The X Factor was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original British version, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract. The eighth season, branded as X Factor: Next Generation, premiered on Seven Network on 3 October 2016. Jason Dundas replaced Luke Jacobz as host; with the judging panel consisting of Mel B, Guy Sebastian, Iggy Azalea and Adam Lambert. The winner was Isaiah Firebrace and his winner's single "It's Gotta Be You" was released after the final. He was mentored by Lambert, who won as mentor for the first and only time.
In February 2016, reports claimed that Seven Network was mulling over whether or not to delay the series' planned season 8 until 2017. It was later confirmed that The X Factor would return in 2016.
Dannii Minogue reported that she would not be returning to the programme after three series on the judging panel. On 12 June 2016, Iggy Azalea was announced as Chris Isaak's replacement, with Guy Sebastian. The following day, Adam Lambert was confirmed to be the third judge for season 8 replacing James Blunt. On 11 October 2016, shortly before the three-seat challenge, former judge Mel B was announced as the "underdog judge" also to replace Minogue, after months of rumours, whereby three acts who failed to secure a seat in this challenge can be recruited by her for inclusion in the "underdogs" category.
On 24 November 2015, Luke Jacobz announced on his Twitter account that he would not be returning as the host for the eighth season in 2016. On 25 June 2016, Jason Dundas was announced as Jacobz's replacement.
Open auditions in front of the show's producers took place in 17 cities and ran from 18 April to 21 May 2016.
Open auditions began on 18 April in Geelong and concluded on 21 May 2016 in Melbourne.
Judges' auditions took at Sydney Olympic Park from 29 June to 1 July and again from 5 to 6 July 2016.
Bootcamp was briefly shown during the last audition episode, where the judges found out which category they would mentor. Once the judges found out their categories, they had each of their acts sing acapella for their judge and once everyone sang, the category judge narrowed their category down to 12 acts who would move on to the Three Chair Challenge.
The three seat challenge round of the competition was held at the Sydney Olympic Park between 28 and 29 July 2016. This will be a replacement as the super home visits used in previous seasons. Three acts who were not successful were recruited by underdog judge Mel B.
Key:
Key:
<nowiki>*</nowiki>AYA (originally named Chai) was previously known as Montage. Their name was changed a second time after the three-seat challenge.
The live shows began airing on 23 October 2016. Initially, ten live shows were planned, but they were cut down to five, apparently due to scheduling conflicts. Guy Sebastian mentored the Over 22s, Iggy Azalea mentored the Groups and Adam Lambert mentored the 14-21s. Mel B was announced as the mentor of the Underdogs category, where she chose three acts who were eliminated in the three-seat challenge, join her category; the contestants of this category were not revealed until the first live show. The live shows concluded on 21 November 2016, where this would be the final episode of The X Factor to be aired, as the programme was cancelled in January 2017 due to declining ratings.
Act in Team Mel B<br /> Act in Team Guy<br /> Act in Team Iggy<br /> Act in Team Adam<br />
Notes
One act from each category was eliminated from the competition after the first show, as voted by viewers
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. AYA were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
The viewers were given the power to choose this week's songs.
Dundas confirmed during Sunday's live show that this week would be a double elimination.
With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Chynna Taylor was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
For the first time this season, the contestants will sing two songs each.
Ratings data is from OzTAM and represents the average viewership from the 5 largest Australian metropolitan centres (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide).