Let The Live Shows Begin! X Factor Final 12 Revealed!

ITV Pictures

After weeks of auditions, bootcamp and judges houses, the final 12 hopefuls making it through to the live final shows of the X Factor have been announced.

Revealing her final three first was Tulisa who had chosen the beautiful St Lucia to hold her judges houses. Having listened to the six girls in her category and talked it over with her guest mentor Tinie Tempah, it was time for the 'Young' star to deliver the good and the bad news to the girls.

With tree places in the final up for the taking, 16 year-old Ella Henderson was the first to find out her fate on the show. Speaking about her decision, Tulisa told the nervous hopeful: "From the start you know you stood out.  You have got all the things it takes to be a pop star, and every time you perform, like some sort of old school graceful movie star and it’s so ahead of your years, the downfalls were that we could see that you were pretty nervous yesterday and also, even though you are absolutely amazing, so are so many other girls in the category. And there is only 3 spaces.  And it has been so unbelievably difficult.  But I’ve made a decision."

And her decision was that she was taking Ella through to the live shows. As Ella celebrated her news, Leanne Robinson, Amy Mottram and Jade Collins had to deal with Tulisa's decision not to take them through. Breaking down in tears, Leanne commented: "I really wanted it."

As Tulisa's finalists were revealed, it was time to move on to Louis Walsh to see who he had decided to take through to the live shows after hearing them perform again in Las Vegas. With all the groups wanting to get through, Louis delivered the devastating news to Mitsotu, Duke, Poisonous Twin and Times Red that they had not made it through to the live shows. Meanwhile, MK1, GMD3 and Union J jumped for joy as the judge revealed that they had got through.

Having seen Tulisa and Louis decide who they want to mentor during the live shows, Nicole Scherzinger was the next judge to reveal which three out of the six in the Boys category she was going to take through.

Having performed in Dubai in front of Nicole and Ne-Yo, it was time for James Arthur, Jahmene Douglas and Jake Quickenden to find out their fate. Whilst it was good news for James and Jahmene, it was the end of the road for Jake who didn't make the final cut. Up next to find out was Nathan Fagan Gayle, Adam Burridge and Rylan Clarke.

Revealing that she was ready to take a risk with Rylan, Nicole then delivered the sad news that Adam and Nathan hadn't made it through.

With three more places in the final 12 left, it was time for Gary to make his final choice. Explaining his reasons for his decisions and admitting that they were hard to make, Gary announced to Melanie Masson and Kye Sones that they had made it through. Having failed at the judges houses with Louis last year, Carolynne Poole was given the good news that she had made it through to the next round.

Sadly it was the end of the road for Christopher Maloney, Nicole Marie and Brad Shackleton who were given the news by the judge that they hadn't made it through...

Or had they?

With the final 12 chosen, it was time for the judges to reveal who they were taking through as their wildcard acts. For the Girls category, it was Amy Mottram, whilst Louis decided to give Times Red another chance. Nicole opted to save Adam Burridge whilst Gary decided it was time to call Christopher back into the competition.

What do you think of the final 12?

The hopefuls during the judges house round