Dean Ray

Prior to entering The X Factor, Ray earned a living busking around the streets of Melbourne. He sang "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes at his audition and progressed to the super bootcamp round of the competition. For the first challenge of bootcamp, Ray was placed into a group with three other contestants from his category to perform a song together for the judges. Ray made it to the second bootcamp challenge, where he performed "Yellow" by Coldplay to the judges and a live audience of one thousand. He then progressed to the home visits round in New York City and performed "Dancing Queen" by ABBA in front of his mentor Natalie Bassingthwaighte and guest mentor Jennifer Lopez. Bassingthwaighte later selected Ray for the live shows. After the eliminations of Adrien Nookadu in week three and Tee in week seven, Ray became the last remaining contestant in Bassingthwaighte's category. Ray was in the bottom two for the first time in week nine with Caitlyn Shadbolt, but was saved after Bassingthwaighte, Minogue and Redfoo chose to eliminate Shadbolt. Ray became the runner-up to Marlisa Punzalan.