The auditions begin in London where several sets of twins make it through to boot camp. When Samir and Mehi who are twin brothers from France perform though they fail to impress Simon but Cheryl and Louis decide to put them through. Storm Lee manages to impress the judges with his voice but Simon tells him if he wants to be taken seriously he should use his real name. Simon isn't impressed with the first song he performs and asks him to perform another without all the gimmicks. Even though Simon despite his misgivings decides to put him through. Others to impress in London include Ruth Anne St Luce and John Adeleye. This week's guest judge is Natalie Imbruglia and she joins the team when the auditions move onto Birmingham. Liam Payne who at just 14 made it through to the judges' house two years ago returns hoping to make it to the finals this time around. Pattie Eleode is not so successful though when she fails to impress the judges. Cher Lloyd manages to impress though and sails through to boot camp. Others to impress in Birmingham include Kerri Arindel, Justin Vanderhyde and Treyc Cohen who made it through to to the judges houses last year. Abbey Johnstone and Lisa Parker have a major falling out after Simon tells them that their performance was the worst audition in history.
Each X Factor judge is in charge of a different section of singers on the show. The judges do not know what section of the competition they will be in charge of until the audition process has finished. Each judge then has to pick four acts to take forward to the live section of the show. Each week the two acts with the lowest amount of public votes have to sing again in a final showdown after which the judges decide who should be eliminated. Once there are only five acts left remaining it becomes left to the public to decide who should go.