The third and final season of the American music competition television show The X Factor premiered on Fox on September 11, 2013, and ended on December 19, 2013. This season was hosted by Mario Lopez. Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato returned to the judging panel, while Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio joined the panel as replacements for the departing judges.

Producer auditions began on March 6, 2013, in Los Angeles, and ended on May 4, 2013, in Denver. The judges auditions, which are televised, began on May 21, 2013, in Charleston, and ended on July 12, 2013, in Los Angeles. New for this season is the removal of the boot camp and judges' houses rounds of the competition which have been replaced with a new middle section, more reminiscent of the live shows.

On December 19, 2013, Alex & Sierra won the show, as mentored by Cowell. On February 7, 2014, Cowell announced he was returning to the British show to judge the 2014 British series, which was followed by Fox announcing that they would not be renewing the show for a fourth season.

Alex and Sierra's victory on X Factor, along with three other wins: Candice Glover won American Idol season 12, Danielle Bradbery won season 4 of The Voice USA, Tessanne Chin won season 5 of The Voice USA, making those victories a quadruple for female artists, remained the last time that a female artist had won a season in any major singing competition in North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), excluding Got Talent franchises, until Alisan Porter won season 10 of The Voice USA in May 2016.

Judges and hosts

On October 22, 2012, it was announced that The X Factor would be returning for a third season, with Simon Cowell confirmed to be returning. On December 14, 2012, L.A. Reid announced he would not return to the show for its third season, as he wished to refocus his work on his record company, Epic Records. Britney Spears stated her intentions on returning to the show for its third season, but she eventually did not return, in order to focus on her music career.

Following the conclusion of season two, Demi Lovato questioned whether she would return for another season, or instead focus on her own career as a performer, stating, "I have no idea what's gonna happen next season, and I don't think anybody does." On March 28, 2013, it was confirmed that Lovato would return. On April 22, it was confirmed by Fox that Mario Lopez would be returning to host season three, along with the news of Khloé Kardashian not returning as co-host.

Rumors passed that Reba McEntire and Jennifer Love Hewitt would be judges.

Eventually, Cowell confirmed via his Twitter account that the full judging panel would be announced on May 20, 2013, with auditions beginning the next day. On that same day, Fox confirmed that Destiny's Child member and judge on the 2011 series of the UK show (who previously replaced Dannii Minogue), Kelly Rowland, and Mexican singer and former La Voz... México judge Paulina Rubio had been hired to replace Reid and Spears.

Selection process

Auditions

In addition to having online auditions, it was announced at the conclusion of season 2 that auditions for season 3 would be held throughout the country in Charleston, South Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Long Island, New York; Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. On the "Registration and Audition Rules" document on The X Factors website about the auditions, it was announced where the auditions were going to be taking place.

+Summary of judges' auditions City Auditions dates VenueJudges Charleston, South Carolina May 21–22, 2013 North Charleston Coliseum Rowland Lovato Rubio Cowell New Orleans, Louisiana June 11–12, 2013 Lakefront Arena Long Island, New York June 19–21, 2013 Nassau Coliseum Denver, Colorado June 30 – July 2, 2013 Denver Coliseum Los Angeles, California July 10–11, 2013 Galen Center July 12, 2013

Deliberations Instead of the traditional bootcamp stages, a deliberation stage (very similar to Britain's Got Talent) was introduced to cut down the "yes" from the auditions to perform at Four-chair challenge. The judges cut the acts from 218 to 40. This took place on July 31, 2013.

After the Deliberation and Reveal Stages, but before the start of the four-chair challenge, the judges found out their categories and they are as follows: Rowland has the Overs, Rubio has the Boys, Lovato has the Girls and Cowell has the groups. They were revealed at Shrine Auditorium.

Four-chair challenge For this season of The X Factor, Cowell confirmed that the boot camp and judges' houses sections of the competition, which traditionally followed the audition rounds, had been dropped and replaced with a brand new stage called "The Four-Chair challenge", which took place at the Shrine Auditorium and was filmed over 2 days in September 2013. Speaking on the change, he said "It [boot camp and Judges' houses] was the one element of the show I wasn't happy with, and it looked too similar to what everybody else is doing." He went on to describe the new "middle section" as "really dramatic, very tough on us and the contestants, and very high pressure", and compared the new round as similar to the live shows.

This season, the categories did not follow the age-based format from season two but rather the format from season one: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups. Rowland mentored Over 25s, Lovato the Girls, Rubio the Boys, and for the second season in a row, Cowell mentored the Groups. Groups Restless Road, Sweet Suspense, and Forever in Your Mind all consist of contestants who originally auditioned as soloists.

The four-chair challenge episodes were broadcast on two 2-hour Wednesdays and two 1-hour Thursdays shows on October 2, 3, 9 and 10.

