The X Factor (Australian TV series) season 7

The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract. The seventh season premiered on the Seven Network on 13 September 2015 and concluded on 24 November 2015. Luke Jacobz returned as the host of the show. Dannii Minogue was the only judge from the previous season who returned, while Redfoo, Ronan Keating and Natalie Bassingthwaighte were replaced by former judge Guy Sebastian, as well as new judges James Blunt and Chris Isaak. The winner was Cyrus Villanueva and his winner's single "Stone" was released after the final. He was mentored by Isaak, who won as mentor for the first time.
Open auditions in front of the show's producers took place in 13 cities between January and March 2015. The successful auditionees chosen by the producers were then invited back to the last set of auditions that took place in front of the judges and a live audience in June 2015. The next round was bootcamp, which for the first time on The X Factor Australia incorporated the five seat challenge, where each act performed in front of the judges and a live audience to earn a place on one of the five seats in their category. Following bootcamp was the super home visits round in London, where each judge reduced their five acts to three, with help from guest mentors Simon Cowell, Olly Murs and Rita Ora. For the first time on The X Factor Australia, instead of travelling to four different locations around the world, the super home visits for each category were all held together in the same location.
The live shows began on 27 September 2015. They returned to Monday and Tuesday nights as previously seen in seasons 3 and 4. This was a change of format from seasons 2, 5 and 6, in which the live shows were broadcast on Sunday and Monday nights.

Judges

On 25 April 2015, Ronan Keating confirmed in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that he would not be returning for season 7 as he wanted to focus on his music career. He said, "I've had five great years working on an amazing show with a brilliant team of people. But I'm working on a new solo album and different projects so I can't make it back this year sadly." Natalie Bassingthwaighte announced her departure on her Twitter account on 29 April 2015. On 1 May 2015, Redfoo announced on his Facebook page that he would also not be returning as he wanted to focus on other projects including a new album. Dannii Minogue was the only judge from season 6 who returned.
On 3 May 2015, it was confirmed that Guy Sebastian would be returning to the judging panel, after a two-year absence, as Redfoo's replacement, while James Blunt and Chris Isaak would be replacing Keating and Bassingthwaighte. Isaak said, "It is going to be surreal to be on the show as a judge after having watched so many episodes as a fan. I know it's a show with a history of articulate, intelligent judges, and I know they wanted to change that up so they called me." Blunt previously appeared on season 6 as a guest mentor for Minogue's Groups category during the home visits round.

Selection process

Auditions

Open auditions in front of the show's producers took place in 13 cities and ran from 31 January 2015 to 10 March 2015. Online auditions were also held for those who could not attend the open auditions. The auditionees chosen by the producers were then invited back to the last set of auditions that took place in front of the judges and a live studio audience. These auditions were filmed at the Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney on 4, 5, 6 and 7 June 2015 and Hisense Arena in Melbourne on 12, 13 and 14 June 2015.

City	Dates	Venue
Sydney	31 January–2 February 2015	Sydney Cricket Ground
Byron Bay	5 February 2015	Byron Entertainment Centre
Brisbane	7–8 February 2015	Sofitel Brisbane
Townsville	10 February 2015	Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre
Rockhampton	12 February 2015	Pilbeam Theatre
Melbourne	14–16 February 2015	Moonee Valley Racing Club
Perth	21–22 February 2015	Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre
Geraldton	24 February 2015	Ocean Centre Hotel
Adelaide	27 February 2015	AAMI Stadium Function Complex
Mildura	2 March 2015	Mildura Arts Centre
Albury	4 March 2015	Albury Entertainment Centre
Canberra	6 March 2015	QT Canberra
Newcastle	10 March 2015	Hunter Stadium

City	Dates	Venue
Sydney	4–7 June 2015	Qantas Credit Union Arena
Melbourne	12–14 June 2015	Hisense Arena

