14 DAY TRIAL // The first season of X Factor USA has just wrapped up. After some drama, lots of tension and the expected amount of quality artists, this season has crowned a winner: Melanie Amaro.
With mentors / judges Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger competing in the big finale with Amaro and Josh Krajcik as finalists, the competition was tight.
It was Amaro who got the public vote of confidence and was crowned the winner, as the video below will confirm.
Unfortunately, Amaro was too nervous to be able to say much after her name was called. In fact, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she could barely sing her winner song, a take on Beyonce's powerful “Listen” ballad.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” Amaro kept saying when host Steve Jones kept trying to get her to say a few words to the camera, after having collapsed to her knees and bursting into tears.
Not even after repeated efforts was she more articulate, so Jones had to turn to Melanie's mentor Cowell for a statement instead.
“I want to say, America, thank you for giving this girl an opportunity. This is an amazing moment for me, you are not going to get a word out of her Steve!” he said, before congratulating Josh for his achievements on the show.
He returned the compliment, by thanking X Factor producers for giving him the chance to discover his true voice.
“I feel amazing. Melanie deserves it. She has a wonderful voice. I've had such an incredible experience here... I couldn't be happier,” Josh said.
Melanie had to perform but she was still pretty much in shock: as you can see in the video below, she kept choking on tears and trailing off in the song.
Towards the end, she'd managed to collect herself a bit to say a few words to those who had voted for her and who had made it possible for her to win the much coveted prize.
“Thank you so much! OMG, I don't know what even to say... God is good... Thank you America!” she gushed.
As the winner of the first season, Melanie gets an impressive $5 million (€3.82 million) record deal and her very own Pepsi commercial.
Check out the emotionally charged moment on the X Factor USA finale below.
