by Todd Betzold

The top 32 contestants travel to the judge's homes on tonight's The X Factor in hopes of moving on to the top 16.

The contestants head out to their mentors' homes, but not knowing who their mentor will be. The girls get started first, traveling to Paris to meet with their mentor, Simon. A big group hug for them, as all the girls are excited to be working with Simon.

The groups are up next, as they travel to Santa Barbara, California, to meet with their mentor. Before they meet their mentor, we got to meet the two groups they formed at bootcamp: Intensity (the group of eight) and Lakoda Rayne (the group of four girls). Their mentor will be Paula and another group hug.

Down the street in Malibu, the over 30s arrive at their mentor's home. Not knowing who it is, some are hoping for Simon or L.A., but they come to find out it is Nicole and a group hug for them all, as well.

We travel to the Hamptons, New York, for the boys to meet their mentor. We see some excited guys when L.A. Reid comes out of the house and one last group hug before they all get started.

Each mentor has brought along a friend to help with the mentoring: Nicole brought Enrique Iglesias, Paula brought Pharrell, Simon was going to bring Mariah Carey, but Hurricane Irene grounded her plane and she won't be attending, so they are left with just Simon and L.A. brought Rihanna (kind of a weird choice for the guys, to me).

The mentors have handpicked the songs for all the contestants to perform in front of them and their special guest and up first for L.A. and Rihanna is Brian Bradley (a.k.a. Astro). He worked out that song and Rihanna thought he was soooo cute.

Simone Battle is up first for Simon. Forgetting her words at her last performance at bootcamp, she is determined to prove her worth here. It was a good performance, but I don't think she stacks up well against the other girl powerhouses in this competition.

The Answer is first for Paula and Pharrell. Singing one of my all-time favorite songs, "F**kin' Perfect" by Pink, these guys did an amazing job on this song. I loved it!

Up first for Nicole and Enrique is Derek Haygood and we get some tears as we hear of him going from homeless to now in Nicole's home. It was an awkward moment, as he forgot some lyrics and just "sang" the song terribly. Bad choice of song for him.

Taylor Anderson is next for L.A. and Rihanna. The African-American country singer has big dreams, but how will he stack up to the others. He had a weird range to me and couldn't get to the higher notes and it sounded bad, but Rihanna thought he had a lot to work with.

For Simon, we get to see the auto mechanic Tora Woloshin. She is struggling before her performance with memorizing the song and putting the performance altogether. The nerves left her once she got out in front of him because she did a great job. I loved it, but Simon said after it just didn't do anything for him.

We get a first look at Lakoda Rayne, the group of four girls formed after bootcamp. They are scared because they were just formed and have one chance to prove themselves. For being just thrown together, I liked it...they need work, but that's the point of Paula and Pharrell.

Next up for Nicole and Enrique is my girl, Stacy Francis. I love this group because they have stories and a background and this is it for them...it's do or die and that is a special thing to see. And my girl brings it one more time...she brought me to tears, she brought Nicole to tears. Again, she will be one of the final people in this competition, if not the winner.

The Brewer Boys get their chance to show Paula and Pharrell they deserve to move on. The Justin Bieber hair boys sing some Rihanna and do decent, but it was nothing special to me.

L.A. has chosen a Rihanna song for crooner Phillip Lomax to sing, which is awkward for him because he will be singing it to Rihanna. He did his own version of that song and I loved it. It was very original, but L.A. and Rihanna worry if it would work commercially.

Elaine Gibbs is next for Nicole and Enrique, so bring on another powerhouse. It was good, but Stacy is tops for me. Elaine is a little more confident, but we shall see what they decide.

Simon will next be hearing the rugby player, Caitlin Koch. It is a very sweet and innocent performance. She has a great voice and good tone. Simon loved it.

Nick Voss, another contestant who forgot their words at bootcamp, gets another chance to bring it all for L.A. and Rihanna. He started out good, but I wasn't a big fan of this one. Rihanna and L.A. question if he is of the $5 million caliber.

Now it is time for 4Shore to go in front of Paula and Pharrell. These boys can sing and harmonize together and have some good choreography together. I think they can make it pretty far in the competition, as well.

James Kenny, the dad who made me cry the last show, is up next for Nicole and Enrique. Looking to write the life his wife and children deserve, he is in it to win it. The over 30s group is one of the strongest...they can all sing, but Nicole and Enrique question if he is a solo artist or maybe more of a part of a group, like Maroon 5.

Up next for Simon is Drew Ryniewicz, the huge Justin Bieber fan. She has a weird tone to her voice, but I enjoy it. The song started out slow for me, but she got better as it went on and her voice grew on me.

We have seen the first 16 acts and we will see the final 16 perform on a special night of The X Factor on Sunday at 8/7c on Fox.

(Image courtesy of Fox)

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