The X Factor (American season 2)

Kansas City

Austin

San Francisco

Greensboro

Providence

Cities where the auditions were held.

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 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.

Filming for bootcamp was held on July 25–27, 2012 in Miami. 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 on to 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.[28] Their name changed again for the Top 13 performances, as their mentor Simon Cowell was not in favor of the name 1432 and felt that the show's viewers could make a better name for the group.[29]

The judges' houses was filmed September 28 & 29, 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, assisted by Justin Bieber, accompanied by his manager Scooter Braun; Cowell took the groups to Miami Beach, Florida with Latin singer Marc Anthony, Spears had the teens in Malibu, California 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.

Color key

• ^1 There was no public vote in the first week. Each mentor selected two acts from their own category to advance to the second week and the two remaining acts as the bottom two. The bottom two acts performed another song of their choice in the sing-off and their mentor was required to eliminate one of the bottom two acts they selected.[44]
• ^2 White returned to the competition in week two because the judges felt that she should not have been eliminated in week one.

• Theme: Songs by American artists (billed as "Made in America")[45]

• There was no public vote in the first week. Each mentor selected two finalists from their own category as the bottom two. The bottom two acts performed another song of their choice in a sing-off and their mentor was required to eliminate one of them based on the performance.

Judges' decisions to eliminate[38]

• Lovato: Willie Jones – gave no reason
• Reid: David Correy – gave no reason
• Spears: Diamond White – gave no reason
• Cowell: Sister C – gave no reason

• Theme: Songs from movies[46]
• Musical guest: One Direction ("Live While We're Young" and "Little Things")[30]

One of the four acts that did not face the public vote in week one and was eliminated by mentor was reinstated to the show as the judges felt that the act should not have been eliminated in the previous week. The reinstated act was announced as Diamond White at the start of the season's second live show.[47] 1432 being known as Fifth Harmony started in week two.[48]

Judges' votes to eliminate[39]

• Lovato: Jason Brock – backed her own act, CeCe Frey.
• Reid: Cece Frey – backed his own act, Jason Brock.
• Spears: CeCe Frey – gave no reason.
• Cowell: Jason Brock – gave no reason.

With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Brock was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.[39]

• Theme: Divas[49]
• Musical guest: Taylor Swift ("State of Grace")[31]

Starting from week three, two acts were eliminated from each results show until the quarter-final. The three acts with the fewest public votes were announced and then the act with the fewest votes was automatically eliminated. The remaining two acts then performed in the final showdown and face the judges' votes.[50]

Judges' votes to eliminate[40]

• Reid: Jennel Garcia – gave no reason.
• Spears: Jennel Garcia – gave no reason.
• Lovato: Paige Thomas – gave no reason but after the show in an interview, she felt that Garcia "was more talented" despite Thomas having "more star quality".
• Cowell: Jennel Garcia – stated he had an "easy decision" and felt that Thomas had "got the best star potential" after watching her final showdown performance.

After Reid and Spears voted against Garcia, Lopez asked Cowell for his vote. Cowell stated he wanted Lovato to vote before him. Lopez attempted to persuade Cowell to vote before Lovato, but Cowell insisted on Lovato voting before him. As a result, Lopez asked Lovato to vote before Cowell. The second before Lovato appeared to give her response, she pushed Cowell to vote before her as he was asked first but Lopez told Lovato the show was pressed for time and Cowell objected. Lovato voted against Thomas and then Cowell voted against Garcia. In an interview after the show, Cowell said he already intended to vote against Garcia and persisted to have Lovato vote before him because he knew if he voted before Lovato that she would not have to vote, was curious as to who Lovato wanted to save and thought the audience wanted to know who Lovato was going to vote against.

However, voting statistics revealed that Garcia received more votes than Thomas which meant that if the result went to deadlock, Garcia would have been saved.

• Theme: Thanksgiving[52]
• Group performance: "Fix You" (with Bancroft Middle School choir)
• Musical guests: Cher Lloyd featuring Becky G ("Oath")[32][33]

Judges' votes to eliminate[41]

• Lovato: Beatrice Miller – gave no reason, though effectively backed their own act, CeCe Frey.
• Spears: CeCe Frey – gave no reason, though effectively backed her own act, Beatrice Miller.
• Reid: Beatrice Miller – gave no reason.
• Cowell: Beatrice Miller – thought the competition was "all getting too much for" Miller and that the then-present time was not "the right time for" her.

