Applications and auditions

The first appeal for applicants for series 3 was broadcast during series 2 on 6 December 2012. Auditions in front of the judges for series 3 took place in Cologne, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg. After the acts sing in front of the judges, they would be eliminated or go through to the Bootcamp, but they need 3 of 4 votes to get through. The first audition was broadcast on 25 August 2012 on RTL Television. The rest aired on VOX every Sunday.

Bootcamp

The episodes of Bootcamp were broadcast in September 2012. It showed 92 acts attend to the Bootcamp. The acts were split into 4 groups, Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups and Bands, in which to perform in Düsseldorf. At first the 92 acts were reduced to the last 48, after a one-minute performance. The second phase was a duel where two acts of a category had to perform the same song and after this the judges decided which act got through to the Judges' House. The boys category had only five acts because both acts of one battle were send home and two of the girls category (Loredana Giarraputo & Klementine Hendrichs) have to repeat the battle in the judges house because the judges couldn't decided.

The 24 acts who reached the Judges' Houses:

• Boys: Richard Geldner, Aron Verfinger, Lavien Partawie, Barne Heimbucher, Andrew Fischer
• Girls: Lisa Aberer, Alexia Drawhorn, Fabienne Bender, Melissa Heiduk, Anna Hodowaniec, Loredana Giarraputo, Klementine Hendrichs
• Over 25s: Colin Rich, Sascha Miskovic, Joey Jobbagy, Janine Smith, Björn Paulsen, Willy Hubbard
• Groups and Bands: Mrs. Greenbird, Rune, Swave, aVid*, Josephine, Die Mayers

Judges' houses

Judges' houses, the final part of the selection process, was filmed in summer 2012. The episodes aired in October 2012. Judges decided alone which categories they want to get, so at the end of the Bootcamp they discussed their favourites. Baxxter the Girls, Nasic the Groups and Bands, Connor the Over 25s, and Pelham the Boys. At judges' houses each act performed one song for their mentor and his/her guest, before the last performance, they practiced the song with their mentor and his/her guest.

The twelve eliminated acts were:

• Boys: Lavien Partawie, Aron Verfinger
• Girls: Loredana Giarraputo, Fabienne Bender, Anna Hodowaniec, Alexia Drawhorn
• Over 25s: Joey Jobbagy, Janine Smith, Sascha Miskovic
• Groups and Bands: aVid*, Die Mayers, Swave

Week 1 (4 November)

Week 2 (11 November)

Week 3: Semi-final (18 November)

• The two acts with the fewest votes had to sing again in the final showdown. Then the public decided between this two acts and the act with the lowest numbers of votes was eliminated.

Week 4: Final (25 November)

• The finalists performed three songs and one of them would be a performance with a celebrity musician.