The X Factor 3

The X Factor 3 is the third season of the reality music competition based on the original UK series, with the purpose of finding a star singer. The season was hosted by soap opera star Eileen Davidson and LL Cool J. Julianne Hough, Ricky Martin, Kandi Burruss, and Benji Madden all returned to be the mentors and judges for this season.

Hough mentored the boys, Burruss mentored the girls, Martin mentored the over 25's, and Madden mentored the groups.

Selection Process
This season omitted the Four (or five) Chair Challenge, which received backlash from viewers as to harsh of a way to eliminate someone. Instead, after the audition stages, the hopefuls went to "bootcamp", where they performed for a score and the top seven, along with a wildcard advanced to Judge's Houses, where they sang again for their spot in the live shows.

Auditions
122 hopefuls got to move onto bootcamp performances.

Bootcamp
This season's new addition, bootcamp, involves the 64 finalists battling it out for the 8 spots in each category. Each category has 16 finalists in it and they sing for a score, the seven with the highest scores along with one wildcard are moving on to Judge's houses.

''Scores are given in order by Madden, Hough, Burruss and Martin in the tables.
 * – Advanced to the next stage by judges overall scores
 * – Advanced to the next stage as a wildcard chosen by their mentor

Nelson, Rockwell, Quinn, and Harris were all originally eliminated in the girls category. However, Madden, the groups mentor, chose these four to form a group and become his wildcard for the groups. They became known as New Crystals.

As there was a tie between Church Sunshine and Sugar Sisters, the judges were asked to vote on which act they wanted to send through. They all chose Church Sunshine.

Finalists
The final 16 acts were confirmed as follows:

Key:
 * – Winner
 * – Runner-Up
 * – Third Place

Results Summary

 * Colour key