Cue the final sad sack story of the night. Ryan from Melbourne, complete with ranga beard, says he only pledged to start singing publicly 1.5 years ago, with the first performance slated for his wedding day. But a couple months before the wedding, his fiancé (of 9.5 years) called it off. Tonight he sings an original — the same song he was planning to sing at his wedding.

"Man, this could be the best thing that ever happened to you," says Dannii.

"Time to move on and grow a beard," adds Ronan.

"BECAUSE SHE DIDN'T LET ME!" yells Ryan, who is not at all bitter.

More table jumping! This time for Tee (Ofisa Toleafoa) who is back to try his luck after failing to make the top 12 of last year’s show. Back then he spoke of being estranged from his mother after coming out. This year, armed with a song from Queen and a pair of short shorts, he is "so ready for the X Factor," according to Ronan.

Shanell brings tonight's tearjerker story, having grown up in the western Sydney suburb of Campbeltown where she works as a caseworker. "Both my parents have been in and out of prison. So my gran is my mum and my dad all in one," she tells us. She sings Beyonce's version of Ave Maria, brings her gran on stage, and is successfully sent to boot camp.

Jesse Teinaki, an electrician from Tasmanian, is impossibly clean cut and has all the potential to become the sixth member of Five Seconds of Summer. He delivers an adequate version of Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon that gets a nod from each of the judges except for Ronan Keating, who complains that he was flat and, "I don't think you're as good as you think you are." But hey, the opinion of grumpy-pants Ronan was pretty moot. No way the producers were going to get rid of a Taylor Lautner-lookalike, flat-singing or not.

Reigan Derry’s backstory can be summarised in the brief rise and fall of pop duo Scarlett Belle, which is just about the worst name for a girl group since Bardot. They even performed on the show a few years ago. She doesn’t go into why that didn’t work out, but clearly she’s put away her sparkly pop persona and trying her hand as an earnest singer songwriter type. Her version of Adele’s Someone Like You gets four nods.

2007 Reigan:

2014 Reigan:

Next up are Beatz: Brooke, Alicia and Taylor, dressed in matching denim and Doc Martens, that is a massive nod to 90s girl groups (TLC anyone?). They perform Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani, deliver some tight choreography and chuck in some harmonizing and soul to shake up the song. I LOVE THEM.

Redfoo is already table jumping as Dean from Melbourne gives us a soulful version of Bette Davis Eyes. The man knows how to put together a rock chic look too.

Redfoo: "Someone needs to check your passport, because you're out of this world!"

Careful, Redfoo. Keep throwing out all those hyperbolic compliments and you'll have nowhere to go.

And we're straight in with 14-year-old Marlisa Punzalan from Western Sydney. In the package she calls herself "shy" and on stage she seems a little nervous. She tells us her auntie gave her the crazy print pants she's wearing (surely a fashion nod to Redfoo himself), and that she thinks they're "funky" and make her feel confident.

I guess they work because she rips out a powerful and heartfelt version of Yesterday by The Beatles. Redfoo says "that's the biggest voice I've heard from a 14-year-old. Period." Marlisa is in.

With 15 minutes to go before the season kicks off, Redfoo has asked a very relevant question on Twitter, considering Thorpie's interview with Michael Parkinson has gatecrashed Sunday night.