The X Factor

The X Factor is an American reality television music competition created by Simon Cowell and produced by FremantleMedia North America and SYCOtv, a partnership between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment, which aired on Fox from 2011 to 2013.[2] Based on the original UK show, and an addition to the The X Factor franchise, the series found new singing talent (solo artists and groups ages 12 and over), drawn from public auditions, and they competed against each other for votes. The winner was determined by the show's viewers via telephone, the Internet, and SMS textvoting, and was awarded a recording contract with Cowell's record label Syco Music, worth $5 million in seasons one and two, and $1 million in season three. America voted for the following winners: Melanie Amaro, Tate Stevens, and Alex & Sierra, respectively.

The show began airing on September 21, 2011,[3] and aired annually from September through December until 2013. The series employed a panel of judges who critiqued the contestants' performances. Each contestant was assigned to one of four categories. The group acts were one category and the others were based on age or gender. For example, in season 1 the categories were girls, boys, groups, and over 30s. Each judge was assigned to one of the categories,[4] and acted as mentor to the contestants in his or her category, helping to decide song choices, styling, and staging, while also judging contestants from the other categories after each of the live performances. They competed with each other to try to get one of the contestants in their category to win the competition, thus making them the winning judge.

The original judging panel consisted of Cowell, Paula Abdul, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and L.A. Reid, with Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones as co-hosts. Scherzinger later replaced Fernandez-Versini on the panel after two audition sites. Demi Lovato and Britney Spearsjoined the panel in the second season as replacements for Abdul and Scherzinger, while Khloé Kardashian and Mario Lopezreplaced Jones as co-hosts. Spears and Reid did not return for the third seasonand were replaced by Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio, while Lopez became sole host after Kardashian was not asked to come back.

On February 7, 2014, Fox announced that The X Factor would not be renewed for a fourth season, following Cowell's decision to return to the UK version of the series a day earlier.[5]