
| 64,000 | 820,000 |
| [39] [40] | |||
| 5 | 12 | 676,000 |
| 44,000 | 720,000 |
| [41] [42] | ||
| 13 | 603,000 |
| 54,000 | 657,000 |
| [43] [44] | |||
| 6 | 14 | 700,000 |
| 32,000 | 732,000 |
| [45] [46] | ||
| 15 | 732,000 |
| 53,000 | 785,000 |
| [47] [48] | |||
| 7 | 16 | 559,000 |
| 24,000 | 578,000 |
| [49] [50] | ||
| 17 | 697,000 |
| 17,000 | 715,000 |
| [51] [52] | |||
| 8 | 18 | 665,000 |
| 24,000 | 677,000 |
| [53] [54] | ||
| 19 | 751,000 |
| 27,000 | 779,000 |
| [55] [56] | |||