Bootcamp and five seat challenge

The bootcamp round of the competition was held at the Sydney Olympic Park. Filming began on 8 July 2015. The episodes with a live audience were filmed on 10 and 11 July 2015. Before bootcamp started, the judges cut half of the 100 successful acts from auditions and only 48 acts remained. At the beginning of the bootcamp round, each judge found out which category they would be mentoring. Isaak was given the Boys, Blunt was given the Over 25s, Sebastian was given the Groups and Minogue was given the Girls. For the first time on The X Factor Australia, bootcamp incorporated the five seat challenge, where each act performed in front of the judges and a live audience to earn a place on one of the five seats in their category. After each performance, the mentor for that category decided if that act deserved to take a seat as one of their top five to go through to the super home visits.
If all five seats were filled for each category and a remaining act performed better than those seated, the mentor for that category had the option of swapping an act out. Contestants Panda and Chan were swapped for Cyrus Villanueva and Big T in the Boys category, Aaron Taylor and Mama Julz were swapped for Roshani Priddis and Dan Hamill in the Over 25s category, and couple duo Luke & Tannah were swapped for Lazy J & Big Guy in the Groups category. In the Girls category, Carla Wehbe and Chloe Papandrea were swapped for Maddison Milewski and Shannon Hancock. However, Hancock was then swapped for Michaela Baranov.
The 20 successful acts were:

Boys: Big T, Jimmy Davis, Michael Duchesne, Andrew Lambrou, Cyrus Villanueva
Girls: Michaela Baranov, Georgia Denton, Emilia Kelberg, Maddison Milewski, Mahalia Simpson
Over 25s: Louise Adams, Natalie Conway, Gazele, Dan Hamill, Roshani Priddis
Groups: The Fisher Boys, In Stereo, Jess & Matt, Lazy J & Big Guy, Paris Inc.
Super home visits

For the first time on The X Factor Australia, instead of travelling to four different locations around the world, the super home visits for each category were all held together in the same location. The first episode of the super home visits round was filmed in London on 25 July 2015. Each act performed one song to their mentor and guest mentors. Minogue and Sebastian were assisted by Simon Cowell and Olly Murs, and Isaak and Blunt were assisted by Cowell and Rita Ora. After the performances, the judges along with their guest mentors narrowed down the acts to three each. The Girls and Groups categories travelled to Abu Dhabi to find out which of their acts made it to the live shows, while the Boys and Over 25s categories remained in London.

Judge	Category	Location	Assistant	Contestants eliminated
Isaak	Boys	London	Simon Cowell Rita Ora	Michael Duchesne, Andrew Lambrou
Blunt	Over 25s	London	Simon Cowell Rita Ora	Gazele, Roshani Priddis
Minogue	Girls	London and Abu Dhabi	Simon Cowell Olly Murs	Emilia Kelberg, Maddison Milewski
Sebastian	Groups	London and Abu Dhabi	Simon Cowell Olly Murs	Lazy J & Big Guy, Paris Inc.

Acts

Key:

Act	Age	Hometown	Category	Result
Cyrus Villanueva	19	Wollongong	Boys	Winner
Louise Adams	31	Mount Gambier	Over 25s	Runner-Up
Jess & Matt	24	Chipping Norton	Groups	3rd Place
Big T	22	New Zealand/Perth	Boys	4th Place
Mahalia Simpson	23	New Zealand/Brisbane, Queensland	Girls	5th Place
Natalie Conway	33	Sydney	Over 25s	6th Place
Michaela Baranov	24	Pennant Hills	Girls	7th Place
In Stereo	14–15	Various	Groups	8th Place
Jimmy Davis	21	Gympie	Boys	9th Place
Georgia Denton	14	London, England/Melbourne	Girls	10th Place
The Fisher Boys	17–23	Perth	Groups	11th Place
Dan Hamill	30	Perth	Over 25s	12th Place

Live shows

Results summary

;Colour key
Act in Team Dannii

Act in Team Guy

Act in Team Chris

Act in Team James

Sebastian was not required to vote as there was already a majority.