HOUSTON — The first season of “The X Factor” in the U.S. ends with the premiere winner awarded a $5 million recording contract … and that winner is 19-year-old Melanie Amaro of Sunrise, Fla., who was originally added as a 13th finalist when show judge and mentor Simon Cowell rescinded his decision to eliminate her.
The final episode of “The X Factor” began with the final twelve acts together performing a rendition of “The Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga.
The final three competitors, Amaro, Josh Krajick and Chris Rene, each performed Christmas songs. Amaro sang “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, Rene sang “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and Krajick sang “Please Come Home for Christmas.”
Guest singer Justin Bieber performed “The Christmas Song” with special guest Stevie Wonder and then invited Drew, one of the final twelve acts in the competition, to sing “Santa Clause Is Coming To Town” with him. After all, Drew sang the Bieber song “Baby” during her first audition.
Singer Leona Lewis, who won “The X Factor” in the U.K., performed “Run” as a montage of memorable moments throughout the show season played in the background.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher introduced rapper 50 Cent, who performed a new song with other Lakers players joining on stage to dance before performing “In Da Club” with help from Astro, who was one of the final twelve acts on “The X Factor.”
Rapper Pitbull performed “International Love” and singer Ne-Yo later joined him on stage to perform “Give Me Everything” along with Marcus Canty, who was eliminated from “The X Factor” one week earlier.
The drama continued as show host Steve Jones announced that Rene was eliminated, leaving Amaro and Krajick as the remaining two finalists.
Amaro and Krajick performed a duet of “We Could Be Heroes” by David Bowie before Jones made the grand announcement of the winner.
Jones announced that Amaro won the coveted recording contract and will be featured on a Pepsi commercial campaign.
Amaro ended the night with a performance of “Listen” by Beyonce, the song she first interpreted during the first round of auditions.
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