However, voting statistics revealed that Miller received more votes than Frey which meant that if Cowell sent the result to deadlock, Miller would have been saved.

• Theme: Number-ones[54]
• Musical guests: Josh Krajcik ("One Thing She’ll Never Know") and Alicia Keys ("Girl on Fire")[34]
• Music video premiere: will.i.am featuring Britney Spears ("Scream & Shout")[35]

Judges' votes to eliminate[42]

• Reid: Diamond White – backed his own act, Vino Alan.
• Spears: Vino Alan – backed her own act, Diamond White.
• Lovato: Vino Alan – gave no reason.
• Cowell: Vino Alan – gave no reason.

• Themes: Unplugged songs; Pepsi Challenge songs[56]
• Musical guests: Melanie Amaro ("Long Distance")[57] and Kesha ("C'Mon")[36]

For the first time this season, each act performed two songs. The list of song choices for the Pepsi Challenge was released via Twitter on December 1, 2012.[56]

Judges' votes to eliminate[43]

• Cowell: Diamond White – gave no reason, though effectively backed his own act, Fifth Harmony.
• Spears: Fifth Harmony – gave no reason, though effectively backed her own act, Diamond White.
• Reid: Diamond White – gave no reason.
• Lovato: Diamond White – gave no reason.

• Themes: Contestant's choice; "songs to get you to the final" (no theme)[59][60]
• Group performance: "Coming Home" / "Coming Home, Pt. II"
• Musical guests: Bridgit Mendler ("Ready or Not")[61] and Bruno Mars ("Locked Out of Heaven")[37]

The semi-final did not feature a final showdown nor a leaderboard. Instead the act with the fewest public votes, Emblem3, were automatically eliminated.[60]

The final consisted of two two-hour episodes on December 19 and 20.

December 19

• Themes: Favorite performance (billed as "song of the season"); celebrity duets; winner's song (billed as "$5 million song")[63]
• Group performance: "You Are Not Alone" (all top 13 contestants; in dedication to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims)

December 20

• Theme: Christmas songs[64]
• Group performances: "All You Need Is Love" and "The Climb" (performed by Carly Rose Sonenclar and Tate Stevens)
• Musical guests: Pitbull ("Don't Stop the Party" / "Feel This Moment") and One Direction ("Kiss You")

Notes

During the airing of the judges' houses episode on October 17, the show was stopped abruptly in the middle of Lovato's selection for the top 16 and cut immediately to a game of the National League Championship Series. This was due to the fact that the game was halted and rescheduled later in the day due to a rain delay, to be played concurrently with The X Factor.[109] Between the two, Fox decided to air the game instead of the rest of the episode. Many viewers took to the internet and called Fox to complain about the interruption. Cowell even took to his Twitter to comment that: "It's what's known as a total f up." The show instead aired the following week in its entirety.

During the fifth live show in November, many voters reported of having their votes "rejected" and their calls cut off when attempting to vote for Paige Thomas; Thomas was eliminated the following night. Fox and The X Factor affiliates have not confirmed or denied whether this had anything to do with Thomas' subsequent elimination the following night.

In the season two premiere, Don Philip, who once collaborated with Britney Spears on her debut album, auditioned in front of the judges, and received a "no" from all judges. He then told Access Hollywood that ten minutes of footage from the interview was edited out because he felt like the judges bullied him into revealing that he is gay.[110] Spears reportedly replied "I think it’s fine you’re gay," though this was edited out as well.[111] Fox then released a statement saying:

"The judges were not given any information at all about Mr. Philip prior to his audition. The personal information that Mr. Philip quickly volunteered at the start of his audition was a surprise to the judges, who asked what had happened during the past 10 years, as they were interested in Mr. Philip’s career. While we understand his decision to discuss his personal life, Mr. Philip’s sexual orientation was not something that any of the judges or producers felt was relevant to this audition. When advertising and promoting open auditions, thousands of people are informed about the ways to enter the show. Mr. Philip himself chose to enter for a chance to win a five million dollar recording contract."[112]

Later that year, an insider revealed that he was contacted specifically by producers because of his association with Spears, and that according to him, "she already knew he was going to be there, of course, because this is a reality show".[113]