X FACTOR RECAP: The Singers Hit 'Boot Camp!'

It's boot camp this week on The X Factor - so whether you missed the show or just want to re-live the drama, read on for a full recap of tonight's episode!

The show is mercifully down to one hour tonight from its usual two-hour time slot in order to make room for the presidential debate. I mean, one of those things is clearly much more important than the other, right? And if you said the debate, you're just not enough of an X Factor fan. So for all of the fans who wish the show was still two hours, they stretch the intro into what feels like days of footage of the contestants bidding their families goodbye before boot camp (which, by the way, is kind of a ridiculous name for any segment in a singing competition). In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit that I didn't watch the show last year - so for all I know, it could very well be a legit boot camp, but somehow I doubt it.

They gather all of the contestants on stage and make them sing a song in front of everybody else - for, I don't know, intimidation purposes? So that we can see how catty everybody is when somebody else is singing? Whatever the reason, Diamond White, the 13-year-old with an old voice, gets a little bit of rough start to "I Have Nothing," but the key here is that she's thirteen. Jessica Espinoza, 22, underwhelms the judges. Sister C, the country group, gets the stink eye from Britney, and 26-year-old David Correy gets approving nods.

Overbearing voice teacher Tara Simon is back with a leopard print dress and super shiny rhinestone belt. She chooses Queen's "Somebody to Love," taking the literal approach (starting with falling dramatically to her knees when she says she gets down on her knees). Willie Jones, the 17-year-old country crooner with the 90s look, does well, Jannel Garcia, 18.

Paige Thomas, 21, and Cece Frey (who painted leopard print on her face again...seriously, is that a thing now?), also 21, both choose Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You." Talk about tough song choices. You can see Cece smirk after Paige finishes a rough rendition, and I have to admit that I'm kind of glad that Cece doesn't do that much better because every time they've shown her she's seemed pretty rude (I know, editing, blah blah, but still). 

It goes on like that for awhile, with about one second given to the contestants in the replay, including Vino Allen, 40 (who gets a middling reaction from the judges); Johnny Maxwell, 16 (who forgets his lyrics and wasn't that great anyway); Jordyn Foley, 12 (unsurprisingly not great, but I kind of wish she had done better because she was actually entertaining last week), Manny Acosta, 26 (thumbs down); and 12-year-old Jake Garza, who breaks down and can't find his place in the song again. 

After all the performances, dozens of contestants are headed home in one fell swoop (which seems like kind of an important thing to cram into the three minutes of the broadcast), including Jessica Espinoza, tweens Trevor Moran and Jordyn Foley,  this means that both "I Will Always Love You" gals, Willie Jones, Diamond White, Jannel Garcia, Carly Rose Sonenclar, Freddie Combs and more are headed through. It was a bit of a whirlwind and they didn't quite show all of the faces for long enough to catch a glimpse, but for a full list of the remaining contestants, you can check out this link - it's not updated as of 9:15 EST, but I'm sure it will be soon.

And there's tons ahead for The X Factor as well - tune in tomorrow to see what's ahead for the remaining singers! 

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