by: Todd Betzold

Tonight's The X Factor takes us to the windy city Chicago, home of Jennifer Hudson, R. Kelly and Kanye West. Cheryl Cole returns for another show, so no Pussycat Doll tonight.

Best friends Brock and McKenna from Springfield, Missouri, kick the night off singing "Colder Weather" by Zac Brown Band. The country crooners get the show started on a good note. The audience loved it...I loved it...the judges loved it, as they give out four yes votes.

A series of bad auditions, including a lady looking to audition to be a judge for the show, not a contestant on the show. Unfortunately, she was turned down as were the rest. Skylar Anderson from Mississippi traveled 9 hours and 30 minutes to prove himself, singing "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right" by Billy Currington. A little into his song the track cut off and he continued on without the music and won over the judges...another four yeses.

Mark, a graduate student in Europe, sings "Creep" by Radiohead and he doesn't come off any different then the name of the song...so creepy. He has some weird dance moves, but he sings pretty well and the judges move him on.

A montage of creepy auditions follow, with contestants said to be from the same planet Paula is from....so, way out there! We follow with another creepy guy, Josh Karjcik, who comes out with his curly hair, beard and bad clothes and states he is singing "At Last" by Etta James. The judges giggle at that song choice, as did I, but folks, this was my first set of chills (and maybe tears) for the night. He was so good...it was shocking.

We now head back to Seattle for more auditions and Nicole Scherzinger rejoins the judges' table again...yay! An unfortunate mother-daughter duo kicks it off for Seattle and were horrible, but delusional that they did good....oh crazy people.

Next we get to see the biggest Justin Bieber fan, Drew Ryniewicz, from Arizona, singing "Baby" by Justin Bieber, of course. She may be in love with Justin, but she made the song her own and got four yes votes. Maybe she will get her dream and sing with Justin someday.

Bad audition, followed by Peet Monzingo, the 21-year-old wanna-be teen heartthrob whose parents are little nuggets, so I love them already! Singing "Billionaire" by Bruno Mars, but changing it to "Famous" and throwing in his teen heartthrob dreams. His singing wasn't great, but the judges saw a star on stage, but had to say no.

Four Sure, a singing group from Virginia Beach, comes in wanting to be the biggest boy band in the world. They sing "End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men, a song written by judge L.A. Reid. Bring back the chills...they were awesome. Had the audience clapping and screaming for them. Very good harmonies and had it together. Four yeses...they are moving on.

A quick look at Aretha Franklin-sounding Elaine Gibbs and youngster Francesca Duncan, as they both get four yes votes and move on. It continues as we get a few more people through, but no back stories on them.

Next up, Phillip Lomax, a server from Seattle, brings himself front and center. He takes us back in time, singing "Fly Me To The Moon" by Frank Sinatra. He did a good job with the song and had much confidence on stage, so the judges moved him onto the next step.

After the auditions, all the contestants moving on will be placed into four categories: groups, over 30s, boys and girls. The girls seem to be struggling in getting the yes votes, as we see another montage of the bad girl auditions.

Tia Tolliver hopes to change that. She brings her big lips to the stage singing "Impossible" by Shontelle. She sings the song well, but it causes some bickering among the judges. Simon wants her to move on big time, but only has the support of L.A. Both the ladies vote no, but L.A. gives her one more chance to prove to them she deserves to be there. She sings her heart out again and Simon begs the ladies for a yes vote, but Paula says no again and Nicole gives in and says yes.

The X Factor continues on Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.

(Image courtesy of Fox)

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