The Final 3 contestants of the first season of The X Factor USA were finally announced. Unfortunately (or not!), one contestant was forced to leave the competition during “The X Factor” semi-finals live results show on Thursday (December 15)- watch video below.

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Who got voted off? Marcus Canty, of course! The singer who was once compared to Bobby Brown had been in the bottom three times before, but he had been saved by the judges/mentors or by the public vote.

After eliminating two of the favorite younger contestants, Drew Ryniewicz and Rachel Crow, there was no hope for Marcus. It was obvious he had overstayed his welcome. Melanie Amaro and Chris Rene easily secured their spot in the big finale next week.

The results were based purely on the public vote and not necessarily in the bottom two were Marcus and Josh Krajcik. The show was trying to create some drama with the possibility of another strong candidate being eliminated by the “save me song champion” as L.A. Reid so ironically put it.

In the end, Marcus promised we would hear more from him, while his mentor offered his support to the 20 year-old singer, but was secretly glad Chris Rene made it into the finals. That was the whole point of throwing Marcus under the bus with two extra corny performances this week, right?

“I’m okay, this is not the last you’ll see of me, I’m going to keep going. All my family and friends out there crying, stop crying. It’s all right!” Marcus said following his elimination. “It’s not over yet!”

LA Reid added: “I’m not happy to see you go. I think you’re a big star, a great singer and I think you’ve done great and will continue to do great. You’ve got my support.”

The X Factor USA season 1 finalists are: Melanie Amaro (Team Simon Cowell), Chris Rene (Team L.A. Reid) and Josh Krajcik (Team Nicole Scherzinger).

Final 3 Revealed X Factor Results Video