Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Last night, Tate Stevens won "The X Factor," beating out Carly Sonenclar and Fifth Harmony to win a $5 million record deal. And today, my "The Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I discuss "The X Factor" Season 2, one final time. How do we feel about last night's result? Do we think Tate has a better chance of selling records than last year's winner, Melanie Amaro? How did last night's "X Factor" finale compare to "The Voice's" finale, which also aired this week? What went right this season for the retooled "X Factor," and more importantly, what went wrong and still needs to be retooled for Season 3? We dish about all this and more.

This week, I boldly predicted an upset victory for "The X Factor's" girl group Fifth Harmony--and while that prophecy obviously did not come true (they placed third, behind runner-up Carly Rose Sonenclar and winner Tate Stevens), I can hardly be blamed for believing that these absolutely charming and talented young ladies had a real chance of taking home that $5 million contract. And there's no doubt they'll be getting a lucrative contract of some kind: The rumor circulating backstage right after Thursday night's "X Factor" Season 2 finale was that the group had just signed to their mentor Simon Cowell's Syco record label (and their new website has a Syco logo slapped on it, so there you go). While the girls sweetly declined to comment on that matter when I spoke with them after the show, it was pretty clear that their future is bright, and that it's a future they'll be facing together as a legit group. Their chemistry was the real deal.

Tate Stevens was always the epitome of casual confidence during his "X Factor" run, and nothing ever seemed to faze him--but when speaking to Yahoo!'s Reality Rocks on Thursday, immediately after winning on the show's Season 2 finale, he freely admitted that he almost fell apart when host Mario Lopez announced the big news.

"You know what? I wanted to throw up. It was so intense. I was like, ahhhh! When they called my name, I looked at [my mentor] L.A. [Reid] and I said, 'I won?' And then I turned into a big ol' pile of mush," Tate confessed.

Deep in "X Factor" thought...On Thursday night before "The X Factor's" big finale, I had the honor of guesting on the live preshow alongside backstage correspondent Jim Cantiello, hosts Adrienne Bailon (of 3LW/Cheetah Girls fame) and Jesse Giddings, Adrienne's best friend and "Empire Girls" co-star Julissa Bermudez, and "X Factor" digital content producer Jim Fraenkel. What ensued was a very lively and frank "X Factor" debate. Enjoy our chat below, in its unedited entirety, but do kindly ignore all that stuff Jim and I say about underdogs Fifth Harmony having a chance of winning Season 2. Obviously we were wrong about that...but we had plenty of other things to say that you'll hopefully agree with, or at least find entertaining:

Tate Stevens wins "The X Factor" Season 2 [photo: Fox]From the beginning of "The X Factor" Season 2, Simon Cowell pushed the show as a tweenybopper program, hiring barely-20-year-old former Disney star Demi Lovato and pop princess Britney Spears as the new judges, and packing the season's top 13 with Teens, Young Adults, and three very young Groups. Simon's rival judge, L.A. Reid, was in fact so upset to be saddled with the dreaded "Over-25's" category that he threw a hissyfit and slammed down his phone in disgust when he was given his assignment. But on this Thursday's "X Factor" Season 2 finale, age trumped youth, and L.A.'s 37-year-old country crooner beat out Britney's 13-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar and Simon's teenage girl group Fifth Harmony to win the show's $5 million record contract.

On last night's final "X Factor"  showdown, the top three competed one last time, singing three songs apiece, and it just might've been a game-changing episode that could lead to one of the biggest upsets in TV talent show history. The show's two frontrunners and season-long leaderboard-toppers, Carly Rose Sonenclar and Tate Stevens, both had off nights (Carly was sabotaged by a cringeworthy duet pairing with an unraveled and unkempt LeAnn Rimes, and an uncharacteristically sedate Tate bizarrely phoned in all of his performances), while underdog girl group Fifth Harmony gave three strong performances, sang in the pimp spot, and were even declared the new "ones to beat" by their former biggest detractor, L.A. Reid.

Is it actually possible that Fifth Harmony might pull off a dark-horse victory tonight and win the whole show? Today, my "The Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I discuss that prediction (it's my prediction, not his), as well as chat about last night's performances--the good, the bad, and the LeAnn. Consider this chat your preshow before tonight's big event!

Will Fifth Harmony pull off an upset? [photo: Fox]Last week, when it was announced that the three "X Factor" contestants moving on to Season 2's finale were Tate Stevens, Carly Rose Sonenclar, and girl group Fifth Harmony, I predicted that Tate would win the competition. With Tate being the only male contestant, the only older contestant, and the only country singer left on the show--not to mention the finalist who'd topped the leaderboard most often this season (three times, compared to Carly's two and Fifth Harmony's none)--he seemed, at least statistically, like the obvious frontrunner. I still believed that Carly, this season's most consistent and most technically proficient contestant, had a good chance of taking home that $5 million prize instead, but I figured it was likely that she'd split the vote with the similar-in-age/genre/gender Fifth Harmony, and therefore come in second. And of course, I assumed Fifth Harmony had about as much chance of winning as Britney Spears had of getting through a critique without saying "I feel

Last night, Cassadee Pope won Season 3 of "The Voice"--and while this may not have been the most suspenseful or surprising results announcement in talent show history, it was still a fantastic finale, filled with tender, funny moments and awesome musical performances by more than a dozen talented "Voice" contestants. Well done, "The Voice." Well done.

Today, my "The Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I discuss "The Voice" Season 3 one final time. How do we feel about last night's result? Do we think that result would have been different if iTunes sales hadn't played such a major factor? What were our favorite moments from last night's show? What will we miss most about temporarily exiting judges Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green? And are we excited for Season 4 with new judges Usher and Shakira? We dish about all this and more. Enjoy.