by Todd Betzold

The last of the auditions tonight on The X Factor before we head to the boot camps next week and with ratings slipping for the show did they save the best for last? Read on to find out.

We start in Newark with a youngster, 14-year-old Brian Bradley from Brooklyn, New York, who in five more years claims he'll be bigger than Jay-Z. After some mouthing off to Simon, which only led up to him breaking into his own rap song, he pulled off an impressive audition. Per Simon, "he was arrogant, obnoxious, argumentative, but one of the most talented young people he has heard in a very long time." Needless to say, four yes votes.

Some quick yes votes for Kelly Warner, the hair stylist at a nursing home, Aaron Surgeon, the guy who needs a haircut, Liliana Rose Andreano, the singing office worker, and a few others not highlighted.

And bring on the bad audition...Andy, who wants to be on an episode of MTV Cribs someday, brings his "talents" to the stage. Before singing, Simon tries to hook the single Andy up with the single Paula....funny stuff. Andy sings "Hero" by Mariah Carey and of course, it isn't great, but you just want to love him with his sweet, innocent personality. They let him finish and the crowd cheers for him and the judges all give him nice words, but no votes, and he gets a hug from Paula (cue my first set of tears) before he leaves the stage....very cute and nice!

Another bad audition, before we get to meet another office worker, Clarissa "Cashmere" Cheatham, from Philadelphia. The karaoke singer who says she gets lots of cheers and screams from her friends and other people (I must say I do too, but I would never go audition for The X Factor though), but she does terrible and gets four no votes.

This is followed by even more bad auditions, including a girl with a big ol' attitude and a guy coming out with a hula-hoop. Is there any talent in Newark???

Cari Fletcher, the high school junior, tries to change the pace from bad to good as she sings "Alone by Heart. She was very beautiful and did a good job, but I wasn't as impressed as the judges were, except Simon who said she was boring and I agree with him. She gets through, but has to step it up for the boot camps.

Tonight seems to be just showing little clips of everyone who has moved on (which we just saw three more people move on) and not show us any story on them because we wasted the first three shows moving too slow. It's bad because I would rather see the good auditions compared to the terrible ones that don't stand a chance of moving on.

We have our first duo of the night, best friends Austin and Emily (a.k.a. AusEm), hit the stage and I don't know if this is an audition for X Factor or for a Broadway show. They put on their own musical on the stage and it took away from their singing, which wasn't great, but decent, but the theatrics took that all away, for me at least. More drama and bickering between the judges, but they voted them through, with them liking Austin a lot and Emily was just an addition they had to bring along.

Tara Woloshin, the flashy auto mechanic student, comes to the stage all done up like a pop star, comes out singing "I Want You Back" by Jackson 5. She works that stage and does an excellent job...very entertaining. My favorite of the night, by far. Four yes votes and boot camp for her.

Now it is time to see people try to show off their dancing abilities and non-singing abilities. One after another of all no votes, but some laughs along the way.

One group, The Stereo Hogzz, tries to change that though with their singing and dancing skills. Very good singers and great harmonies. Simon thought it had an air to it of being over-rehearsed, but it was still good enough for four yes votes.

Cocky Brennan Hunt, the model from Nashville, thinks he is the X Factor, that he is beautiful and will rule the world someday. He sings an original song and with his personality, I wanted him to start singing and sound terrible, unfortunately not the case. He does a great job and has an amazing voice and gets four votes.

Quick yes votes for: 18-year-old Paige Elizabeth Ogle, 59-year-old Leroy Bell, the young Brewer Boys and 14-year-old Nick Dean before 21-year-old Devon Talley ruins one of my all-time favorites songs "Seasons Of Love." Kick him off the stage for trying to sing one of my songs.

The nerves are working on Jazzlyn Little, the 16-year-old from Cape Coral, Florida, as she shakes her way onto the stage. She didn't sell herself well to Simon and the judges, but when she broke out into "I'm Going Down" by Mary J. Blige those nerves all left her. She owned that stage and had an amazing vocal performance (enough to give me chills). And she takes over as my favorite performer of the night, and made me shed some more tears!

The singers are off to boot camp now, as The X Factor airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.

(Image courtesy of Fox)

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