The X Factor is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a management contract and a Sony Music Australia recording contract. The third series premiered on the Seven Network on 29 August 2011 and ended on 22 November 2011. The winner was Reece Mastin and his debut single "Good Night" was released after the final. Mastin was mentored throughout by Guy Sebastian, who won as mentor for the first time. The season was presented by Luke Jacobz. Sebastian and Ronan Keating were the only judges from the previous series who returned, while Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Melanie Brown joined the judging panel as replacements for former judges, Natalie Imbruglia and Kyle Sandilands.
The competition was split into several stages: auditions, bootcamp, home visits and live shows. Auditions in front of the show's producers took place throughout March and April 2011. 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 studio audience during May and June. After the auditions was bootcamp, where successful acts were split into four categories: Under 25 Boys, Under 25 Girls, Over 25s and Groups. Each judge was given a category to mentor and had to decide on their twelve acts after day two, and their six acts after day three. Special guest judges, including Wynter Gordon, Stephen Belafonte, Darren Hayes and The Veronicas, were brought in to help the judges decide their acts. Following bootcamp was the home visits stage, where each of the judges reduced their six acts to three, with help from more guest judges, including Beyoncé Knowles, Mel C, Jason Derülo, Good Charlotte and Leona Lewis. The live shows began on 19 September 2011.