Key: – Act was immediately eliminated after performance without switch – Act was switched out later in the competition and eventually eliminated – Act was not switched out and made the final four of their own category

+ Contestants performances on the four-chair challenge Episode Category (mentor) Act Order Song Mentor's decision Switched with Episode 7 Over 25s (Rowland) Victoria Carriger 1 "Make You Feel My Love" Put in chair 1 — Kristine Mirelle 2 "Oops!... I Did It Again" Put in chair 2 — Jeff Gutt 3 "Amazing Grace" Put in chair 3 — Rachel Potter 4 "Irreplaceable" Put in chair 4 — Lorie Moore 5 "I'll Make Love to You" Put in chair 2 Kristine Mirelle Allison Davis 6 "Tik Tok" / "Push It" Eliminated — Jeff Brinkman 7 "Without You" Put in chair 1 Victoria Carriger Denny Smith 8 "In the Midnight Hour" Eliminated — James Kenney 9 "Lean on Me" Put in chair 1 Jeff Brinkman Lillie McCloud 10 "A House Is Not a Home" Put in chair 2 Lorie Moore Girls (Lovato) Bree Randall 11 "Glad You Came" Put in chair 1 — Khaya Cohen 12 "Locked Out of Heaven" Put in chair 2 — Jamie Pineda 13 "Don't Speak" Put in chair 3 — Ashly Williams 14"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Put in chair 4 — Episode 8 Simone Torres 15 "A Change Is Gonna Come" Put in chair 1 Bree RandallDanie Geimer 16 "Georgia on My Mind" Put in chair 1 Simone TorresRylie Brown 17 "Angels" Eliminated —Primrose Martin 18 "Blame It on the Boogie" Eliminated —Rion Paige 19 "I Won't Let Go" Put in chair 4 Ashly WilliamsEllona Santiago 20 "Clarity" Put in chair 3 Jamie Pineda Episode 9 Boys (Rubio) Al Calderon21"Call Me Maybe"Put in chair 1 — Isaiah Alston22"The Greatest Love of All"Eliminated — Isaac Tauaefa23"Bubbly"Eliminated —Carlos Guevara24"Ain't No Sunshine"Put in chair 2 —Stone Martin25"Torn"Put in chair 3 —Chase Goehring26"Airplanes"Put in chair 4 —Tim Olstad27"The Climb"Put in chair 3 Stone MartinCarlito Olivero28"Dreaming of You"Put in chair 4 Chase GoehringTimmy Thames29"The New Girl in Town"Put in chair 3 Tim OlstadTim OlstadN/AN/A (reinstated by mentor)Put in chair 1 Al CalderonJosh Levi30"I Can't Make You Love Me"Put in chair 3 Timmy Thames Groups (Cowell) Girls United31"Yeah 3x"Put in chair 1 — Wild Thingz32"Party Rock Anthem"Put in chair 2 — Glamour33"When I'm Gone"Put in chair 3 — Restless Road34"Somebody Like You"Put in chair 4 — Episode 10 Sweet Suspense 35"Wishing on a Star"Put in chair 2 Wild Thingz Yellow House Canyon36"Hell on Heels"Eliminated — Forever in Your Mind37"Lovebug"Put in chair 3 Glamour Good News 38"Landslide"Eliminated — Alex & Sierra39"You're the One That I Want"Put in chair 1 Girls United RoXxy Montana40"Man in the Mirror"Put in chair 3 Forever in Your Mind

Rubio initially switched out Tim Olstad for Timmy Thames, but after some consideration brought him back and instead switched out Al Calderon.

Contestants The top 16 contestants were confirmed as follows;

Key: – Winner – Runner-Up ActAge(s)HometownCategory (mentor)ResultAlex & Sierra22New Smyrna Beach, Florida/Orlando, FloridaGroups (Cowell)WinnerJeff Gutt37Marine City, MichiganOver 25s (Rowland)Runner-UpCarlito Olivero24Chicago, IllinoisBoys (Rubio)3rd PlaceRestless Road18-19VariousGroups (Cowell)4th PlaceRion Paige13Jacksonville, Florida Girls (Lovato)5th PlaceEllona Santiago17San Lorenzo, California6th PlaceJosh Levi15Houston, TexasBoys (Rubio)7th PlaceLillie McCloud55Orlando, FloridaOver 25s (Rowland)8th PlaceTim Olstad23Winona, MinnesotaBoys (Rubio)9th PlaceKhaya Cohen16New York City, New YorkGirls (Lovato)10th PlaceRachel Potter29New Orleans, LouisianaOver 25s (Rowland)11th PlaceSweet Suspense14-17VariousGroups (Cowell)12th PlaceCarlos Guevara16Lexington, South CarolinaBoys (Rubio)13th PlaceRoXxy Montana20-22Wayne, MichiganGroups (Cowell)14th-16th PlaceJames Kenney35Portland, OregonOver 25s (Rowland)14th-16th PlaceDanie Geimer15Northridge, CaliforniaGirls (Lovato)14th-16th Place

Live shows The first two-hour live show aired on a special Tuesday time slot on October 29; which followed the same format as the first season with each of the judges narrowing their number of acts down to three, without a public vote. The public vote then started with the following performance and results shows starting November 6, which aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively. As with previous seasons, each live show had a different theme. The live final took place in on December 18 and 19. Cowell had also said on Twitter that there may be a wildcard this season. The leaderboard that showed which act had received the most public votes did not return.

Musical guests Each results show featured musical performances from at least two artists. There was no guest performer on the first result show. Selena Gomez was supposed to perform on the second result show, but was postponed to third result show night which featured a performance from season 2 contestants Fifth Harmony. One Direction performed on the third results show. Michael Bublé performed on the fifth performance show, then again on the fifth results show alongside judge Demi Lovato. Emblem3 and Little Mix performed on the sixth results show, while Enrique Iglesias performed during the seventh results show.X FACTOR Top 4 Acts Revealed; Enrique Iglesias to Perform 12/12 – BWWTVWorld Paulina Rubio, Mary J. Blige, Lea Michele,Twitter / msleamichele: AND MORE EXCITING NEWS! I'll Leona Lewis, Pitbull and One Direction performed on the finale.

Results summary

Color key Act in Boys

Act in Girls

Act in Over 25s

Act in Groups

–Act did not face the public vote –Act was eliminated by their mentor (no public vote or final showdown) –Act was in the bottom 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