The X Factor USA finale on DStv, who wins the $5Million?

As America waits to find out who will win the maiden edition of The X Factor USA, Africa can tune in to the finale performances and result shows on Thursday night and Friday night respectively. The final three contestants have worked hard enough to make it to the finale but their chance at becoming the season one winner depends on the performances they gave during the very last live performance show.

Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik and Chris Rene pulled out all the stops during the intense and sometimes emotional finale performance show but they didn’t have to fight alone–at least in the first round. Each contestant was joined by a celebrity for a special duet to help bring some spark to their performance and see how much they could stand out.

While they all want the $5 million prize and Pepsi Super Bowl commercial, only one can come out victorious. Before the results are announced, take a look at how the star-studded show went down:

Round 1

Josh Krajcik: Josh gave a moody and haunting performance of “Uninvited” with duet partner Alanis Morissette. This might have worked better with just Josh but it was a more than solid effort. “Wow, that was surreal. It was such a natural pairing for you to sing with Alanis Morissette,” L.A. Reid said. “I couldn’t think of a better way to open up this competition tonight,” Paula Abdul added. When Simon Cowell wasn’t worried about how cute Alanis looked, he picked apart Josh a bit, saying it was an 8 out of a 10.

Chris Rene: Bad, bad, all bad–well, except for Avril Lavigne that is. Chris performed the song that put Avril on the map, “Complicated,” with help from the lady herself and his vocals were flat, then sharp, then just plain sucked unfortunately. This was not a good song for him and this was not a good match up. “It was a little shaky in the take off,” Nicole Scherzinger said as boos erupted. “But you came out on top,” she continued.

Melanie Amaro: There was something oddly subdued about the beginning of Melanie’s performance of “I Believe I Can Fly.” Once R. Kelly took the stage with her though, things really picked up. The two blew the song out of the water but L.A. felt Mel was overshadowed by R. Kelly. Nicole totally disagreed, saying she “soared” on the song.

Round 2

Josh Krajcik: Josh took out his guitar and poured his heart out to the Etta James classic “At Last.” The performance was powerful and chill-inducing. “I’m proud, man. You look so at home up there,” L.A. said. Simon liked that the performance was all about Josh and what they liked about him in the first place–it is the song he performed in his first audition.

Chris Rene: Oh hey! Chris is doing “Young Homie”…again…for the third time in the competition. Smart move though since the judges and fans can’t seem to get enough of the song. The feel-good performance brought all of the judges (except for Simon) to their feet and they all danced around in what seems like a moment of pure euphoria. Once the performance concludes, Chris received a standing ovation from all the judges and the crowd continually chanted his name. Nothing but glowing remarks from all followed.

Melanie Amaro: Perfection, her name is Melanie! Melanie revisited her audition song, Beyonce’s “Listen,” and ripped it up. Not only that but she chewed it up, spit it out, picked it back up and repeated the process. It was powerful, uplifting and easily the best performance of the night. A tearful Nicole felt “empowered” by the performance while Simon felt “proud.”